Amelia Jersey

***Amelia Jersey*** is one of the four agents who work for the Special Ops group, The Blacklist (Group). She's in a relationship with Vanessa Newton throughout the whole series - they start dating near the start of The Blacklist. Amelia is best friends with Shaunna Royalsden, and also close friends with her fellow agents - Toby Rieper (her boss) and Ralph Lindsay.

Amelia is a skilled and talented agent, with many years of military experience in the SBS and SAS, which led her to have an additional specialisation in swimming, diving, and boating. Although mostly serious at work, she has a bubbly and loud personality, and gets along with everyone. She loves to mess around from time to time and have fun with her friends and girlfriend. Her personality sometimes clashes with that of Ralph's, and she often frustrates the male members of her team during serious missions; but at the end of the day, they all get along and always get the job done. Having had no emotional support from her family throughout her life, Amelia struggles with trusting people and this leads her to keeping secrets from others, which sometimes results in difficult situations with her friends and loved ones. But she places the ones she loves, especially Vanessa, above her, even going as far as leaving The Blacklist (Group) at one point to protect her girlfriend from trouble.

## Biography

> "*Joined The Blacklist in 2015. Before that, Lieutenant in the SBS and then Corporal in the SAS before being transferred to CTU work.*"
> ― Toby Rieper in The Blacklist: Reunited
>
>

***Amelia Jersey*** was born on the 13th November 1990, in Bolton, Manchester, into a stable working class family. She is somewhat close to her parents, although she never had the courage to tell them about her sexuality until she returns to Manchester later on in her life. Her older sister was also not very prevalent in her life, as she moved out when Amelia was still in early years of secondary education. Although she never achieved outstanding grades, she passed school and college securely, but realising that maybe a traditional route wasn't for her.

After finishing college, she started a University course in engineering as her parents wanted to, although she quickly dropped out in favour of transferring to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) in Camberley, where she left her family and began her training as an officer. After completing the three month Officer Training programme, she then went on to do Reserve Officer training and expand her skills. Shortly after commissioning from the RMAS, Amelia was placed into training for the Special Boat Service (SBS) at the age 19 in 2009, which led her to undergo a series of ferocious training; a 2-week aptitude test, followed by a Joint Special Forces Selection (JSFS) which lasted for 6 months, after which Amelia was given the rank of Second Lieutenant. During this time, Amelia gained much of her military experience, including specialisation in swimming, diving, and boating. Amelia held this rank for only 6 months, until her Captain recognised her abilities and promoted her to Lieutenant.

However, Amelia only remained in the SBS for two years, as she was less interested in being a leader and moreso a soldier. She was able to be transferred to the Special Air Service (SAS) in 2012 at the age of 22, where she quickly passed her training and partook in various roles, including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action and covert reconnaissance. Although very rare, Amelia's outstanding skills led her to stand out to the higher ups, and she was selected to be instantly promoted to Corporal due to her previous military experience as an officer. She remained in the SAS until 2014, when she wanted to step down and was transferred to a Counter Terrorist Unit (CPU) in Manchester.

During her time back at home, she attempted but failed to rebuild a relationship with her parents. She lived with them for a few months, before getting her own apartment in the city centre. She first met Vanessa Newton on her commute to work, and they became very close friends. Although they slowly started developing feelings, neither of them was able to be honest with each other and they remained just good friends. In 2015 and at the age of 25, Amelia was recruited alongside Ralph Lindsay and began working as a Special Ops Agent in The Blacklist (Group), where she also became good friends with Shaunna Royalsden and her leader Toby Rieper. Amelia started dating Vanessa in 2018, at the start of The Blacklist, and they remained together since.

Amelia is aged 28 in The Blacklist, aged 33 in The Blacklist: Reunited, and aged 41 in The Blacklist: Lost.

