Demetra

Demetra is the eldest of her siblings and is the main protagonist of the Diamond Princess books. She is the ruler of the White Winterland.

The Ruby Princess Runs Away
In the week leading up to her coronation as the Diamond Princess, Demetra nervously stands in front of the mirror weaving white ribbons into her hair. On coronation day, she is crowned by the great wizard Gallivant along with Emily and Sabrina, but just as he is about to place the Ruby Crown on Roxanne's head the doors burst open to reveal another Roxanne. This other Roxanne with a torn dress and tangled hair declares that she is the rightful princess and that the other girl is Rudgrin, the daughter of the evil Lord Bleak who has been sent to impersonate the ruby princess. She claims that Rudgrin is wearing a magical shape-changing mask that allows her to look like Roxanne, but the girl accused of being Rudgrin orders the guards to arrest the other girl for being the real imposter. Demetra almost faints at the mention of the evil Lord, but after some confusion Gallivant announces that there is a way to determine the true Roxanne: each princess is born with a mark in the shape of her jewel. Whichever girl bears the mark must be the true princess. The messy Roxanne with thorns in her hair and dirt on her face smiles confidently and raises her right arm so everyone can see the teardrop mark on her wrist. Demetra and her sisters raise their wrists too, showing their own marks. Twitter, the palace secretary, pulls off Rudgrin's mask and reveals her twisted, ugly face to the whole court. The guards instantly take her out of the throne room as Demetra gently squeezes her sister's hand. The jewel princesses happily watch as Roxanne is crowned the rightful Ruby Princess at last.

The Sapphire Princess Meets a Monster
One morning, Princess Sabrina is anonymously given a beautiful golden picnic basket filled with good food. Sabrina chooses to share her gift with her three sisters and invites them to a picnic. As they paddle around the lake waiting for Roxanne, who is late as usual, Sabrina challenges Emily and Demetra to a race. Demetra thinks they should wait for Roxanne, but Emily is ready to go. Sabrina's royal adviser Zazz advises her to use a different boat since the one she's using is weighed down by her friend and pilot Gurt, the heavy golden basket, and all the picnic things. She offers to get another boat, but Emily tells Sabrina to simply hop onto hers so they can race Demetra together. When Sabrina tries to leave her boat, however, the picnic basket magically jumps into her hands. Demetra is uneasy by this display of magic and advises her sister to leave the basket alone, as they don't know who sent it. Sabrina shrugs off her concerns, however, and takes the opportunity to share a piece of chocolate with the hungry Zazz. Before they can take a bite, something knocks hard against the boat. Thinking that some water sprites may be playing a trick on her, Sabrina peers into the water and suddenly screams, falling into a faint.

Demetra fans Sabrina's face with a large leaf, but she doesn't wake until Emily splashes some cold lake water on her face. Sabrina shakily describes a terrifyingly huge, gray, sharp-toothed face she saw under the boat and Gurt dives in the water in the hopes of finding out what the creature may be, reporting when he returns that he followed a great shadow until it went into the part of the lake known as the Deep Dark. Zazz speculates that the creature may be the legendary Blue Lake Monster, a being that is thought to be a demon left over from the Dark Times when Lord Bleak ruled the land. Demetra is horrified at the mention of the Darkling Lord and is convinced that anything connected to him must be evil, but Sabrina is not so sure. Sabrina calms everyone down and encourages them all to eat their lunch, but no sooner does her hand touch the picnic basket than the monster's enormous gray head suddenly erupt above the water.

Sabrina quickly reaches into the small pouch at her waist and tosses her magical flying dust over her companions, who instantly rise into the air. She sends her sisters and Gurt to the safety of the palace while she and Zazz fly to Misty Marsh to consult the wise Storkz. At the Sapphire Palace, a worried Demetra and Emily watch as Gurt rallies together a crowd of Blue Lake dwellers in front of the palace and arms them with willow wands, urging them to hunt down and kill the monster. When Sabrina returns, she tells her sisters that she thinks it is very sweet that her people want to protect her, but she doesn't want anyone to get hurt, not even the monster. Demetra strongly advises her sister to leave for the safety of the Jewel Palace, but Sabrina gently reminds her that when she was crowned the Sapphire Princess, she promised to protect the people of the Blue Lake. Suddenly, Emily looks out the window and sees the monster's huge shadow underwater, heading straight for the oblivious crowd below. Demetra is frightened that it has come to the palace and notes that it could snap the crowd's willow wands with a single bite. Sabrina can't let it attack her people, so she decides to use her magic dust to fly over the creature and distract it. She tells her sisters that she'll lead it across the lake to the Spinning Pool, thinking it may get caught in the current and disappear forever. Demetra doesn't like her risky plan at all, but she and Emily promise to protect the people of the Blue Lake by keeping them on land as much as possible before Sabrina flies out the window. The next time she sees Sabrina, the monster's enormous head is in her lap.

