The Warmage (魔剣士, Makenshi?, lit. Magic Swordsman), also known as Dark Knight or Knight of Darkness, is a recurring job in the series. First introduced in Final Fantasy III as a unique melee job able to cast weaker White Magics, later installments would have the job altered to become an alternate variant of the recurring Dark Knight job, giving it the ability to perform the Darkness ability and absorption magics.
While it is considered separate from the Dark Knight job in Japanese, certain installments such as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and Final Fantasy Dimensions have acknowledged the Warmage's connection to recurring Dark Knight job.
Profile[]
This warrior's magicked blade seeks out the weakness of its target.
Description from Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.
The Warmage's signature attire consists of bulky navy blue armor that covers a majority of their body, with only their face left exposed from their helmet's empty face plate. Their preferred weapons in combat are Dark Swords, which consist of recurring swords and katanas. Their physical attack stats are usually high, but often have lower Defense and above average HP.
When introduced in Final Fantasy III, the Warmage was a mid-game job that revolved around the concept of being a swordsman that imbued their bodies with dark magic from a dark pact. However, due to the dark pact the user of the job had, the warrior would lose their corporeal form and would only leave behind their empty suit of armor when KO'd.[1] With that concept in mind, the job specialized in dealing heavy damage with Dark Swords, katana weapons that could kill immortal enemies that multiplied upon defeat. The job also had access to a pool of lower tier White Magic spells.
Since the original Famicom version Final Fantasy III, the Warmage has had its combat style shift in several ways. Inspired by the original concept of sacrificing oneself for power, the 3D remakes of the title would have the Warmage become inspired by the Dark Knight introduced in later installments, granting access to the latter's Soul Eater ability. However, the job would lose its access to White Magic from the original Famicom release. Due to this difference in gameplay, the English localization uses the name Dark Knight in all releases.
Luneth performing Soul Eater in the 3D remake of Final Fantasy III.
The Dark Knight concept would be expanded further in titles from the Brave Exvius universe with the character Duane, a recurring Warmage who is inspired by the Dark Knight of Final Fantasy XI, having access to Darkside, Blood Weapon, and a small pool of Black Magic spells.
However, there are titles that do not strictly adhere to the Dark Knight-inspired gameplay and would instead borrow abilities from other recurring jobs. The Warmage of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings would instead be based on the recurring Mystic Knight job, having access to sword attacks imbued with the power of Black Magick spells. The Pixel Remaster remake of Final Fantasy III would have the Dark Knight lack its abilities from both previous releases, with the job now borrowing some elements of the Gladiator job from Final Fantasy V with its access to the Bladeblitz command.
Appearances[]
Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin[]
The Warmage is the Dark Knight's Evocation job class. It transforms the job's Souleater into Dark Arts, which temporarily increases its damage and reduces the HP consumed when the user is at maximum HP.
Final Fantasy III[]
The Dark Knight is a job class obtained from the Water Crystal. They are trained to harness the negative energies that flow throughout the world. The dark blades they wield are effective against monsters that divide and multiply.
The Dark Knight's gameplay is drastically different depending on the version played. In the original Famicom release, the Dark Knight can cast White Magic similar to the recurring Paladin job. The 3D remake revamps the job's gameplay to match the Dark Knight job from Final Fantasy IV, allowing the user to sacrifice a portion of their HP to attack all enemies with the Souleater command. In the Pixel Remaster, the Dark Knight instead gains the Bladeblitz command to simply attack all enemies.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings[]
The Warmage is an enemy job class available to viera units. Many of their skills derive from the Mystic Knight job, such as Fire Sword, Blizzard Sword, and Lightning Sword. Their appearance is based on the Fencer class in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
Final Fantasy XIV[]
While not a job class available to players, the character Branden takes on the role of the Knight of Darkness when on the Source. It functions similarly to the Paladin job.
However, due to Knight being used as the Japanese name for the Paladin job in Final Fantasy XIV, Brynden's job title in Japanese is instead Magic Swordsman (魔剣士, Makenshi?), being named after the Dark Knight job in Final Fantasy III, likely a reference to the job acting similarly to the recurring Knight and Paladin in the original Famicom versions of the title.
Final Fantasy Artniks[]
Ingus as a Rank N Dark Knight card in Final Fantasy Artniks.
The Dark Knight appeared as a character card.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]
Warmage sprites in Final Fantasy Record Keeper.
