Edward Chris von Muir

"An elegant prince, successor to his country's throne, yet isolated from the everyday world."

Edward Chris von Muir is a player character from Final Fantasy IV. He is the crown prince of Damcyan, and is in line to become the seventh king. Although he is required to be educated in politics, he shows much more interest in music. Thus, he often leaves the kingdom disguised as a Bard, and travels the land with his harp.

Final Fantasy IV


Edward was born and raised in Damcyan, however, he did not like the idea of playing politics, and preferred his music. He thus traveled the land as a Bard, singing to many people. He fell in love with a girl named Anna, and when Tellah, Anna's father, did not approve of their union, they ran away. This made Tellah furious, and he followed them looking to take Anna back.

Edward and Anna went back to Damcyan. However, the kingdom was attacked by Golbez and the Red Wings of Baron, who stole the Crystal of Fire in Damcyan. As a result of the attack, Anna was mortally wounded, and Tellah arrived, along with Cecil Harvey and Rydia. Tellah blamed Edward for what happened to Anna, and began to attack him (this is the moment where Tellah delivers his famous line, "You spoony Bard!"). However, Anna broke up the fight, and told Tellah that she was in love with Edward, and there was nothing Tellah could do about it. Edward then explained to Tellah that it was Golbez who wounded Anna, and Tellah swore to avenge his daughter.

Anna then died, and Edward began to cry. However, Cecil and Rydia snapped him out of it, and reminded him that there were others who were in danger. Edward then offered to help them find the Sand Ruby so that Cecil could cure Rosa Farrell's Desert Fever. Edward then agreed to take them to the Antlion's Cave, where the Sand Ruby was. They used the Hovercraft to reach the cave. Inside the cave, they found out that the usually tame Antlion had become aggressive, and the three had to fight the Antlion for the Sand Ruby. They went back to Kaipo and used the Sand Ruby to cure Rosa. There, they decided that they needed to defend the remaining Crystals, and that the Crystal of Air in Fabul was the next target.

That night, Edward heard noises, and sneaked out of the hospital where the party was staying to investigate. He began to play his harp by the oasis, and a Waterhag attacked him. During the fight, Anna's ghost appeared and told Edward to believe in himself and to be strong for her. Edward agreed to do so, and he went back to sleep.

In order to reach Fabul, Edward, Cecil, Rydia, and Rosa had to cross Mt. Hobs, a mountain blocked by a thick sheet of ice, in order to reach Fabul. Rydia was the only one who could melt the ice by casting the Fire spell, however, she could not do so as she was afraid of fire due to the memory of Mist being burned. However, with persuasion from Rosa, Rydia eventually mustered up the courage to cast the Fire spell and open the way. Rydia could now use Fire magic at this point. On top of the mountain, the party met a Monk named Yang Fang Leiden who was fighting off Golbez's troops. With help from Cecil and his friends, Yang was able to defeat them. Cecil warned Yang of the danger ahead, and joined Yang in the journey back to Fabul.

In Fabul, Yang warned the king of Baron's incoming attack, and Cecil and Edward helped back him up. The king was initially skeptical because he could not trust the Dark Knight Cecil. However, Edward, an old friend of the king, stepped in to tell him that Cecil was right because Golbez already stole the Crystal of Fire. Yang also helped to convince the king of Cecil's loyalty, and Cecil, Yang, and Edward helped defend the castle. Rosa and Rydia were put on relief. However, after the fight against the Baronian army, Cecil was cornered by Kain, who had now turned against Cecil, in the Crystal room. The two dueled, and Cecil lost. Golbez then defeated Edward and Yang, and took Rosa as hostage. Kain took the Crystal and left. Rydia then cured the party. Cecil then decided to sneak into Baron by ship and get an airship from Cid Pollendina, who was also skeptical of what Baron was up to these days. The party boarded a ship provided by the king of Fabul and set sail towards Baron. However, on the way, the ship was attacked by Leviathan, the Terror of the Sea. Cecil, Rydia, Edward, and Yang were all blown off the ship.

Edward was eventually recovered near the nation of Toroia. He was wounded, and thus was put in a hospital to be healed. Cecil, Tellah, Yang, and Cid came to visit him while searching for the Crystal of Earth, and they told him that they were going to fight the Dark Elf. Edward then gave Cecil his Twin Harp, which had the power to echo whatever Edward played on his harp. When Cecil and his friends were fighting the Dark Elf, Edward sensed that they were in danger, and struggled out of bed in order to get to his harp, despite his doctor telling him not to. Edward was able to play his harp, making the Twin Harp react. The Dark Elf then lost control of himself, and Cecil was able to defeat it. Cecil and his friends came back to visit Edward one more time, and Tellah told him that Anna was happy to be loved by a man like Edward. Edward then told Tellah to avenge Anna for his sake, too, and Tellah promised him that he would.