Terrified that the monster has caught her sister, Demetra races alongside Demetra and Emily in leading the people of the Blue Lake to rescue Sabrina from the monster. However, they are thrown into complete confusion when the Sapphire Princess throws her arms protectively over its head and commands them to stay back. Although they had all thought the monster was trying to hurt her, Sabrina now suspects that the creature was only trying to help her. Demetra and the others see the golden picnic basket near the princess and notice that there are dead flies and ants surrounding the perfect food, indicating that it has been poisoned. Sabrina announces to her people that everything the creature did was to protect her from the poisoned food; it even ate a pear that she was about to bite to save her. She is devastated that the creature is dying of the poison and desperately wishes to help it somehow when Sage, leader of the Storkz, appears and informs the princess of a tiny purple flower that could cure the monster.

Sabrina fetches the flower herself and gently persuades the creature to eat it as Demetra and everyone else cautiously watch from a safe distance. When at last the creature opens its eyes, it begins to cry and begs the princess not to look at its ugliness. Demetra is shocked to hear it explain that it used to be a beautiful mermaid called Oona, the spirit of the Blue Lake, before Lord Bleak cursed her into her monstrous form. Everyone including Demetra is extremely ashamed from how they treated Oona just because she looked ugly and evil, and sincerely apologize to her. Oona accepts their apology, overjoyed to finally be able to talk to someone without them running away in terror. Sabrina would like to hold a celebration complete with a feast, but with her picnic basket full of poisoned food she has nothing for them all to eat. Fortunately, Roxanne finally arrives on Hapgood to the joy and exasperation of her sisters. The girls try to explain the adventure they just had as they waited for her, mentioning that their picnic basket was poisoned and that Sabrina's only alive because their new friend Oona saved her. A shocked Roxanne tells them about the very upset Darklings she and Hapgood saw earlier and the girls speculate that the evil creatures were probably angry that their plan to poison Sabrina failed. Luckily, Hapgood had thought ahead and reveals their own picnic baskets with enough food for everyone.

The Diamond Princess Saves the Day
Demetra and her younger sister Sabrina are ice skating together in front of the Diamond Palace when Demetra confesses that she and her royal advisor Finley do nothing but bicker constantly. The planning of the Winterfest festival is only making things worse and Demetra can't take it anymore. She asks her gentle sister for advice, recognizing that she and Finley are supposed to be on the same side, like how her sisters are friends with their advisors. Sabrina delicately mentions that her eldest sister tends to be a little bossy, and that probably isn't helping her become friends with Finley. Demetra grudgingly admits that she may be bossy, but so is know-it-all Finley. Sabrina patiently reminds her sister that he probably does know it all, since he has grown up in the White Winterland and she has only recently become its ruler. Demetra retorts that that's no reason he should call her names like he did when the were planning Winterfest. Suddenly, none other than Finley interrupts their conversation, reporting that Sparkle Mountain has an odd green cloud circling the tallest peak and that in order to investigate it, he has arranged for sleigh to take them both there. The Diamond Princess asks Sabrina to oversee the Winterfest preparations until she returns and attempts to order Finley to stay and help her little sister, but he insists on going with her to the mountain, pointing out that the path is tricky and he knows the way, not Demetra. Sabrina agrees with Finley, saying that she doesn't want Demetra to get lost, especially with Winterfest on the way. An unenthusiastic Demetra allows Finley to join her and prepares to give Rolf, the reindeer pulling the sleigh, directions, but Finley beats her to it, much to her irritation.