The Warmage makes a cameo appearance as a Record Sphere category for specific characters, often increasing the character's physical attack power and Darkness ability damage potency or usable ranks.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]
Duane's job class is Warmage. His skillsets include the Darkside ability, along with several Break-type and Black Magic abilities. His Limit Bursts focus on dealing heavy physical dark-elemental damage attacks, while also absorbing the enemy's HP.
War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]
Duane once again appears as a Warmage, with the job's name being translated as Dark Knight of Remorse (悔恨の魔剣士, Kaikon no Makenshi?, lit. Magic Swordsman of Remorse). The job's abilities focus on dealing dark-elemental damage and inflicting several different debuffing effects to enemies.
Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]
The Dark Knight job appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Ice-, Earth-, and Lightning-elemental Backup and Forward cards. The cards depict Arc, Luneth, Ingus, and Refia from Final Fantasy III.
![Dark Knight [1-048C] Chapter series card.](/wiki/File:1-048c_Dark_Knight_TCG.png "1-048c Dark Knight TCG.png (396 KB)")
![Dark Knight [1-049C] Chapter series card.](/wiki/File:1-049c_Dark_Knight_TCG.png "1-049c Dark Knight TCG.png (393 KB)")
![Dark Knight [5-118C] Chapter series card.](/wiki/File:RefiaDarkKnight_TCG.png "RefiaDarkKnight TCG.png (128 KB)")
![Dark Knight [9-098C] Chapter series card.](/wiki/File:ArcDarkKnight_TCG.png "ArcDarkKnight TCG.png (120 KB)")
![Dark Knight [1-054C] Opus series card.](/wiki/File:Dark_Knight_1-054C_from_FFTCG_Opus.jpg "Dark Knight 1-054C from FFTCG Opus.jpg (79 KB)")
![Dark Knight [1-055C] Opus series card.](/wiki/File:Dark_Knight_1-055C_from_FFTCG_Opus.jpg "Dark Knight 1-055C from FFTCG Opus.jpg (80 KB)")
![Dark Knight [5-115C] Opus series card.](/wiki/File:Dark_Knight_5-115C_from_FFTCG_Opus.jpg "Dark Knight 5-115C from FFTCG Opus.jpg (82 KB)")
Final Fantasy Portal App[]
The Dark Knight from Final Fantasy III appears as a Triple Triad card.
Allusions to the job in the series[]
Final Fantasy VII[]
Concept art noting Cloud as a Magic Swordsman.
Though there is no job system, Cloud Strife was listed as a "Magic Swordsman (魔剣士, Makenshi?)/Berserker" during development. Although that did not make it to the finished product, Cloud bears some traits of the Warmage such as using swords in combat and being elite both physically and magically.
Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]
Other Square Enix titles[]
Seth from Bravely Default II as a Hellblade.
The Warmage (魔剣士, Makenshi?) has appeared in other Square Enix titles in some fashion, referencing the Final Fantasy job.
The Hellblade appears as a job in the Bravely series, exclusively appearing in Bravely Default II. Its Asterisk holder is Adam Holograd, the game's prominent antagonist. The Hellblade functions as a fusion of the series' recurring Spell Fencer and Dark Knight jobs, with its Diabolism skillet focusing on sacrificing heavy portions of HP and MP to attack enemies with elemental imbued swords.
The Mythical Knight appeared as a gold job card for combat in the defunct browser game, Knights of the Crystals. The job card allowed the player characters to use two of the following abilities, Barrage, Holy Strike, Dimensional Cleave, and Command Dragon.
Influences in other titles[]
Cygames, Inc.'s browser title, Granblue Fantasy, features the Dark Fencer (ダークフェンサー, Dāku Fensā?) for players to use as their main character's job in combat. Its appearance is based on the Dark Knight from Final Fantasy III, wearing heavy armor that exposes the user's face. Like the Warmage of Final Fantasy, the Dark Fencer is a spell-based physical job that uses debuffing attacks and has access to the Blood Sword skill. Granblue Fantasy borrows a majority of its job influences from Final Fantasy, featuring several alumni from the series among its development and art staff.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
In European history, dark knights, also known as black knights, were a minority group of knights who refused to serve lords or kings. Instead they either looted and raided, hunted bounties, or lived off the charity from the more humble folk, in much the same manner as a Japanese ronin. As they had no master, and thus no squire, they would paint their armor a signature black color to prevent rust and damage. Dark knights were considered by many a necessary evil, as they would protect villages and lesser people from invaders and bandits, but would also cause problems in the regions they dwelt in to sustain themselves. In some legends, black knights were reputed to be nigh-invincible in combat.