A renowned perfumer from Fontaine. Elegant, charming, and a little mysterious... just like her work.
—Description from the Official Website[1]
Personality[]
In her youth, Emile enjoyed reading texts and was subject to many conversations from her parents and their colleagues, causing her to gain an interest in perfumes. She is a popular perfume designer after having learned the trade by Kirya. While she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, she was particularly compelled to work as a forensic cleaner after one incident deeply troubled her.[2] Despite her work as a forensic cleaner, Emilie is not fond of talking about it, preferring to keep a low profile whenever the matter is discussed with her. She is also empathetic with others, willing to hear whatever they have in their minds, of which one of these granted her Vision.
She is good friends with Chevreuse and Chiori.
Appearance[]
Emilie uses the medium female model. She has pale skin, with choppy shoulder-length blonde hair fading to pink tucked behind her right ear, with face-framing layers curling in, as well as pink eyes with white pupils and light-blue flecks.
Official Introduction[]
How incredible. I can perceive emotions through water, which humans cannot, yet they are capable of using it to regulate their mood... And they accomplish this with a fragrance in liquid form? I see. I believe I have a better understanding of this concept now.
When it comes to fragrances, sensitivity varies from person to person, but their preferences tend to be similar.
Few in the world are amenable to every kind of odor.
Fresh, floral, fruity... Such are the scents of Emilie's perfumes, meticulously crafted, exquisitely presented, dazzlingly displayed on the shelves of Fontaine's Quartier Lyonnais.
Dated, decayed, decrepit... Such are the traces erased by her touch, everything made as good as new.
If you've never before heard of a "forensic cleaner," you might at first struggle to imagine what such a profession entails.
But if you're lucky enough to become acquainted with Emilie, feel free to ask her a question or two. She is both an excellent listener and an exemplary respondent, so you'll no doubt receive a satisfactory answer.
Character Stories[]
Character Details
There is much that may be said when discussing a bottle of perfume.
We might speak of its fragrance: How it first bewitches with its top notes, before gradually melding with its wearer, and finally taking a subdued bow amidst the lingering aroma.
We could speak of the concept underlying its design: Is it meant to enliven the spirit, or to lend an aura of alluring mystique?
We might even debate the most appropriate occasion for its use: Would one be willing to attend a social ball clad in this aroma, or would it be better suited to suffusing the atmosphere of a private date?
Emilie finds these matters to be most worthy of discussion, as they are intimately related to how one selects a perfume. Compared to such considerations, the precise identity of the perfumer who prepared the scent is not a factor that needs to be contemplated when making one's choice.
Alas, neither customers' views nor popular trends are easily shifted. A herd mentality that craves security often leads people to prefer purchasing from well-known brands or designers, for one rarely goes wrong that way.
Fame, therefore, is a double-edged sword. The more famous one is, the greater the odds of receiving negative feedback, and many are exhausted by treading upon such thin ice.
But Emilie, famous though she is within Fontaine's perfume industry, seems untroubled by such.
Her products are free-form, spontaneous — indeed, she worries not at all about designing perfume, for her true profession lies elsewhere.
Character Story 1
Friendship Lv. 2
Having handed her signed and stamped power of attorney documentation and confidentiality agreement to the Maison Gardiennage officer for perusal, Emile steps over the cordon and onto the scene.
She has already been apprised of all case-critical information: the number of deceased, the state of the corpses, and the parameters of the cleanup required. As to other case details, she is neither curious nor inclined to ask further questions.
The bodies, as well as severely damaged objects, have already been removed. And so she inspects the area meticulously, making mental notes of things that might be easily missed or difficult-to-clean areas that require extra attention.
She has encountered many such crime scenes, and with time, has been able to piece together in broad strokes the sequence of events — through the directions of blood spatter, the traces left by the residue of human tissues, and how objects fell.
Still, this is not her professional duty. In the most infrequent of circumstances, of course, she will be invited to use this experience to aid the Maison in recreating crime scenes. But this is not one of those special cases. This case is already closed, and as a "forensic cleaner," she needs only draw a line under it.
And so she silently dons her protective clothing and goggles, and gets to work. All goes well. Chemicals dissolve and wash away the rust and dark-brown, even black-colored stains, while sticky tissues and sharp fragments are cleaned separately. The harrowing scene and horrid smells are wiped away, erased like erroneous brushstrokes from a canvas.
