Characters in Edgar & Ellen.
Beware of book spoilers.
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The Twins
The eponymous troublemaking duo. They are 12 years old at the start of the series.
- Anti-Hero/Villain Protagonist: In the books, the twins are Villain Protagonists in the first book since in the first book they steal everyone's pets, disguise them and try to sell them at outrageous prices and Anti Heroes in the rest since the most of the first series revolves around them trying to save their house from being renovated or downright demolished. In the cartoon, it varies from episode to episode, sometimes they are the villains and sometimes anti-heroes
- Arch-Enemy: To Stephanie Knightleigh, who loathes them for doing things like ruining school events with their pranking while they hate her stuck up attitude.
- Brother–Sister Team: When they're not busy pranking each other they form a great team.
- Child Prodigy: They are very smart.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Both have black hair and pasty white skin.
- Embarrassing Pyjamas: Averted, they have no problem wearing their pyjamas in public.
- Fashion Hurts: Complete aversion in their case. As the narration in Rare Beasts states, their pyjamas are very comfortable and they wear them at all times.
- Freudian Excuse: Their parents abandoned them many years ago and townsfolk never really paid much attention to them, so they had nobody to care about them or teach them right from wrong.
- Friendless Background: Due to their distaste for most Nod's Limbsians, the twins had never made a friend and only hung out with each other before the events of Pet's Revenge, where Ellen befriends Miles Knightleigh. In High Wire both twins befriend The Midway Irregulars.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Both of the twins to some extent, but especially Edgar. Exaggerated in the animated series, where they build much more elaborate contraptions.
- Hairstyle Inertia: They have the same hairstyles since infancy.
- Half-Identical Twins: The only physical difference between them is that Ellen has long hair and no fringe.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: If you don't piss them off, they're actually pretty friendly.
- Lack of Empathy: They don't care about anyone outside their circle of friends and don't show much concern if they put their sibling in danger during one of their violent games of hide, seek and subdue.
- Lean and Mean: Both are scrawny and mean.
- Limited Wardrobe: Literally all they ever wear is their striped footie pyjamas. Even when they do wear other clothing, they always wear their pyjamas underneath.
- Messy Hair: They are always shown with messy hair.
- Non-Standard Character Design: They have bigger eyes than everyone else, have sharper features and are taller than most kids in their age group.
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Though they're not exactly heroic, they're always wearing a discolored striped pyjama suit.
- Parental Abandonment: The twins' parents apparently left years ago on an around-the-world holiday, and haven't been heard from since. The twins never really questioned this, oddly enough.
- The Pig-Pen: The twins don't really bother much with hygiene. Notably, their pyjamas have turned from red and white to grey and nd a rusty shade of red due to not being washed in years.
- The Prankster: Their favorite hobby is to prank the Nod's Limbsians and almost anyone who crosses their path.
- Theme Twin Naming: Both their names start with the letter "E" and reference author Edgar Allan Poe.
- Too Clever by Half: Many of their schemes backfire on them because they overdo them.
- Took a Level in Kindness: They become nicer after befriending Heimertz's younger relatives The Midway Irregulars, Madame Dahlia, who bonded with Ellen over their mutual love for botanic and Augustus Nod, who took the twins in and became a surrogate father to them.
- Trickster Twins: They are twins who love to pull all sorts of pranks on people and each other.
- Sweet Tooth: They just love candy. They can eat two large bags of chocolate in a matter of minutes.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Seriously you don't want to cross their path or you will end up humiliated or injured.
Edgar
- Voiced by: Kathleen Barr
In the animated series
Ellen's younger twin brother. He is a skilled scientist, inventor and escape artist. He plans many of the twins' schemes and diagrams.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Downplayed. He's usually only this when he and Ellen start fighting each other. He's 2 minutes and 13 seconds younger.
- The Great Whodini: He has a hobby for escape artistry. In one episode, he starts calling himself "The Amazing Edgarini".
- Idiot Ball: In Split Ends. He goes a bit unhinged in his isolation and ends up derailing his plans for some needlessly complicated personal engeance, which both fails and lands him in deeper trouble.
- Large Ham: He can be dramatic, especially in the TV show. In one episode, Ellen even calls him a drama queen.
- Talking to Themself: In Split Ends he starts doing this after being separated from Ellen for too long and having no one to talk to.
Ellen
- Voiced by: Jillian Michaels
In the animated series
Edgar's older twin sister by 2 minutes and 13 seconds as well as the leader. She is essentially a mad scientist, particularly when it comes to flora and fauna.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: In Pet's Revenge Ellen reveals that she likes "handsome rebels".
- Big Sister Bully: Downplayed. She works alongside her brother, but has no problem berating his interests and schemes.
