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The Trails of Cold Steel collection of JRPGs — developed by Nihon Falcom during the 2010s — was an ambitious project, accounting for the multitude of characters and plot points involved. It required the studio a quintet of games to mature these characters. The character Emma's character development is developed in parallel with Cold Steel’s primary plot, but it's via the gradual evolution in her powers that we fully understand the significance of her personal transformation.

Note: This article features minor spoilers for the primary narrative of the Cold Steel series.

In The Legend of Heroes: Cold Steel, the character Emma is a ordinary teenager, similar to the other members of Thors Academy's Class VII. As the class president, she's approachable to everyone and strives to avoid any disputes between her peers. While she takes her student life with great dedication, she leads two separate lives. She's actually a practitioner of magic, a member of the magical Hexen family. Enrolling in Thors Military Academy is one step in her true goal of assisting the protagonist Rean, the leader figure of Class VII, who is fated to call forth a powerful mech.

In all Trails of Cold Steel title, nearly all characters have at least one special technique, a powerful move that needs you to have a sufficient quantity of skill points to execute. These finishing moves are designed to be your key advantage in all fights. S-Crafts are also a method for the game to depict the changes characters are going through. They can epitomize the refinement of a individual's fighting style, like Rean Schwarzer’s special ability Breaking Dawn in the fourth game, which he acquires after reaching the rank of Divine Blade. In other cases, like Emma Millstein's, Falcom uses S-Crafts to convey the emotional changes a individual goes through.

When the war in the empire starts in Cold Steel, Emma’s approach to the situation is the inexperienced but logical belief that battle means striking. The war spills over to the second game in the franchise, where the two ultimate skills she wields are her first S-Craft and Rain. Each are offensive techniques that indiscriminately hit enemies on the arena.

Once we have the chance to meet the character Emma a second time in Cold Steel 3, we see a transformed character. She has completed her studies from Thors Military Academy, and after practicing with her clan, the protagonist clearly to have understood an vital truth about her own nature. While she becomes a impressive spellcaster, Emma understands that, primarily, Emma is a guardian. She’s ready to give up her own safety to ensure the group — but particularly Rean Schwarzer — out of harm's way. Her wish to occupy this role is shown by her S-Craft, which in Cold Steel 3 transforms into Palace of Eregion.

When you activate the ultimate ability Eregion, she summons a quartet of semi-transparent pillars of magic, and barriers materialize connecting them and surrounding the combat area. The characters benefiting from this ability gain one or two instances of damage immunity, a buff that blocks harm of all types. Emma had not once been a belligerent character, so she moves to a protective strategy, mirroring the caring demeanor she had always extended to her allies.

It’s compelling to see how Nihon Falcom employs a protagonist's powers to enrich the game’s story. Role-playing games typically employ dialogue or visuals to inform players what a persona is thinking. But Emma shows that right down to a ability can add another layer of insight.