Despite Finley's assurances that he knows the way, they get lost in the thick green fog. Demetra and Finley explore on foot, bickering all the way until they stumble upon the rabbit Alpenglow. Crying, she whimpers that the Goblin Elsinor and his mining team are trapped inside the mountain and she couldn't help them get out. Demetra comforts the little rabbit, forgetting all about her magic mirror until Finley pushes her to use it to see if the Goblins are hurt. Annoyed, she moves away from Finley and checks on the Goblins, seeing that they appear to be unhurt, but huddled together on a large white mound in some sort of crystal cave. Demetra grimly decides to go in after them, but Finley reminds her that they have no idea where the entrance is in all the fog. Luckily, Alpenglow points out the door right behind them. Finley is terribly frightened of going inside, recalling all of the stories about a great danger lurking somewhere within the mountain, and the fact that the Goblins who dared to go inside got trapped in a cave-in do not make him feel any better. Demetra offers to explore the mountain alone, but Finley puffs out his little chest in an effort to be brave and even leads the way.

The door reveals two tunnels. The one on the right is spacious and dark, but the one on the left is smaller and sparkles with light. Demetra likes the one filled with light, but Finley argues that doesn't like how small it is and worries that they may get trapped. He prefers the solid rock of the dark tunnel, but Demetra points out that they don't know what could be lurking in its shadows. Although she would never admit it to Finley, Demetra is afraid of the dark and decides to use her mirror to figure out which tunnel they should choose, but it only shows her the same image she saw before. However, Elsinor and the Goblins are shown to be in the light, so she marches down the left fork no matter what Finley says. Reluctantly, he goes with her because its his duty to protect her as a royal advisor.

As the tunnel becomes narrower and narrower, forcing Demetra to crawl on her hands and knees, Finley feels that it is also his duty to mention that she made the wrong choice. Scowling, Demetra knows he's right, but stubbornly continues down the tunnel just to spite him until she literally bumps into a dead end. Right on cue, Finley declares that the other tunnel would have been better. Thoroughly annoyed, Demetra calls him out on the way he insists on pointing out every single mistake she makes, but he retorts that advising her is his job as royal advisor. She shoots back that advisors advise, not criticize. Finley counters that she doesn't listen to his advice, she argues with him. About everything. The princess admits that she did indeed fight most of his suggestions on Winterfest, but it still wasn't right to call her names. After a long silence, Finley quietly says that she had called him a name, so he called her one because his feelings were hurt. Wincing, Demetra remembers that she forgot she called him a snotty furball. But just as she is about to apologize to him, a low rumbling sound like snoring -or growling- stops her. Realizing with dread that the sound is coming from behind the wall in front of them, they hurriedly turn back. Finley full-on sprints down the tunnel, saying that he's going home where there is no danger of meeting some terrible, rumbling thing. Demetra manages to catch his tail just as he grabs the door handle, begging him to stay with her and help rescue the Goblins because she can't do it on her own, since she's afraid of the dark. This revelation surprises Finley so much, he lets go of the door handle and they tumble backwards into the shadowy tunnel.

Unable to find Finley or indeed, see anything, Demetra grows worried when the little fox doesn't answer her. She slowly, cautiously explores the darkness in search of him while trying her best to suppress her fears of the scary thing that is rumored to be somewhere in the mountain. Soon, the princess comes across an odd beam of light that shines from the crystalled ceiling to the floor. Unfortunately Demetra is so focused on looking up at the patch of blue sky, she doesn't notice that the sunlight is shining through the floor until she's already falling. Before she hits the broken rock and crystal scattered on the ground, she is caught by Elsinor. Quickly recovering from her shock, she asks about Finley and is relieved to see that he, and all the trapped miners, had all fallen through the floor and into the strange crystal cavern too. Thankfully, they had landed on small, soft, white hill. They report that they had searched the cavern for any way out, but their only way to escape is through the hole they came in. Knowing that no one would know where to look for them, the Goblins had made a signal by mixing peridot ore with water which resulted in the green mist blanketing Sparkle Mountain's peak. Suddenly, the white hill they're standing on starts to rumble as if there's an earthquake, but the Goblins are hardly bothered and simply steady Finley and the princess. They say the rumbling happens all the time and is occasionally accompanied by a loud, low noise, almost like snoring. Demetra examines the ground more closely, noticing that what they had thought was white grass feels more like fur. As she continues to feel along the hill, she comes across what feels like a nose and a tooth. Just as Demetra deduces with alarm that the hill is in fact an enormous bear, it rises up on its legs and lifts them almost to the ceiling.

