Edward Gruel

Edward Gruel  was the main antagonist in the novel Haunted. He was the ex-fiance of Chloe Dixon and was also the business protege of Ralph Seymour.

Early life
Not much is known about Edward's early life except that he was born in Concord, New Hampshire. It is unknown who his mother was, but his father was Jonathan Gruel, who was a successful granite mine owner. He was known to have boarded the Titanic alone, where he met Chloe Dixon and her great-aunt, Louise Seymour.

Ralph then arranged for Edward and Chloe to get to know each other as acquaintances, despite Chloe's apparent dislike for him when he turned out to have romantic feelings for her, and proposed to her. According to Edward, he wanted to marry Chloe in Bryant Park in New York City after their voyage concluded on the Titanic.

Haunted
Edward can first be seen when he emerges into the Seymours' stateroom in first class on the Titanic, tipping his hat to a very annoyed Louise Seymour and winking to a very surprised Chloe Dixon. When Edward walks over to introduce himself, Chloe uses her father's surname to keep her identity hidden since it could cause unforeseen consequences to the time-space continuum. The two have an awkward introduction before Edward asks her if she would want to eat lunch with him the following afternoon, to which Edward insists is a way for them to get to know each other better. However, it ends up being a disaster for both of them as Chloe is forced to wait for her turn to speak while talking to Edward, who ends up talking about himself the whole time. Chloe was actually distracted by the sight of a boy picking scraps off of china plates and excused herself to give him the rest of her tuna fish sandwich out of kindness. When Edward sees this, he was infuriated that Chloe would even dare socialize with someone from a lower class and told Chloe that she should not associate herself with such people.

Edward appears briefly after Chloe comes back to their stateroom after enjoying an evening out with Jack. Infuriated by what he refers to as "reckless behavior" by not being in a certain place at a certain time, Chloe decides to stand up for herself by saying that he doesn't have the right to treat her like a worker, but rather treated with respect as his fiance. When Edward hears this, he unleases his temper on Chloe and, in doing so, flips the whole table over to where the unbearably loud noise of china, glass, and wood breaking all at once actually wakes Louise up in her bedroom across the hallway. Edward then corners Chloe and grabs her by the throat until Louise has to pry his fingers off of Chloe's throat.

Appalled by Edward's sudden burst of anger and laying hands on her, Chloe is understandably shaken and talks to Louise for moral guidance on whether she should leave Edward to pursue her relationship with Jack. Although Louise doesn't answer her question directly, she does give Chloe a choice to report this incident to Ralph and if that doesn't work, then Chloe will have no choice but to break off the engagement. Relieved, she decides to go to lunch with Louise as it will give time for Edward too cool off.

Later that afternoon, Chloe disappeared after a church service to spend the rest of the day with Jack. Although Edward is oblivious to their budding relationship, he suspects something is going on between them and enlists to have his servant, Mr. McFadden, spy on them. When Edward could not find Chloe to take her to dinner that evening, he found a note explaining that she was with Jack and that he had to understand that she didn't love him the same way he did. Angry at Chloe for not telling this to him directly, Edward decided that McFadden had to plant the necklace on Jack when the pair would reappear the next time he saw them, then make a claim it was lost and Edward would have the right to search Jack. When the devious scheme played out and Jack was found with the necklace on him, Chloe accused McFadden of planting the necklace in Jack's pocket as she saw him do it using her peripheral vision. Unfortunately, the master-at-arms didn't believe Chloe's claim and still arrested Jack for theft. Chloe ended up running after Jack in the moments following his sudden arrest, but was restrained by Edward, who ignored her hysterical crying and thrashing. Once Jack was taken away, Edward shoved Chloe off of him and called her a lying bitch. However, before he could continue, he asked if the note Chloe wrote was true about her feelings for Jack, which she confirmed. However, before he could continue, he was ordered by a steward to get dressed and to go to a lifeboat. Edward ignored this warning and told one of the maids that worked for him to get Chloe dressed into warmer clothes. At one point, Chloe snapped and told the maid she was not getting into night clothes as they wouldn't be warm enough.

Chloe later emerged in the same outfit she had worn to the steerage party with Jack, but with cable-knit stockings on instead. When Edward saw this, he argued with Chloe one last time before she decided to call off the engagement. Edward, angry with Chloe, threatened to kill her, which in turn made Chloe run for her life. Once she was out of the stateroom, she took off her engagement ring and put it in a teacup before destroying it. She then went down towards E Deck to rescue Jack, which she did successfully after picking the lock on the handcuffs with a hairpin.

