FFXIV Lore- What it Means to be a Black Mage

[@leonidasdraconic]

Fun fact! Another reason Black Mage attire often features an eyepatch is because mages would often replace one of their eyes with materia to amplify their powers :D

[@SynodicScribe]

that was retconned out. Which is disappointing cause that's metal as #$@%.

[@leonidasdraconic]

@@SynodicScribe NOOO that was always one of my favorite little tidbits! That IS disappointing 😭 😩 Side note! I really enjoyed the video! Great work! I can't wait to watch more 😊👍🏽

[@UltaFlame]

@@SynodicScribe where was this and when was it retconned?

[@SynodicScribe]

@@UltaFlame That was 1.0 lore. When Yoshi-P took over and 2.0 was release a LOT of minor story beats were either retconned or abandoned to fit their new narrative.

[@armanhammer]

I wonder how many holes Black Mages tried before they figured out that the eye socket worked?

[@nospoiler]

I'm pretty late to this, but another cool detail is that in the questline, shattotto always takes the hat off and complains about it - because in her time, there was no void summoning in mhach, and thus no need for the huge hats

[@powerofk]

Oddly enough, BLMs are the only combat job in the game that have absolutely no way to heal themselves without potions or leaving battle. All tanks have self-heal moves, all physical DPS have, at the minimum, Second Wind (and most, if not all, have a second ability to regain health), and even Summoner has the Physick spell. That shows how committed Black Mages are to just absolute devastation.

[@khaeldranis2564]

Fun fact we used to have some healing magic in the form of Drain, Osmose and Transfusion.

[@HALPCat]

@@khaeldranis2564 And Physick, back when we had cross class skills.

[@khaeldranis2564]

@Baxi Yes but my point was we lost those spells. No idea why but such is life

[@Gloomdrake]

As if Physick on Summoner can do anything

[@khaeldranis2564]

@@Gloomdrake Physick used to be useful back in the day

[@ahorseofcourse7283]

To quote one of the eldest and greatest of the black mages upon meeting one of his magical rivals: "I am the Black Mage! I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down!"

[@xandirnich_237]

God I miss 8-Bit Theater

[@armanhammer]

His signature spell does sap the energy of the world...

[@ahorseofcourse7283]

@@armanhammer Well, it makes divorce rates go up, at least.

[@elgatochurro]

"I GARLAND WILL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN"

[@acehealer4212]

I like that the first couple of lore videos are focused on some of the magic jobs. The War of the Magi is a really compelling story.

[@DomDomPop]

This is why people tell you Black Mage is so hard and that you have to do math, to prevent the next calamity. If too many people played it, the game would end. It’s the ultimate augmented reality experience 😂

[@firestorm47]

loving your vids man, u deserve way more subs. really filling a hole in the xiv youtube scene.

[@SynodicScribe]

Well send any friends or FC mates my way some time! I hope to share what I find with as many players as I can!

[@SubduedRadical]

Cool video. Didn't realize that was the reason for the eye patches (or brims). Kind of wondering where in game that lore comes from, as I don't remember it in the BLM, WHM, or SCH Job quests, but it makes sense. Kind of curious how close Reaper will be to a Void Mage, given this...

[@acgearsandarms1343]

I assume based on what little we know, Reapers have to make a contract to their Voidsent Avatar. I think we have to feed it through constant battle and our personal aether. I think it’s not like other Voidsent given how notorious the intelligent ones are.

[@Jcarte4308]

Probably the encyclopedia eorzea

[@althelor]

As far as I know the eye patches part was lore from 1.0 but they never really brought it back up after ARR came out.

[@mikoto7693]

@@acgearsandarms1343 Even now I wonder about that. But I’m still in Stormblood and thus the answer is likely beyond my spoiler limits.

[@elgatochurro]

​@@althelor ah I see

[@WanderingRagabond]

There's an interesting cautionary tale there, with potential analogues in the real world. Such as the exploration of certain natural resources. When done responsibly and with moderation, the Earth will naturally replenish itself. If extracted from to the point of total exhaustion, total and irreversible catastrophe follows.

[@L3M0NZZZZZ]

Found this by pure chance, great video! I subbed and will be watching others. Keep up the good work!

