Line #45 Main/BlackMage


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8	->''"I am the Black Mage! I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down!"''
9	-->-- '''Black Mage''', ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' (Episode 024: "She's a White Magic Woman.")
10
11	These mages are all about attacking with spells and doing lots of damage with them. Typically these mages will be users of most if not all types of ElementalPowers (one element is not unheard of, though), with FireIceLightning being particularly common, and may fall under LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards. They do not heal (or only have minor healing spells) and typically pack AreaOfEffect spells in their arsenal.
12
13	Very frequently DarkIsNotEvil.
14
15	The term comes from {{JRPG}}s, particularly the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, and is in stark contrast with its meaning in European tradition which is "[[EvilSorcerer a user of]] [[BlackMagic evil magic]]".
16
17	BlackMagicianGirl and LadyOfBlackMagic are subtropes and are often paired up with TheMedic, WhiteMage, or WhiteMagicianGirl as a {{Foil}}. Specifically paired with a WhiteMage it's BlackAndWhiteMagic. When this character has substantial ability in WhiteMagic as well, then you've got TheRedMage.
18
19	Often overlaps with SquishyWizard and GlassCannon. Contrast TheMedic and WhiteMage (the defensive or remedial equivalent).
20
21	Not to be confused with BlackMagic (which is outright evil rather than merely destructive) or the character [[Webcomic/EightBitTheater Black Mage Evilwizardington]] (though he is an example of both tropes).
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
28	* The titular Black Mage Zeref in ''Manga/FairyTail''. He is the originator of most Lost Magic, including his signature Death Magic.
29	* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', Marcille's magic is combat-oriented and explosive. But, she also knows healing and revival magic as well. It's hard to say if she's more of TheRedMage, or if healing magic is just more common in this world.
30	** There's also the Lunatic Magician, who wields extremely powerful and destructive black magic.
31	* ''Manga/FinalFantasyLostStranger'', Duston is a Black Mage who can cast elemental spells to deal damage across a wide area, though he prefers the use of Fire in particular.
32	* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
33	** There are two classes of normal mages. A "Wizard" focuses on attack magic while others protect, whereas a "MagicKnight" fights up front and uses spells. Negi chose the latter, but Yue has chosen the "Wizard" style complete with the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' style Black Mage outfit.
34	** Pointed out by Evangeline in an early chapter: when Setsuna is badly wounded, everyone turns to her for help, as she's the most powerful mage present. Evangeline has to explain that she has no idea how to perform healing magic... as a vampire, her own innate healing ability is powerful enough she's never had to learn it, thus all of her magic is destructive in nature.
35	* Although Kagura from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' has shown herself to be very fit physically (being a demon, it comes naturally for her), she always fights using wind-using spells and magic. She also has no issues cutting up your best friend and then turning them into a zombie to lure you into an ambush.
36	* In the ''Manga/DotHackLegendOfTheTwilight'' anime and manga. Hotaru ''would'' be the battle mage of the group, except she's afraid to hurt the monsters.
37	* Fatina, from ''Anime/TheTowerOfDruaga: The Aegis of Uruk''. She uses a [[BoomStick large staff that resembles a cannon for nuking things]] with [[PlayingWithFire her fire magic]].
38	* Kuesu from ''Manga/OmamoriHimari''.
39	* While her bubbly and polite personality is perhaps more in line with a WhiteMagicianGirl, ''Manga/MagicalCircleGuruGuru's'' Kukuri dresses in black and uses demon summoning magic.
40	* Hayate Yagami of the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' franchise, who as the Queen of the Night Sky, comes with the widest variety of [[PersonOfMassDestruction nuke-level]] offensive spells in the cast. These range from releasing city-wide spheres of darkness to creating massive icebergs that dwarf spaceships.
41	* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' has the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dark Magician]]. An excellent example of DarkIsNotEvil, as he fights to protect [[TheHero Yugi]], and in his previous life, he was a priest who (Mahad, who sacrificed his own ba (life force) so he could fuse with his Illusion Magician) [[spoiler:sacrificed his life for the Pharaoh]].