Finally, she invites the Garde, who has been waiting all this time outside, back in. They convey their thanks and bid her farewell, before manually removing the cordon.
Emilie remains silent as she changes back into her previous outfit. She cannot help but think that though the deceased should already have been buried as those dear to them watched, parts of them have only just now been put to rest.
She adjusts her hat, nodding her head slightly toward the clean room, bidding a final farewell to persons completely unknown to her, as if she too were taking some small part in their funerals.
Character Story 2
Friendship Lv. 3
According to certain psychological theories, creative types are even less concerned with the placement or organization of their belongings than most. Short passages containing such personality analyses are often found in the corners of Fontainian magazines and tabloids, and they even rerun every few days, as if the editors think people cobble their self-understanding together from such fragmentary pieces — not to mention possess deficient memories.
Such ideas are clearly stereotypes, for none would claim that Emilie wants for creativity, while her home is perfectly spick and span. To claim that a perfumer so famous lacks imagination, her modestness or otherwise notwithstanding, would be to categorically deny the Fontainian perfuming profession in its totality.
But Emilie's home is, if anything, overly clean. Few furnishings stand atop the visible flooring, and most items have been carefully packed into hermetic compartments. Indeed, one can barely tell that anyone lives there. Even friends who occasionally visit, such as Chiori, bluntly ask if this is a manifestation of some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Emilie simply laughs, saying: "It has to be this way, that's all."
Her dwelling is not large, but it has two workshops, one for perfuming, and the other for mixing the chemicals needed for her work. Neither allows for flasks or other items to be placed haphazardly, and so, while she has no love of daily drudgeries or household chores, Emilie has had to slowly learn the strict art of organized stowage and storage, habitually drawing clear lines between the different aspects of her life.
This terrifying discipline is something she has mastered with some ease — just as one separates dangerous reagents into separate vials, so too does she create freely in one bottle, while accumulating the experience that crystallizes out of solutions in another.
Character Story 3
Friendship Lv. 4
When she is free, Emilie often goes to have dinner with her parents at their place.
Her father is an officer of the Marechaussee Phantom, while her mother works in forensic medicine, and they often invite over human and Melusine colleagues alike as guests. One can only imagine just how many unusual conversations this rather ordinary-looking dining room has hosted.
Of the many topics discussed, Emilie's trajectory through life is one of the more normal ones.
When children her age were still reading comics, Emilie was reading her mother's work texts. She was fascinated by the mystery of chemical reactions, and began to formally study related disciplines. Such skills should surely prove useful, but just what kind of work should she pursue? Work in a crime lab, perhaps — so her father suggested.
Though, such work always came with an element of danger, so it was best to learn a little self-defense from him first if she wanted to join — so he quickly added.
For a long time afterward, Emilie would work toward this goal.
But one day, her parents opened a bottle of red wine before the meal, as they lamented what had happened that day—
The Marechaussee Phantom's duties were to pursue the truth, but once that was done, any remaining fallout was left in the hands of the heartbroken bereaved. When some family's child commits suicide, soaking the rug with their blood, and the Gardes sent to investigate merely rule it a suicide and leave... Just how will the parents feel, left to pick up the pieces and clean up what remains of their child?
Agnostic to purpose and intent, the nature of chemical reactions was the same, just like human emotions.
Perhaps... Perhaps she could help.
Having had the thought, she later put it into action. She named her profession that of a "forensic cleaner," making modifications to the chemicals she originally intended for use in tests, such that they became cleaning agents that could wipe away all that remained on any given scene.
Of course, though the environment itself might be cleansed anew, the pain could not be so purged. Still, Emilie can share some small part of the burden, that those left behind will not have to shoulder it alone.
Character Story 4
Friendship Lv. 5
Life is unfair, and not all have the luxury of enjoying their hobbies. Thus, Emilie truly treasures such opportunities.
Collecting perfumes was once her mother's hobby, but due to her work, she was able to apply them less than frequently, and so those top-shelf fragrances would eventually become Emilie's treasures. She loved the shiny bottles and the clear fluids within, basking in the mysterious reactions produced by interwoven aromas.
It was due to her hobby of perfumery that she later became quite taken with traveling to gather materials.
