Edward Chris von Muir

Edward Chris von Muir, also known as Gilbert or Gilbart, is a playable character from Final Fantasy IV and its sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. He is the crown prince of Damcyan, and in line to become the seventh king. Although he is required to be educated in politics, Edward shows greater interest in music and often leaves the kingdom disguised as a bard to travel the land with his harp.

Appearance
Edward is a a youthful, blond man in his mid twenties, wearing red garments (orange in the 3D version FMVs), a cloak and a hat with a feather in it. In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Edward's hair is a little longer and wavier, and he wears a brown tunic with plate armor covering his arms.

Personality
Much like Cecil, who was also raised within nobility, Edward is introverted around others. He is sensitive and somewhat of a coward, but gains confidence and assists his friends to the best of his abilities strengthened by his love for those he has lost. In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Edward acts intuitive and is observant, realizing Cecil is acting strangely. According to his conversation with the final boss, he knew the what the Mysterious Girl was up to from the start.

Final Fantasy IV
Edward was born and raised in Damcyan, but disliked the idea of playing politics and preferred music. He traveled the land as a bard and fell in love with a girl named Anna. When Tellah, Anna's father, did not approve of their union, the two ran away making Tellah furious, and he followed them looking to take Anna back.

Edward and Anna return to Damcyan, but the kingdom is raided by Golbez and the Red Wings of Baron, who steal Damcyan's Fire Crystal. Anna is mortally wounded shielding Edward from harm. Tellah arrives, along with Cecil and Rydia, and blames Edward for Anna's injuries. Tellah attacks him, but Anna breaks up the fight and tells Tellah she is in love with Edward, and there is nothing Tellah can do about it. Edward explains to Tellah it was Golbez who attacked Damcyan, and Tellah swears to avenge his daughter.

Anna dies. Having lost his parents, his love, and with his kingdom in ruins, Edward breaks down in tears. Cecil slaps him across the face and demands his help, and Edward helps him find the Sand Pearl so Cecil can cure Rosa Farrell's Desert Fever, the woman he is in love with. They return to Kaipo and use the Sand Pearl to cure Rosa, and decide they need to defend the remaining Crystals, and that the Crystal of Air in Fabul is Golbez's next target.

That night Edward hears noises and sneaks out of the inn to investigate. He plays his harp by the oasis and a Sahagin attacks him. Anna's ghost appears and tells Edward to believe in himself and to be strong for her. Edward agrees and goes back to sleep.

To reach Fabul, Edward, Cecil, Rydia, and Rosa cross Mt. Hobs where they meet a monk named Yang Fang Leiden fighting off Golbez's troops, who joins the party. In Fabul, Yang warns the King of Fabul of Baron's incoming attack, and Cecil and Edward help back him up. The king is initially skeptical because he cannot trust Cecil due to him being a Dark Knight. Edward, the king's old friend, steps in and tells Cecil is right because Golbez has already stolen the Crystal of Fire. The king is convinced of Cecil's loyalty, and Cecil, Yang, and Edward help defend the castle.

After the fight against the Baronian army, Cecil is cornered in the crystal room by Kain, Cecil's old friend who has joined Golbez. Kain defeats Cecil and Golbez defeats Edward and Yang, and takes Rosa as hostage while Kain steals the Crystal. The party decides to sneak into Baron by ship and get an airship from the Baronian engineer Cid Pollendina, but on the way they are attacked by Leviathan and Cecil, Rydia, Edward, and Yang are all blown off the ship.

Edward is recovered near the nation of Troia, wounded, and is placed in a hospital. Cecil, Tellah, Yang, and Cid later visit him while searching for the Crystal of Earth, and tell him they are going to fight the Dark Elf. Edward gives Cecil his Whisperweed, which has the power to echo whatever Edward plays on his harp. When Cecil and his friends are fighting the Dark Elf, Edward senses they are in danger, and struggles out of bed to get to his harp despite the doctor's warnings.

Edward plays his harp, making the Whisperweed react. The Dark Elf loses control of himself, enabling Cecil and company to use metallic weapons and defeat it. Cecil and his friends visit Edward one more time, and Tellah tells him Anna was happy to be loved by a man like Edward. Edward tells Tellah to avenge Anna for his sake, too, and Tellah promises he will.

Edward recovers for the battle with the Giant of Babil, and commandeers an airship along with the Epopts of Troia. He goes to the Tower of Wishes in Mysidia to help pray for Cecil's victory against Zeromus, and in some versions of the game can rejoin Cecil's party at this point.

After Zeromus has been felled and peace returns to the world, Edward is approached by children who beg him to tell the story of Cecil through the song of his lyre. Edward tells them he would do so providing they help with Damcyan's reconstruction. Once they leave, he looks up and prays Anna and Tellah are doing fine in the afterlife.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Edward holds a celebration on the reconstruction of Damcyan, inviting, among others, dignitaries from all over the world to express his gratitude. Cecil discusses the absence of both Edge Geraldine and Rydia, and the security of the Fire Crystal with the castle open to the public. Edward shows him that he alone can open the chamber to the Crystal.

