Offstage , Goneril , her plans thwarted , commits suicide . The dying Edmund decides , though he admits it is against his own character , to try to save Lear and Cordelia ; however , his confession comes too late . Soon after , Albany sends men to countermand Edmund 's orders , Lear enters bearing Cordelia 's corpse in his arms , having survived by killing the executioner . Kent appears and Lear now recognises him . Albany urges Lear to resume his throne , but as with Gloucester , the trials Lear has been through have finally overwhelmed him , and he dies . Albany then asks Kent and Edgar to take charge of the throne . Kent declines , explaining that his master is calling him on a journey and he must follow . Finally , Albany ( in the Quarto version ) or Edgar ( in the Folio version ) implies that he will now become king .

Question: who lives at the end of king lear
Answer: Edgar