Me: has midterms
Also Me: instead of studying tries to figure out what on earth the pre-play dynamic was between Edmund and Edgar
Very valid, I approve
(Now I feel stupid for leaving out my little AU)
In my mind Edgar tries his best to be a good brother, but just *constantly* messes up because he’s kinda dumb when it comes to dealing with Edmund.
So like, if someone were to ask him pre-play, pre-the nine years Edmund spent away “hey how’s your brother doing? Does he have any pent up rage that he’s bottling up inside him that may one day cause him to nearly take over England and maybe France too (idk how politics work)?” Edgar would say “nahhh he definitely loves it here and he loves us and we all love him!”
And yet he’d still give Edmund the same introduction Gloucester gives him (ie “hi yes this is my bastard brother- he’s such a bastard- he’s like, the biggest bastard ever!”) But. He doesn’t do it to offend Edmund, he does it because he hears Gloucester doing it and Edmund never complains- because Edmund isn’t the type to complain, he’s the type to bottle up his frustration until he can’t bottle it up anymore. And when *that* happens he starts his epic quest to (nearly) conquer the world.
I’d like to think that’s why Edgar was so quick to trust Edmund- not just because Edgar’s kinda naive, but because he never saw any sign of Edmund’s frustration and anger. Edmund never spoke a word of it- he’d always go along with whatever was happening in a very diplomatic way, ie his primary goal was to stay on good terms and keep the peace. Because he knew he’d only have one shot at taking them down (and part of me would like to say he may have had hope, when he was younger at least, that things would get better).
As for where Edmund was for those nine years- he was traveling the world. Just for fun, just to get away from his family. (Headcanon that he knows many languages and can pass as a native to most European countries easily. This headcanon mainly stems from how he uses words as his weapons, so it make sense for him to (metaphorically) collect words to stock his word arsenal.)
He only returned because Gloucester called him back- I don’t know for what purpose, but that’s the reason I’ve chosen for this headcanon. Because I’d like to blame Gloucester as much as possible (he’s kinda a pretty bad parent? To both of his children?). And I’d like to think that if Gloucester would have just left Edmund alone and let him do what he wanted, he could have avoided so many tragedies. But he didn’t.