[@SynodicScribe]

Thank you so much for your time! Tell your friends! I might end up covering something they like too. Also your Icon made me laugh.

[@hose509]

Deserve way more subs, clearly spoken and eloquent and telling us the stuff that matters!

[@SynodicScribe]

Seeing comments like yours really inspires me to work even harder. Tell your friends and FC mates about me, I dream of sharing what I find with entire servers worth of people one day!

[@hose509]

@@SynodicScribe Would you consider doing a Machinist lore segment any time soon? I've always found the dichotomy of magitek an magick and interesting one.

[@SynodicScribe]

@@hose509 Of course! I plan on doing in depth lore on all the Jobs as well as individual pieces on technology's progression into magitek.

[@HikingFeral]

Thank-you for taking the time to make these videos, they are excellent.

[@TheHollowClown]

We've got summoners bending the powers of gods to their will, and black mages literally using the world itself to fuel their destructive magics. No wonder the world's fucked xD

[@SynodicScribe]

It's not great when done in excess.... yeah. >.>

[@itsmefirefox]

Don't forget the white mages

[@yoggerzzz]

@@itsmefirefox But all we did was listen and abuse the will of nature........ blood for the blood lily........

[@iantaakalla8180]

The red mage middle path

[@Leiru-desu]

Nice videos man! Loved the lore of one of my favorite classes. Entertain this question if you want, how much black magic would cause another calamity? Is it as small as, let's say, a 24-man raid of Black Mages going through Dun Scaith to drain the world aether or does it have to be on a larger scale? Hell, can our Warrior of Light possibly cause a calamity if they kept using stronger and stronger spells? These questions always run rampant in my mind each time I pick up the class.

[@SynodicScribe]

Well it wasn't just black magic that caused the 6th Calamity. It was the combination of countless Black Mages, White Mages, and to many Voidsent that threw the world off kilter. I can't see the WoL alone using any spell that would disturb the world to the breaking point. Small groups have done things worse than us and it wasn't Calamity worthy.

[@Leiru-desu]

@@SynodicScribe Thanks for the reply! Gives me a better understanding. Really insightful and your vids make me love my classes even more. Keep up with the lore lectures. I'd even like to hear theories and such.

[@mikoto7693]

A bit late here, but I’ve been a white mage and it’s made clear that white mages are strictly controlled by the Padjal in Gridania and it makes it clear that the Warrior of Light being an exception to the rule because of the soul crystal. I’m assuming-as I haven’t watched the whole video yet-but I’m assuming that there is a similar limit to creating new black mages.

[@Leiru-desu]

@@mikoto7693 Well, this is a bit spoilery, but in the job quests, they talk about making Black Magic legal, so the art can spread. I had assumed the same can be said for WHM.

[@UltaFlame]

@@Leiru-desu iirc the WHM lore has it that, for anyone not the wol, whm = padjal, selected by the elementals

[@Eyrot1995]

Good work on the video! I didn't know much about ff14s interpretation of the black mage, so this was incredibly enlightening. Though I am curious if you have any plans to cover gunbreakers, and possibly the divergence between hrothgar and garlean gunblade weilders in the near future? It is an earlier job (Chronologically) having first been seen in during the allagan empire, though I do get their lore is limited at this time, being a newer job with less class quests, and not even an entry in the encyclopedia.

[@SynodicScribe]

Gunbreaker AND Dancer will both be covered in great detail once I have more data to play with. My goal is to do more than parrot what happens in the Job quests.

[@Eyrot1995]

@@SynodicScribe alright! In regards to the gnb, there are some details that can be figured out from the bozjan front and zadnor, but it's minor. Best I can offer personally (did my own research into the job for RP purposes) is looking into how they seem to work (Mechanically speaking) as well as the differences between the allagan/garlean patterns of gunblade aswell as the Bozjan patterns. But ofc, these are more theories and the like, which aren't concrete fact. Otherwise, I look forwards to seeing more of your videos in general! I have been hoping that a lore channel like yours would pop up for ff14, and I hope the channel flourishes!