- Big Sister Instinct: On rare occasions, she looks out for Edgar, like in "Crushed" and "The Great Edgarini"; for the record, she's 2 minutes and 13 seconds older than him.
- Dark Action Girl: She is usually the one who has to do the action part while her brother makes the plans.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She becomes nicer after she manages to befriend The Midway irregulars, a group of kids who share her love for pranking people.
- Dreadful Musician: Ellen thinks she can sing, but to the others she's horrible. When she sings with Edgar in the show's musical numbers, she has a decent singing voice. It's just that solo singing isn't her forte.Ellen: I feel a song coming on.
Edgar: Thanks for the warning. (puts earmuffs on)
(glass-shattering high note ensues) - Drunk with Power: In the episode "Commander In Stripes" when she cheats on the elections and accidentally votes for herself, becoming class president. She starts to rule the school with an iron fist until Edgar and Stephanie team up to stop her.
- The Favourite: It is heavily implied that she is Pet's favorite twin. It is more noticeably in the TV series.
- Friend to Bugs: In the cartoon she complains to Edgar after he sprays her with pesticide, causing several bugs to fall out of her hair and says that they were her friends. Surprising, considering her love of botany.
- Girlish Pigtails: She always wears her hair in pigtails.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: She is very temperamental and the most violent of the twins.
- Hates Being Touched: In both the books and TV series, she is shown to dislike hugs.
- Mad Scientist: or rather Mad Botanist since she prefers Botany over science.
- Man-Eating Plant: She has a small one named Berenice, who is small but apparently still able to rip someone's finger off. When Berenice dies, she gains a smaller one named Morella.
- Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: She only wore a dress for Ronan and Dahlia's wedding and politely refused Madame Dahlia's offer of making her dresses to wear for each day of school. Otherwise, she stays on her pyjamas all the time.
- Stronger Sibling: She's tougher and more independent than her brother.
- Tsundere: She actually does care about Edgar and her friends, but she seems to be near unable to express her affection for them.
Allies
Pilosoculus (a.k.a. "Pet")
In the animated series
Edgar and Ellen's pet and Augustus Nod's best friend.
- Action Pet: Normally stays behind and lets others do the work but is jumps into action when the situation calls for it.
- Ambiguous Gender: Is never referred to as "he" or "she", and Nod's notes lists its gender as "unknown".
- Badass Adorable: It is badass and despite resembling a spider with a large eyeball it is kind of adorable in it's own way.
- Meaningful Name: Pilosoculus is Latin for "Hairy Eyeball".
- Only Sane Man: Sometimes has to act as the middleman when the twins start fighting.
- Meaningful Rename: The twins named it "Pet" when they found and decided to adopt him.
- Non-Human Sidekick: It usually accompanies the twins on their misadventures, especially after they stopped mistreating it so much.
- Terrible Trio: Rounds this out with the twins in the tv series as it usually helps the twins on their schemes.
- Undying Loyalty: For Heimertz and the twins, especially after the twins start being nicer towards it.
Ronan Heimertz
In the animated series
An eccentric retired Bavarian circus performer, he is Edgar and Ellen's groundskeeper and, prior to the events of Nod's Limbs, the only person who protected the twins and Pet.
- Berserk Button: Don't you dare call him a traitor. Also, don't threaten to smash his accordion.
- The Caretaker: He protected Pet from the twins' pranks until Nod's return.
- The Dreaded: To the twins. In the show and for much of the books, he is the only person they fear.
- Meaningful Name: He gets his name from St. Ronan the Silent.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Prior to "High Wire" he seemed to be a loner, with Pet as his only company and the twins believed him to be a maniac for his odd behavior and the fact that he was always smiling his trademark smile but he is actually a nice person despite it all.
- Perpetual Smiler: He never stops smiling unless he is extremely sad.
- The Quiet One: He prefers to not speak unless it's absolutely necessary.
- Scars Are Forever: He now has a prominent scar from when he had to save the twins in "Nod's Limbs".
- Slasher Smile: A common trait in the Heimertz Family.
- Something Else Also Rises: In one of the "Heimertz Family Album" shorts, one of the young Heimertz's suspenders pops open after he receives a kiss on the cheek from a woman he just saved.
- Undying Loyalty: He is willing to do anything for his family and friends, even if this means risking his own life in the process.
Augustus Nod
The over 200-year-old unintentional founder of Nod's Limbs and the original owner of the Tower Mansion. He is also Edgar and Ellen's foster father.
- Berserk Button: The twins being irresponsible and disrespectful, one example is them destroying his property or waking him up from his nap.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: He comes from 200 years ago and is brand new to the modern world. His Malapropers are a sign of this.
