Edwin Drood is one of the primary characters in the novel, although he is only active in the first portion of the plot and disappears at a point that would have been quite early in the novel had the text been completed. Edwin’s disappearance is the major inciting incident in the plot. Edwin is a 20-year-old man who is training to work as an engineer. He plans to eventually work in Egypt, and he is also engaged to Rosa Bud, a childhood friend. Edwin is an orphan, and his only close relative is his uncle, John Jasper. He spends time in London for his schooling but also travels regularly to Cloisterham.

Edwin is somewhat spoiled and petulant. He often complains about his relative lack of freedom, lamenting to Jasper that “life, for you, is a plum with the natural bloom on; it hasn’t been over-carefully wiped off for you” (14). He fixates on the way that his life has been predetermined for him; this leads to his mixed feelings about Rosa, even though everyone else seems to find her very beautiful and lovable. Edwin can also be quite arrogant and rude. He provokes Neville by being condescending towards him, and also becomes outright rude, such as when he tells Neville, “the best civility, whatever kind of people we are brought up among, […] is to mind our own business” (70).