Edgar is the novel’s main protagonist. When the story begins, he is a teenaged boat builder. He has a natural intuition for spatial relationships, the physics of woodwork, and creative problem solving, as shown by his construction of the canal, bridge, and ferry. He has never aspired to be anything but a master builder and is relatively happy with his work and family life. Edgar lives with his mother and father—Ma and Pa—and his brothers, Erman and Eadbald. After a vicious Viking attack at the novel’s beginning, the trajectory of Edgar’s life changes when his lover Sungifu dies. Suddenly, his future has changed: “He had found buried treasure, something worth more than all the gold in the world, and then he had lost it. Life stretched ahead of him, empty” (46).

Edgar had planned to leave with Sungifu the morning after the Viking attack. Suddenly, he is unsure of his path, although it is clear that he must care for his family. Although Edgar is always loyal to his friends and family, he is not overly religious like many of the other characters: “When people discussed how the dead spent their time in heaven, or whether the devil had a tail, Edgar became impatient, believing that no one would ever know the truth of such things in this life.