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. Before his name is introduced, his dialogue is credited to King.

Appearance and Personality
Edgar wears 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 dons personal protective equipment when using his various Tools in battle.

Edgar is a ladies' man. From the minute he is introduced to her, he unsuccessfully hits on Terra, and flirts with Celes upon meeting her, and apparently shows an interest in Relm before she tells him her age. Several people note that Edgar is a flirt making him a target for jokes, mostly from Locke, while his twin brother Sabin refers to his behavior towards women as an "old bad habit."

Edgar is still a king first, and ruling is his top priority. He's cunning and acts as a double-agent for the Returners while pretending to be an Imperial ally. He advises the group on strategy and tactics and is daring, as seen in the chocobo-mounted escape from Figaro and castle dive. He's committed to his responsibilities towards his subjects, protecting them as best he can and refusing to take items for free when shopkeepers offer. Edgar cares for his twin brother Sabin having missed him during their ten year separation, but knows Sabin can take care of himself. Edgar offers personal advice to the others every so often, and speaks up in Terra's defense when Banon is harsh towards her.

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 the late king is proud of him, to which Sabin responds Edgar should not ever doubt that.

Story
Edgar and Sabin were born as princes to the throne of Figaro to their father Stewart Remy Figaro and their mother, an orphan named Crystale who may have had some mage descent and who 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, 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 seventeen the Gestahlian Empire poisoned his father who died asking both of his sons rule the kingdom together. Sabin, upset at how no one cared 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, and 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 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.

One day, Locke brings a girl named Terra Branford to the castle and Edgar agrees to harbor her from the Empire. Imperial General Kefka Palazzo knows something is up, and comes to Figaro to question Terra's whereabouts. Edgar lies, and Kefka sets the castle ablaze and Edgar escapes the castle with Terra and Locke. The Chancellor of Figaro has the castle submerge 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 arrives to save them, and offers his help. The four meet Banon in the 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 recently discovered frozen esper.

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

Kefka arrives at Narshe with an army to claim the esper for the Empire. Locke, Sabin, Cyan, Gau and Celes arrive and help defend Narshe in the Battle for the Frozen Esper. 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 and on the way the party passes through Figaro where Sabin and Edgar have a chance to talk in the throne room.

The party finds Terra atop the tallest tower in Zozo where she is being cared for by the esper Ramuh who explains 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. The group heads to Vector, recovers the espers, and saves Terra.

Back in Narshe the Elder joins 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 to convince the espers to negotiate peace and she and Locke head for Crescent Island to parley the Emperor's message. Edgar is skeptical of the Emperor, and remains in Vector to ensure 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 to capture 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 end of the world Figaro Castle is stuck under the desert. Edgar disguises as a thief named Gerad 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.

After felling Kefka the party must escape his collapsing tower. Edgar is saved by Sabin from being crushed by a falling girder. If Sabin was not recruited back into the party, Setzer, Celes and Edgar work together to move the large steel girder that was about to fall on Edgar out of the way. As they are moving the obstruction aside, Edgar notes his brother's absence and wishes they had him and his strength to help them.

Battle
Edgar is a Machinist, and has the second highest defense in the game and high physical stats, but low evasion, magic stats and speed. He can 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 gives the player a 50% discount when buying from the merchants in Figaro Castle. Edgar's Desperation Attack is Royal Shock that deals magical damage to one enemy.

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".

Creation and Development
Before Yoshitaka 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.

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

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

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Edgar is set to appear as a new character in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, wielding the Chainsaw as his weapon.

Appearance =

Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Edgar appears in Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character. His initial weapon is the Heavy Lance.

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

 * 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.
 * It is possible to tackle Kefka's Tower before retrieving all the characters in the World of Ruin, but Edgar is one of three playable characters that are always available before it becomes accessible; the other two are Celes and Setzer. It is possible to complete Kefka's Tower and finish the game with only these three characters, but since the game forces a split into three separate parties for the three paths, each of the three characters must finish one of the paths by themselves.