[@SynodicScribe]

@@Eyrot1995 Thank you for your support! I really hope this channel becomes a place where everyone who loves FFXIV can come to learn more about the world.

[@Ramone_JiuJitsu]

Happy I found your channel! Excellent story telling skills. Subbed!

[@SynodicScribe]

Thank you so much!

[@ShivaKanou]

Your channel is what I've been looking for for a long time. Thank you very much.

[@TemberGundam]

Really well written! Love the videos so far.

[@FattyMcFox]

Nothing flows only one way. I imagine with the technique of blending the world's aether with your own, you could learn to replenish the world and Aether barren lands, with your own aether. It may take centuries to do safely, but perhaps it could be done. Corrupted or over aspected crystals might even be absorbed and reaspected with the Blackmage's knowledge of shifting to umbral.

[@atticusfinch6038]

That's what white mages do!

[@edwarddavidson868]

I love this video. Black Mage for life.

[@manutdfan231]

I've been binging your videos and trying my best to retain information but maaaaaaan now i wanna play black mage lol. Cant wait to watch your Paladin video and cant wait till you talk about Monk, i love those jobs the most

[@TheLudomancer]

Damn this gives the game so much more flavour. I should really stop skipping job quest dialogue.

[@SynodicScribe]

I'll always encourage people to take their time and enjoy everything from the MSQ to the side quests. The game is rich with story so that we may drink our fill!

[@mikoto7693]

Certainly true. I love FF14’s world and lore even though I’m only at the start of Stormblood.

[@Avilio71]

Great work on this channel

[@SynodicScribe]

Thank you! Working on more videos as we speak!

[@yaphetbruce9321]

Just did void ark yesterday angle got my Black Mage to 55, and am noticing references to FF 11. Cool!

[@Dexxor]

Amazing video, you earned yourself a new subscriber!

[@GBrai-mu5zy]

dude....this was SO dope. it has inspired me to pick up black mage again.

[@xiaremorris6303]

Hello, just wanted to say thank you for all of your content it has been fantastic so far. Also I personally have been racking my brain to make sense of the Symbles used by all the jobs. Some of them are like Paladin are on the nose, but others are not so much like Scholars. I believe it to be glasses, so on the nose as well I guess.

[@SynodicScribe]

Oh the Job Icons? Paladin, Shield. Warrior, Axe. Darking, Downward Greatsword. Gunbreaker, slash through a bullet chamber. Dragoon, Dragon head. Monk, the lines created when you make a fist. Stuff like that?

[@xiaremorris6303]

@@SynodicScribe Yes, they are very interesting and not so clear to some. For example you mentioned that the Gunbreaker's Icon is a slash trough a gun barrel, but I would say that is it was trough an explosion. Gun barrels don't have lines poking out of them like the icon has. Or it could just be an edgy 90s tribal tattoo. Just an Idea if you are interested, and thank you for replying so swiftly. Makes me feel like a part of the community.

[@SynodicScribe]

@@xiaremorris6303 You are! I try to give my time to as many of you as possible!

[@solus48]

Great video, commenting to feed the algorithm.

[@SynodicScribe]

I appreciate you my friend!

[@mikoto7693]

A bit late to this one but commenting because while I’ve done some of the white mage job quests and knew about their part in the Magi war, I didn’t know much about the black mages. I’m a Smn, Sch and Whm you see.

[@suiginmigasuto3356]

0:31 Someone is playing with their food; Tossing the poor mofo up in the air like pizza dough. XD

[@SniperKing-O]

"Oooh, ho, ho, ho!"

[@84632]

Great video, keep it up!

[@SynodicScribe]

Thank you for watching!

[@JPypa]

10+ years playing FFXIV this remains my only job 🤣 "I have taken the Black, the Power of Destruction"

[@kaimaverickhunter]

I've always wondered why they wear the attire they do!

[@SynodicScribe]

And now you know!

[@FonzChannel]

oh yea I picked a cool class

[@lovillela]

172 likes 0 dislikes As God wills it.

[@JuanTorres-zo5xs]

Thank you so much for this!

[@SynodicScribe]

Anytime! Hope you enjoy the future videos as well!

[@yacket]

Awesome job!

