Emily Wilde is the protagonist of the novel, which is told through her first-person journal entries. Since completing her encyclopaedia of faeries, Emily has acquired a tenured researcher position through the University of Cambridge. She treasures academics above nearly all else, which is evidenced in her long, constantly unkempt brown hair which is mostly due to “past several weeks [spent] descending into one of [her] obsessive periods, when [she] can think of little else beyond the subject of [her] research” (8). Her dedication to research is also exemplified in the missing finger on her left hand—a lasting consequence from her latest expedition to Ljosland.

Emily is a seasoned recluse with an ineptitude for socialization yet is consistently forced into social situations by her friend and potential fiancé, Wendell Bambleby, which she fears will affect the impartiality of her research. Her continued puzzling over whether to accept Wendell’s marriage proposal offers further evidence of the theme Balancing Objectivity and Subjectivity, as her growing feelings for him place her mission in jeopardy many times when she acts on desperation rather than intuition. Her decision by the end of the novel to accept Wendell’s proposal and take a brief break from academia illustrates the character growth Emily experiences in this regard.