Emma Barnes is the daughter of Alan and Zoe Barnes and the younger sister of Anne Barnes. Once a best friend to Taylor Hebert, Emma would later turn on Taylor and subject her to a brutal bullying campaign. Eventually culminating in Taylor becoming a parahuman.
Personality[]
Originally, Emma used to be a relatively nice individual, and was close with Taylor. However, an assault from ABB thugs traumatized Emma and changed her for the worse. Haunted by the traumatic experience, Emma became determined to be strong no matter what. Due to this, she had a great admiration for Sophia Hess, and, like Sophia, actively went out of her way to get rid of everything she saw as a weakness, including Taylor and her past friendship with her. When Emma took to bullying Taylor, she had taken much sadistic pleasure in doing so. Having once been Taylor's best friend and confident, Emma was very knowledgeable of Taylor's insecurities, weaknesses, habits, and secrets. She would use the information about her former friend to psychologically torture her, even going as far as using Annette's death to torment Taylor and even accuse her of being responsible for the death of her own mother.
Emma relished in attention and was quite vain too, Her attractive appearance and charisma had allowed her to draw people to her with ease, and these traits would greatly aid Emma with her ambitions for popularity in high school. Emma also appeared to be quite sheltered and detached with reality, regularly using her father to shield herself from suffering any real disciplinary actions or consequences for her actions, and also diminished the suffering of her classmates who stayed in refugee camps as Brockton Bay was devastated by Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse Nine, and Echidna. Though Taylor was Emma's preferred target, she also bullied others (including a disabled girl at a photoshoot).
After Taylor is outed as Skitter, Emma is both shocked and horrified, and it is likely that her worldview had been utterly shattered. The reality that Taylor a powerful supervillain (and thus vastly stronger than Emma and entirely capable of killing) had deeply disturbed Emma, and forced her to confront how close she was to goading Taylor into giving her a brutal and agonizing death. Emma is later reduced to trying to slander Taylor when investigators contact people who knew Skitter's civilian identity. On several occasions, when she was stressed, she refused to leave her room for long periods of time.[1][2] This unhealthy habit would eventually lead to Emma's death during Gold Morning, as she had stayed in her room when Scion's rampage destroyed her family's home.
Relationships[]
Taylor Hebert[]
She was Taylor Hebert's best friend[3]from grade one all the way through middle school[4]. They alternated staying at each others houses every weekend[4]. Alongside the Trio, she bullied Taylor mercilessly since the first day of high school[3].
As Taylor's life as a cape progressed, she felt herself grow increasingly indifferent and annoyed towards Emma and her shenanigans against her. Taylor contemplated attacking Emma at times, coming dangerously close to when Emma attempts to bully her at Arcadia and uses her mother to insult her. On that same day, Taylor took some pleasure in scaring Emma during the standoff with the heroes at Arcadia, using her to make a point to the heroes that they couldn't be entirely confident that she wouldn't hurt anyone. At the later stages of the standoff, Taylor looked upon the fearful Emma in the crowd, finding her pathetic and feeling offended by her mere presence. Taylor also contemplates killing Emma as well, before the heroes attempt to overtake her.
During Gold Morning, Taylor was surprised that Emma had died but wasn't very fazed by it. When Taylor comes across the Barnes family in a refugee camp, she realizes from the looks she was receiving from Emma's father and sister that they were placing blame on her for Emma's death. However, Taylor finds this behavior to be very absurd, being under no such delusions that Emma's immediate safety was her responsibility more than it was theirs. She wonders why they were able to escape the destruction and Emma had not, then concludes that the Barneses had most likely left Emma behind in order to save themselves. Refusing to humor the Barneses' belief in her being at fault for Emma's death, Taylor leaves without sparing a word.
The Trio[]
Emma was the informal leader of "the trio" consisting of herself, Madison Clements and Sophia Hess[3]. She called Sophia her best friend,[4] despite Sophia's survivor philosophy leading her to assault one of her best friends from childhood just so Emma could prove her strength.[1]
Madison would later regret her actions she committed alongside the rest of the trio against Taylor, feeling responsible for the latter's descent into villainy and the people that had been hurt and killed as a result. It was likely regretted Madison friendship with Emma to a significant extent if not completely.