She has scaled snowy mountains few have traversed, and squeezed her way through the packed markets of other lands. Fragrances are shapeless, and are thus easily overlooked, but they are a necessary component of any person's living environment. Most people have somewhat unvaried preferences in this regard, but Emilie accepts all comers. Good, bad, simple, complex, Emilie carefully categorizes them all in her heart, and they form for her a bridge to understanding this world.
From such a perspective, fragrances are no luxury, but rather, a thing that people can naturally enjoy... and thus, perfumes should be no different.
Of course, this is very much against market trends. It is practically taken as a given that those crystalline, gem-like products should be placed under the searing spotlight and sold at extravagant prices.
And Emilie remains but a hobbyist, and as such, cannot change this state of affairs by herself. Thus, many of her works have never reached the shelves of any shop. As one who works outdoors herself, she has designed insect-repelling, anti-perspiration perfume, though such a notion doesn't even sound remotely romantic. She also developed a fragrance specifically for Melusines to enjoy, but humans seemed unwilling to buy them.
Not that she was disappointed, of course. That she could get these products into the hands of those who needed them was satisfaction enough.
Of course, she does have some real regrets. For example, the risk of small animals knocking over or inadvertently ingesting chemicals keeps her from having a psychological support pet, which limits her to playing with other people's puppies in the park.
Naturally, she also has to avoid wearing perfume when going to meet them. Animals have sensitive noses, after all, and she would very much like to be their friend.
Character Story 5
Friendship Lv. 6 • 
Masquerade of the Guilty
People often propose rules for groups in an attempt to explain certain phenomena.
In her work as a forensic cleaner, Emile encounters large quantities of human tissue, some Fontainian, and others not. Being meticulous in her preparation of the relevant cleaning agents, she gradually discovered that Fontainian human tissue structures seemed to have minuscule differences from those of other nations.
Discreetly investigating, she discovered something strange that very, very few had ever noticed. Even those who had some awareness would simply attribute it to Fontaine's special natural environment. After all, people in some places experienced greater hair loss, while people in others had naturally slim fingers... All a matter of their living in the same environment giving rise to those traits.
Emilie sensed that the truth might not be so simple, but she tentatively accepted that explanation.
At least, she did until after the "prophecy" had already come to pass and she received some new cleaning commissions. She found that those minute differences between Fontainians and humans from other nations had silently slipped away, like so much water flowing between one's fingers. Indeed, it was like they had never existed.
After giving it much thought, Emilie decided that she would seek the answer for herself.
She paid Iudex Neuvillette — who had allegedly once given a full account of the origin of Fontainians at the Opera Epiclese — a visit, and related her doubts to him.
He considered this for a moment, before informing her: "Fontainians are now true humans."
"Are now," he had said. Some change in Fontainians, then, must have indeed occurred in the fulfillment of the prophecy.
That was enough for her. She needed no further details, having only desired confirmation. Indeed, she could already perceive that the details constituted a threshold ordinary humans should not trespass, let alone seek to. In her work with the Maison Gardiennage, she had already signed many confidentiality agreements, both great and small, but no document was needed to tell that silence was the best course here.
Perhaps this was even, in truth, no big deal. Her life had not changed, and in fact, things were simpler now that her concoctions needed to make no distinction based on national differences.
And so, she would keep this secret in the same place where she held all those joys and sorrows, reunions and partings — locked deep in her heart.
"Constructed From Real Events"
Friendship Lv. 4
Chevreuse, Captain of the Special Security and Surveillance Patrol, once gave this assessment of Emilie: not a romantic person.
Emilie has responded to these stereotypical expectations people have of perfumers with a serious explanation: Once a perfume is out on the market, the right to analyze it passes from the perfumer to the purchaser. She herself might detect a whiff of her childhood in the scent of Marcotte, but others might sense love, invigoration, and perhaps even regret. A person responds to things based on their experiences, and in such matters, one cannot generalize. If the perfumer does not take the fragrance development process seriously, but instead pursues the romantic color of some specific place and emotion, they will likely wind up with an undesirable result.
"And is that why you keep newspaper clippings? To collect the experiences of people?" Chevreuse asked.
"Sort of," Emilie thought to herself. She had not taken those clippings specially for that purpose, of course. It was just part of her reading habits, being more interested as she was in real-life happenings than in the constructed narratives of novels.
Of those various excerpts, the vast majority were serious reporting, while another small part could be compiled into a list of "The Decade's Top Ten Incredulous Situations." These hilarious newspieces were fuel for casual conversation between Emilie and her friends.