## Appearance

### In The Blacklist

**Amelia Jersey Appearance**
 Build
 Hair
 Eyes
 Skin Complexion
 Facial Features
 Special Features

## Role in The Blacklist

Amelia constantly changes throughout the book as she discovers more about herself. She has grown up to be a secretive person, as she always had to keep her real self away from the world, which has led to difficulty in being able to trust people. After failing to re-establish a relationship with her parents, Amelia lost her self-worth and felt like she wasn't a good enough person for anyone. But although this is happening in her mind, on the outside she seems like a very happy and radiant person, who gets along very well with everyone and is always fun to be around. She loves messing around and having a good time with her friends, which Ralph Lindsay isn't always impressed about. She is close friends with Shaunna Royalsden and helps her open up and feel relaxed to just be herself, which Shaunna Royalsden finds inspiring.

At the start of the book Amelia still hasn't told Vanessa Newton the truth about her past and current career and instead keeps secrets from her. She also doesn't immediately tell her that she loves her too, but eventually they start dating as they both always wanted. Their relationship is tested when Vanessa Newton accidentally finds out about Amelia's career, which causes them to have a big falling out and Vanessa Newton to stop trusting her. Amelia realises her mistakes when she almost loses the person she loves the most. She promises to be more truthful with her and even goes as far as deciding to resign from The Blacklist (Group) if it meant they could be together. This doesn't last long as Toby Rieper later brings her back. She doesn't tell the group straight away that's she resigning, but Vanessa Newton reminds her that she needs to be honest with them too. As another act of honesty, Amelia visits her parents before they go to London to come out to them, and they're happy with each other for the first time in her life. Amelia remains in touch with Vanessa Newton after their incident and makes sure to update her about everything that happens.

Amelia is also a very skilled agent with many years of military experience. She even has leadership experience, but she always allows Toby Rieper his responsibilities as a boss, although she does give him helpful advice and gives the most suggestions out of the three agents. She doesn't have as much of a close connection to the actual group though, and she doesn't fight for it as much as Shaunna Royalsden wants to when Toby Rieper and Ralph Lindsay go rogue. This causes tension between them and Amelia eventually lashes out and says things that she didn't mean to say to her. They fall out until Amelia apologises to Shaunna Royalsden and they decide they are best when they stick together. Amelia sticks by Shaunna Royalsden's side until the end, and stays with her when she gets injured at the battle of the Buckingham Palace.

## Role in The Blacklist: Reunited

Amelia changed a lot in the 5 year gap when it comes to her life aspirations and her relationship. She is happy with Vanessa Newton after leaving The Blacklist (Group) and isn't keen on the idea of returning to her old life. When Shaunna Royalsden calls her at the start to talk about her seeing Toby Rieper across her street, Amelia gets annoyed and hangs up. It's only when Toby Rieper personally calls her that she realises the scope of the situation. She takes Vanessa Newton and they visit Ralph Lindsay for the first time in years, who they notice has also changed. After Shaunna Royalsden's attempted assassination, Amelia gets herself involved in The Blacklist (Group) again, but this time Vanessa Newton refuses to let her go so they stay together during the majority of the book. We get to see how much they developed together, having a lot more shared memories and being much more honest and truthful with each other. Amelia especially has learned her lesson and no longer keeps so many secrets from her.

Amelia realises how much she missed the action, and more importantly her old friends. She thinks about it a lot, and puts a lot of importance on her relations with people, such as taking the situation about Penny Steiker's kidnapping very seriously. She falls out with Ralph Lindsay when he refuses to help and attacks her and Vanessa Newton's relationship. When Toby Rieper comes back, she gets along with him well during missions and has lots of fun feeling like a special ops agent again. Although she is still very skilled, there are some funny moments where she is a bit out of practice and needs to get back into it. Because she enjoys being back and doesn't want to lose her friends again, at the end of the book she asks Ralph Lindsay if she can rejoin The Blacklist (Group).

Amelia also reinstates her friendship with Shaunna Royalsden after they hadn't spoken for five years. She helps her through her hard times and is there for her when she slowly climbs out of her depression, although that only truly happens when the chemical stops working on Toby Rieper. Amelia and Shaunna Royalsden promise each other that they won't leave each other again and they need to stay close forever. Their goofy chemistry redevelops and they return to their old ways as best friends. Shaunna Royalsden also follows Amelia in joining The Blacklist (Group) again at the end of the book.

## Quotes

### In The Blacklist

* "Because the world doesn’t revolve around you, Shaunna! You’ve been like this ever since you got shot and we all had to stop the mission to save YOU!"