Appearance[]
Emma was a tall, curvy redhead, who was pretty enough to do amateur modelling[3]. She apparently had a fairly-developed body even at just 13 years-old, with ABB thugs commenting on auctioning her off due to having 'tits'.[5] She later dyed her hair blond when moving to Arcadia High.[6]
History[]
Background[]
During the summer before Emma started Winslow High, she was attacked by members of the Azn Bad Boys and was saved by Shadow Stalker after she fought back. After this traumatic event, she felt the need to purge everything about the old, "weak" her which included her friendship with Taylor Hebert.
Emma then started bullying Taylor and used the psychological weaknesses Taylor had revealed to her when they were friends to hurt her. This bullying continued on for a year and a half before she, Madison, and Sophia started planning something big. After winter break, their plan was revealed to confine Taylor inside a locker full of used feminine products.[7]
Emma made sure that no one tried to help Taylor out of the locker.[8]
Story Start[]
The story opens with another act of harassment with Emma holding the door shut on Taylor while her friends doused the girl with juice.[3]
Post-Leviathan[]
She occasionally attempted to bully Taylor thereafter. She and her family were well off enough to flee the city.[9] She also remained in contact with Sophia until her imprisonment.
Post-Echidna[]
In July Emma returns to Brockton Bay, and at her first day at Arcadia tries to bully Taylor. After everything she went through, including fighting the Slaughterhouse Nine and Coil, Taylor is able to ignore and resist Emma's taunts and instead manages to rile Emma up, to the point where she lashes out with physical violence. In the Principal's office, Emma is forced to contend with a principal who was already in Tattletale's pocket (though she and Taylor were both unaware), and Principal Howell looked through the records and discovered that text messages Regent had forced Sophia to send, which outlined the years of bullying that Taylor had undergone. Howell decided to expel Emma from the Summer classes, and when Emma protested by saying that her dad was a lawyer, Howell simply responded that they would have many conversations. When the Wards led by Dragon and Defiant attacked the school, Emma was in the cafeteria when Dragon revealed Taylor's identity as Skitter. She became shocked upon hearing Taylor's confirmation, and afterwards when Taylor demonstrated her powers by making a centipede crawl on Emma's hand. When over 100 students sided with Taylor and tried to help her flee, Emma stood with her fists clenched muttering under her breath. Taylor couldn't waste effort to find out what she was saying, uncaring.
At some point, Director Tagg interviewed her and tried to persuade her to file charges against Taylor for an incident in which Taylor had punched her. While Emma's name was kept out of the media, word still got out of her involvement.
Gold Morning[]
Emma dies during Gold Morning[10][11] as a result of refusing to leave her room to evacuate.[2] When Taylor encounters the Barneses at a refugee camp in Brockton Bay, Emma's father and sister look at her accusingly.[10] Later, Taylor visits Sophia in prison and tells her that Emma had died, but Sophia already knew.[11]
Chapter Appearances[]
Fanart Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The circumstances of her death have led some readers to speculate that Emma took her own life, but Wildbow says this is not what happened.[12]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Interlude 19.z
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Comment by Wildbow on Reddit
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Gestation 1.1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Gestation 1.2
- ↑ Interlude 19.z
- ↑ Chrysalis 20.2
- ↑ Shell 4.3
- ↑ I believe it comes up again towards the end of the arc. Emma pressured others to avoid the situation, not interfere or help or befriend Taylor. What Taylor took to be apathy on the part of the larger student body was actually more orchestrated behind the scenes. - Another Comment by Wildbow on Reddit
- ↑ Sentinel 9.6
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Extinction 27.1
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Extinction 27.3
- ↑ Wildbow answering questions
[]
| Teachers | Mr. Gladly * • Mrs. Knott * • Mr. Quinlan * |
|---|---|
| Students | Taylor Hebert ‡ • Greg Veder ‡ • Sophia Hess ‡ • Emma Barnes ‡ • Madison Clements ‡ • Charlotte ‡ |