42	* ''Manga/OnePiece'' gives us Nami, who, through her Clima-Tact, can control the weather in such a way that it's similar to her casting elemental spells. While [[ShockAndAwe lightning]] is her specialty, she's also more than able to utilize every element in nature to good effect when she needs to.
43	* Three of the Kages fight like this during the Fourth Shinobi War of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. Gaara attacks with his sand and uses no taijutsu techniques, Onoki blasts people from afar with his [[FantasticNuke Dust Release attacks]] due to old age and back problems and Mei Terumi unleashes a barrage of water, mist, and magma attacks.
44	* Attack mages in ''Manga/BlackClover'' mostly use their magic offensively at a long range. When Noelle, who had struggled to properly control her incredible magic power, learns Sea Dragon's Roar, Yami notes that she's an incredible attack mage even for her great latent abilities.
45	* [[ColonelBadass Roy Mustang]] from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' is the current page image for MilitaryMage. While many alchemists throughout the series use alchemy in combat, his command of [[PlayingWithFire fire]] [[StuffBlowingUp and explosions]] allows for directly aggressive and massively damaging ranged attacks (and on a [[SplashDamage large scale]], if he so chooses), which elevates him to a much more significant threat level than other alchemists who may have to get [[CloseRangeCombatant into arm’s reach]] of their opponents to deal damage and may only be capable of engaging one or two people at a time. This is why the military employs him. Contrast protagonists [[SiblingTeam Edward and Alphonse]] who make much more frequent use of alchemy for mundane reasons, and when they do use it in combat, it’s generally more to [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation make weapons]], shield themselves, or immobilize an opponent than to do direct damage.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Books]]
49	* In ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} story ''ComicBook/DemonSpawn'' the titular heroine fights Nightflame, a sword-wielding sorcerer who can open dimensional portals, use fire spells, fly and steal souls. Since Supergirl is vulnerable to magic, it is not an easy battle for her.
50	* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' foe Circe has spent millennia perfecting her magic, almost all of which has offense applications including but not limited to transforming her foes into her monstrous [[ReforgedIntoAMinion slaves]], powerful fire spells, and [[VillainTeleportation teleportation]].
51	* ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} is the foremost magical expert on the heroes' side in Franchise/TheDCU. She typically casts spells by speaking backwards.
52	* The ComicBook/ScarletWitch was originally depicted as a {{Mutant}} who could [[WindsOfDestinyChange affect probability]]. Over time, she was re-written as a wielder of Chaos Magic and retconned into having come from a long line of MagicalRomani.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Literature]]
56	* Trisana Chandler from ''Literature/CircleOfMagic''. This is actually a downside of winning the SuperpowerLottery: Her extremely powerful weather magic (where "weather" also includes ''natural disasters'') would put her in high demand as a war mage, but she'd prefer to be a healer, something which she's simply ''too strong'' for. To paraphrase, "it would be like performing surgery with a mallet." In fact, all four kids, and some of their students, can put their magic to spectacular offensive use when they need to, though Tris is the most naturally suited to it.
57	* ''Literature/SagaOfRecluce'' inverts this and WhiteMage; those who use order magic (which can improve health, speed healing, and strengthen and protect) are called black mages, while those who use chaos magic (which is, as the name implies, very destructive) are the white mages. On the grand scale, however, the black mages have easily the greatest destructive potential because [[WeatherControlMachine they can manipulate weather patterns]], which makes the [[TheMagocracy nation of Recluce with its numerous black mages]] a (highly resented) world power.
58	* In ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', black mages (like Lina and her sometime-sidekick Naga) are specifically wizards who call on [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Mazoku]] for their spells; both they and [[TheRedMage shamans]] (like Zelgadis) can get very, ''very'' destructive effects. In fact, many "elementally offensive" spells, like the classic Fireball, are shared by both forms of magic.
59	* A few examples from ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
60	** The Green Aes Sedai are known as the "Battle Ajah." In the final book, they are on the front lines of the Last Battle.
61	** Ashaman are trained to think of themselves as [[PersonOfMassDestruction weapons first]], and men second. There are a few who learn healing spells, but they're generally the exception. They also notably wear black uniforms and live in a fort called The Black Tower.
