Edgar Roni Figaro

Edgar Roni Figaro is a playable character in Final Fantasy VI. He is the king of Figaro Castle and the older twin brother of Sabin Rene Figaro. He is a master engineer, which leads him to create odd and unusual weapons, mostly as a hobby. Edgar often redecorates his room and is flirtatious with women, a trait he shares with many other characters in the series. Before his name is introduced, his dialogue is credited to King.

Appearance and Personality
Edgar is usually seen wearing light blue armor, with white boots, and a long, blue cape, all with yellow trim, to match the colors of the desert and sea. His eyes are a deep blue, a sign of Figaro nobility. His hair is in a long ponytail, kept together with two ribbons. While operating under the alias "Gerad", Edgar wears a dark blue, brown, and black palette swap of his usual outfit. Edgar also dons various protective gear when using his various Tools in battle.

As a person, Edgar is very much a ladies' man. From the minute he is introduced in the game, he constantly tries to hit on Terra, with no avail. He also flirts with Celes upon meeting her, and even shows interest in Relm until he learns she is only ten years old. Several other NPCs, particularly in Figaro, note that Edgar is a flirt. This has been a target for many jokes in the game from many characters, mostly from Locke, while his twin brother Sabin refers to his behavior towards women as an "old bad habit".

Despite his constant girl-chasing, Edgar is a king first, and puts his responsibilities as ruler as his top priority. In a scene between him and Sabin in Figaro Castle, Edgar reveals he sometimes doubts his ability to live up to their father as a king, and wonders "if he'd be proud of me," to which Sabin responds Edgar should not ever doubt that.

Backstory
Edgar, along with his brother Sabin, was born a prince to the throne of Figaro to his father Stewart Remy Figaro and his mother, an orphan named Crystale who may have had some mage descent. His mother died in childbirth. At the age of fourteen, Edgar participated in the "hunting of the Antlion", a Figaro rite of passage into adulthood, and with his brother's help, he succeeded. His liking of women started early; at the age of fifteen he got into trouble for flirting with his uncle's wife. When Edgar was only seventeen the Gestahlian Empire poisoned his father. Their father died asking both of his sons rule the kingdom together.

Sabin, becoming upset at how no one seemed to care about his father's death, but only who would become the next king, urged Edgar to run away with him, far from the castle and corrupted politics. Edgar wanted to go with his brother, but knew that abandoning the kingdom would go against his father's wishes, so he decided to give his brother his freedom in trade for his own. Edgar proposed a coin toss, picking "heads" for Sabin. The coin he threw had his face on one side, and Sabin's on the other. Sabin left the kingdom unaware of the trick that had been played on him, and Edgar became the new king.

Edgar established an official friendship with the Empire, but never forgot who had his father killed and caused his brother to leave home. He secretly allied himself with the Returners, a resistance movement to the Empire headed in the Sabre Mountains, to avenge his family's falling apart. Locke Cole is his contact with them.

In the Game
One day, Locke brings a girl named Terra Branford to the castle and Edgar agrees to harbor her from the Empire. However, Imperial General Kefka Palazzo knows something is up, and comes to Figaro to question Terra's whereabouts. Edgar lies, and Kefka sets the castle on fire. However, Edgar is too quick for him and escapes the castle with Terra and Locke. The Chancellor of Figaro has the castle submerged under the desert.

Edgar decides to take Terra and Locke to the Returners' hideout. On the way they climb Mt. Kolts and get in a struggle with Vargas, a student of the great martial arts master Duncan Harcourt. Sabin suddenly arrives to save them, and offers his help, which Edgar accepts. The four meet Banon in the Returner Hideout, who convinces Terra to join their cause. Banon joins Terra, Edgar and Sabin on a trip down the Lethe River to Narshe to see the frozen Esper.

On the way, they fight Ultros. During the battle Ultros sticks a tentacle onto Terra's ankle, forcing Sabin to save her. In this struggle, Sabin is thrown from the raft, and Terra, Edgar and Banon have to make the rest of the trip alone. Upon arrival at Narshe they sneak in through the mines, since the guards would not let Terra in. The threesome meets with Arvis, a member of the Returners living in Narshe, a neutral city. Together, they try to convince the Elder to join them, but their efforts are futile.

Later, Kefka arrives at Narshe with an army in hopes of claiming the Esper for the Empire. At this point, Locke, Sabin, Cyan Garamonde, Gau and Celes Chere arrive and help defend Narshe. They succeeded, but after the battle, Terra reacts with the Esper and turns into an Esper herself, flying away. A search party is sent to look for her. On the way, the party passes through Figaro again. Sabin walks around the castle and meets Edgar in the throne room, where they discuss what happened.

