01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded?

Eglantines are a type of flower also known as the eglantine rose or sweetbriar! The name comes from a Latin word meaning “prickly”, since being roses the plants are thorny. Eglantines are known to have a sweet, apple-like smell and their rosehips can be used to make jams and teas rich with Vitamin C. In Victorian floriography, eglantines represent “a wound to heal”.

Eggie’s name was chosen main since it was an elegant, if slightly old fashioned, flower name that I thought fit something Diantha would pick (as Cressida’s name was chosen by Cynthia). However, the various meanings and symbolism of the plant also relate to her somewhat abrasive and aggressive character and her role in helping bring closure to Cynthia’s family after many years of unknowns and questions (thus ‘healing the wound’.)

21. What is one of your character’s biggest fears? How would they react when dealing with this fear?

One of Églantine’s biggest fears is losing control. While she often comes across as spontaneous and unpredictable, in reality she carefully plans all her actions. When the unexpected happens, she panics easily and isn’t very good at making impulsive or quick decisions. As a result, she tends to freeze up in tense situations that she hasn’t accounted for, so dreads such moments. She often ends up overanalyzing and overplanning in order to avoid being caught off guard, which can lead to her getting quite stressed out. When things don’t go to plan, Églantine can get aggressive, trying to hide how scared she is by the unknown.

Related to this, she also fears being “out of the loop” and not knowing an important piece of information she really should have known to get the full picture, which leads to her intensive studies of Sinnoh’s myths and legends, trying to ensure she doesn’t miss a single detail. She’s somewhat aware of these fears and views them as weaknesses to overcome. She already feels a bit like the odd one out of her family, energetic and easily irritated compared to her composed and elegant mothers and siblings, so takes every opportunity to face her fears head on in the hopes of becoming more like them.

37. What are some of your character’s pet peeves? What are some things that annoy them or disgust them?

Églantine is quite impatient and is the type of person who needs to be doing something she feels is productive as much as possible, so people who are leisurely, often late, or easily distracted get on her nerves to no end. She’s prone to snapping at people if she feels they’re wasting her time, and is hyper-vigilant about tardiness of any sort. People who talk slowly also fall into this list and she cannot stand them.

Eggie is also easily irritated by distracting or annoying repetitive noises, like leaky faucets, rusty hinges, or snoring (if she’s camping or rooming with another person). Being stuck in an environment with such noises will slowly drive her to the breaking point until she ends up either leaving in a storm (“I can’t hear myself THINK!”) or dealing with the annoyance herself (often with prejudice). People loudly chewing also bothers her a lot and she considers it disgusting. Her ideal working environment for maximum productivity is either silent or full of pleasing ambience like birdsong (but NOT windchimes she hates those too).