Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe (エドガー・アラン・ポオ,) is the former master architect of the Guild, and his ability is Black Cat in the Rue Morgue.

Appearance
Poe is a young man with black hair that covers his eyes and hangs around his neck. From the few instances where his eyes are visible, he has dark circles under them, and although his eyes appear to be a grey color, with certain lighting and angles, they are actually violet. He wears a white mandarin collar button-up shirt with a white loosely tied ribbon around his neck. He has a black vest under an open white suit jacket that is torn around the bottom, with tails and colored lapels. Over that he wears a thigh-length black cape held together by a chain clasp. He has a belt with a large square buckle and his pants are dark with light pinstripes. His boots have black soles and are folded at the top and end just below the knees. He almost always has Karl on his shoulders.

Personality
Poe is portrayed as shy but determined. He spent six years on a plot to defeat Ranpo Edogawa, showing that he will work hard at something he cares about. He often talks too quietly for others to hear.

He seems to have a capricious mood, first appearing confident and cold when confronting Ranpo, then suddenly depressed when Ranpo didn't know who he was. He later got very excited when he believed that he had beaten Ranpo, to the point of laughing maniacally. His angle was that of an antagonist from his first introduction (in the anime), as a Guild member obsessed with revenge through showing Ranpo his intricate murder mystery plot, though Ranpo soon acknowledges him and the time he took on making the six-year murder mystery plot causing Ranpo to become a kind of "beacon figure" with Poe as the "aspirer," striving to evolve his craft with the hope that one day he might exceed, or at least catch up with, Ranpo.

Ability
Poe's ability, Black Cat in the Rue Morgue (モルグ街の黒猫,), can transport readers into the setting of any novel, though it must be one they are currently reading.

Background
Poe is a detective from America who was beaten by Ranpo in an investigation competition six years prior to the events of the series. The defeat leads to him withdrawing himself from his personal connections and becoming extremely secluded and depressed. However, this defeat also inspired him to take back the life that he felt Ranpo had stolen from him. He then joined the Guild and came to Japan in order to challenge him directly.

Etymology

 * The name Edgar is of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning "rich" (ead) and "spear" (gear).
 * The middle name Allan is of Irish origin meaning "handsome".
 * The surname Poe is of English origin, meaning "peacock".

Namesake

 * Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
 * Poe was a transformative writer of his time who wove tales of horror and mystery in profound works such as "The Black Cat" and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", which was the first modern detective story and gave inspiration for the deductive reasoning employed by Sir 's . Poe's name is also inspiration for the pen name "Ranpo Edogawa".

Trivia

 * The birthname of the real life is Edgar Poe.
 * In reality, Edgar Allan Poe never had a raccoon as a pet (although he had a cat that used to ride on his shoulders). This was most likely taken from the 2012 film The Raven, where John Cusack as Poe chose to keep a raccoon given to him. It was, of course, made up by John.
 * His pet raccoon's name is Karl.
 * In real life, Ranpo Edogawa's name came from a Japanese pronunciation of Edgar Allan Poe.
 * Poe is thus far one of the two characters with an ability that has more than one different references to its name (The Black Cat and The Murders in the Rue Morgue). The other ability user with a similar case is Mark Twain, whose ability is a reference to two novels.