The celebration is cut short when a soldier brings distressful news of a group of monks in Mt. Hobs.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Seventeen years later, Edward continues to rule Damcyan, and has gained a personal secretary named Harley, who goes missing when investigating a meteor impact site. Edward and three soldiers search for her, and she joins the team as they return to Damcyan to find the castle surrounded by the Red Wings. Baron requests Damcyan to leave the meteor impact site for Baron.

Edward and Harley go through the cave to Kaipo, but Harley falls ill to the Desert Fever. Edward ventures into the Antlion Cave to retrieve a Sand Pearl, and with Harley recovered, they board a ship to Baron to talk to Cecil. Edward notices something strange with him when Cecil does not recognize the bouquet of whisperweed he's given him, allowing Edward to eavesdrop on Cecil and an unknown person's conversation on Baron's plans to attack Damcyan for their Crystal.

They return to Damcyan and witness Yang and his ship being swallowed by Leviathan. The Red Wings attack Damcyan with Kain in helm. Edward fights him to defend his kingdom and the Crystal, but is defeated, and Kain steals it. Edward joins Cecil's son, Ceodore Harvey, on his journey back to Baron, where they meet Rosa and Cid, and meet with Kain in the castle.

Upon confronting him, they discern he is actually Kain's dark half who defeated his light half (the Mysterious Man) on Mount Ordeals. The Mysterious Man (Kain) regains his Jump ability, equips his lance, and fights his dark half. After defeating him Kain becomes a Holy Dragoon, and together the group confronts Cecil and the Mysterious Girl who now controls him.

They are forced to fight Cecil as well as Odin, who comes to his senses and knocks Cecil out of being possessed by the Mysterious Girl. Edward joins the others to the Crater where they fight a boss from each Crystal before facing off with the Mysterious Girl and Bahamut. After helping to defeat the Creator, Edward and Harley observe the Crystal in Damcyan.

Although pulled away by an elder to discuss Harley's plan to amass the materials needed to rebuild the damage caused to the Blue Planet since the moon meteors nearly destroyed it, Edward sees the spirits of Tellah and Anna and thanks them.

Final Fantasy IV
Edward is a playable party member. He has low physical and magical stats, a Bardsong ability, a Salve ability to split healing items (though only a Potion in 2D) for the party, a Hide ability to remove himself from battle, and can wield harps, daggers, and bows. Bardsong in the 2D releases only inflicts a random status ailment on an opponent, but in the 3D releases allows him to choose the effect of his song, and potentially learn new songs upon levelling. While Edward is a weak party member offensively and defensively, his stat growth skyrockets past 70, allowing him to achieve the highest possible stats in the game.

Edward also appears as a boss known as Bard in a scripted encounter against Tellah.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Edward returns as a party member, but is stronger than in the original game, with a versatile healing ability. He retains his abilities from the original, with Hide renamed as Escape, Bardsong having random effects, and Salve functioning identically to how it functions in the 3D release. Aside from Speed, his stats are low, though his harps deal more damage to various enemy types and may have elemental properties. While he has only a few Band abilities, King's Quad allows him, Cecil, Edge, and Yang to break the damage limit of 9,999.

Edward also appears briefly as a storyline boss.

Musical themes
Edward's theme is called "Edward's Harp". Edward claims this was Anna's favorite song.

The "Spoony Bard"


One of the most infamous lines in Final Fantasy history originates from the original English release of Final Fantasy IV. When Tellah attacks Edward in Damcyan he shouts out various insults, including "You spoony bard!" While it was a fluke in the localization, the line has become a running gag within the fan community, being referred to in some of the later installments, and in popular culture. While later remakes of Final Fantasy IV have re-translated the script, "You spoony bard!" has remained across all translations and ports.

Other appearances
Edward has appeared in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:
 * Final Fantasy XIV as a Minion.
 * Final Fantasy Tactics as a cameo.
 * Dissidia Final Fantasy as a cameo.
 * Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as a series of abilities.
 * Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
 * Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
 * Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
 * Triple Triad as a card.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances
Edward has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:
 * Legend of Mana
 * Virtual World

Gallery

 * Final Fantasy IV

Etymology
A possible theory is that "Gilbart" comes from, an influential writer of books about banking who shaped most of the joint stock banks in the 1800s. The name "Gilbart" provides the source for the name of the gil, the recurring currency in Final Fantasy, tying into the historical Gilbart as a banker. As further reference to Edward being the coin's namesake, his tale in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years subtly focuses on managing money, most prominently in his challenge dungeon.

Trivia

 * The character Eduardo from Final Fantasy Dimensions shares many similarities with Edward, in regards to name that is Spanish for Edward, his appearance, and job.
 * Edward is seen with a lute in Yoshitaka Amano's artwork and in the opening cinematic in the 3D remake, when in fact, in the game itself, he plays a harp.
 * In Hironobu Sakaguchi's original plot for Final Fantasy IV, "after Anna's death Edward awakens and becomes extremely powerful in battle." However, Akihiko Matsui persuaded him that "a weakling does not stop being a weakling just because his girlfriend dies."
 * In Final Fantasy IV, Edward is the only character who does not fight any elemental Archfiends.
 * The Artemis' Bow, the Relic Weapon for Bard in Final Fantasy XIV, was long ago crafted specifically for a man named Gilbert, Edward's Japanese name.
 * Outside of Japan, Final Fantasy IV is the only game in the series to have two playable characters with the same name, since Edge's real name is Edward Geraldine.