Edgar the Axe

**Edgar the Axe** is a Guardian encountered in Aeternis.

## Background

Edgar is one of the more erratic and dangerous Guardians that a player will encounter within Aeternis. Because the Templar knights were both warriors and monks, the Grailstone has simply magnified these aspects of Edgar's personality to the exclusion of everything else. He therefore has a completely fractured personality, swinging between two extremely different personae every few minutes; sometimes he is a kindly and tolerant priest, and the next moment he is a cold and merciless killer. He can be easily recognised by his long-axe which he wields with brutal efficiency at close quarters.

He was one of the candidates for the leader of Aeternis in its initial stages, and some of the qualities he once espoused remain within him. Edgar claims to be the only one who is sane and was able to see through both Tobias and Malik, but in reality, he was a follower of Malik. However, he shied away from joining him in openly flouting Tobias' authority and did not swear fealty to him. It saved his life during the purge, but as with Phillip, the spurning earned him a reputation for cowardice among the survivors. His ineffectual attempts at seizing leadership over the remainder of the knights invited further mocking.

By 2012, he has one ally in Aeternis, the aforementioned Phillip. As with the others, he desires to be free of the place and thus covets a chest on the derelict Tempest, rumored to contain grailstone. It would allow him to leave the accursed place without turning to dust. If that's not possible, he will swear fealty to whomever can guarantee his escape - including the maligned Tobias.

## Interactions

* Edgar is encountered in the court room, where he will immediately engage you in conversation and reveal more information about Aeternis, putting his own spin on its story and presenting himself as a calm, reasonable man. In truth, he only wants to use you to get the chest from The Tempest.
* He will depart eventually to hunt down another Raptor (Jason Cain is the likely victim) and then wait at the mine head for you to retrieve the chest. Once it's retrieved from the ship and opened in the saw, it will become apparent that it was empty. Edgar will immediately attack, but can be gunned down with the MS-7 Sniper.
* If killed, he will revive eventually and attack for a secondary time once you leave the alchemist lab. This time, there's little chance of escape. You end up in the gibbet room, alongside the late Mr Cain.
* Finally, Edgar will appear in the bad ending, having allied himself with Tobias and Warren to escape Aeternis with Grail in tow.

## References

1. ↑ Design document: "*Edgar is one of the more erratic and dangerous Guardians that a player will encounter within Aeternis. Because the Templar knights were both warriors and monks, the Grailstone has simply magnified these aspects of Edgar's personality to the exclusion of everything else. He therefore has a completely fractured personality, swinging between two extremely different personae every few minutes; sometimes he is a kindly and tolerant priest, and the next moment he is a cold and merciless killer. It is only in his mode of priest that a player will get by him without violence, so a player must learn to see the signs of change when dealing with him—and act swiftly when the time is right. He can be easily recognised by his long-axe which he wields with brutal efficiency at close quarters. Like the others, he prefers the round-bladed throwing knife for longer distance killing.*

*The easiest way past him is to ransom his most treasured possession-an ornate silver torc given to him by his sister when she renounced the world to enter a convent. Both sides of his personality treasure the torc as much as the Grail itself. Note however that he bitterly hates being bested and will relentlessly track any player who has outwitted him.*"
2. ↑ Mikhail: "*He is a good knight by all accounts. A fierce fighter. There was some argument that he would have made a good leader when the knights were being chosen*"
3. ↑ Edgar: "*Me. I am outraged that I seem to be the only knight who could see through both Tobias and Malik. I was waiting for a time when the others would see sense and stop following one or the other of them like sheep. (BREAK) I am a loyal man to any who gives his loyalty to me. But those two were only interested in their own ends.*"
4. ↑ Lurka: "*A treacherous lapdog of Malik. When that monster fled the temple, Edgar foolishly thought to take his place*"
5. ↑ Tobias: "*Edgar is a craven fool. Do not be misled by him. He thinks himself a rival for the leadership of all the knights. And only Philip follows him. If you meet him, you would be well advised not to listen to him*"
6. ↑ Phillip: "*My friend Edgar, one of the last sane knights, and myself recognise this 'test' as a manifestation of the madness of our former leader Tobias. I've been watching you and you seem to be effective. When you see Edgar, tell him you've come about the chest.* "
7. ↑ Edgar's quest chest and its contents.
8. ↑ Endings