[@ryanbirch-bartlett5810]

I would love to see a video on the black mage quest!

[@Quester91]

Great stuff, ffxiv has such amazing lore

[@SynodicScribe]

It really does! Glad I could bring it to you!

[@willhope4359]

Since summoners and Scholars also use ambient aether did they attribute to the calamity ?

[@SynodicScribe]

No. Summoners and Scholars can use ambient either but the fundamentals of their craft doesn't rely on it like Black and White Magic does. Scholar's consolidate their own power with the help of their fairy, and summoners can shape their own aether into that of a egi or demi after partaking of the ambient aether created by a primal.

[@willhope4359]

@@SynodicScribe ah that’s awesome. Lore is a big thing to me and it shapes the job I play lol so happy I found your channel. Seriously best thing ever. Loved the smn and sch videos so much ^_^ keep it up man

[@SynodicScribe]

@@willhope4359 Got dragoon coming soon if you're interested!

[@EikoandMog]

Also of note, Summoning is an Allagan art. It was lost by the time of the War of the Magi and only re-discovered recently.

[@lushdontu4015]

@@SynodicScribe late reply, but wont the ambient aether that the primal created run out eventually?

[@lightcluster7402]

EXPLOOOOOSSIONNNN!!!

[@raysyndrome7209]

ohhh so that's why they stop casting with there hands. i always wonder why they went from being able to cast from both their hands and staff to only being able to cast from there hands. This explains everything

[@warriorfromhammerfell1557]

Dissidia did Shanttoto dirty..

[@TheGabberManiac]

Just discovered you and the lore about BLMs. Liked and subbed

[@starlightbreaker561]

and then came Pictomancer and put Black Mage to shame

[@whitemoonwolf13]

i can't believe there is a lore reason for those ridiculous robes XD

[@ubk8751]

With what we learned about the void in the 6.X msq, void magic gets a hell lot worse

[@noeldominguez4567]

this video is so fcking cool

[@SynodicScribe]

No! You are!

[@jayr5mitty351]

Omggggg I LOVE the BLM 🔥😈🔥

[@SuperFanFiction]

Shatotto... Shantotto...

[@SynodicScribe]

Yeah they knew what they did....

[@SuperFanFiction]

@@SynodicScribe Also XIV's Rauhbahn is tha same name with XI's Rauhbahn, a Blue Mage within that game. And thus, during the Blue Mage hype, speculation of XIV Rauhbahn teaching the Blue Mage way was born during those times.

[@mikoto7693]

And Tataru Taru of course. In FF11 the equivalent race to the Lalafell are called the Tarutaru.

[@Reika-bun]

As a blm main, I take pride in my craft lol

[@anthonyayovino]

I kicked my white mage aside for the black mage, and staying with it.

[@canadiancanucklehead8310]

Me, as a WHM main: >:(

[@keyoneubanks3577]

this was so awesome i want to play so bad but my sub ran out 😂

[@Quietsatori]

So black mages in ffxiv aren't inherently evil is that correct?

[@SynodicScribe]

Not at all. Nothing about them was ever evil or demonic. It's only the fact that when someone with weak will is given power, their first instinct is to commit evil deeds. To be a Black Mage is to have power, and lots of it.

[@Quietsatori]

@@SynodicScribe So I am guessing not all of them were weak willed and I bet some I lore are good guys? (I am new and interested in the lore always the first thing I am gravitated towards) would love more videos about these kind of things like specific characters if you have any thank you for responding to my comment and for your videos I loved them the first time i saw them was researching which character and class to play and choose miqtoe and when I saw your bard video I got inspired to continue on that path since I was already playing archer thanks again for your time and videos

[@SynodicScribe]

@@Quietsatori Some of Mhach's strongest Mages were seen as saints actually. One such mage was the one that created Cait Sith. She did everything in her power to protect people from the voidsent queen on the Void Ark, but it wasn't enough.

[@Official_saturnsun]

Is this real?

[@SynodicScribe]

I think I'm real, I think. But if you're referring to the lore in my videos then yes. Aside from my unique pieces at the start of my videos, I can trace all the data I cover back to official FFXIV sources. Sources in the description!

[@yacket]

Awesome job!