Emerald Sustrai

For other uses of "Emerald", see Emerald.

Emerald Sustrai is a character in RWBY. She was an associate of Cinder Fall and the former partner of Mercury Black. Her weapons of choice are Thief's Respite, a pair of dual revolvers with collapsible sickle blades which can become kusarigamas.

She made her first appearance in "Black and White" of Volume 1. In "Risk", following her defection from Salem, she decides to ally herself with Ruby's Group.

Appearance

Emerald is a young woman with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Her hair is a light, mint-green with a straight fringe and bangs as well as two long locks on each side in the back.

Classic Outfit (Volumes 1-6)

She wears two bronze-colored rings on her middle fingers as well as a pair of strappy high-heeled pumps. She is stated to be in the age range of a Huntsman Academy student.

Originally, her attire consisted of an intricate white top and an olive-colored crop top, on the back of which is her personal emblem. This emblem is in the shape of a cut gem, most likely referring to her name. This was intended to be accompanied by white shorts, decorated with what appears to be a gold coin-plated belt with four gold chains draping around her back from two of the coins and what seems to be a green loincloth.

She also wore a gold, three-ring armband on her left arm and a string of gold beads near the same wrist. As of Volume 2, her outfit has changed somewhat. Her top has thinned, her crop top is now shallow-cut, and her armband and beads no longer seem to be made from gold. She also sports white cropped pants with brown chaps that attach to her brown belt.

Prom

For the dance, Emerald wears an olive-colored, halterneck, backless dress with a black sash around her waist, and matching heeled pumps.

Haven Uniform

Later, she is also seen wearing the Haven Academy uniform, a more conservative dark gray outfit with a long-sleeved collared top and white armband.

Flashback

In "Beginning of the End", Emerald was younger, noticeably thinner, and had her hair tied into a ponytail.

Her previous attire was a short olive-colored crop top, and she wore her signature chaps which were torn and belt. Beneath her chaps, she wore dark green pants and plain dark brown flat shoes. She also wore white half-gloves.

Atlas Outfit (Volumes 8–Present)

In Volume 8, Emerald dons a new set of clothes. She now also wears a mint green crop top with off the shoulder pulled back sleeves beneath a cropped white quilted leather, double breasted biker jacket contrasted with black notch lapels with matching cuffs alongside her emblem on the back in black as well as a belt loop at the bottom of the jacket's hem. Completing her ensemble are matching white, skinny jeans and brown chaps that end at her thighs, they appear flared with a small open section with straps on the lower calves. The tops and bottoms of the chaps have a mint green trimming to them as well. She also wears a overlong belt, twice-wrapped, to which her chap straps connect to. She keeps her weapon holsters attached the back of the belts. She completes her outfit with a pair of brown ankle boots with metal toe plating. Her hair is also noticeably fuller and longer and her irises are wider. Emerald also wears a red gradient gem pendant around her neck and a beaded bracelet on her right wrist.

Image Gallery

Original outfit

Silhouette From Volume 1 Intro

School Uniform

Prom dress

Flashback outfit

Volume 1 cameo design

Atlas outfit

Penny disguise

Personality

Emerald initially appears to be affable and disarmingly friendly. However, this belies a darker side of her character. On the whole, she seems to be genuinely outgoing and quick-witted, if a little short-fused. She can also act a little childish or petty, such as when she stuck her tongue out at Roman Torchwick after she stole his lighter to mock him.

In "Best Day Ever", when she talks to Tukson about books, she seems to be knowledgeable about books and enjoys reading, as she lists off several titles. She also likes Vale, complimenting the city for its "tall buildings and diverse culture".

Emerald has a tendency to maintain a pretense of friendliness around people in order to gain their trust, doing so around Tukson before threatening and killing him. In "Round One", she states that she dislikes Team RWBY for their cheery and positive attitude, regardless of her acting as their friend for the time being.

According to Emerald, her loyalty is exclusive to Cinder, rather than to Salem, and only complies to her plans and wishes due to owing Cinder "everything". Accordingly, she is willing to take the initiative to impress her, such as tracking down Tukson and killing him. When Cinder rebukes her for doing so, she defers to Cinder's judgment, quickly apologizing.

Although she has no qualms about killing, judging from the nonchalant way she talked about killing Tukson and even lightheartedly joking about it afterward with Mercury, she does get a bit seems to be overwhelmed at the sheer scale of the destruction and violence being caused during the Fall of Beacon. Nevertheless, Emerald continues to demonstrate loyalty to Cinder, such as in the "The Next Step" in which she speaks for Cinder, who has lost her voice.