- Friend to All Children: He is rather kind to the twins and The Midway Irregulars. He was only mean to Miles because he was a Knightleigh, although it has been implied that they are on good terms now.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He, like the twins, is not exactly a patient man and the twins' behavior doesn't help much either.
- Limited Social Circle: Due to his hatred for people, his circle of friends consists on just Edgar, Ellen, Pet, Heimertz, Madame Dahlia and Benedict, although other Nod's Limbsians have tried (and failed) to make their way into it.
- Manchild: A side effect for consuming Balm for two hundred years.
- Our Founder: He is the town founder. There's a statue of him in the park.
- Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter Agatha died of an illness two centuries ago while he managed to survive by living off of Balm.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He only gets mad and yells at the twins when they misbehave but tries to be patient with them.
- Supporting Leader: In the Nodyssey books he leads the mission of getting the Heimertz family back but remains in a supportive role and the story still revolves around the twins.
- The Prankster: He loves pranks but is too old to keep up with Edgar and Ellen so he does it occassionally.
- Universally Beloved Leader: He is simply adored by the Nod's Limbsians.
Miles Knightleigh
In the animated series
Stephanie's 9-year-old younger brother.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: He first starts to become an ally when he offers Ellen (in a Pet-induced trance) to sleep in his room at Stephanie's sleepover in Pet's Revenge.
- Big Eater: He is a chubby boy who can eat a lot of sugar.
- Black Sheep: To the rest of the Knightleigh family since he doesn't share his family's views on life and loves what they hate.
- Defector from Decadence: He stands up to his family after they tried to bury the twins alive.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Despite being raised in a mean and greedy family it didn't keep Miles from becoming a good person.
- Parental Abandonment: He was temporarily abandoned by his family in Nod's Limbs.
- The Runaway: In "Hot Air" he escapes from the bus that could take him to Summer Camp in order to be with the twins.
- Sidekick: To Edgar and Ellen in the Nodyssey books. He reports to them if he gets a message from Nod and presumably takes care of the plants.
- The Unfavorite: His family doesn't pay much attention to him for being nice.
- Youthful Freckles: Has those in the books but not the TV series.
Madame Dahlia
The sweet girlfriend and later wife of Heimertz.
- Big Beautiful Woman: She is tall and stout yet really pretty.
- The Cavalry: She got one small (yet awesome) one in High Wire. Ellen went looking for a gemstone in Madame Dahlia's Man-Eating Plant's mouth, after it swallowed Ellen Madame Dahlia rescued her during her performance.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: In High Wire she had a cold attitude towards people until she is reunited with Ronan, her long lost lover.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Her hair reaches past her waist and she is very feminine.
- Man-Eating Plant: She has a giant plant, Gustav, who was also her fellow performer at the circus and is big enough to swallow a person.
- Meaningful Name: She is named after a flower and is a botanist.
- Only Sane Woman: She seems to be relatively normal compared to the twins, Heimertz and Nod.
- Parental Substitute: She functions as a sort of mother figure for Edgar and Ellen, mainly Ellen.
- Prim and Proper Bun: She usually wears her hair coiled into a tight bun.
- Proper Lady: She always wears dresses, her hair is always up in a bun or ponytail and she speaks in proper English.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She may not seem like this at first due to her threats of feeding misbehaving children to her man-eating plant but she was doing so because she was counting on the fact that her plant couldn't actually eat them and simply wanted them to be good.
- Scare 'Em Straight: It is implied in High Wire that she used Gustav to scare the circus children into behaving. It didn't work with Ellen though.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: The circus children know better than to mess with her since it is implied that she regularly threatens to feed them to Gustav.
The All-Knowing Head of Poe
In the animated series
A bust statue of Edgar Allan Poe (the twins' namesake) who sits atop their mantelpiece and features in a few notable shorts.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Claims to be all-knowing but is clueless about the questions sent by mail, claiming that he keeps the stars up in the sky by discipline and believes that the twins' caveman ancestors invented the chicken and the egg.
- Living Statue: Is a plaster bust who is able to speak and move.
- Losing Your Head: Is only a bust and thus has no arms and legs, but is able to move around by hopping and relies on Pet to pick up and hold things for him.
Nod's Limbs
Citizens of Nod's Limbs
Stephanie Knightleigh
- Voiced by: Ashleigh Ball
In the animated series
Mayor Knightleigh's 13-year-old daughter.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the TV show, she's more of The Rival than an actual villain who isn't that much worse than the main characters, even sometimes teaming up with them or having some respectful interactions with them.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: It can be implied that in the TV series Stephanie may have a thing for Edgar. In the Valentine TV special, Stephanie glares at Edgar and Ursula as they dance together and is very happy when Ursula dumps him. Through the rest of the series, she doesn't treat him as badly as Ellen. Averted in the books, where she wants to kill both Edgar and Ellen.
