History Main / TheRedMage

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' brings us the TropeCodifier in the first game as a mix of all the classes. After their upgrade, they can use white and black magic up to level 7 (out of 8), except for a few exclusives, as well as a wide variety of weapons and armor.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' brings back the job system, and with it the Red Mage. This time around, they are much weaker though, and quickly fall behind once the level 3 spells become obsolete. There is also the Sage class, one of two hidden jobs, that can learn all three forms of magic and has one disadvantage: [[VancianMagic Limited charges]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has Red Mages as one of the jobs again, but slightly more useful than in III. Red Mages eventually learn the Dualcast skill (after considerable grinding), which allows them to cast two spells at once. While Red Magic itself is still limited to a combination of Black and White Magic up to level 3, Dualcast can also be used with other schools of magic, which can [[GameBreaker break the game]] if used properly.

** Even the villains get in on it; Seymour of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' ([[ATasteOfPower for the one fight you get to use him]]) displays this, by having a skill-set composed of the first half of both [[BlackMage Lulu]] and [[WhiteMagicianGirl Yuna's]] Sphere Grid paths, all while having physical power comparable to [[MightyGlacier Auron]] as well. Oh, and he's a Summoner too. Basically, if it's magical or physical, Seymour can do it.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has both the literal Red Mage and the Scholar. The former tries and largely fails to play up the MagicKnight aspects of the class but makes up for it by being good at StatusEffects. The latter is essentially the spiritual successor to the Sage plus metamagic. Often missed due to StopHavingFunGuys being very common. The Red Mage spends a large chunk of levels as the most effective tank in the game. The combination of Phalanx, Stoneskin, Refresh, Spikes, and enfeebling spells makes them nearly invulnerable, even against leveling mobs until you reach about level 50 where the effectiveness of mobs starts growing exponentially instead of linearly and specialization becomes a must.

*** Both more and less easy to accomplish in the UpdatedRerelease 'Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age'. With the job system introduced, license boards are more limited; depending on what jobs you pick, being a red mage may not be possible. Red mage is one of the jobs you can pick (comes with a mix of black and white magic along with a few spells from the other schools), but as you can pick two jobs for each character, you could make your own red mage by picking any two of the magic-focused classes.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Red Mages from the ''Stormblood'' expansion are {{Magic Knight}}s who fight with magic and rapiers. However, since the game holds tight to the trinity of [[DamagerHealerTank tank/heal/DPS]], instead of serving as a MasterOfNone with spells from their individual jobs, they instead [[YinYangBomb marry both schools of magic to use them in entirely different capacities]] than Black and White mages can, while also combining the attributes of a ranged DPS class with those of a melee-based one (peppering spells on an enemy to fill up their balance gauge, then rushing in and expending that power to boost the damage of a quick series of rapier slashes and stabs, before leaping back out of melee range). This makes them a versatile DPS class [[CombatMedic that can also heal people]] at higher levels, with their Dualcast skill making them one of the most effective sources of resurrection. At higher levels, they obtain [[FantasticNuke Flare]] and [[HolyHandGrenade Holy]], two of the highest level spells from black and white magic. While the game allows them to pull out great power comparable to their counterparts, they have to undergo far more preparations such as building up the balance gauge first. And once used up, they have refill it as opposed to Black Mages who can use such powerful spells more consistently. Their healing spells while powerful enough to match the White Mages, can only heal one target at a time, as opposed to them who has access to group healing spells.

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem:''