| “ | There’s a lot you don’t know, Sam. There’s a lot I don’t tell you. I know who I am. I know what I do, and what I am to this place. I know what I am to you, and how much you depend on me. You may be the symbol, and you may be the one everyone turns to when something goes bad, and you are the big badass, but I’m the guy doing the day-in, day-out work of running things. So I don’t make this about me. | ” |
—Edilio to Sam in Fear |
||
Edilio Escobar is a main character in the Gone Series, appearing in all the original books. Sam's loyal and trustworthy right hand man, Edilio tries to keep everything from falling apart while battles rage on. He is the Town Sheriff for a while, and is eventually discovered to be gay and in a relationship with Roger.
Description
Edilio is a short Honduran boy with a round face and a black crew cut, described as lean with warm, sad brown eyes. He usually stands up perfectly straight with his hands (which are larger than they are expected to be) curled outwards and his arms slightly apart from the rest of his body.
He is calm, reliable, gentle, considerate and trustworthy, but reveals that he is incredibly irritated with how Sam, Astrid and Dekka don't keep their personal lives personal. Edilio has also proven himself to be bold and reluctantly willing to do what must be done.
Power and abilities
Edilio has no power, but he is more than capable of taking care of himself. He carries around a shotgun and is skilled with it. He is incredibly good with machinery and can drive, and has also been shown to have detective skills.
Appearances
- Before the FAYZ
Edilio was originally from Honduras, until he moved to a trailer park two miles from Perdido Beach as an illegal immigrant. People also continually make fun of him and confuse him for being Mexican. His mother is a housekeeper for Clifftop Hotel, his father is a farmhand and his older brother Alvaro is in the army and deployed in Afghanistan. Edilio also has two younger brothers. Their car is an "old beater".
- Gone
Edilio is in class when all the adults disappear. Like everyone else, he heads to the town plaza, where he helps Sam try to save the little fire-starter. After she has died Edilio buries her with a backhoe. The next morning, Edilio uses the backhoe up at Clifftop Hotel to try and dig his way under the barrier. He joins Sam, Quinn and Astrid in the search for Little Pete, driving a golf cart to the Nuclear Power Plant. They are intercepted by Orc's crew, and Edilio fights Cookie and comes out on the losing end. They lose the golf cart but find bikes, and when they arrive they find Little Pete and decide to spend the night. Edilio sleeps on sofa cushions but wakes up in the middle of the night to find Little Pete telekinetically strangling Sam. They leave the power plant and Edilio confronts Sam and Astrid, and is told about the power.
After the Coates kids arrive, Edilio is given the job of a firefighter with Quinn and Sam. He is also given permission to drive, and starts learning. After Orc hits Bette with a baseball bat, Edilio starts fighting him but stops when Drake arrives. He then goes with Sam, Quinn, Astrid and Little Pete when they flee town, and manages to get into Hermit Jim's shack with Lana. They decide to return to town (Edilio completely supporting this decision) but are captured by Drake. They escape with the Coates mutants and Edilio goes to the power plant to retrieve the guns, as well as a tape proving Little Pete created the FAYZ. He trains some soldiers for the Thanksgiving battle, which he survives unharmed.
- Hunger
Edilio witnesses the death of E.Z. at the hands of the zekes. He later rounds up a group of kids to pick artichokes, but the zekes are in that field and Edilio, who was almost killed because he went first, is traumatized, because he was one second away from sending fifty kids to their deaths. He then looks for Hunter, and finds the Human Crew preparing to lynch him, but Edilio manages to stop them. He then takes a group of soldiers to the nuclear power plant battle, but is called off to take Bug and Orsay to the mine shaft to see if the Gaiaphage wishes to harm them. When he discovers that the answer is yes, he takes Dekka to collapse it, but is shot by a controlled Lana. He barely survives.
- Lies
Now the sheriff for the Town Council, Edilio discovers the hole that Brittney was buried in dug up. He reluctantly agrees with Sam that it should be kept a secret. When the council vote on whether or not to lie and say Orsay's cult is definitely wrong (although they don't know), Edilio votes against, along with John. However, they are outvoted. When the Human Crew start the fire of Perdido Beach, Edilio makes sure Sam goes after the Human Crew, and helps Ellen, Howard, Orc, Jack and Dekka stop the fire. Later, when Astrid orders him to stop Mary from entering the day care, Edilio refuses, and votes her off the council with John and Howard. He later stops Zil from causing a riot, until Drake returns. Edilio tries to stop him as well, but fails.
- Plague
Now the reluctant leader of the town, Edilio meets Hunter on the highway to see what's wrong with him. When he discovers that a plague is spreading through town, he puts a quarantine on. He also discovers that Sam, Dekka and Jack have left town thanks to Albert, angering him. He again tries to stop Drake, but is too late. Edilio soon catches the plague himself, but manages to tell Brianna to get Caine from the island, as he knows that Caine is the only one who can possibly defeat the bugs. Edilio goes with Sam to Lake Tramonto in the Big Split.
- Fear
Edilio, now running the lake, reveals his anger at Sam, Astrid and Dekka for not keeping their personal lives personal like he does. He is revealed to be gay and in a relationship with Roger. After Sam tries to go off to find Diana, Edilio stops him, as Sam is the only person that they cannot afford to lose. However, he later changes his mind when it becomes clear that Sam is needed. Edilio guards the lake when everyone else is gone.
- Light
Edilio turns up in town to take over from Caine. Caine, not liking this, attacks Sam, but Edilio stops the ensuing fight by threatening to castrate Caine with his shotgun. He takes over, to everyone's relief, and sends Quinn to get Albert from the island. Edilio runs the town until, hearing of the death of Roger and seventy other kids, he is forced to set up an ambush to take down Gaia, which ultimately fails. After making sure that Caine and Jack will fight, Edilio sets up another ambush, which also fails. He stops Sam from committing suicide and loads Caine's missile launcher, before stopping Astrid from going into the fire to look for Sam. After the FAYZ, he learns that Roger is alive, and instead of getting deported he ends up signing autographs.
Relationships
- Sam Temple
Edilio and Sam are close. Edilio becomes very trusted by Sam and is completely loyal to him, and at some point becomes Sam's equal instead of his right hand man. Sam is dependent on Edilio, and takes Edilio's advice after Edilio tells Sam that he's putting his personal life in front of everyone else.
- Quinn Gaither
Edilio is often bullied by Quinn for being an illegal Hispanic immigrant, but keeps calm in response to this. His friendship with Sam begins to alienate Quinn from the group, which is why Quinn is so rude to Edilio. However, Quinn begins to move on from this, and towards the end of the FAYZ he trusts, respects and likes Edilio, which seems to be mutual.
- Roger
Edilio and Roger are in a gay relationship, and they seem to care for each other a lot. Edilio shows that he is willing to protect Roger, and is devastated when Roger seemingly dies. He also immediately recognizes Roger without even seeing Roger's face, and patiently waits for him to recover. It is unknown if they are still going out.
Notes
- He is the one who digs graves for dead kids, up until the middle of Lies.
- Edilio is an illegal immigrant.
- Edilio's character evolution was the only message Grant consciously planned.[1]
- It is unknown when Edilio turned fifteen.
- Edilio might be bisexual, as he is seen to have a crush on Lana in Gone. However, this may have been a mistake by the author, or a sign that he was still figuring out his sexuality at that point.