Edgin Darvis

Edgin Darvis was a human bard from Targos in Icewind Dale and a former member of the Harpers turned thief in the late 15 century DR. He was a fellow adventurer of Holga Kilgore, Simon Aumar, and Doric.

Description
He wore black leather armor done up with buckles over a loose dark-blue shirt, brown pants, and boots.

Personality
He could be creative, charming, and inspiring, and enjoyed the thrill of a heist.

Abilities
He purported to be skilled in making plans and was talented in singing and playing the lute.

Possessions
He played a lute. He had a habit of using it to wallop or trip people in a fight, so the instrument was specially reinforced for, or maybe because of, such moments.

Relationships
He was a fellow adventurer of Holga Kilgore and Simon, and recruited Doric to aid in their quest.

He was married to Zia, with whom he had a daughter, Kira.

Home
Edgin, Zia, and Kira, and late Holga, lived together in their small cottage outside of Targos.

History
He was once a member of the Harpers, having taken the oath in the late 1380s DR whilst Zia was pregnant with Kira. The ceremony took place beside a waterfall in the woods. Supporting his choice and knowing the risks, Zia herself placed the Harper pin on his chest.

In his four years or so with the Harpers, Edgin adopted a cover as a minstrel or as a beggar so that he might on spy on targets. Once, whilst posing as a beggar, he used his lute to trip up a bandit. On one mission, he and two fellow Harpers captured a Red Wizard of Thay in his treasure-stuffed lair. Overall, he defended Faerûn from "creatures, crooks, and cretins" as he put it. But given his family's modest living standards, Edgin came to chafe at his Harper code, even though Zia hardly cared.

Then, one night, Red Wizard enemies he'd made came to his cottage seeking revenge. But Edgin was out, so they attacked Zia, but not before she hid young Kira under the cottage floor. When Edgin came home, he found Zia laying dying. Edgin blamed the Harpers, abandoned his oath, and burned his book of Harper rules—oddly, a sapphire dragonfly emerged from the flames—and quit.

Suddenly a single father and penniless, Edgin struggled to take care of young Kira for the following few months. Then, down on his luck, Edgin had a chance meeting with the exiled Elk tribe barbarian Holga. becoming fast friends, even like adopted siblings, though she alleged she just needed someplace to sleep out of the cold and had felt sorry for Kira. When both tried to rob the same pawn shop in Targos—the shop's owner was an agent of the Zhentarim, and the goods ill-gotten—this led Edgin and Holga into a life of adventuring and theft. At one point, they made a smash-and-grab robbery of a jewelry store, simply breaking the window with a rock and making off with the jewels. Holga gifted one piece, a jeweled pendant, to Kira, who promptly disappeared! Fearing the worst, Edgin and Holga panicked and looked everywhere until the four-year-old reappeared with what they realized what was a pendant of invisibility.

Eventually, when she was old enough to understand what they did, Kira insisted on joining them. After that, they took the girl with them on their robberies, having Kira sneak about unseen inside manor houses to steal valuables and pass them out to Edgin while Holga took the heavier stuff. In one incident, Edgin and Holga robbed the house of the unscrupulous Lord and Lady Bantakent, while the invisible Kira played up a fake ghost haunting to distract the owners, even waving their dog Miffles through the air.

Later, in the 1490s DR, Holga and Edgin formed a team with the sorcerer Simon and the confidence trickster Forge Fitzwilliam, who urged them to set their sights on higher targets and greater riches. Nevertheless, Edgin retained something of his old Harper sensibilities, and saw to it that they never hurt anyone and only stole from those who wouldn't suffer for the loss. In their time, they battled gnoll raiders and a green hag and more. In one notable heist, they infiltrated the estate of the wealthy and eccentric Torlinn Shrake during a party with intent to rob the place. They were also caught in a town threatened by the Bandit King on one Feast of the Moon.

Finally, one night whilst they were celebrating a score at the Trip and Shuffle tavern in Targos, a mysterious hooded figure calling herself "Lady Sofina" met the team. She wanted to hire them to help her steal the treasures of Korinn's Keep, a Harper storehouse that only a Harper could enter—Edgin. He refused, however, still having some standards. But Forge promised they would find there a Tablet of Reawakening, a magical relic capable of resurrecting one deceased soul. Against his better judgement but with hopes of restoring Zia to life, Edgin relented and acquiesced to Sofina's scheme. However, this time he reasoned it was too dangerous to bring Kira and so left her with a friend in Targos, promising it would be their last robbery, but he didn't tell her of the Tablet for fear of getting her hopes up only to dash them later if he failed.

Donning his old Harper uniform, cloak, and Harper pin, Edgin led the team to Korinn's Keep and gained admittance by using his pin. While the thieves helped themselves to the treasures of the vault, and Sofina claimed a strange red horn, Edgin went for the Tablet of Reawakening. But the poor thief triggered an alarm, summoning Harper guards, whom Sofina struck with chain lightning, to Edgin's dismay. She then cast time stop, trapping the guards, Holga, and Edgin while she, Forge, and Simon made their escape. Edgin's last act was to throw the Tablet to Forge and beg him to take care of Kira. He promised he would.

Afterward, once the spell expired, Edgin and Holga were left at the scene of the crime and captured by the Harpers. Convicted of crimes of skulduggery and grand larceny, they were incarcerated in the Revel's End prison.

By the time they escaped and reunited with Simon, they found Forge had somehow used the loot to become Lord of Neverwinter. In this role, Forge painted the wood elves of Neverwinter Wood as enemies and dispatched loggers who cut ever deeper into the woods. There, Holga, Edgin, and Simon recruited the tiefling druid Doric to aid them in their quest to steal Forge Fitzwilliam's fortune from Castle Never.

Background
Edgin is played by actor Chris Pine. He was confirmed to be a bard via a promotional video played at the San Diego Comic-Con 2022's Tavern Experience. In his 30s to late 40s, Edgin was said to be "down on his luck and not the classic hero, but still lovable" and "Edgin is comedic, but with demons." This character was described as similar to Peter Quill/Starlord of Guardians of the Galaxy. Writer-director John Francis Daley described Edgin: "He is a storyteller and incredibly charismatic and a planner. That's his greatest strength, I would say: being able to put together a plan, and when that plan fails, being able to put together another one. He's not so much a fighter. He lets his compadre, his sister in arms, do a lot of the grunt work and the fighting." Chris Pine said, "My character, he's the ultimate party planner."

Appearances

 * Film & Television
 * Honor Among Thieves
 * Novels
 * The Road to Neverwinter • The Junior Novelization • The Quest Begins • Heroes Unite!
 * Comics
 * The Feast of the Moon