The brooding master of Thornfield Hall, Rochester is the employer and eventual husband of the novel's titular protagonist, Jane Eyre.

Edward Rochester is the oft-absent master of Thornfield Hall, where Jane Eyre is employed as a governess to his young ward, Adèle Varens.

Rochester confides to Jane that Adèle is the daughter of his past lover, French opera dancer Céline Varens, who had run off with another man.

While Jane is working at Thornfield, Rochester invites his acquaintances over for a week-long stay, including the beautiful socialite Blanche Ingram.

Unable to live with Bertha due to her madness, Rochester tried to keep her existence a secret and kept her on the third floor of Thornfield Hall with a nursemaid, Grace Poole.

[2] Aged in his mid to late thirties,[a] Rochester is described as being of average height[5] and an athletic build, "broad-chested and thin-flanked, though neither tall nor graceful.

[8] He is described as having black hair, a "decisive nose",[7] a "colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features," and a "firm, grim mouth".

"[14] Robert Dingley argued that it is possible Brontë drew specifically upon Wilmot's depiction in William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 novel Old St. Paul's, wherein the Earl has a penchant for disguise and twice attempts to entrap the woman he loves in a spurious marriage.

[20] John Pfordresher, author of The Secret History of Jane Eyre, argued that besides Heger, real-life influences on the character were Brontë's ill-tempered father, Patrick, and hedonistic brother, Branwell.

[24] Literary critics note Rochester as a parallel of the titular character in the French folktale "Bluebeard" — a wealthy serial bridegroom who keeps the remains of his previous murdered wives in a locked room of his castle.

[26] Before Rochester's wife's existence is revealed the novel describes the third story of Thornfield Hall where Bertha is secretly kept as looking "like a corridor in some Bluebeard’s castle".

While negotiating the terms of her marriage to him, Jane refers to Rochester as a "three-tailed bashaw",[27] a title that was applied to the character of Bluebeard in late 18th-century texts.

[25] Rochester has also been equivalated with the sultan Shahriyar in the Middle Eastern folktale collection Arabian Nights, as a disillusioned despot who distrusts women.

[34] Rowe argues that Rochester transforms in Janes eyes from "monster to seeming prince to an 'idol'", showing her that "immersion in romantic fantasy threatens her integrity".

[20] Commenting on the poll in The Daily Telegraph, novelist Penny Vincenzi said the result was "no surprise", as Rochester is endowed with a "brooding, difficult, almost savage complexity".

[36] Rochester features in much literature inspired by Jane Eyre, including prequels, sequels, rewritings and reinterpretations from different characters' perspectives.