Edwin

Edwin de Wyntor, or Edwin the Eagle, is the self-proclaimed and self-appointed leader and spokesman of the Shoebox Zoo. He was once a student of Michael Scot but was punished after stealing the Book of Forbidden Knowledge, transformed into a toy animal, namely a metal eagle. He is very pompous in nature and longs to have the honour and glory of being the first hand, or first wing, to touch the Book in eleven hundred years. At first he is afraid of flying but eventually learns to fly. One of his tail feathers acts as a necklace for Marnie McBride and channels her magical powers as well as alerting her of magic.

Appearance
Edwin appears as a toy eagle made of metal. He is the heaviest of the members of the Zoo due to being made of metal. He has a grey-coloured head, black eyes and brown eyebrows. He has a large brown-coloured beak. He wears a metal knight's helmet over his head, the helmet being long and curved at the back, with a curved horn of sorns running along the top. A curved piece of gold metal attached to the front of the helmet covers his beak, which Edwin usually flips up and down when angered or annoyed.

He has a brown neck and a streamlined grey-coloured body, which is made to look like it is covered in armour. A large golden symbol is on the front of Edwin's torso, curled in multiple places, resembling a coat of arms. Both of his bird wings, which made up his arms, are both made of metal. His right wing is more bird like, silver in colour, the feathers on the end acting as Edwin's fingers. The left wing appears to be dressed in armour made of metal or wood, a reddish-brown in colour. His feet are golden and brown in colour, the talons on the end of both feet are golden. He has several tail feathers protruding from his rear end.

When sleeping, his position involves him standing forwards but his head looks to the right, his right wing extended outwards while the left wing is placed at an inward angle.

Personality
Seemingly originating from a noble or rich family, Edwin is very pompous in personality. He often takes charge of situations and is the self-proclaimed "Spokesperson of the Shoebox Zoo". The other Zoo members agree with this and often push him into addressing others. He is very snobbish at times, being easily offended by others and dislikes being criticised or humiliated. He is obsessed with obtaining glory, wishing to be the first hand, or the first wing, to touch the Book of Forbidden Knowledge in eleven hundred years, believing it would be a great honour to touch it first, and would bring him great glory. At times he is self-obsessed and looks down upon others. At times he is very arrogant, often mistranslating objects as other things (e.g. Believing that airplanes are actually ocean vessels).

Despite his pompous attitude, he is easily frightened, mainly due to all of the strange new things to him in the modernised world. However, he is also equally scared of Michael Scot, Toledo the Shapeshifter, and at times, Marnie when she is in a bad mood. He often overreacts to things, gasping loudly, and when in fear, often cowers behind others and on some occasions, has leapt into Bruno's arms. He is often humiliated by others, and can come off as a comical buffoon due to his pompous and snobbish traits. During the events of the series, he grows more confident and courageous, bravely learning how to fly and guarding the Arrow of Truth from a corrupted Marnie.

He often clashes and argues with other characters, mainly Marnie and the other members of the Zoo. Marnie casually calls Edwin "Eddie", much to his irritation, and the two often argue about their own respective time periods and knowledge, Edwin usually scoffing at her comments and knowledge, or lack of. Nevertheless, he becomes quite close to her over time. He gets on well with Bruno, but may be patronished or silenced by the bear when he starts gasbagging. He has a rather close relationship with Ailsa, but they too have many arguments, Ailsa usually joking about Edwin's pompous attitude and incompetence. At times, Edwin and Wolfgang have appeared as a rivals, Edwin showing annoyance when either or Bruno describe something he was about to explain himself. He forms a strong relationship with Kyle, siding with him when Marnie turns evil for a time. He thinks little of Hunter, annoyed by his "homespun wisdom".

