Adam Eddington

Adam Eddington
Ryan Merriman as Adam Eddington
First appearance	The Arm of the Starfish (1965)
Last appearance	Troubling a Star (1994)
Created by	Madeleine L'Engle
Portrayed by	Ryan Merriman
Information
Occupation	Student, intern in Marine biology
Relatives	Aunt Serena Eddington (great aunt)

Adam Eddington III is a major character in three young adult novels by Madeleine L'Engle. A marine biology student, he is the protagonist of The Arm of the Starfish (1965), and a reluctant romantic love interest for Vicky Austin in A Ring of Endless Light (1980), a romantic relationship that continues in Troubling a Star (1994). He is one of three characters to have major appearances in both L'Engle's O'Keefe family series of books and her Austin family series.

Adam is highly intelligent, with a strong aptitude for science, especially marine biology, a field in which Adam's uncle and namesake made a name for himself a generation earlier. Although he describes himself as "not a churchgoer", he sang in a church choir as a child, and retains a strong moral sense along with a questioning, philosophical nature. Initially somewhat naive, Adam unwisely trusts a beautiful young woman in The Arm of the Starfish, which results in the death of a friend. Because of this, Adam tries unsuccessfully to maintain an emotional distance from Vicky Austin when he meets her the following summer. He appreciates Vicky for her kind, forthright and poetic nature, and the two become close to each other anyway. By the end of his third and final appearance, Adam and Vicky appear to have formed quite a strong and close, everlasting romantic relationship.

The Arm of the Starfish (1965, ) introduces readers to the character, and establishes much of his early history in its opening pages. A 16-year-old marine biology student, he has recently graduated from high school and plans to attend the University of California, Berkeley the following winter. The son of a physicist who teaches at Columbia University, Adam has been spending his summers with his family in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he has assisted elderly marine biologist "Old Doc" Didymus "ever since I was a kid." It is said that he considered himself "worldly" due to growing up in New York City, but this changes when Carolyn "Kali" Cutter exposes him to the wider world. Principled but naive, Adam has trouble determining who can or cannot be trusted in the struggle between the Cutters, the O'Keefes and their respective allies.