Everyone is too terrified to speak until Elsinor gathers his courage and introduces himself. The bear angrily asks if Lord Bleak sent them, believing that the Darkling leader is still the ruler of the Jewel Kingdom. Demetra quickly corrects him, declaring that she is the princess of the White Winterland, daughter of King Regal and Queen Jemma, but the bear doesn't believe her. He has been a prisoner of Lord Bleak for years, trapped in the cavern with nothing to do but sleep. Furthermore, he refuses to help them get out of the cavern because he suspects that they'll report to Lord Bleak that he is now free and ready to fight him again. Finley loses patience and tries to explain that Lord Bleak has been banished, but the bear is utterly convinced that he is lying and knocks him to the floor, pinning him beneath one enormous paw. Demetra doesn't hesitate and commands the bear to release Finley, announcing that she can prove Lord Bleak is no longer in power by using her magic mirror. The suspicious bear finally allows her to use it, but she will only if he agrees to let them go. After some thought, the bear agrees to let the Goblins and Finley go, but the princess must stay with him. Although terribly frightened, one look at the gasping Finley gives her the courage to accept his conditions.

The bear hoists each of the Goblins out through the hole in the ceiling, but when he reaches for Finley the little fox refuses. Demetra hisses at him to get out of there and go get help, but her royal advisor replies that his place is beside his friend. The princess is so touched by the sweetness of the gesture, her eyes fill with tears. The bear is less impressed and impatiently reminds her that she was going to use her mirror to show him Lord Bleak. She corrects him, saying that she intends to show him her parents, the current king and queen of the Jewel Kingdom, but the bear snaps that he wants to see Lord Bleak. However, Demetra is none too eager to see the reportedly-hideous Darkling Lord and suggests that the bear use her mirror instead. Although he initially refuses to touch it, suspecting a trick, Finley proves that the mirror is harmless by holding it himself and saying the incantation that activates its scrying powers, explaining that all the bear has to do now is say whatever it is he'd like to see. Unfortunately, the little fox gets carried away and states what he'd like to see: all of his friends at the Winterfest parade. Its silvery surface shimmers into a reflecting pool and Demetra cries out, realizing that the mirror is responding to the third and final wish of the day.

The bear is furious and is about to smash the mirror on the rocks, but luckily he sees something in its surface that makes him hesitate. Leaning over the bear's shoulder, Demetra sees the pegasus Charger, and her three sisters, leading the parade. The bear, absolutely amazed, softly explains that Charger is his closest friend. Together, they had tried to overthrow Lord Bleak, but were unsuccessful. The two were captured and separated and the bear was imprisoned deep within the mountain, assuming that Charger was dead. Finley clarifies that Charger somehow managed to fight twenty Darklings at once and escape, with the battle scars to prove it. Seeing his friend alive and well finally convinces the bear that Lord Bleak is gone at last. The prospect of freedom, once so far away as to be a mere dream, overwhelms the bear and he cries tears of joy. Meanwhile, Demetra sees the parade veer towards Sparkle Mountain and notices that everyone's faces are worried, realizing that they're all coming to rescue her and Finley. The bear joyfully punches a bigger hole in the roof and has Demetra help him put on a special red collar studded with diamonds, wanting to look his best when he greets Charger after so many years. As Demetra and Finley fuss over him to make him look presentable, the bear belatedly introduces himself as Bernard. Soon, they are ready to meet the parade. Demetra and Finley clamber onto Bernard's back and prepare to journey through the shadowy tunnel, Finley thoughtfully holding Demetra's hand to help her make it through her fear of the dark. Within minutes, the diamond princess is running to her sisters as Charger flies to Bernard. Sabrina surreptitiously asks if Demetra and Finley are still fighting, but they both assure her that although they can get on each other's nerves, they have nevertheless become the best of friends.

Abilities
Scrying- Demetra can see anyone, anywhere when she looks into the magical gold-and-diamond mirror given to her by the great wizard Gallivant on her coronation. However, she can only use its magic three times per day. She keeps the mirror tied at her waist.

Skilled Skater- As ruler of the icy White Winterland, Demetra has plenty of opportunities to practice ice skating.

Trivia

 * The 1997 version of Demetra plaits white ribbons into her braid, which always rests over her left shoulder. The 2020 version has short hair instead.
 * Demetra's dress is made of white velvet.
 * In the short film adaptation of The Ruby Princess Runs Away, she is played by Amirah Said.