User:Harry Blue5/Black Mage

The Black Mage (黒魔道士) is a character class in the Final Fantasy series which uses magic; specializing in attack magic (Black Magic). First appearing in the first entry in the Final Fantasy series, it is one of the most iconic classes of the franchise. Their weapons are generally restricted to rods and daggers. They are usually depicted wearing distinctive costumes consisting of a blue or black robe and a large conical, wide-brimmed hat which obscures their face, with two yellow eyes shining from within the shadow. The outfit of the Black Mages is similar to the generic appearance of a wizard.

Appearances
The Black Mage is available as a class in Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. In the English localization of Final Fantasy Tactics, Black Mages were called Wizards.

In the original NES game, Black Mages can be upgraded into Black Wizards. . The Black Wizard also lacked the hat and obscured face that became the defining features of the Black Mage. This was changed in the WonderSwan remakes and Final Fantasy Origins so that he still looks like a traditional Black Mage after becoming a Black Wizard. In Final Fantasy IX, the Black Mage Village is a forested hamlet where many mass-produced Black Mages have become self-aware. Final Fantasy IX is the only game that features Black Mages as a distinct race, although the Yukes of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles are very similar in their inhuman appearance and magical ability.

Other black mages throughout the series are Rydia (who is also a Summoner and loses the ability to cast White Magic halfway through the game) and Palom of Final Fantasy IV, Vivi Orunitia from Final Fantasy IX (who also carries several of the distinct characteristics of a Black Mage), Lulu from Final Fantasy X and Kytes (Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings). Characters who take on the role of Ravager in Final Fantasy XIII (such as Lightning, Snow Villiers, Oerba Dia Vanille, Sazh Katzroy, and Hope Estheim, all of whom major in that role) possess the qualities of Black Mages, using offensive magic on their enemies.

In Kingdom Hearts, some of Donald Duck's rods have the figure head of a Black Mage. Statues of Black Mages are seen in various places at the magic academy in Geo in Legend of Mana. A Black Mage is a playable character in the PlayStation racing game Chocobo Racing. A Black Mage also appears in Dice de Chocobo, Chocobo Land: A Game of Dice and Mario Hoops 3-on-3, while enemy Black Mages appear in Chocobo's Dungeon 2. The Black Mages is the name of Final Fantasy music composer Nobuo Uematsu's band that plays remixes of Final Fantasy music.

Reception
IGN's Lucas Thomas said that the Black Mage was on of the more likely third-party characters that could appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, with Thomas noting that while "[t]he Black Mage isn't that distinctive of an individual character", his "focus on sorcery could make him an appealing brawler". IGN also criticised the Black Mage's appearance in Final Fantasy III, noting that while "[h]aving one in your party may be a good idea to see what your personal preference is" and "it has an extremely high potential", that "black magic has little place in the game" and it doesn't add a neccasary dimension to most battles. When discussing Vivi in a review of Final Fantasy IX, IGN's David Smith called his Black Mage design "classic". Smith also said that the Black Mages before Vivi were all generic. GamesRadar called the Black Mage "classic", and noted that his appearance in Final Fantasy XI may be "more powerful than ever". IGN also claimed Vivi's amzing endearance at first glance being due to the Black Mage design being "timeless". When discussing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, GameSpot said that jobs like Sages filled the role of offensive magic-caster better.

A fan-made custom Soulcalibur IV character version of the Black Mage was chosen by UGO Networks as one of the top 50 fan-made Soulcalibur IV characters, praising how it looked like the original Black Mage from the first Final Fantasy.

In polpular culture
In 8-Bit Theater Black Mage is one of the Light Warriors and is one of the main characters of the comic. A band called "The Black Mages" was formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu (a composer for the Final Fantasy series), Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito (two other composers for Square Enix).