62	** It is implied by some of Tuon's actions and dialogue that Damane don't learn Healing, and would not be trusted to use it, if they did know it. They are kept on leashes and outright referred to as weapons.
63	* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': Valerie. Aside from a couple instances, she solely casts spells to kill and destroy.
64	* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'' is set in an evil WizardingSchool. Plenty of witches there fight by racking up damage with powerful spells. Notable examples include the necromancer twins Alejandra and Julia, the water-witch Amira, and the top student Morgan who crushes her opponents with magical shadows.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
68	* ''Series/TheWhiteQueen'' portrays Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort to Edward IV, as a witch with actual supernatural powers. Throughout the series, she is able to:
69	** Call down terrible thunderstorms on her enemies at strategically critical moments
70	** Cause her enemies' deaths through magical curses
71	** Lastly, otherwise wreaks terrible destruction with her magic.
72	** When her husband King Edward lies dying of a fever, another character, Margaret Beaufort, says that the king will be fine because the queen will just brew some magic potion to heal him. Needless to say, that is not one of Elizabeth's powers, and Edward dies.
73	** That being said, Elizabeth, her mother, and her eldest daughter (all portrayed as witches) are shown to have some non-offensive powers, including divination magic; also, Elizabeth did use her magic to make Edward fall in love with her in the first place, or at least to help the process along. Still, it would appear that the Woodville women in this show are at least partial examples of this trope.
74	* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Villainous example. The Dweller uses offensive {{Elemental\|Powers}} spells and can shapeshift.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Music]]
78	* Norwegian black metal band Emperor takes this literally in one of their most well-known songs, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ACxklBLUqI I am the Black Wizards]]''.
79	* This is also the title of the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZPZqxYfBao Чёрный маг]], by Russian band Epidemia.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
83	* ''TabletopGame/{{Ammo}}'': Almost every player character that knows magic at creation will use an offensive spell (Air, Water, Earth or Fire). Learning more elements later is helpful because of ElementalRockPaperScissors being in effect. The fifth option is Life that, while loved by the team, is serious crap for the character himself. ALL demons that know magic will spam elemental attacks like rain at a funeral.
84	* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': Of the twelve Houses in the Order of Hermes MagicalSociety, House Flambeau focuses on honing offensive magic. PlayingWithFire is their signature skill, but many also train in the ''perdo'' magical Form, which can degrade or destroy any sort of target -- bodies, substances, minds, or magic itself. While the House considers itself the Order's equivalent of Knights and have established a code of chivalry to match, other Houses tend to find them a bit overenthusiastic in that respect.
85	* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'': The 4th edition supplement ''Mystic Masters'' makes the observation that superhero comic book wizards in general usually lean in this direction, since what we'll typically see them do most prominently with their magic is ''fight'' while at the same time healing or regeneration magic is (barring dedicated healers, who then in turn tend not to fare too well in combat on their own) noticeably not much in evidence in their personal arsenal. It consequently advises keeping that convention in mind if one wants one's game to feel like the comics themselves.
86	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
87	** The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting has the Cormyrean War Wizards, masters of combat magic, who have made it as both a 3.x edition PrestigeClass and a 4th edition paragon path.
88	** The 2nd Edition ''Complete Wizards Handbook'' had the militant wizard kit, which concentrates on offensive spells.
89	** The 3.5 ''Complete Arcane'' and ''Miniatures Handbook'' {{Sourcebook}}s both featured the Warmage class, which is this trope [[CripplingOverspecialization to the exclusion of everything else]].
90	** Evokers, specialists in the Evocation school of magic, tend to take this role in general, as Evocation is focused on manipulating and discharging all kinds of elemental energy - FireIceLightning is perhaps iconic, but they can also wield acid, poison, and other elemental types depending on edition. This makes Evokers generally fall under the PersonOfMassDestruction archetype, as their school's singular trick amounts to different flavors of "blast the hell out of everything around you".
91	** In 4th edition, this became the defining niche of the Sorcerer. Whilst wizards could still throw around plenty of elemental attack spells, they were a "Controller" type class and focused more on winnowing out minions and otherwise manipulating the battlefield. Sorcerers, in comparison, were a "Striker" class; they specialize in picking one target (or a small cluster of targets; Sorcerers are unique amongst Strikers in their focus on small area-of-effect attacks) and killing it quickly with a ''lot'' of elemental damage.