History
Edwin de Wyntor was a scholar in the 1100s and student to Michael Scot, along with his son Wolfgang Scot, and Bruno and Ailsa. Michael created the Book of Forbidden Knowledge and eleven months on, Toledo the Shapeshifter. Wolfgang grew hateful towards his father when he became more and more obsessed with the Book, and convinced Edwin and the other students to steal the Book in order to keep Michael from being consumed by its power and dark influence. They were pursued by Toledo to a cliff edge, where they cast the Book into the ocean. An enraged Michael transformed the students into toy animals, Edwin becoming a metal toy eagle. They were put into a deep slumber until a Chosen One came to age and had the ability to awaken the students, who were placed into a shoebox and became the Shoebox Zoo.

The Shoebox Zoo passed through several owners until it ended up in an American junk shop under the watchful gaze of Michael, located in Denver, Colorado, where is was purchased by then-eleven year old Rosemary McBride. Michael believed Rosemary was the Chosen One but soon learnt she wasn't when she was unable to bring the toys too life. However, she grew quite obsessed with them which worried her parents, Dorothy Campbell and Bobby Campbell. Eventually, Dorothy returned them to the junk shop her daughter had bought them from, but one of Edwin's tail feathers was removed. In 2004, Rosemary's daughter Marnie McBride was given the Zoo on her eleventh birthday by Michael in a junk shop in Edinburgh, Scotland. Marnie observed Edwin who appeared to wink at her. Upon their first proper meeting, Marnie gave Edwin the nickame of "Eddie", much to his annoyance. He attempts to lead the Zoo on an escape attempt but it ultimately fails when they slide down a staircase banister and fall off. Due to his fear of flying, he has great difficulty walking around in the film. Throughtout the first season he often takes command of the Zoo, leading them into trouble most of the time. He witnesses Wolfgang's death and is angrily berated by Ailsa when he starts talking about Wolfgang's death had affected him.

In the second series, Edwin accompanied Marnie and the other Zoo members to America to find the real Book. He believed the airplane was really a ship that would cross the Atlantic Ocean by sea, but got the shock of his life when he nearly fell out of the airplane. Edwin grew close to Kyle during their time together, and sided with him when Marnie turned evil and imprisoned Bruno inside a rock. Edwin learnt how to fly by being given a "magical" bird feather by Kyle and convinced to fly, retrieving the Arrow of Truth from an eagle's nest. He hid the arrow from Marnie but she soon confronted him and stole the arrow. He and Ailsa eventually left Marnie alongside Hunter, he and Ailsa flying all the way to Room Eleven, of a large building where McTaggart is held prisoner, freed by the two. McTaggart teleports himself, Edwin and Ailsa to the Falls of Faith, Edwin witnessing McTaggart die during a fight with Toledo in the body of Aurora Dexter.

Edwin was eventually reunited with the rest of the Zoo including a freed Bruno and a resurrected Wolfgang. He is shocked and distraught when Marnie decides to destroy the Book, and considers sabotaging her efforts when encouraged by Ailsa, but was convinced to aide Marnie and give up his chance to become human again by Hunter. Edwin assists in the destruction of the Book. He and the other members of the Zoo are left at the old junk shop Marnie's mother found them in the first place, Edwin being the most emotionally upset by their departure, but accepts it when Marnie promises to always remember them. He is the last character to speak in the show, asking an unknown person (possibly The Storyteller) what their command is.

Edwin's Feather
Whilst in Rosemary's possession, one of Edwin's tail feathers was removed and later given to Marnie by her grandparents as a necklace, the feather acting as an amulet. The feather seemed to act as a magical amulet, warning her of other magical elements nearby, and was used by Marnie to use her powers until she became capable of using them independently. She continued to wear the feather amulet for the remainder of the series.

Trivia

 * Despite being designed to be an eagle as a toy, he does not really resemble an eagle and looks for like another type of bird.
 * The rest of the Shoebox Zoo appear to have some form of hair on their bodies, but Edwin does not, possibly meaning he was bald as a human.
 * Early rumours for the second season included Edwin and Ailsa becoming human.