Black Mage (job)



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

Black Mages wear outfits similar to classic wizards, consisting of blue robes and pointy hats, usually yellow or brown. Their faces are not visible in the shade of their hats, except for their eyes which shine brightly. 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 are 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. Black Mages usually equip magical rods and staffs, but also sometimes daggers. Their armor is limited to lightweight vests and mage robes. Black Mages, as with most mages, have high magical stats but low HP and defenses.

The Black Mage has become one of the most recognized symbols of the Final Fantasy series, similar to the name "Cid", Chocobos, and Moogles.

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 has 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 IV
Rydia and Palom are both Black Mages. However, because Rydia is also a Summoner, she learns her Black Magic at a slower rate than Palom. Black Mages also appear as NPCs.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Black Mage is a character who, along with White Mage, accompanies Ceodore and the Hooded Man as they pass through the Devil's Road. Rydia and Palom also return as playable characters. More focus is put on Rydia's Black Magic for the first part of the game as she is unable to summon.

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 VII
Although not referred as such, the Cetra race looks like bearded Black Mages.

Final Fantasy VIII
Black Mage makes a cameo in Final Fantasy VIII in the Triple Triad tutorial, where a pointy-hatted Black Mage can been seen playing the famous card game.

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. Vivi is the proto-type Black Mage and has a significantly longer lifespan, and appears to have always been sentient.

Early concept art also shows a man Job Changed into a Black Mage.

Final Fantasy X
Concept art of the Black Mage were created for the game, but it was ultimately not used (see gallery below). In the finished product, Lulu is a Black Mage, though due to the Sphere Grid system, all characters are capable of learning Black Magic.

Final Fantasy X-2
The Black Mage dressphere 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 Job with access to 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. It can cast Black Magick and a few Green Magick and uses Staves and Hand-Bombs as 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. Kytes serves as the party's Black Mage.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Noel Kreiss is said to obtain a black mage outfit as part of the game's downloadable content to compliment with Serah Farron's white mage attire.

Final Fantasy XIV
The Black Mage is an upcoming job class and will be unlocked by the Thaumaturge class. In addition, a gear set that looks like the classic Black Mage attire is currently planned to be added to the game.

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. Montblanc starts out with this Job.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
The Black Mage uses offensive magic. As in Tactics Advance, Nu Mou are best suited to being Black Mages as they have better magic power growth. However, learning Black Mage skills is necessary for a Human character to gain the Blue Mage and Illusionist Jobs.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
The Black Mage is a job class in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. The class is available to both Clavats and male Yukes. In order for Clavats to become Black Mages, the Black Mage Academy must first be built. Black Mages have low attack strength and hit points, but also have access to powerful elemental spells, enabling them to defeat some monsters resistant to physical attacks.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
The Black Mage is a starter-level job for Chocobo, while Croma is a recurring Black Mage in the entire Chocobo series of games.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
In the Duel Colosseum, when selected, the Black Mage Job card increases the appearance rate of battle cards.

Shantotto's gameplay is based on her status as a Black Mage in Final Fantasy XI. She uses the main Black Magic spells for damage and can inflict status ailments on enemies. During her EX Mode and in her alternate costumes, she wears typical Black Mage gear.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
The Black Mage job card reappears in the new Labyrinth mode, and increases the frequency of secret cards appearing.

The Black Mage is also job that can be selected for a character in a party in Quick Battle or wireless matches, granting a 1.5 multiplier to magical damage.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
The Black Mage makes an appearance in this game, using traditional Black Magic. However, their appearance differs from the traditional Black Mage looks, donning top hats instead of traditional wizard hats.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
The Black Mage job is represented in the Final Fantasy Trading Card Game by six cards. One Fire-elemental card, featuring Arc from Final Fantasy III; two Ice-elemental cards featuring Luneth from Final Fantasy III and Lenna from Final Fantasy V; one Earth-elemental card, featuring Ingus from Final Fantasy III; and two Lightning-elemental cards, featuring the female Black Mage from Final Fantasy Tactics and Krile from Final Fantasy V.

The Magus job is represented by three cards: one Fire-elemental card and two Lightning-elemental cards. The Fire card features Arc as a Magus, while the Lightning-elemental cards feature Ingus and Refia as Magi.

The Black Mage appeared as a secret character in the sports game,. Black Mage's special shot is Meteor Shot. Rather than being wrapped around him, his cape is behind him and is only attached at the neck.

Black Mage reappeared in Mario Sports Mix for the Nintendo Wii alongside the same four unlockable Final Fantasy characters with which it debuted.It is also included in 3-3 Star Ship Battle.

Kingdom Hearts
In the Kingdom Hearts series, several Heartless have faces identical to those of a Black Mage. Shadows, the weakest and most common form of Heartless, bear the iconic black face and body with yellow, glowing eyes. Certain Heartless that bear a black face and yellow eyes, such as the Yellow Opera, take this a step further because they are adorned with hats similar in design to a Black Mage's and almost appear to be wearing cloaks.

When Sora goes into Wisdom or Master Drive form in Halloween Town, his mask changes into an image of a Black Mage (Half of a Black Mage for Master). Sora's Antiform consists of a pitch black body with glowing yellow eyes that resemble classic Black Mages.

Not related to the Heartless in any way, Final Fantasy IX's Vivi Orunitia, known in the game only by his first name, appears as a member of Seifer Almasy's Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee in Kingdom Hearts II. Vivi's unwillingly heavy involvement in the many oddities present in the early parts of the game may be a reference to his Final Fantasy IX counterpart as a Black Mage, as well as the large mysteries surrounding him in Final Fantasy IX.

Donald Duck's starting staff is adorned by a stylized Black Mage figure.

Several spells classified as Black Magic, which Black Mages are masters of, can be utilized throughout the series by multiple characters. Some Black Magic present within the Kingdom Hearts series includes Fire, Quake, and Meteor.

League of Legends
In the PvP game League of Legends exists a champeon called "Veigar". While he is never referred to as a Black Mage per se, his abilities to cast powerful, destructive magic (he is regarded by many as one of the best nukes in the game) and his physical appearance would certainly point strongly to an influence from Final Fantasy's traditional Black Mage. (link to picture and profile).

In Popular Culture
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.

The Black Mage has a small cameo in the popular fan parody "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series". When the other characters show off their favorite cards, Yugi holds up a card showing a Black Mage sprite from the original Final Fantasy and says "mine's the Dark Magician".