92	** The Warlock class tends to specialize in damage-dealing spells with a comparatively small arsenal of non-lethal tricks and is mechanically quite close to the BlackMage archetype. Flavor-wise, they're close to the ''other'' kind of black mage, as warlock powers generally stem from a DealWithTheDevil (or TheFairFolk, or an EldritchAbomination).
93	** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsOfDrakkenheim'' features three ways of using this archetype. Firstly, a spellcaster can choose to use [[GreenRocks Delerium]]-fueled "Contaminated" spells; whilst these have no overt moral component, they ''are'' BlackMagic in that they [[TheCorruption will literally poison the user's body and mind until they turn into a monster]] unless the user is ''very'' careful about regularly purging the Contamination they induce when used. Secondly, a player can choose to play one of the subclasses that actively embraces Delerium; the most obvious fits for this trope are the Delerium Soul sorcerer, whose powers stem from being corrupted with Delerium and who can radiate anomalous arcane energy, and the Malfeasant wizard, who is dedicated to mastering contaminated spells, but there's also the Haze Rager barbarian (who uses Delerium as a FantasticDrug) and the Circle of Contamination druid (who believes the mutations caused by Delerium are [[EvilutionaryBiologist the next step in evolution]]). Finally, there's the Oath of Hexes paladin, who overlaps this trope with BlackKnight, being a warrior-priest of eldritch and occult deities who uses curses to punish and weaken their enemies.
94	* ''TabletopGame/FabulaUltima'' has the Elementalist, a magic class whose spell list consists primarily of damage-dealing spells drawn from five of the game's elemental damage types. It also has skills which can increase the accuracy and lethality of these spells under the right circumstances.
95	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Instant and sorcery focused decks tend to function this way, as opposed to the SummonMagic of creature-based ones. Red is your go-to colour for this, since it's the colour of "kill it with direct magical damage", with maybe a bit of blue mixed in for card draw, instant/sorcery recursion and the occasional counterspell. Black can do okay, with a lot of effects that instantly kill creatures or drain life from the opponent, but the other two colours tend to be much more focused on summoning and as a result rarely have a place in this kind of deck. Of course, virtually every red-aligned mage will ''have'' direct "kill it with fire/lightning" spells, but a lot of the time they're used to open up a hole for the monsters to go through and occasionally as a finisher, rather than being the be-all and end-all of the player's strategy.
96	%%* ''TabletopGame/SpheresOfPower'': Any mid- to full-caster with a focus in the Destruction sphere.
97	* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyBattle'' and ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': The Bright College of Wizardry. The other seven schools all have some kind of offensive magics but also include things like healing, illusions, or prophecy. The Bright College wields the Lore of Fire; of its seven spells, six can be summarised as "set your enemies on fire and watch them burn". The seventh is "set your allies' weapons on fire so that ''they'' can set your enemies on fire".
98	* ''TabletopGame/WorldOfDarkness'':
99	** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': The forces sphere is all about throwing around elemental forces that are increasingly destructive, blatant, and generally terrifying. Low levels start out with redirecting natural fire and electricity into damaging effects, and increasing mastery gives the caster the ability to grab increasingly fundamental physical forces like gravity and radiation and use them to blow things up. Even non-damaging uses of the sphere like flight and invisibility are usually so blatantly supernatural that spell backfire is going to do something dramatic and damaging anyhow.
100	** ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'': Because their effects are generally ignored by people to begin with, a lot of changeling powers also fall into this category. Elemental ones, obviously, but many goblin contracts fall into this category too, doing things like dropping the wild hunt into a scene at random.
101	** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' generally avoided this (overt magic use being a breach of TheMasquerade), but there were still a couple paths of Blood Sorcery based around massive eruptions of magical energies, such as [[ShockAndAwe Path of the Levinbolt]], [[PlayingWithFire Lure of the Flames]], [[{{Hellfire}} The Fires of the Inferno]], and the incredibly fun [[MagmaMan Koldunic Way of Fire]].
