Edie Finch

## Edith Finch

— Edie to Edith and Dawn

**Edith "Edie" Finch** (ˈiːd.ɪθ ˈe.di ˈfɪntʃ) was the wife of Sven Finch and the maternal great-grandmother of Edith Finch. She was also the firstborn and the only daughter of original family patriarch Odin Finch. Of the Finches, she lived the longest at 93 and experienced every one of their lives and deaths.

## Appearance

Edie was an elderly woman with short, grey hair who often wore purple sunhats and clothing. When she was younger, Edie wore glasses.

## Personality

Edie was a talented painter who could capture accurate representations of people from reference. Growing up surrounded by death, Edie wanted to remember and immortalize the people she lost; she roped off the rooms of her deceased loved ones, created shrines in their memory, and often painted portraits to accompany them. In her youth, Edie had a noticeable Norwegian accent which would fade with age.

## Background

Edith Finch was born on April 8, 1917 in Norway to Odin and Ingeborg. Edie briefly had a little brother, Johann, who would die as a newborn around the same time as her mother, Ingeborg. After she met Sven and had a child in 1937, Molly, Edie's father decided to take them and their house across the sea to the United States in hopes of escaping the curse. The house sank due to 40-foot waves near the shore of Washington, killing Odin and leaving Edie, Sven, and Molly to bury him in the new Finch Cemetery before starting a new home.

Seven years later, Edie gave birth their second daughter, Barbara, born on October 31, 1944, who would be the first Finch born in America. Molly died on December 13, 1947, two days after her tenth birthday. Three years later, Edie gave birth to twins, Sam and Calvin, on April 25, 1950. Two years later, Edie gave birth their third son, Walter, born on August 26, 1952.

After Barbara's death at age 16, Walter becomes traumatized by the event and encloses himself within a bunker underneath the house; Edith notes that she once saw Edie bringing packages down to the basement bunker, indicating that she may have been bringing him new food supplies and other essentials. Her son Calvin would die a year later after flying off the backyard swing. On August 26, 1964, Edie's husband Sven was crushed and killed by a dragon slide he was making on Walter's 12th birthday, August 26, 1964.

Her son Sam survived to adulthood and married a woman named Kay Carlyle. Edie would become the grandmother to three children, Dawn, Gregory, and Gus, the latter two of whom would die in the following years. Gregory's death in particular caused Sam's divorce and remarriage. Sam died in 1983.

Her granddaughter Dawn married a man named Sanjay Kumar and had three children, Lewis, Milton, and Edith (causing Edith to start being referred to as Edith Sr.) According to Edith Sr., on the night of Edith Jr.'s birth in 1999, an earthquake in the middle of the ocean caused the "lowest tide in a thousand years", subsiding far enough to allow access to the wreckage of the old Finch house. Edie visited the house's ruins for the first and last time and found "things [she'd] forgotten ever existed, but when [she] saw them they felt like old friends" and she "can't explain".

In 2003, her great-grandson Milton mysteriously disappeared, causing Dawn to blame Edie. In 2005, Edie's last surviving child, Walter, died. After Lewis' death in 2010, Edie began creating a memorial shrine for him; however, she never finished it, as she found out a week later that Dawn was planning to leave the house that night with Edith. Edie left a book in the library in order to tell Edith what she found on the night of her birth, but after Dawn intervenes and forces Edith to leave, Edie watches from the porch as Dawn and Edith drive off.

Though Dawn decided to send nursing home workers to pick her up the next day, Edith says that "[Edie] was already gone" by the time they arrived and marks her as having died in 2010 in her notebook, indicating that she died. As Dawn mentions the bad reaction caused by mixing some of Edie's medication with alcohol, Edie may have killed herself by having caused this reaction, intentionally or unintentionally.

## Gameplay

Edie makes her first appearance in the game during Molly's story, where Molly can ask her mother if she can exit the room yet. After transforming into a cat, if Molly looks into Sven and Edie's room, she will spot the two, Sven standing as Edie lays in bed. Within the ViewMaster on Odin's memorial shrine, a photo of Edie with Sven can be found. Her voice can also be heard in her son Calvin's story when she calls them for dinner. She is also seen in her daughter Barbara's story when she is taking Sven to a hospital after he slipped into a table saw.

Edith's last story depicts the last dinner she had with Edie prior to leaving the house with her mother. As Edie and Dawn argue over Dawn's reasons behind leaving and whether Edith should learn about the family history, Edith discovers a book chronicling Edie visiting the old sunken house on the night of Edith's birth; however, before finishing the story, Dawn interrupts and causes the book to rip before immediately driving Edith away. Edie's silhouette can be seen watching the car leave from the porch of the house before fading from view.

## Trivia

* Edie's oxygen tank and wheelchair can be found at the dinner table in the Finches' dining room.
* Several game files related to Edie and her belongings refer to her as "Theresa", which may indicate that this was an early name for Edie. In an interview with Art Lead Brandon Martynowicz, several visuals with the names of characters are shown alongside some unknown names. By process of elimination, this indicates that Edie was originally Theresa; Calvin was originally Winston; and Lewis was originally Thomas.

* At the time of the flashback to just after Lewis' death, it appears that Edie had begun sleeping in the library; a bed with two pillows alongside an alarm clock, a flashlight, and a candle can be found. By the nearby desk, a typewriter and a wall of various sticky notes can also be found.
* Edie is interpreted by her granddaughter Dawn to be the unwitting instigator of doom who is responsible for most of the deaths in her family due to her belief in a family curse that helps justify one's mistakes and losses, resulting in the brooding of one's self-destruction. Another interpretation adopted by Edith, however, is that Edie is a woman who accepts and understands that death is a natural part of life and is not to be feared, leading to Edith developing an anti-nihilistic view on life.
* It is unknown what Edie's fate was after Dawn departed with Edith from the house.
* There is extra seen in "History of the Finches" that is not narrated: *"These things don't go away - they're there just under the surface. I tried to protect my children but I couldn't. When the fog rolled in, I lost my way. I got turned around. For a while I wandered. And I wasn't alone. I started seeing things. The bed I shared with my sister. The chair my grandmother died in. The clock I used to hide inside of."*

## Gallery

Edith's journal sketch of Edie.A photo of Edith with her sons Calvin and Sam.The fridge photograph of Edie, Dawn, Lewis and Edie.In-game shot of the fridge photograph.A photograph of Edie, Dawn, and Edith on Edie's 90th birthday.Edie painting the walls of Walter's room.Edie stepping with her husband and baby onto Washington land.Edie with her baby and husband while constructing the new house.
## References

1. ↑ Edie's grave, which can be seen here.
2. ↑ For example, Molly Finch's death was caused by eating gerbil food, toothpaste, and holly berries subsequently, her hunger convincing Molly to do so being the result of Edie sending her to bed without supper

## Navigation

 Sam's Branch
 Edie's Branch
 Odin's Branch
 Other