Elizabeth Lyones (shirayuki)/Elaina Hiragi

Elaina Hīragi (イレイナ・柊; Ireina Hīragi) is a main character and a female protagonist, as well as being one of Shirayuki's closest friends. She is the second princess of the prestigious and rich Kingdom of Liones. After leaving her kingdom out of bordem, she arrives in Clarines, though she hides her title and later leaves due to becoming an assassination target. She later returns in Shirayuki's time of need, announcing her title at the same time, later deciding to remain in Clarines as a strategist & a waitress for the Boar Hat.

Appearance
Elaina is described as a beautiful young girl with long ashen hair (lavender in the anime) with fringes covering her right eye, and the large bow on the back of her head is a dark shade of magenta and is at the end of a twisted braid. Zen describes her as having clear, piercing red eyes that seemed to stare out at the world and skin so pale that it was almost transparent to her blood.

Elaina's main outfit consists of a black, yellow buttoned halter-top, with light green details, as well as a magenta bow tie and a white web belt with a gold waist-plate. Along with that, a black pleated skirt with a light grey petticoat, and black boots with white and gold details. She occasionally wears a black cloak, with light green details on the inside and at the end of the sleeves and hood. She always has her royal crest on hand, although she doesn't have it on her belongings as a way to hide her lineage. She often swaps out her hair bow for wing-like adornments around her ears.

Personality
At first glance, she is polite and timid, but it is just a persona for others to save face. Elaina has a sarcastic, apathetic attitude and does not put much emotion into her words. She loves teasing others and is quite dry-humored. Despite her jaded personality, she is notably more kind and unprejudiced towards commoners, even addressing them with the titles 'lord' and 'lady' at first. As she grew up, Elaina's personality was rumored to be dangerous, cold, and alluring.

Despite the rumurs, Elaina is a kind and helpful young woman who cannot abandon another in trouble. She's an animal and nature lover, taming wolves and horses with ease. Elaina is also very serious and despite her kind personality, she will not hesitate to get physical with those that challenge her authority or make fun of her abilities, such as singing. She even challenged Zen to a duel after an argument over how to handle a war document. She is not afraid to act out on her own and will take matters into her own hands from time to time. Rarely, Elaina shows that she can have a scary and manipulating side. As a leader, Elaina takes a calm and strategic approach to situations. Elaina was once given the epithet Fairy Tactician, as she led her team to many victories thanks to her exceptional skill in making strategies during battles. However, Elaina can miscalculate a strategy every now and then, and upon learning one was a failure, she usually doesn't take it well.

Her personality while fighting is steady and momentum is used to keep her scythe active around foes. At times, she lacks self-control and will get mad easily, increasing her tone and growling. Elaina keeps her developing emotions for Obi in reserve, as she says she wants to keep her feelings "professional" and because of this, she shows to have a tsundere side.

Due to her circumstances surrounding her family, Elaina grew up only trusting Zack, and never truly cared about anyone else until her friendship with Shirayuki was formed. She shows surprisingly little emotions when talking to Shirayuki about her sister's death, suggesting that Elaina is emotionally detached to people she knows and keeps her friends away at an arm's length.

Her outlook on life was quite cynical which is why she didn't bother with friendships since they would all die eventually. She had also been a prized military asset of her kingdom and sent to fight on the front lines for so long that she had no regard for human life or her own since they all would become a statistic when they died anyway. When people around her died, she hardly batted an eye at it because, to her, it was just a fact of life that everyone dies. Elaina always kept people at arm's length with mocking humor, nihilism, and emotional detachment.

Elaina is revealed to be a lonely girl, shut away in an apartment on her own. With high expectations of herself Elaina thought how her older sister was a once-in-a-century genius and so she could not live up to these expectations. Whilst Mahiru and Zack remained her only friend but in the end, Mahiru abandoned her, and that shattered Elaina's resolve to form bonds with others. When Zack offered to take care of her after seeing the mess in her apartment, she pushed him away, claiming that he was only there to use and exploit her. Elaina's lack of faith in others caused her to believe that she can only rely on herself, as there is no one else to trust. Because of this, she trusts people less overall and is more negative about things, and messy if she is alone.

Elaina shows that she does not care about the conflict inside her family, claiming that family conflicts are what caused the death of her older sister. Unlike Kureto, she lacks ambition and only wants to serve the kingdom well. She explained to some soldiers that she does not actively seek a rise in rank, and her lack of ambition (and Mahiru overshadowing her) is what caused her to be cast out from her family.

She is a nimble and skilled fighter, able to switch modes of combat quickly from swords to hand-combat though her main weapon of choice is a scythe.

Trivia

 * Elaina is shown as an animal and nature lover.


 * Elaina only likes being called "Her Highness" or "Princess" when commanding authority.


 * Elaina has heightened senses, being compared to a wolf.
 * Elaina is also shown to have a strong range in battle, she can jump very far and sprint very fast. She has good strength in her arms, and legs for tough kicking skills. Her arm muscles are used for punching, as well as carrying and use for her scythe.
 * She can see in low-light.
 * Elaina does have high agility & stamina, which causes her to jump and move easily, jumping over fences and walls way taller than her.
 * When asked what her type was, Elaina says she is oblivious to love and is unsure of her type. Although she claims its not Zen, "Anyone but Zen."
 * When asked again she answered "A prince on a white horse, of course. Oh, but what kind of person is this Prince Charming? He came from The Little Red Riding Hood, right?"


 * According to the TV Anime 108 Fanbook:
 * She does not have a favorite color.
 * To her, a person that gets bullied easily is Zen.
 * She has a complex about her worth.
 * According to the Manga 8.5 Fanbook:
 * She likes her long hair.
 * Favorite food: Tacoyaki and tea.


 * She prefers being outside in town than cooped up in a castle.
 * She is a skilled and highly respected strategist.