Black Mage (job)

Black Mage (黒魔道師 or 黒魔道士 Kuromadoushi Lit. Black Magic Adherent) is a special Job class in the Final Fantasy series, and is featured in several installments.

Profile
A Black Mage's primary ability is to cast Black Magic, which usually consists of attack spells, but also contains some effect spells. In later installments, Black Mages were given the "Focus" ability, which allowed them to store power for the next turn. However, their magic is their main focus. In this, Black Mages are one of the simplest, but most effective Jobs there is. They simply cast extremely powerful offensive spells.

Black Mages have been known to equip magical rods in the earlier installments and staffs in the later ones. They can also equip some light daggers. Their armor usually consists of several lightweight vests and mage robes. They are known for incredibly high magic stats and MP, but low physical stats and HP.

The Black Mage has become one of the most recognized symbols of the Final Fantasy series, similar to the name "Cid", Chocobos and Moogles. Black Mages are characterized as wearing long blue robes and pointy hats. Their faces are invisible except for their eyes, which often shine brightly on their clouded faces.

Notable Black Mages include Maria of Final Fantasy II, Rydia and Palom of Final Fantasy IV, Vivi Orunitia of Final Fantasy IX, Lulu of Final Fantasy X, Kytes of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Croma of Chocobo Series and Montblanc of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Rinoa Heartilly and Edea Kramer of Final Fantasy VIII are officially classified as "Sorceresses", but share their aptitude for offensive magic with Black Mages.

Final Fantasy
One of the six basic job classes, Black Mages have the lowest HP of any class, but have powerful magic. They upgrade to Black Wizards, which have even greater magical abilities.

Final Fantasy III
The Black Mage is a job class obtained from the Wind Crystal and have powerful magical stats. The Magus is very similar to the Black Mage, but learns stronger magic and has a larger equipment pool in exchange for different stat growth. It is obtained from the Earth Crystal.

Final Fantasy V
The Black Mage is one of the first job classes received from the Wind Crystal. It focuses on using Black Magic, but the addition of the Mystic Knight hampers its effectiveness slightly, as Mystic Knights can enchant their swords with Black Magic and have much better equipment and offensive abilities than Black Mages.

Final Fantasy IX
The Black Mage is not a mere job class, but an entire race. Produced from Mist by Kuja's magic, the majority of Black Mages are soulless dolls who serve Kuja's whim to destroy kingdoms. However, a few have achieved sentience and live peaceful lives in the Black Mage Village.

Final Fantasy X-2
The Black Mage dresssphere focuses on offensive magic and learns several support abilities that enable them to cast magic faster. However, they cannot attack physically.

Final Fantasy XI
The Black Mage is one of the six basic job classes available to players. They can cast strong spells and are the only ones with access to the higher level spells, including Ancient Magic. Tarutaru make natural Black Mages because of their high MP and intelligence.

Final Fantasy XII International
The Black Mage class is associated with the Capricorn sign. They cast Black Magick and use Hand-Bombs and Staffs as their weapons.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
The Black Mage is a job for the Moogle Sky Pirate, and learns offensive magic as well as status magic.

Final Fantasy Tactics
The Black Mage has powerful magic that hits several enemies, but the spells cannot differentiate between friendly and hostile units.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
The Black Mage is a powerful magical job class. Nu Mou are best suited to being Black Mages as they have better magic power growth.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
The Black Mage uses offensive magic. As in Tactics, Nu Mou are best suited to being Black Mages as they have better magic power growth.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3
The Black Mage appears as a secret character in the sports game,. This is mainly because Square-Enix developed the game. His appearance has been changed drastically from the original Final Fantasy, no longer wearing robes, but instead wearing something closer to Vivi's clothes. Black Mage's special shot is Meteor Shot, and he is a tricky type.

8-Bit Theater
Black Mage Evilwizardington is also a popular character in the web comic 8-Bit Theater. His character is a psychotic murderer with a hatred for everything except White Mage, whom he lusts over, pie, and cookies.