102	[[/folder]]
103
104	[[folder:Video Games]]
105	* ''VideoGame/{{Aion}}: Tower of Eternity'' has the Mage Class, which at level 10 branches off into either the Sorcerer (Direct Heavy Damage, AOE Damage, Crowd Control) or the Spiritmaster (summons pets, not as much direct damage).
106	* ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'': Khunag's spells are all about dealing damage, with only a couple of exceptions that seem like an afterthought. He comes from a ProudWarriorRace that views wizards as a more advanced type of warrior.
107	* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'': Imoen, a friendly and upbeat sort who starts out as a thief in the first game but then becomes a black mage.
108	%%* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'' and ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'': Deis/Bleu, the nagaesque PersonOfMassDestruction. Nina as well, with the exception of the first game.
109	%%* ''VideoGame/BunnyMustDie'': Chelsea.
110	%%* ''VideoGame/CharlieMurder'': Lester Deth combines this with SummonMagic.
111	* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': Magus specializes in multiple elements and even having a JackOfAllStats collection of [[FireIceLightning spells used by other characters.]] However, he leans towards a Dark Magic specialist, with his Dark Matter spell emphasizing this.
112	%%** Gil/[[DubNameChange Magil]] from ''VisualNovel/RadicalDreamers'' and Guile from ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''. Whether these three people are [[FlipFlopOfGod one and the same]] [[FanWank is another matter]] [[WildMassGuessing entirely.]]
113	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck is somewhere between this and TheRedMage. His starting staff even resembles the classic ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' Black Mage. The MagicKnight hero Sora's spells tend to pack more of a punch, though. Donald finally gets to [[TookALevelInBadass show his stuff]] near the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' by casting [[spoiler: Zettaflare, a spell that has so far only been cast by [[VideoGame/BravelyDefault one other person]] in any game using the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' magic system, and that person was the herald of a world-ending EldritchAbomination who had already entered her OneWingedAngel form. In other words, ''Donald Duck'' is one of if not ''the'' most powerful Black Mage in Creator/SquareEnix's shared universe.]]
114	* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': The Sorceress focuses entirely in FireIceLightning offensive spells.
115	* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has both male and female magic users (they're coloured differently according to element). They learn spells of increasing power and area of effect that deal damage within their element (so fire mages learn fire, mega fire, etc; ice mages learn ice, mega ice, etc, and so on). The highest-level mages can learn ''most'' of all the elemental spells, but cannot master the strongest spells of each type.
116	* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
117	** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': Although you have the freedom to spec her as you wish, Morrigan starts off as a Black Mage as well. It's also possible to turn the player character, The Warden and Hawke, into Black Mages as well in both games.
118	** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': Merrill, who despite being much nicer than Morrigan, practices BloodMagic which is considered one of the most dangerous forms of magic, and has no healing magic other than using said blood magic to steal others' life force for herself.
119	** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': The Rift Mage specialization maximizes offensive ability.
120	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' is fond of this trope.
121	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'': The Princess of Moonbroke wields the most powerful destructive magic in the game, gaining spells of the Wind and Blast families which her partners never do.
122	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': The Wizard class specializes in casting destructive spells.
123	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': Both Maya and Borya fit this.
124	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'': Flora/Nera wields powerful offensive magic and has access to the powerful Kaboom blast spell.
125	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'': Jessica fulfills this role till late in the game when she gains pretty decent healing spells.
126	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': The Mage class has all attack magic with a few debuffing spells overshadowed by the Sage class which has both better attack spells and gets healing spells, though the mage gets better stat growth for casting offensive spells.
127	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'': Veronica is a textbook Mage, opposite her sister Serena, a [[WhiteMage Priest]]. She is the party's master of offensive magic and her Magical Mending stat never grows on its own.
128	* ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'': At the beginning, Lily is the strongest member of the Savior class, but she looks down on healing magic as worthless. This really comes back to bite her in the fifth chapter when the regular healer is incapacitated and she can't heal her or the other injured people, thus forcing what remains of your party to retreat, apart from Rico. Apparently, it's actually rare to see mages who specialize to this extent in pure combat and within a few more chapters she has begun picking up standard healing spells.
