Edmund Pevensie is a major character in C.S. Lewis's 'Chronicles of Narnia'. He is a principal character in three of the seven books (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), and a lesser character in two others (The Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle).
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Edmund is one of the main characters. The omnipotent narrator, who seems rather sympathetic to Edmund in spite of himself, notes for the reader's benefit that he started to be mean and rather unbearable after he started attending a new school. He was cruel to Lucy when she first found the entrance to Narnia through the wardrobe, and was the second to go to Narnia after following Lucy to tease her. While there he met the White Witch and ate some enchanted Turkish Delight, which prompted an addiction in the person who ate it, causing him to promise the Witch that he would bring his siblings to her house, not knowing that she intended to kill them all.
Upon returning he denied having been in Narnia even though Lucy had seen him there. Later, when they all went through the wardrobe, he left the group to go the White Witch's castle, where he expected to be made a prince but was treated like a prisoner instead. He was saved from death at the Witch's hands by a rescue party sent by Aslan. Later in the book the Witch laid claim to Edmund's life because he had been a traitor. She and Aslan worked out an agreement that Aslan would die in Edmund's place, a sacrifice that allowed Aslan to come back to life. At the time, only Lucy and Susan knew what Aslan had done for Edmund; though when Edmund grew older he seemed to have some kind of understanding about what happened because he showed a solemn reverence for Aslan and always reminded others that people can change. Eventually, Edmund the spoiled young boy became King Edmund, co-ruler of Narnia with Queen Lucy, Queen Susan and High King Peter.
Allegorically, Edmund represents, of course, the sinful nature of man as redeemed by the vicarious atonement of Christ. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Peter being absent, Edmund takes on the role of the spiritually mature believer, and is a foil to his cousin Eustace Scrubb.
