Part 1:

With Blue Mage having just come out in patch 4.5, I had several questions as to the origin of the job. When did we see the first blue mage? How has the job evolved over the series, and how does the original concept of Blue Magic compare to what we have today? In this two part series, we will look at the origin of Blue Magic, including how it has been implemented in previous games, and look to Final Fantasy 14 and its interpretation of the job and see how previous iterations of the unique job class have influenced what we play as today.

What is a Blue Mage?

The job Blue Mage is a caster job that focuses on learning spells and abilities from monsters in the world, rather than spell books. In most games, Blue Magic is learned by observation or utilizing specialized abilities designed to copy the ability into the mage’s repertoire.

Final Fantasy V:

Blue magic in its original form was first introduced in Final Fantasy V. In this game, the job shares offensive and defensive capabilities, and can even equip weapon and armor that other casters are unable to. To learn spells in Final Fantasy V, Blue Mages need to be hit by the ability, but do not need to live through the battle. Final Fantasy V is the origin of the Domino mask appearance style we see in Final Fantasy 14 and heavily influenced the artifact armor for the job.

Final Fantasy VI:

In Final Fantasy VI, Blue Magic is utilized by the character Strago Magus. In translations for the North American release of the game, Blue Magic was renamed to Lores, with Blue Mages being called Lore Masters. Strago is able to learn abilities from monsters by observing them utilizing the skills. Some of these abilities include Blowfish, which is effectively 1000 Needles in our current iteration of Blue Magic, Aqua Breath, Level 5 Death, and Bad Breath. As Strago does not need to be hit by the ability to learn it, this form of learning Blue Magic is identical to what we see in Final Fantasy 14.

Final Fantasy VIII:

Final Fantasy VIII has blue magic in the form of limit breaks utilized by Quistis Trepe. Unlike in previous games, Quistis is able to utilize Blue Magic after utilizing a item dropped by enemies. Additionally, the introduction of Blue Magic as a limit break option severely limits when she is able to utilize these abilities, and decisions are often needed to be made when choosing which Blue Magics to use in battle more than in previous iterations.

Final Fantasy IX:

Final Fantasy IX’s blue magic is used by a strange character, Quina Quen. Quina is a Qu, a genderless race in the Final Fantasy IX world, who loves to discover and eat new foods. The way Quina learns her Blue Mage abilities is by consuming enemies when they are at ¼ life or lower. Some of the abilities Quina is able to learn this way include Bad Breath, Aqua Breath, 1,000 Needles, and Mighty Guard, which at this point are staples in the Blue Mage spell book.

Written by Trypanosoma Antiquus on 2/3/2019