Edward is fully recovered for the battle with the Giant of Bab-il, and commandeers an airship along with the Eight Clerics of Toroia. He then goes to the Tower of Wishes in Mysidia to help pray for Cecil's victory against Zeromus, and in the Game Boy Advance version of the game, he is playable again at this point.

In the ending, Edward is approached by young children who beg him to tell the story of Cecil. Edward told them that he would do so providing they help with the reconstruction of Damcyan.

Equipment and Stats
Edward's stats are very low, both physically and magically, and his weapon arsenal is limited to Harps, and bows and arrows. However, after Level 70, his stats tend to skyrocket, giving him the potential to attain the highest raw stats in the game. He can also only equip hats, tunics and rings.

Abilities
Edward is a Bard, and thus has the abilities one would expect a Bard to have. He is able to Sing, which randomly Silences or Charms an opponent, or tries to put an opponent to Sleep. In Final Fantasy IV Advance, the Harmonious Ring changes Sing to Chant. Chant casts Protect and Shell on the party. In the DS version, Edward gains new songs and is able to choose from which to sing.

Heal splits a potion among the party. In the DS version, Edward is able to split any restorative item amongst the party at full effect.

He also has the Hide ability, which allows him to be protected against all attacks, however he cannot do anything while hiding. He automatically hides when he is low on HP.

Music
Edward's theme is called Melody of Lute, despite its synthesized instrument being a harp.

The Spoony Bard
In the original English translation of Final Fantasy IV for the Super NES, which is often misattributed to Ted Woolsey, but was actually credited to Kaoru Moriyama, K. Okahisa, and H. Takahashi. Tellah attacks Edward upon meeting him and uses the insult, "You spoony bard!" As silly as the line is, it has become one of the most famous and often quoted pieces of dialogue in the entire Final Fantasy series (and the word "spoony," which means "enamored in a silly or sentimental way" is used more or less correctly here, though the enraged Tellah's use of such a mild insult is questionable). For this reason, the line was left in the game even after it was retranslated for release on the Sony Playstation and once again when put on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. According to Nintendo Power, it will be reused in the translation of the DS game.

Translations
''The following are various transcripts and translations from Final Fantasy IV, notable for contributing the phrase "You spoony bard!" to the international lexicon. The text is reproduced here under strict fair use guidelines as it is critical to demonstrating the reason behind and context for "You spoony bard!" as well as providing insight into the game itself. This transcript of the confrontation between Tellah and Edward contains the original Japanese, a literal translation, a "free text" translation attempting to capture the spirit and tone which the author intended, and the SNES translation.''


 * Tellah
 * original: きさま　あの時の吟遊詩人！　きさまのせいでアンナは！
 * literal: You, the bard of that time! As for Anna, it's because of you! (The word used for both instances of "you" is "kisama," one of the rudest ways to say "you" in Japanese. This is what is often presumed to be what "you spoony bard" is supposed to be a translation of. Because of it's harshness, one might say "kisama" is akin to "you bastard" or "you son of a bitch.")
 * "free text": You! You're that bard from before! This is your fault!
 * SNES: You're the bard! You did this to her!
 * GBA: You're that bard! Anna ran away because of your treachery!
 * DS: You--you're that bard! You're the one responsible for this!


 * bard
 * DS: No Please!
 * DS: No Please!


 * Tellah
 * original: きさま　よくも娘を・・・・
 * literal: You, how could you, my daughter... (Again, "kisama" is used for "you.")
 * "free text": You! How could you do this to my daughter...
 * SNES: You swindler!
 * GBA: You spoony bard!
 * DS: You spoony bard!


 * bard
 * original: ちがうんです！
 * literal: It is different!
 * "free text": No, I didn't!
 * SNES: Please! Listen!
 * DS


 * Tellah
 * original: なにがちがうと　いうのだ！
 * literal: Say what is it that's different!
 * "free text": What do you mean you didn't!?
 * SNES: You spoony bard!
 * DS: You spoony bard!

Trivia

 * Gil is named after the Gilbert family of Damcyan. Gilbert is Edward's Japanese name.
 * A Proposition in Final Fantasy Tactics involves sending the poet Gilbert's love letter to Anna, the singing Princess of Warjilis.
 * In the re-translation for Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, during Mission 1.15: Grief and Hatred, Wiegraf rebukes Ramza's testimony to his brothers' integrity with the line, "No spoony bard could spin a sweeter tale!"

Appearances in other games
Edward made an appearance in Legend of Mana, as a character named Gilbart. Gilbert was Edward's Japanese name.