As for Chevreuse, she preferred novels.
By this logic, it seemed that of the two of them, the Special Patrol Captain was the romantic. But though Chevreuse's great love was crime fiction, she was quite perplexed by the emotional entanglements of the characters therein, instead enjoying expounding at length upon how responsibility should be apportioned among the various parties.
So, not the most romantic, either.
And so, while their interests might differ, how they think actually has some similarities — a fact that goes some way to explaining why they became friends.
Vision
Friendship Lv. 6
Emilie often receives cleanup commissions after cases have been concluded, and by the time she arrives, none are left at the scene but an officially posted guard keeping watch, allowing her to conduct her work in peace.
But sometimes, the scene is not so silent.
Emelie [sic] reached the scene of the incident to see the dazed kin of the victim pacing around the perimeter of the cordon. It was a young lady, her eyes dead husks, knowing not where to go or what to do — only that she couldn't bear to leave. This, in truth, was no obstacle to Emilie's work. She could have simply shown her papers, accessed the site, and completed her cleanup. That was all her duty demanded — it was just her job, business as usual.
Still, she hesitated. Greeting the Garde on duty, she walked toward the lost soul.
Over the next few hours, Emilie sat by the woman's side in silence as the latter slowly told her stories of herself and the deceased. Emilie did not reply all that much. She merely held the woman's hand, patiently waiting as the tale stumbled forth, waiting until all the anxious thoughts and troubled words had been exhausted, until only quiet sorrow remained.
That pain was unavoidable. This was all she could do.
The delay caused her to finish her work very late, and as she stowed her tools and chemicals away, the last light still peeking through the window was already quite dim — all the better to highlight that glimmering Vision.
From that day on, she would never again put any time limit on her work, always leaving ample time to spare. If any there should need a listening ear, there she would be to hear them.
Namecard[]
| Emilie: Base Note | |
|---|---|
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Obtain: Reward for reaching Friendship Level 10 with Emilie Description: "The top note is sweet, the middle rich but not distracting, and the base — Ah! Such a faint fragrance! Such an exquisite perfume." Orders flow in and out in an endless stream, and to prevent any scents from disturbing her work, Emilie very seldom uses perfume herself. Alas. When will she have the chance to delight in those base notes? |
Constellation[]
| Pomum de Ambra | |
|---|---|
 | Story Chapter: Pomum de Ambra Meaning: Pomander |
Quests and Events[]
Story Quests
Web Events
Character Trials[]
Quests
Quest Domains
- The Secret Garden of "Auguste" — Base Note: Auguste in Emilie's Story Quest, Pomum de Ambra Chapter: Act I - Floral Debt, Blood Due
Test Run Events
- Emilie, Yelan, Yanfei, Razor — 2024-08-06
Character Mentions[]
Character Voice-Overs
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Trivia[]
- Emilie is the first and currently only character to have had their Character Demo released before their Character Teaser.
Etymology[]
- Emilie may be named after Émilie, a perfume of the same name produced by the French perfume house Fragonard, which was the world's first perfume factory.
Other Languages[]
Character Title: A Thousand Scents Traced[]
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | A Thousand Scents Traced | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 千缕之踪 | |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 千縷之蹤 | |
| Japanese | 千の跡を辿って Sen no Ato wo Todotte | Following A Thousand Traces |
| Korean | 천 갈래 향의 자취 Cheon Gallae Hyang-ui Jachwi | Trace of a Thousand Split Scents |
| Spanish | Estela de Mil Aromas | Trail of a Thousand Aromas |
| French | Tracé de mille parfums | Thousand Fragrances Traced |
| Russian | След тысячи ароматов Sled tysyachi aromatov | A Thousand Scents' Trace |
| Thai | รอยกลิ่นหอมนับพัน | |
| Vietnamese | Muôn Ngàn Hương Thơm | |
| German | Spur der tausend Düfte | Trace of Thousand Scents |
| Indonesian | A Thousand Scents Traced | — |
| Portuguese | Vislumbres de Mil Aromas | |
| Turkish | Binlerce Kokunun Peşinde | |
| Italian | Scie di mille profumi | Trails of a Thousand Scents |
References[]
- ↑ Official Genshin Impact Website: Emilie
- ↑ Emilie's Voice-Over: More About Emilie: V
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