Gilbert

Gilbert
Legend of Mana artwork
First appearance	Legend of Mana (1999)
Latest appearance	Echoes of Mana (2022)
Title(s)	Poet of Love
Role	Support
Gender	Male
Species	Centaur

Gilbert is a supporting character in Legend of Mana and a recurring character in the Mana series.

Background

The self-proclaimed Poet of Love, Gilbert is a 25-year-old centaur who seeks love in all corners of Fa'Diel, never quite able to find any one single individual who can appositely satisfy each and every one of his expectations. Acting as the classic romantic Shakespearean heartthrob, Gilbert has an uncanny tendency to serenade and speak in hyperbolic register even when engaging in regular conversation.

History

Legend of Mana

“The poet of love who even sings during regular conversation. He travels in search of love everywhere.”

—In-game Encyclopedia

The Spirits' Light

Gilbert is introduced in Lumina when he overhears Monique closing up shop and move to another town because business has been slow lately. The lovestruck centaur declares she cannot do this as it would mean abandoning him. He tells the siren he will sell the six lamps necessary to keep her business afloat, considering this the first step of their romantic story. Outside her shop, he tells the main character to help him sell the lamps.

Should the player succeeds in selling all six lamps to local Dudbears, the centaur will enthusiastically tell Monique of the good news. The owner is glad and think hanging in this city for a while longer, but Gilbert urges her to go stargazing with him. The siren agrees and go out on a date with him. There, the poet of love tries to coerce her into leaving her job and travel the world with him. However, Monique replies she likes her work and every day is a dream come true. This momentarily hurts the centaur's feelings, but he then claims he must search elsewhere to find his fated love.

Gilbert: Love is Blind

The romantic poet is seen again in Polpota Harbor, mistaking Elle as Monique. He starts serenading to her, but she doesn't show any signs of interest, asking for the protagonist to return to her birdcage in Madora Beach. Unbeknownst to them, the centaur tracks them down and start singing outside her nest. Invigorated by seeing her beloved going outside to look for him, he showers her with his love. He then spots a ship on the horizon and tells Elle they should go onboard. He then grabs the siren and runs away, leaving the protagonist to look for them.

The unlikely couple is seen aboard the SS Buccaneer, where Gilbert encourages Elle to sing her love to him. She replies she cannot, but Gilbert reminds her that the wings of a siren who doesn't sing will wither. She still refuses to do so, telling him the ship wil sink if she does. The pirate penguins suddenly tie the poet to a mast, thinking they will become rich if they sell the peculiar animal. Elle finally sings to help Gilbert out of his misery, which attracts a sea creature that attacks the ship. After taking the monster down, the pirate crew accuses the siren of trying to destroy the ship. Gilbert presses his beloved to fly away, but she adamantly refuses to leave him to die. Cap'n Tusk tells his crew to stop their shenanigans and let the centaur free.

Gilbert: School Amour

The lovestruck centaur is seen flirting in Geo with Kathinja a teacher at the Academy of Magic. The professor rebukes his advances, threatening him to turn him into stone should he not stop. Kathinja leaves him, stating she must find a bunch truant students. Seeing the main character, Gilbert eagerly tells them to find all the children and convince them to go back to class. After finding all students, the centaur is seen discussing yet again with his love interest, expecting a reward. Fed up with his antics, Kathinja darts Gilbert with a pertrifying beam, transforminig him into a stone statue.

Gilbert: Resume for Love

A statue of Gilbert is discovered by the protagonist in the storage room of the Palace of Arts in Geo. Upon closer inspection, the statue echoes his voice in the hero's mind telling of a rabbit salesman solding him to Krissie and now the poor centaur longs for the good old days spent with Monique, his first true love.

The horse statue is then sold to the Diggers in the Ulkan Mines as they believe it to lowers the frequency of cave-ins. Deep within the mines, the hero finds the statue speaking about all his previous love interests. The protagonist go to Lumina to inform Monique about Gilbert, but she tells them that's none of her business anymore. The players follows her to Madora Beach where she is seen relaxing with Elle in her birdcage. Even though they think of him as weird, They agree to help him by asking the sorcerers at the Academy of Magic. They learn the spell necessary to undo the enchantment and proceed to chant it in front of the statue in the Ulkan Mines. Gilbert returns back to normal and is ever thankful of his true love rescuing him.

Circle of Mana

Gilbert makes a cameo appearance in the online game, along with several other characters from the Mana series. He appears in 3 sets of cards.

Rank	Attribute	Name	Classes				Quote
SUR	技	ギルバート	石から解かれた旅人	愛を語る旅人	[光]愛を求める旅人	[闇]愛を歌う詩人	「こんにちは、リトルレディ。ボクはギルバート。真の愛を求める狩人さ。」 "Hello, little lady. I'm Gilbert. I'm a hunter in search of true love."
SSUR	技	ギルバート	さすらいの歌い手	愛の吟遊詩人	[光]愛の求道者	[闇]愛の遍歴者	「二人のラブが一つにとけあう愛の時の甘さを、キミの胸にも刻んであげる」 "I will carve into your heart the sweetness of love when two people melt into one."
SSUR	技	ギルバート[情熱]	石から解かれた旅人	愛を語る旅人	[光]愛を求める旅人	[闇]愛を歌う詩人	「ボクはキミと出会うために、生まれてきたのさー」 "I was born to meet you."

Echoes of Mana

Despite not being a playable character, Gilbert appears in one memory gem:

• A Poetic Voice

Gilbert appears in the side story Siren Arc I: Flora & Fugue in Polpota Harbor. He was caught by the Pirate Penguins and Flameshe needs to free him and convince him to seranade for her ailing friend Elle in Madora Beach. The mermaid hops on the SS Buccaneer where they brought the captive poet of love. Captain Tusk explains to his crewmen he intent to lure every sea creature to his ship with the poet's voice. Flameshe decides to nab the centaur while no one is watching, but a tremor is felt. A huge sea monster is fished out on the main deck, attacking the vessel. Mistaking her heroic act as a declaration of love, the poet showers the mermaid with praise, but Flameshe has an other idea in mind. She drags Gilbert all the way back to the birdcage where he sings to Elle, curing him of her illness.

General information

Personality

A character who befits the classic stereotype of the romantic philanderer, Gilbert scours the world of Fa'Diel, shamelessly flirting with any female whom he considers attractive.

As per the stereotype of the romantic philanderer, Gilbert adopts a speech register that is markedly melodramatic, where he unabashedly exaggerates the extent of the love that he harbours for the ladies he attempts to woo. This inclination of his always proves to be a pretence, nothing more than an ostentatious tactic employed in an attempt to win the heart of the women whom he pursues. This is best illustrated in Faeries' Light, where Gilbert is initially portrayed as the devout lover of Monique through his relentless praise of her charms and him assuming the self-imposed task of selling her lamps on her behalf. This all proves to be a farcical attempt to swoon her, as he casually breaks up with her upon learning that her world view does not align with his dandy, idealistic one.

Trivia

• Gilbert is almost assuredly a reference to and parody of the character of Edward from Final Fantasy IV, who shares his name in Japanese . They both share a profession as a bard and obsession with love, but whereas Edward was thoroughly devoted to a single woman, Gilbert falls in and out of love easily, chasing whichever woman strikes his fancy at the moment to little success.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Gilbert.

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  Gilbert encyclopedia entry

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  Gilbert portrait

	Randi --"Whoa! What's a Rabite doing in a place like this?"
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