Edward isn't seen again until he spots Jack and Chloe trying to get to a lifeboat, but feels somewhat sympathetic towards Chloe's distress of leaving Jack behind to die. He reassures his now hysterical ex-fiance that he has arranged plans to get him and Jack off the Titanic in the next lifeboat that will be lowered. After being reassured by 1st Officer William Murdoch that she'll be safe once she's in the lifeboat, Chloe gives one final look to Jack before the lifeboat is being lowered. However, when she looks away from Jack for a fleeting moment, Edward tells Jack that there was never plans for them to escape on a lifeboat together and it was all a plan to safe himself. Infuriated, Jack tries to warn Chloe, but both he and Edward are shocked when Chloe makes the decision to go back for Jack. After seeing her throw herself at an open window, Jack races through the Titanic to find her. They both are reunited at the foot of the Grand Staircase on D Deck, much to the dismay of Edward, who then makes a vow to kill Jack and take Chloe back as his new bride once again.

After they get temporarily separated from Tommy O'Hara and Cosette DuBois after freeing them from a locked gate, Chloe and Jack are determined to get to the lifeboats once again, but are thwarted by a deadly game of cat-and-mouse started by Edward, who is running through the ship with a loaded revolver. When they reach the 1st class dining hall, they are confronted by Edward, who plans on killing Jack as he sees him as an obstacle to his future with Chloe. Thinking ahead of Edward, Jack tells Chloe to go hide behind one of the tables while he takes care of the situation with Edward. While Chloe is seeking shelter, she hears that Edward was the person responsible for killing off Jack's entire family over a span of sixteen years and is shocked that Edward doesn't express any remorse for doing it. Enraged after hearing the truth finally come out, Jack attacks Edward but is restrained while a gun is pointed to Jack's head. Chloe then takes an opportunity to protect Jack by distracting Edward with banter about their failed relationship, which works as Edward foolishly ignores her and continues to interrogate Jack.

Chloe, on the other hand, will not be a passive bystander to Edward committing cold-blooded murder, so she stealthily walks up behind him, covers his mouth with her hand while she stabs him through the back, effectively causing him to stumble to the ground. However, before he can turn around to see who his assailant was, Chloe stabs him again, this time in the chest while Jack watches. It is unclear if anyone discovered Edward's body after Chloe killed him as the ship sank roughly half an hour later, but it is believed he perished on the Titanic along with other passengers.

Physical Appearance
Edward was described as a tall, suave-looking gentleman with pale skin, brown hair, and piercing gray eyes. His body is more muscular than Jack, even though he's only two inches shorter. He also has very large hands despite his tall physique, which explains why he it was easy for him to grab Chloe by the throat the day after the steerage party she went to with Jack in third class.

Edward's mainly wore three-piece suits, a common choice of clothing for wealthy first-class male passengers who boarded the Titanic, although Edward was said to have a silver chain hanging from the left pocket of his suit's vest, which contained a pocketwatch.

Personality
Edward is described as displaying traits that are common among psychopaths today. Some of these traits include lack of empathy, manipulativeness, narcissism, displaying superficial charm, and pathological lying.

Edward is also the only character who is described as being both physically and mentally abusive as he hits Chloe at least twice in the book and calls her names. He is unable to raise his hand towards Louise, but he insults her for her taste in artwork, fashion, and even her choices in literature.

Appearances

 * Haunted (First appearance)
 * Golden Girl (Mentioned only)
 * The Timekeeper Saga Official Companion Guide (Mentioned only)

Trivia

 * There is actually a twelve year age gap between Edward Gruel and Chloe Dixon.
 * Ironically, Edward means "rich guard" and is derived from the Old English elements ead, which means "wealth" and weard, meaning "guard".
 * In Haunted, Edward is the only known character to have a relationship with Chloe Dixon besides Jack Flynn.
 * Edward's suave nature was inspired by Caledon Hockley from the 1997 movie Titanic.
 * In the Timekeeper Saga Official Companion Guide, Lange explains that Edward was created as a result of combining at least three Disney villans's personalities together: Hades, Judge Claude Frollo, and Scar.
 * Initially, Edward was not supposed to be a character in the book, but was added as a historical detail in the editing process.
 * Like Cosette DuBois, Edward also has only one known possession, which is a silver pocketwatch.