Dark Knight



Dark Knight (暗黒騎士 or ダークナイト) is a special Job class that appears in several games in the series.

Profile
The Dark Knight is characterized by wearing tight, sometimes enclosed black armor and wielding a sword powered by dark energy. Their physical stats, with exception of Defense, are usually high, but their other stats depend on the game they appear in. The typical Dark Knight ability is Souleater, also known as Darkness, which allows them to sacrifice their HP to perform stronger attacks. However, Souleater is not exclusive to the Dark Knight class. The Dark Knight is opposed by the Paladin, holy knights who protect allies and wield sacred powers. Unlike many classes, Dark Knights bear a signature weapon, the Deathbringer, which has a chance to kill certain enemies in a single blow.

Final Fantasy II
Leon marks the first appearance of the Dark Knight within the series. He serves as the Emperor's right-hand man until the Emperor's defeat and subsequent revival, at which point he joins the party.

Final Fantasy III
The Magic Knight's appearance is nearly identical to later games' Dark Knights, and in fact they were explicitly called as such in the English version of the DS remake. They can wield dark swords, and in the NES release cast low-level White Magic. In the DS release, they instead use the Souleater ability, trademark of the Dark Knight.

Final Fantasy IV
Cecil Harvey is the primary protagonist of the game, and serves as a Dark Knight until he becomes a Paladin. Baron is also mentioned to have a battalion of Dark Knights in their army, but due to the intense training many Dark Knights fail to master the dark sword and lose their minds in the process. A reflection of Cecil's Dark Knight is fought as a boss. The King of Baron is also a dark knight.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
As in Final Fantasy IV, Cecil's dark side is fought as a boss. Cecil is also seen as a Dark Knight in several flashbacks.

Final Fantasy X-2
The Dark Knight Dressphere can be obtained in Bevelle during Chapter 2, 3, and 5. The class uses skills that cause status effects, grant status immunity, and cause high damage by sacrificing HP. Their high strength is hampered by their low speed.

Final Fantasy XI
The Dark Knight job is awarded to the player by Zeid, himself a Dark Knight. Zeid gives the player the Chaosbringer sword, and once the player uses it to kill a hundred monsters, they are given the Dark Knight Job. In addition to their usual abilities, Dark Knights can also wield low-level Black Magic, but not nearly to the same extent as Red Mages and Scholars.

Final Fantasy Tactics
The Dark Knight is a high-level Job introduced in Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Here, Darkness is not an actual skill, but a set of skills with various effects. Goffard Gaffgarion was called Dark Knight in the original version, but his class' name was changed to Fell Knight in the War of the Lions remake. Argath Thadalfus is fought as a Deathknight, a stronger variation of the Fell Knight.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Grissom, the leader of the Redwings, has a job named "Dark Knight", with a sprite and abilities as a Paladin and Blue Mage as secondary job.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
Dark Fencer is one of the crowns in Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. Like traditional Dark Knights, Dark Fencers can sacrifice their life force to deal large amounts of damage using the Darkside ability. They also have an ability to allows them to do higher damage when their HP is low, called Eye for an Eye, and a stronger version of Darkside which attacks multiple targets, called Darkerside, and a kamikaze attack, called Amok, that allows them to repeatedly use Darkside until they have one point of health left.

Final Fantasy Legends: Hikari to Yami no Senshi
Gram is a Dark Knight hailing from Falgabard, and he gives the party the Dark Knight job class.

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
The Dark Knight has several skills that sacrifice Chocobo's HP to damage enemies. It is unlocked by defeating Croma Shade and Croma on the thirtieth floor of Guardian of the Light.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Cecil appears in this game as both a Dark Knight and a Paladin, able to shift forms when attacking. His Dark Knight form specializes in slow but powerful sword attacks infused with dark magic.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Dark Knight returns as one of Cecil's forms in Dissidia Duodecim, learning a new HP attack called Shadow Bringer

Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac Job System
In Final Fantasy XII International, an Uhlan (ウーラン) is a heavy physical attacker represented by the Zodiac sign Taurus. They are differentiated from Dark Knights in that they wield polearms rather than greatswords or scythes traditionally, but still use heavy armor.

Lord of Vermilion
In the arcade-based card game Lord of Vermilion there are two cards representing the Dark Knight job.

In the sequel Lord of Vermilion II there is another appearance of the Dark Knight card

Etymology
Dark knights, also known as black knights, were a minority group of knights that refused to serve lords or kings. Instead they either looted and raided, hunted bounties, or lived off the charity from the more humble folk.

As they had no master, and thus no squire, they would paint their armor their signature black color to prevent rust and damage. Dark knights were considered by many a necessary evil, as they would protect the villages and lesser people from invaders and bandits, but would cause many problems in the regions that they dwell in to keep themselves alive and well.

Gallery
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