Nancy, Isabella, and Mat in Midwinterblood

Nancy, Isabella, and Mat

These three are the students on Edward's archeological dig in 2011. They each have their own little backstory:

• Nancy: She's a tall, thin American who Edward has known since she was an undergrad.
• Isabella: A German girl who dresses like a Goth with "a pierced nose, and pink hair" (2.2.5), Edward thinks she's a bit too happy to really be a Goth.
• Mat: He's a student who lives on the mainland and is educated, but still has a sweet down-home type quality about him that Edward loves.

As fun as these guys are, they're just kind of knocking around to fill out Edward's trip. After all, he can't dig up Viking tombs all by himself. These three are sounding boards for him to toss ideas off of, and they're hanging around to help with the heavy lifting and to get into trouble when the plot calls for it.

The fact that they're all hard-working students emphasizes how small-time Edward's little dig is. Three graduate students are all he can afford to take along, which only makes their big find all that more exciting and unlikely.