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, and travels the land with his harp.

Appearance and Personality
Edward is a a youthful-looking, blond-haired man in his late twenties, wearing red garments (orange in the DS 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.

Much like Cecil, who was also raised within nobility, Edward is shy around others. He is easily swayed by emotion and is quick to become frightened, but over the course of the story he gains confidence and assists his friends to the best of his abilities, strengthened by his love for those he lost.

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

Edward and Anna return to Damcyan, but the kingdom is attacked 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 what happened to Anna. 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 shortly thereafter. 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 offers to help them find the Sand Pearl so Cecil could cure Rosa Farrell's Desert Fever. Edward agrees to take them to the Antlion's Den where the Sand Pearl could be found. 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 to do so, and goes back to sleep.

To reach Fabul, Edward, Cecil, Rydia, and Rosa have to 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 Baron's incoming attack, and Cecil and Edward help back him up. The king is initially skeptical because he could not 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 decide to sneak into Baron by ship and get an airship from 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 come 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 doctors telling him not to. 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 come back to 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 would.

Edward is fully recovered 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 the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable versions is playable again at this point.

In the ending, Edward is approached by young 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 other people dignitaries from all over the world to express his gratitude towards them. Cecil discusses with him the absence of both Edge Geraldine and Rydia, and the security of the Fire Crystal with the castle open to the public, however 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 turns up missing. Edward and three soldiers go search for her, after which she joins the team and they travel back to Damcyan. When the party returns, they find Damcyan surrounded by the Red Wings.

Edward and Harley go through the cave to Kaipo, but Harley falls ill to the Desert Fever. Edward goes through the Antlion Cave to retrieve a Sand Pearl and with Harley recovered they board a ship towards Baron and talk to Cecil. Edward notices something is strange with him and after the meeting they head back to Damcyan and witness Yang and his ship getting swallowed by Leviathan. Edward joins Cecil's son, Ceodore Harvey, on his journey back to Baron, and after reaching Baron 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 goes on to confront Cecil and the Mysterious Girl.

They are forced to fight Cecil as well as Odin, who comes to his senses and knocks Cecil out of being possessed. 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 both. The ending is similar to the ending Edward has in Final Fantasy IV, where he also talks to Tellah and Anna.

Stats
In Final Fantasy IV Edward's stats are low, both physically and magically, and his weapon arsenal is limited to harps, daggers, and Bows and arrows, depending on the version of the game. After Level 70 his stats skyrocket in an Onion Knight-like fashion, giving him the potential to attain the highest raw stats in the game.

In Final Fantasy IV: The The After Years Edward is stronger than he was in Final Fantasy IV, but is still one of the weakest party members. He has only a few Band abilities, but the King's Quad allows him, Cecil, Edge, and Yang to break the damage limit of 9,999. Edward has all-around average to poor stats with the exception of his above-average Speed, and has very low HP. He is a fairly effective attacker, as his harps do extra damage to various enemy types, some have elemental properties, and they are all long-range allowing Edward to attack at full power from the back row, reducing the handicap posed by his low HP.

Final Fantasy IV
Edward is a Bard, and uses Bardsong, also known as Sing, and has the abilities Salve and Hide, the former also known as Heal. Sing randomly inflicts a status ailment on an opponent, Salve allows Edward to split a Potion among the party, and his third ability, Hide, removes him from battle until his next turn allowing him to avoid attacks. Edward automatically hides when low on HP.

In the DS release, Bardsong allows Edward to pick and choose the effect of his song, and he learns more songs as he levels up. Salve functions differently, allowing Edward to use healing items on all party members at once - for example, rather than use a single Potion split among a party of five, Edward will use a Potion on each of them and consume five from the inventory. In the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable releases, the Harmonious Ring changes Sing to Chant which casts Protect and Shell on the party.

A glitch in the Game Boy Advance port, known as Psycho Edward Bug, exploits Edward's automatic Hide status while on low HP.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Edward retains his Bardsong and Salve abilities and has the ability Escape, which functions identically to Hide. Salve functions identically to how it did in the DS release of Final Fantasy IV, while Bardsong's effect is chosen randomly when the command is issued, and can be selected to affect a single target or an entire party. There is also a chance Bardsong will do nothing. As Salve can be used with any item, including Remedies, Phoenix Downs and Ethers, Edward possesses an unmatched level of versatility in his healing able to revive several party members in one turn or restore everyone's MP, and with X-Potions can heal as effectively as a White Mage. The player should be sure to keep a healthy stock of items on-hand for Salve.

Equipment
Edward can only equip hats, tunics, and rings. He can equip bows, daggers and harps for weapons.

Final Fantasy IV
Edward appears as the Bard in the scripted battle with Tellah in Final Fantasy IV at Damcyan Castle.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Edward appears as a boss in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years in Kain's Tale. It is a storyline related fight impossible to lose unless the player lets Edward kill them, and is thus not of great significance.

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 referenced in some of the later installments of the series, 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 of the game.

Square Enix Members Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Edward.

Final Fantasy Tactics
An errand in Final Fantasy Tactics involves sending the bard Edward's love letter to Anna, the golden voice of Warjilis.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Edward makes a small cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals. Rydia and Edward exchange information on summoning and summonstones. He references Anna and his Hide ability.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Edward appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game.

Legend of Mana
Another game made by Squaresoft called  features a centaur bard named Gilbert, who is loosely based on Edward.

Virtual World
Users in Square Enix Members Virtual World community can make their character appear as Edward. Edward's hair and clothes cost 580 crystals combined.

Etymology
Edward is a common English given name, with meanings such as "rich" and "prosperous". The name is also shared by several kings and nobles.

A possible theory is that "Gilbart" comes from, a highly 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.

"Muir" is the Scots' word for "moorland" characterized by low growing vegetation on acidic soils.

Trivia

 * The character Eduardo from Final Fantasy Dimensions shares many similarities with Edward, in regards to name that is spanish for Edward, appearance, and job.
 * Edward is seen with a lute in Amano's artwork and in the opening cinematic in the Final Fantasy IV DS 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.