Ewen Egeburg

A towering sweep of combed-back blond hair, bigger than the head beneath it, makes Ewen unmistakable; worn down, it would reach roughly to his chin. His skull is elongated, his skin light, and his tiny squared eyes hold small pupils drawn black in the manga and blue in the anime.

He dresses in the standard Eden boys' uniform with shorts, long white socks, and black shoes, and on the morning walk to school he usually cradles a second bag in his arms, most likely Damian's, on top of his own.

First impressions of Ewen skew unflattering: he is status-proud, dismissive of anyone he ranks beneath himself, quick to join the mockery of Anya Forger, and prone to bragging about his privileged life. Achievement obsesses him, from grades to the Imperial Scholar title, and rumors and contests sweep him up easily. Underneath sits a genuinely warm, loyal boy whose devotion to Damian goes past hero worship into real care; he worries over his friend's health, cheers him through setbacks, believes he will one day improve Ostania as a politician, and expresses every emotion, thrill, envy, or terror, without filter.

Space is his great passion. Ewen wants to become a cosmonaut, tracks the East-West space race closely, and rhapsodizes about the romance of traveling beyond the sky, an enthusiasm strong enough to bridge even his rivalry with Anya when the two discover a shared love of space adventures and play at being astronauts together. That scientific streak makes him dismiss superstition and fortune-telling as unscientific, yet curiosity wins anyway when his friends break out a Ouija board hoping to divine the topic of their next History test.

Ewen and Emile knew each other before Eden and fell in behind Damian early enough that following him became second nature; the pair address him as "Lord Damian," speak in unison, and insist their hearts beat in time with his. Small rituals mark the devotion, like hauling Damian's school bag between classes, and larger ones prove it: on a field research trip Ewen throws himself into the water after Damian even though he cannot swim, and he later helps stall the teacher Gambitz inside the old schoolhouse, buying time for the investigation into Henry Henderson's framing to continue. For all the reverence, he is comfortable enough to tease Damian, joining Emile in chasing him with earthworms once his fear of them comes to light.

His rivalry with Anya begins at orientation, when she punches Damian, and simmers through her every unexpected triumph, including the academic Stella Star she lands before he does. At the start of the second term, he and Emile misread Damian's behavior as proof of a more important secret friend, and Ewen's jealousy nearly sours things until Mr. Green teaches the boys to face the feeling through an imaginary "Mr. Buzz" and Damian puts the fear to rest himself. Ewen's part in exposing Murdoch Swan's corrupt admissions dealings earns him his first Stella Star along with Damian, Emile, Anya, and several other classmates.