# Edgar — King Lear character guide > Edgar in King Lear by William Shakespeare. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Exit Edgar, Edgar Hail, Poor Tom, Tom, Enter Edgar, Edgar Away, Edgar Poor Tom, Edgar Tom, poor mad Tom, Legitimate Edgar, Edgar Armed, Edgar Ay, Edgar Child Rowland, Edgar Frateretto, Edgar The foul fiend, Edgar Pillicock, Edgar Sweet marjoram **First appearance:** 0003-act-i-scene-ii ## Snapshot Gloucester's rightful heir, hunted by his own brother, who survives by becoming the beggar Poor Tom and learns pity from the bottom of the world. ## Who they are Edgar begins as the trusting legitimate son, heir to Gloucester's title and estate, and loses everything to Edmund's forged evidence in a single afternoon. Disguised as a mad Bedlam beggar, he keeps his father alive through blindness and despair, discovering a compassion he could not have imagined from the safety of his birth. His long masquerade threads through the middle of the play, quietly holding the moral center while the great ones destroy each other. ## Relationships ### [Edmund](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/edmund) _rivalry_ Edgar is Edmund's legitimate brother, betrayed and framed by Edmund, leading to a deadly feud. ### [King Lear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/king_lear) _friendship_ Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, becomes a companion and helper to the mad King Lear on the heath. ### [Fool](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/fool) _friendship_ Edgar, as Poor Tom, shares the heath with the Fool and Lear, forming a bond of mutual suffering. ### [Oswald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/oswald) _rivalry_ Edgar kills Oswald after Oswald tries to murder Gloucester, acting as an enemy to the corrupt steward. ### [Kent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/kent) _friendship_ Edgar and Kent are both loyal to Lear and Gloucester, working together in the final acts to restore order. ### [Albany](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/albany) _friendship_ Albany allies with Edgar to defeat Edmund and restore justice, respecting Edgar's integrity. ### [Fool](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/fool) _friendship_ Edgar, as Poor Tom, shares the heath with the Fool and Lear, forming a bond of mutual suffering. ### [King Lear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/king_lear) _friendship_ Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, becomes a companion and helper to the mad King Lear on the heath. ### [King Lear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/king_lear) _friendship_ Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom, becomes a companion and helper to the mad King Lear on the heath. ### [Edmund](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/edmund) _rivalry_ Edgar is Edmund's legitimate brother, betrayed and framed by Edmund, leading to a deadly feud. ### [Oswald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/oswald) _rivalry_ Edgar kills Oswald after Oswald tries to murder Gloucester, acting as an enemy to the corrupt steward. ### [Kent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/kent) _friendship_ Edgar and Kent are both loyal to Lear and Gloucester, working together in the final acts to restore order. ## In the story ### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-i-scene-ii) Enters as Edmund's brother, unsuspecting of the plot. Edmund warns him of Gloucester's anger and advises him to flee, which Edgar naively accepts. ### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i) Falsely accused by Edmund, forced to flee after being warned by his brother. ### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-iii) Edgar resolves to disguise himself as a Bedlam beggar to evade capture. ### [Scene IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-iv) Disguised as Poor Tom, feigns madness and speaks in fragmented, haunting verses about fiends and suffering ### [Scene VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-vi) Disguised as Poor Tom, Edgar participates in Lear's delusion and later reflects on the solace found in shared suffering. ### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-i) Disguised as Poor Tom, Edgar reflects on his wretched state and agrees to lead his blind father Gloucester to Dover. ### [Scene VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-vi) Disguised as a peasant, he leads Gloucester, kills Oswald, and retrieves incriminating letters, while observing Lear's madness with pity. ### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i) Edgar, still disguised, delivers a letter to Albany and promises to appear again when the herald calls. ### [Scene II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-v-scene-ii) Leads and comforts his blind father Gloucester, urging him to endure after Lear's defeat. ### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/chapters/act-v-scene-iii) Challenges Edmund, reveals his identity, recounts his care for Gloucester, and receives the token to save Lear. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters/edgar - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/king_lear_se/characters