129	* Ana from ''VideoGame/EarthboundBeginnings'' and Paula from ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'': They both use offensive spells such as [[PlayingWithFire PK Fire]] and [[AnIcePerson PK Freeze]] (Ana also has [[EnergyWeapon PK Beam]]). Kumatora from ''VideoGame/Mother3'' also fits.
130	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
131	** Throughout the series, masters of the Destruction [[FunctionalMagic school of magic]] are the Black Mages of the setting. The [[ElementalPowers elemental spells]] of the FireIceLightning trio are classed here, as are spells that make opponents weaker to those elements. Depending on the game, generic non-elemental "damage health" spells may also be classed here, as well as poison-based spells.
132	** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', the Master Trainer in Destruction magic isn't a high-ranking official in the [[MagicalSociety Mages Guild]], or even an [[WizardsLiveLonger ancient]] [[TheClan Great House]] [[TheMagocracy Telvanni]] [[TheArchMage mage-lord]]...it is a little Breton farmer by the name of Leles Birian. She can train you to a higher level in the Destruction skill than anyone else in the entire game.
133	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
134	*** Delphine Jend, a sweet little woman who likes to kill cute woodland creatures with Expert-Level destruction spells.
135	*** And the Master Destruction magic trainer Bralsa Andaren, who is actually out doing said killing of woodland creatures. Bonus in that she's also a gray-skinned Dunmer (Dark Elf).
136	* Gwen, an {{NPC}} in ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', is first encountered as a happy-go-lucky little girl who befriends the player in an idyllic countryside. Fast-forward eight years of game time, and she's a powerful Mesmer described as being driven primarily by hatred and anger.
137	* In ''VideoGame/FellSealArbitersMark'', the Wizard class is an offensive mage with spells from four of the game’s six elements at their disposal. There is also the advanced Sorcerer class, which specializes in blasting the entire battlefield with storms of elemental energy.
138	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' is the TropeNamer and possibly TropeMaker. Black mages are a staple class in the series, appearing in almost all of the games.
139	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' also has the Magus job, which functions as a stronger version of the Black Mage job.
140	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has Palom (in contrast to his twin [[WhiteMage Porom]]), who is from Mysidia, a town full of mages. Rydia also possesses black magic, though she primarily focuses on SummonMagic.
141	** Black Mage is one of the first jobs obtained in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''.
142	** Black Mages are an entire race in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX''. One of your party members, Vivi, is a black mage.
143	** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Wakka even refers to [[GothGirlsKnowMagic Lulu]] as a BlackMage in one of the tutorial fights.
144	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' as a MythologyGag to the first game makes the Black Mage one of the six jobs available from the very beginning. The Taru Taru race's base stats are tailor-made for making them Black Mages.
145	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' has the Black Mage Dressphere.
146	** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the Thaumaturge Class, which can unlock the Black Mage, the Job that primarily focuses on using Fire, Ice, and Thunder magic. They have some of the highest DPS potential in the game and are able to easily regenerate MP, but their magic has both massive MP costs and longer casting times that make them less mobile than other casters to make up for this.
147	* The ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' series has the Anima mage class, sometimes simply called the "Mage" class. Anima mages specialize in the three Elemental Magic types (called "Anima magic" in a few games) in the series: [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[BlowYouAway Wind]], and [[ShockAndAwe Thunder]]. Anima mages most often promote into the "Sage" class when at a sufficient level, and [[CombatMedic gain the ability to use healing staves]] alongside damaging tomes.
148	** For a long time, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' was unique in that it had a lot more in the way of traditional RPG elements, the magic system included. Unlike other ''Fire Emblem'' games, it had the ''Final Fantasy''-esque categories of offensive black magic and supportive white magic. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' brings back this system, although it also reintroduces [[CastingAShadow dark magic]], which wasn't a distinct category in ''Gaiden''.
149	* Dark Elf Warlocks in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicV'' specialize in Destructive Magic, and their racial abilities are aimed at enhancing its damage, lowering the enemy's resistance to it, and replenishing mana quickly.
150	* ''VideoGame/LaTale'' has the Sorcerer class, one of the two advanced classes after Wizard, which abandons all healing magic for pure offensive magic.