Upon Cinder being supposedly killed during their failed mission to destroy Haven and retrieve the Relic of Knowledge and narrowly escaping punishment from Salem, Emerald showcased increased frustration in her situation. Her resolve is later shaken by Cinder's callous ingratitude toward her in "Midnight", and by overhearing Ozpin's revelation of Salem's plans to destroy Remnant in "War".

In "Witch", Emerald and Hazel Rainart both decide to help Oscar Pine escape from Monstra, after confirming that he was telling the truth. She shows grief when Hazel is killed buying them time to escape Salem, as he was the only one besides Mercury or Cinder who showed any concern for her.

In "Ultimatum", Emerald is unapologetic and sarcastic toward Yang's team, making no effort to defend herself for her actions and saying that she would prefer to go on her own way than go with them. However she later showed pity for the citizens of Atlas that were cowering in the subways, especially upon seeing children, and continued to walk with Yang, Oscar, Ren and Jaune even after Yang stopped holding her at gunpoint.

In "Risk", Emerald joined Ruby's Group in an effort to save both the people of Mantle and Atlas, and begins to put her past dislike for them behind her.

Powers and Abilities

Emerald seems to be quite adept with her weapons, demonstrating skilled swordsmanship and marksmanship, demonstrating the ability to ensnare opponents in her chains and reel them in, even from a great distance, even bringing down Ruby despite the latter using her scythe's recoil for extra speed.

Emerald is stated by Mercury to be a master thief, and she has proven that she is adept at pickpocketing, with one victim being Roman, stealing his lighter to show him that she was a capable thief after he mocked her. As seen in her fight with Coco Adel, her stealth abilities allow her to move silently and attack from an enemy's blind spot.

Though she hasn't engaged anyone on extended close-quarters combat, in "The More the Merrier" and "Vault of the Spring Maiden" it is shown that she's strong and skilled enough to hold Ruby at bay and even temporarily knocked her out at one point (although Ruby was distracted at the time).

Weapon

Main article: Thief's Respite

Emerald's weapon of choice is Thief's Respite, a pair of dual-wielded pistols that can also be converted into a pair of kama, the blades of which can detach and be swung from chains as kusarigama.

Semblance

Main article: Hallucinations

Emerald's Semblance, Hallucinations,^[2] is individual mental hallucinations^[3] - the ability to modify the sensory information in a person's head while their brain is processing it.

Emerald's Semblance is the main reason Cinder first scouted her, having witnessed Emerald use her power to trick a jewel merchant, in order to steal one of his rings - the merchant just smiled at her, as she took the ring right before his eyes.

What Amber sees, due to Emerald's Semblance

What everyone else sees.

Her Semblance is not limited to biological opponents, but can also affect mechanical ones. In "Amity", she is able to cause both Penny Polendina and Maria Calavera to experience visual illusions, despite the first being an android and the latter having cybernetic prosthetic eyes. However, she was unable to affect Penny's heat vision sensors, which she used to locate and defeat Cinder Fall. Emerald's Semblance also seems to limit her mobility, unlike Neopolitan's; she typically remains still or moves slowly and cautiously when conjuring hallucinations.

In "War", Emerald's Semblance even extends towards Grimm, as she managed to make herself invisible from being detected by one of the Seers.

As per "PvP", while Emerald's Semblance was originally limited to two people at her limit, she has expanded that number to at least three without tiring as showcased in "Witch". In "Haven's Fate" she managed to affect nine people with her Semblance simultaneously, though this put her under such strain that she lost consciousness. Her Semblance is also now powerful enough to affect Salem, who remarked on its usage.

With the evolution of her Semblance, she can sense the minds of others within a certain radius of herself and if they were weak or strong.

Trivia

Allusion

• Emerald alludes to Aladdin from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights as well as the Disney movie. For more information on this allusion, as well as other choices the creators made for this character, see Emerald Sustrai/Behind the Scenes.

Color Naming Rule

• Emerald is a gemstone that is most often found in green colors.
• Sustrai is the Basque word for "root".^[4]

Media

• The 2019 horror film Doctor Sleep prominently features Emerald Sustrai through merchandising and allusions. Doctor Sleep is based on a book by Stephen King and is the sequel to the 1980 horror film The Shining, which was also based on a book by Stephen King. Kyliegh Curran plays Abra, a girl with psychic powers. She has a room adorned with posters and action figures featuring characters from RWBY, with a specific focus on Emerald.
  • A figurine of Emerald is placed on her night stand.
  • A poster of Emerald is seen on her room, featuring art from RWBY: Combat Ready.
  • Three posters are hanging on the walls around the room.
  • In the movie, Abra and Rose confront each other in a psychic plane, which can change shape depending on the individual. Throughout the sequence, Abra has adorned a green bob, an homage to Kyliegh Curran's favorite character in RWBY, Emerald.^[5]

References