- Big Sister Bully: Constantly criticized Miles for his "odd" behavior or just for acting like a kid.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: She is 13 and a real brat to anyone, particularly towards those who won't act "normal".
- Daddy's Girl: She was much closer to her father than her mother at least before her family was run out of town and her father openly blamed her for their problems.
- Fiery Redhead: She has orange red hair and has quite a temper, especially when she is anywhere near Edgar and Ellen.
- Friendly Enemy: On her good days in the TV show. On a deeper level, one episode even focused on Edgar and Ellen coming to the realization that if Stephanie was gone, their lives would be empty without her and their rivalry.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her favorite color is "Cheery Lavender" and her clothing is all shades of purple.
- The Determinator: She will stop at nothing to get what she wants, especially getting rid of her twin rivals one way or the other.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She seems to care about her little brother at least a bit.
- Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: She craved her mother's approval since she (albeit unwillingly) helped Judith with her plans.
- Evil Redhead: Has red hair and is a complete sociopath.
- Girl Posse: She has one in Cassidy Kingfisher and Pepper Poshi, mostly in the TV series due to the books' lack of school scenes. The books mention a girl named Heidi Birchbeer too, but these two seem to be at the top of the pecking order.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: In the TV series it is shown that her hair reaches her knees when it's wet and she is very feminine.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Is this on occasion in the TV series, which is more than can be said for her sociopathic book counterpart.
- Narcissist: She has various glamour portraits of herself all over her room.
- Only Sane Woman: She seems to be one of the only Nod's Limbsians with any common sense, which is a major reason why she's the twins' Arch-Enemy.
- Parental Favoritism: She is her parents' favorite.
- Regal Ringlets: Stephanie has those and, being rich and the mayor's daughter, spent her entire life as a upper class citizen until she was banished from Nod's Limbs and after becoming poor her hair suffered considerable damage since she couldn't afford to care for it although it is implied that she was faking being poor and miserable in order to keep suspicious away since she was secretly working with Ormond Heimertz.
- The Runaway: In "Hot Air". She runs away to join Ormond in his plans of collecting Balm and getting rid of the twins.
- Spoiled Brat: She was extremely spoiled by her parents, especially her father.
- Teen Genius: She has proven to be brilliant as she was mentioned to do great at school and eventually made a scheme to possibly take over the world.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Ellen's Tomboy. Enemies in the books, "frenemies" in the TV show.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: She wants her mother's approval.
Mayor Knightleigh and Judith Stainsworth-Knightleigh
Parents of Stephanie and Miles.- Parental Abandonment: They temporarily abandoned Miles in Nod's Limbs.
Eugenia Smithy
- Samus Is a Girl: In her identity as the Mason, she is assumed to be male by other characters, but she is later revealed to be female.
Heimertz Family Circus
Circusfolk
- Family Business: The Heimertz Family circus is, as the name says, run by nearly all members of the Heimertz family.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Punishments for family traitors include locking them up in animal cages.
- Would Hurt a Child: Apparently they are not above arresting and locking up children as well since two mimes tried to arrest Edgar and Ellen when the circusfolk believed them to be traitors as well.
Benedict Heimertz
The Midway Irregulars
A young band of pranksters conformed by the Heimertz Family Circus' youngest members.
- Deliberately Cute Child: They pretend to be innocent in front of others, but in truth they are almost as mischievous as Edgar and Ellen.
- Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: Imogen and Mab curtsied when introducing themselves to the twins.
Imogen Deirdre Heimertz
The circus' Ringmaster-In-Training.
- The Leader: Acts as the leader of The Midway Irregulars.
Gonzalo Winston Heimertz
A clown apprentice.
- Stout Strength: He's very broad and very strong.
Mab and Merrick Heimertz
Brother and sister acrobats.
- Flat Characters: Besides them being acrobats and pranksters, we know little to nothing about them.
Phoebe Heimertz
The Insect Trainer and youngest member of the circus.- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of The Midway Irregulars, and the Heimertz family as a whole.
- Puppy Love: It has been implied that Phoebe has a crush on Edgar.
Ormond Heimertz (a.k.a. Ormond The Impossible)
Ronan Heimertz's cousin. He was the Heimertz Family Circus' escape artist before he betrayed them.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Ormond Heimertz and Mayor Knightleigh in the original six books and with Stephanie in the Nodyssey trilogy.
- Black Sheep: He hated his life at the circus, never got along with his fellow circus artists to the point where the entire circus distrusted him and he couldn't move unnoticed or talk to them and eventually he rejected his family and left them by faking his death. Nevertheless his family expressed great sorrow for his death.
- Would Hurt a Child: He wants to kill Edgar and Ellen and has no problem with putting several children, among them his own relatives, in fatal danger.
