diff --git a/default/bash/envs b/default/bash/envs
index e4763d6c..ac608cb7 100644
--- a/default/bash/envs
+++ b/default/bash/envs
@@ -16,6 +16,18 @@ export MANPAGER="sh -c 'col -bx | bat -l man -p'"
 # other non-interactive non-login bash sessions still get OMARCHY_PATH.
 [ -r /usr/share/omarchy/default/bash/env-bootstrap ] && . /usr/share/omarchy/default/bash/env-bootstrap
 
+# /etc/profile.d/locale.sh is what puts /etc/locale.conf into the environment,
+# and it only runs for login shells. Bash started by SSH or herdr's remote
+# bridge misses it and lands in the C locale, where printf emits \u/\U escapes
+# literally instead of the character. Mirror locale.sh for those sessions.
+if [ -z "${LANG:-}" ]; then
+  [ -r /etc/locale.conf ] && . /etc/locale.conf
+  LANG="${LANG:-C.UTF-8}"
+  export LANG LANGUAGE LC_CTYPE LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME LC_COLLATE LC_MONETARY \
+    LC_MESSAGES LC_PAPER LC_NAME LC_ADDRESS LC_TELEPHONE LC_MEASUREMENT \
+    LC_IDENTIFICATION
+fi
+
 case ":$PATH:" in
   *":$HOME/.local/bin:"*) ;;
   *) export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.local/bin" ;;
diff --git a/test/shell.d/locale-env-test.sh b/test/shell.d/locale-env-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5a104a70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/shell.d/locale-env-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+source "$(dirname "$0")/base-test.sh"
+
+envs="$ROOT/default/bash/envs"
+
+# Non-login bash (SSH, herdr's remote bridge) never sources
+# /etc/profile.d/locale.sh, so without this the shell runs in the C locale.
+lang=$(env -u LANG bash -c 'source "$1"; printf "%s" "$LANG"' bash "$envs")
+[[ -n $lang ]] || fail "bash env sets a locale when none is inherited"
+pass "bash env sets a locale when none is inherited"
+
+[[ ${lang,,} == *utf-8 || ${lang,,} == *utf8 ]] ||
+  fail "bash env picks a UTF-8 locale" "actual: $lang"
+pass "bash env picks a UTF-8 locale"
+
+lang=$(LANG=en_DK.UTF-8 bash -c 'source "$1"; printf "%s" "$LANG"' bash "$envs")
+[[ $lang == "en_DK.UTF-8" ]] || fail "bash env preserves the inherited locale" "actual: $lang"
+pass "bash env preserves the inherited locale"
+
+# The symptom that started this: bash only converts \u/\U escapes above 0x7f
+# when the locale's charset can encode them, so default/bash/aliases prints the
+# zoxide folder glyph as a literal "\U000F17A9" in the C locale.
+glyph=$(env -u LANG bash -c 'source "$1"; printf "\U000F17A9"' bash "$envs")
+[[ $glyph != *'\U'* ]] || fail "bash env locale renders unicode escapes" "actual: $glyph"
+pass "bash env locale renders unicode escapes"