The party finds Terra on top of the tallest tower in Zozo, where she was being cared for by Ramuh. Ramuh tells them they need to go to Vector and free the imprisoned Espers, one of them being Terra's father, Maduin. To get there, they have to meet up with Setzer Gabbiani, the infamous gambler. Setzer is not willing to help them, but Celes proposes a coin toss, which if she won, Setzer would offer help. Otherwise, Setzer and Celes would marry. Edgar provides a two-faced coin to guarantee Celes's victory, and even if Setzer catches onto the trick, he agrees to help anyway. The group heads to Vector, succeeds in recovering the Espers, and save Terra.

Back in Narshe, the Elder decides to join with the Returners. An agreement is made that Terra would contact the Espers to attack Vector, after which a coalition of Returners and Narshe guards would storm from the north. The plan is a success and Emperor Gestahl appears to have surrendered. At a banquet, he asks Terra if she would try convince the Espers to negotiate peace; she and Locke would go to Crescent Island to parley the Emperor's message. Edgar is still skeptical of the Emperor, and decides to stay in Vector to make sure the Emperor isn't lying.

Edgar seduces one of the Emperor's maids into revealing the Emperor's true plan: he wants to lure out the Espers in hopes of capturing them. Edgar and the others fly to Thamasa to warn Terra and Locke, but they are too late. Kefka has acquired more magicite and uses it to revive the Warring Triad and turns the Land of Espers into the Floating Continent.

One year after the apocalypse Figaro Castle is stuck under the desert. Edgar disguises himself as a thief named Gerad (ジェフ) and recruits the best thieves around the world to form a gang known as the Crimson Robbers, who would help him get into Figaro. Celes and Sabin catch up to him in Nikeah and follow him through South Figaro and South Figaro Cave through a secret passage to the castle. Celes and Sabin follow him to the Engine Room where Edgar reveals his true identity. Celes and Sabin help him defeat the monster that disrupted the engine, and Edgar rejoins the two. They head to Kohlingen where they met up with Setzer, who helps them find another airship: the Falcon.

In the ending, Edgar is saved by Sabin from being crushed by a falling girder.

Battle
Edgar is a Machinist, and has high physical stats but low magic stats and speed. He is able to equip all swords, spears, shields, as well as a few daggers and most heavy armor. Edgar's special ability is Tools, which lets him attack enemies with one of eight special weapons.

Edgar's tools must be purchased in Figaro Castle or found before he can use them. Having Edgar as the field character also allows the player to receive a 50% discount when buying from the merchants in Figaro Castle. Edgar begins with a Mythril Sword, Buckler, Leather Hat and Leather Armor.

Musical Themes
Edgar shares his theme with Sabin, and is the background music for Figaro Castle, as well as when either character is the focus of a scene. This leitmotif has a more sentimental reprise in "Coin Song", played during flashbacks of the two, and is reprised again in the "Ending Theme".

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Edgar makes a small cameo in Dissidia 012 during the data install sequence. If the player repeatedly presses the Square button during the install, eventually Edgar and Sabin will drop down from the top of the screen. In-game, he serves as a tutor in the manuals.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Edgar makes an appearance in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.

Etymology
"Edgar" is an English name that means "Great Spearman", a fitting name for Edgar since he is a predominant spear-wielder. Roni is the Finnish shortened form of the English name Ronnie, which may come from the Latin Hieronymus or "holy name". His last name, Figaro, is a French and Italian word for "barber", as well as the name of the central character from Pierre Beaumarchais's 1775 play The Barber of Seville.

Trivia

 * Before Amano drew the final artwork, Edgar, Sabin, and their backstory, were designed by Kaori Tanaka (later nicknamed Soraya Saga), an artist who would go on to participate in the development of Xenogears. Two royal siblings named Rene and Roni appear in the latter game, who closely resemble Sabin and Edgar (Rene being large and muscular, Roni being a handsome man with long hair who is talented with machines, and both having blue eyes and blond hair). Soraya Saga also authored the doujinshi Figaro no Kekkon: Tales from Desert, which explores their backstory, though Saga notes the story is not canon to the game.
 * At one point in the game, Edgar uses the alias "Gerad", this being an anagram for Edgar. As it is hard-coded, even if the player renames Edgar, he will still use Gerad as his alias.
 * In the Dawn of Souls, 20th Anniversary and iOS versions of the original Final Fantasy, Gerad is one of the automatic names the player can choose for the Thief job.
 * In Dissidia Final Fantasy, a subset of armor named "Machine" is partially named after Edgar's Tools: "Auto Crossbow" Armor, "Drill" Helm and "Chainsaw" Shield. However, the subset's weapon, Machine Gun, is not named after any of Edgar's Tools.
 * In Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, as the Machine Gun is now an exclusive weapon of Laguna's, the weapon has been renamed "Air Anchor", meaning that all of the "Machine" subset is now named after Edgar's Tools.