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Rahel’s twin brother and the other protagonist, Estha is far more reserved than Rahel and lives life as a solitary individual who does not speak. When Ammu divorces their father, Babu, it is Estha that Babu demands be sent back with him to live, separating Estha from Rahel. For years, the twins live apart. Much to the family’s dissatisfaction, Estha doesn’t show any interest in enrolling in college, and prefers doing housework. He stops speaking when he is molested by the Orangedrink Lemondrink Man as a seven-year-old child. Estha’s mind grows more melancholy than Rahel’s, and his mind often turns to macabre thoughts that amuse and confound the others. 

Estha is also more practical-minded than Rahel, and it is his idea as a child to escape to the History House after Ammu shouts at them and tells them that they are burdens. Estha makes a plan for them to pack food and belongings and make the History House their official “safe haven.” It’s this sense of practicality which makes him the chosen victim for Baby Kochamma’s scheme to force Estha and Rahel to testify against Velutha so she is not charged for filing a false account against Velutha. Estha must identify Velutha’s beaten body in the jail cell and say “yes” to the officer’s questions. Estha, arguably, has the greater burden of guilt and the closest relationship to the most horrible truths of the life of all the characters in the novel.

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