Ed, whose full self-given name is Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, is a teenage girl and a core member of the bounty hunting crew aboard the spaceship Bebop. She is a self-proclaimed cowgirl, a prodigy known in the hacker underground as Radical Edward.

Ed's background is marked by abandonment and independence. Born on Earth on January 1st, she was given a male name by her father, a scientist so consumed by his work tracking meteor showers that he was unaware of her gender. He left her at a daycare facility when she was young, and she eventually found her way to a Catholic orphanage. From an early age, she lived a nomadic life, never staying in one place for long, and taught herself computer programming, often taking shelter in libraries.

Personality-wise, Ed is extraordinarily eccentric, hyperactive, and cheerful, with a unique and often bizarre physicality that includes moving on all fours, walking on her hands, or standing on her head for no apparent reason. She has a childlike mindset, a very short attention span, and a tendency to speak in the third person or sing nonsensical songs. Despite her naivety regarding social conventions and adult relationships, she possesses a pure, strong, and intuitive moral compass, acting as an unexpected, guiding light for the more jaded adult members of the crew.

Her primary motivation is a fundamental need for belonging and companionship. After years of fending for herself, she became a devoted fan of the Bebop crew, tracking their movements across the solar system. She orchestrated an encounter with them on Earth, hacking into their ship to force them to accept her as a member in exchange for helping them capture a rogue satellite that was vandalizing the planet.

In the story, Ed serves as the crew's genius hacker and computer expert, a role essential to their bounty hunting missions. She can infiltrate the most secure military networks, decrypt passcodes almost instantly, and remotely pilot vehicles using her unique, fish-shaped hacking programs. Beyond her technical skills, she also brings levity and a sense of fun to the otherwise grim and financially struggling Bebop, often accompanied by her closest companion, Ein, a highly intelligent "data dog".

Her key relationships are defined by her found family on the ship. She has a sibling-like bond with the corgi Ein, and while Spike Spiegel initially complains that he hates children, animals, and women with attitudes—all of which are now aboard—he and the gruff Jet Black eventually come to accept her as part of their crew. She shares a particularly mischievous dynamic with Faye Valentine, though it was Faye who initially tried to abandon Ed after she had fulfilled her end of a bargain.

Ed undergoes a quiet but profound development. Unlike the other characters, who are haunted by traumatic pasts, Ed has no such burdens to resolve; she is almost entirely future-oriented. When she finally reunites with her oblivious father, she realizes that the family she was looking for was not him, but the one she had built on the Bebop. However, in a mature and bittersweet decision, she chooses to leave the ship to begin a new journey of her own, walking away into the Earth's wasteland with Ein by her side, marking the end of her time as a member of the crew. Among the main characters, Ed is notable for reaching a positive and self-determined ending, choosing to pioneer her own future.