Emma Kliesen (エマ・クリーゼン Ema Kurīzen?) is a minor character in the Tekken series. She is Leo's mother and Niklas's wife. She was killed by Kazuya Mishima prior to the events of Tekken 6.
Story[]
Emma worked for the Mishima Zaibatsu under Heihachi Mishima, and was a genetic research scientist involved in trying to create supersoldiers through genetic experimentation, in attempt to emulate the Devil Gene's power.[2] The program used the genes and eggs of the then-cryogenically frozen Nina Williams to create babies to experiment on, Steve Fox being one of these. The research program continued for many years and involved the deaths of many children who failed in the early experimental process.[3] Emma was the scientist in charge of observing Steve Fox (then known as Subject NT01) and grew attached to the boy. She came to see him as a human rather than just an experiment. She was admonished by her superiors for unprofessional emotional attachment and relocated.[4] The supersoldier program was declared a failure, but Emma was still able to help Steve by declaring Subject NT01 dead at the age of 6 while, in reality, he had been transferred to an orphanage in the United Kingdom. Emma also helped Niklas fake his death to escape threats from the Zaibatsu on his life, maintaining contact with Niklas without Leo knowing.
An undisclosed amount of time after this, Emma left the Mishima Zaibatsu and joined G Corporation as an executive.[5][6] Prior to the fourth tournament, she worked for Kazuya Mishima researching the Devil Gene. As she began to understand the threat the Devil Gene posed, Emma began researching weaknesses of the Devil Gene in a top-secret facility in Nepal. Before Emma could complete this research, however, Heihachi sent in Tekken Force to infiltrate both the Nepal and Nebraska facilities of G Corporation, stealing the data Emma had gathered and destroying the Nepal facility entirely. Kazuya, being held in the Nebraska facility, was able to single-handedly defend it from attack, causing higher-ups within G Corporation to begin seeing him as a threat. In order to deal with him, these executives attempted and failed to kill Kazuya in an explosion at the main Mishima Estate. Knowing Kazuya would seek revenge due to their betrayal, and that she was likely to be caught in his path and killed as well, Emma entrusted to Niklas a journal with instructions to secure what remained of her research on the Devil Gene.[7][8]
Emma had planned for a message to automatically be sent to Leo on the eve of her death, stating in the letter that if Leo wished to know the truth, they would need to recover the data stored in G Corporation's Institute for the Study of Prehistoric Civilizations. Upon infiltrating, Leo reunited with Niklas, the two of them successful in retrieving Emma's data. What remained of Emma's research was then shared with Yggdrasil forces in order to be used to help stop Kazuya's continued path of destruction.[9]
Relationships[]
- Niklas Kliesen - Her Husband. Emma and Niklas had been investigating the Devil Gene origin for long-time.
- Leo Kliesen - Her child. Leo is trying to find out about Emma's death and bring justice to her killer, Kazuya.
- Steve Fox - Her test subject. Emma grew fond of Steve and smuggled him to safety away from the Mishima Zaibatsu.
- Heihachi Mishima - Her former employer. Emma worked for Heihachi on his Mishima Zaibatsu supersoldier program, experimenting on children for him. Prior to Tekken 4, where Emma work for G Corporation, Heihachi stole her research data at the corporation's Nepal branch.
- Kazuya Mishima - Her employer at G Corporation as well as her killer. Kazuya murdered Emma while getting his revenge on the G Corporation executives that had betrayed him, making her death look like an accident.
- Doctor Abel - They both worked on Devil Gene related research for the Mishima Zaibatsu at the same time.
- Azazel - At some point, both Emma and Niklas came to know about the monster's existence and its relation to the Devil Gene.
Trivia[]
- Whilst Emma's full story relies on endings from the non-canonical spin-off game Tekken Tag Tournament 2, it is highly likely that these endings are canonical, especially since many facts in them are confirmed in Tekken 7 and flashbacks from TTT2 are present in Steve's Tekken 7 ending.
- According to Leo's Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ending, the supersoldier program Emma was involved in was related to Heihachi's Devil Gene research. Heihachi was attempting to create a synthetic version of the Devil Gene.
- In Tekken 8, it was revealed that Emma had been involved actively as a researcher on the Devil Gene for G Corporation.[10] Kazuya's mastery over the Devil Gene (end of Tekken 4) occurred at the same time as G Corp executives betrayed him (start of Tekken 5), so his need for a Devil Gene research department lapsed at the same time that he began seeking out G Corp executives who betrayed him. Emma may have fallen into both of these categories, as an executive working on Devil Gene research. Leo Kliesen however has only surmised the former - that their mother must have been killed when the research was no longer required. This was about a year before the events of Tekken 8, matching the timeline of Kazuya's G Corporation takeover.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ Katsuhiro Harada @Harada_TEKKEN, Twitter, 4:21 PM Jun 13, 2024. Note that information is not stated in-game and only comes from a database of information provided by series developer Katsuhiro Harada.
- ^ See Leo's Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ending and Steve's Tekken 7 ending.
- ^ Nina mentions that the project failed and Steve must be one of the survivors.
- ^ See Steve Fox's Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ending.
- ^ See Leo Kliesen's Tekken 6 profile.
- ^ Tekken 8 - Tekken 4 (G Corp)
- ^ See Leo Kliesen's Tekken 8 profile.
- ^ Tekken 8 - Emma Kliesen's Journal
- ^ Tekken 8 Side Story - A Serendipitous Reunion (Leo Kliesen)
- ^ See Leo Kliesen's Tekken 8 profile.