151	* ''Franchise/LeagueOfLegends:'' In general, "Burst" Mages are all about quickly destroying enemies with their incredibly damaging spells, usually though at the cost of any kind of defensive traits like health, armor, get-off-me tools, and no melee abilities.
152	** Syndra is designed to damage her enemies from afar using her array of powerful ranged spells, including creating [[EnergyBall orbs]], firing off said orbs to stun enemies, grabbing minions like rocks and tossing them at each other, or dealing a nuke's worth of damage by clicking an enemy target (its damage being dependent on having those aforementioned orbs everywhere.)
153	** Veigar, a very unsubtle parody of the original Black Mage, is a mage that just gets stronger and stronger the more damage he deals due to his passive granting bonus ability power by hitting targets with his spells. That bonus grows ''infinitely'', meaning he's potentially one of the strongest spellcasters in the game. He also has no way to shoo away enemies up in his face outside of trying to kill them first.
154	* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'': Most of [[ComicBook/{{Runaways}} Nico Minoru's]] spells have various debuffing effects and her strongest offensive attack takes advantage of enemies being given a lot of debuffs first.
155	* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Adepts focus on devastating and disabling enemies using biotic powers. Recurring squadmate Liara T'Soni is a prominent Adept, with Jack in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' also qualifying.
156	* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'': Scholars get access to spells of three elements, while most other classes only get one. Taken Up to Eleven with the Sorcerer, which grants access to spells of all six elements.
157	* Rune from ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' is a full-on 'blast everything until it dies' type, whereas Kyra is a warm and friendly sort who appoints herself CoolBigSis to the hero but can still blast things (and heal a bit).
158	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUWrs2jGdLY pointed out]] by [[WebVideo/{{Gnoggin}} Lockstin]], the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragon-type]] leans into this trope's territory, controlling raw Infinity Energy in a similar fashion to arcane spellcasting in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Dragon-type Pokémon tend to be able to learn moves of a wide variety of types, and Dragon-type moves themselves tend to be largely focused on doing very large amounts of damage to the opponent.
159	* ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' has the Mage first class which branches as follows:
160	-->Sage - Professor - Sorcerer
161	-->Wizard - High Wizard - Warlock
162	** They both use damaging spells and for the most part perform no healing or support spells. The Wizard branch uses area spells with special effects like a chance of stun or freezing and the Sage branch can cast two streams of bolt spells at once with Double Cast as well as endow weapons with an element to increase weapon damage.
163	* In ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'', there's Calliou, the SquishyWizard who has a grand total of one utility spell, with the rest being solely for offense and no melee combat ability whatsoever. To a lesser extent, there's also [[RobotGirl Arma]], whose later weapons are pretty much {{Magitek}} [=WMDs=].
164	* Cierra in ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand''.
165	* ''VideoGame/ShadowEra'''s Mage Heroes (both Human and Shadow) are this.
166	* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPGLegendOfTheSevenStars'': Mallow is another "somewhere between this and TheRedMage" example, and his appearance borrows elements from the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' Black Mage (in his case, the striped pants). He gets an early healing spell, but that gets eclipsed once [[WhiteMage Princess Toadstool]] joins you, and his specialty is in combat magic and rounding out the party's ElementalRockPaperScissors with Mario; between the two of them you can take advantage of every elemental weakness in the game.
167	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'':
168	** Most wizards and magicians are expected to specialize in incredibly powerful magic. Their main drawback is that, while powerful, they're not much stronger than a normal human, taking them into GlassCannon territory most of the time. In fact, it is implied that the reason Marisa can [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beat the crap out of supernatural entities and gods on a regular basis]] (even outside of Spell Card duels) is because [[WeakButSkilled she is just that damn good at casting spells while not having her head vaporized/blown/burned/etc.]] All because she studies her magic very carefully.
169	* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'': The elemental magic skill tree is dedicated primarily to blasting anything and everything into little pieces. Not that the other skill trees don't have perfectly viable means of damage-dealing, either, but they're often a little more diversified. Elementalism is classic Black Mage material.
170	* ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'' gives us Lymle and Myuria.
171	** ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'' has Ronyx, who is the only caster not to learn any healing magic and also the only one who can cast Dark element spells.
172	* Genis Sage from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''.
173	* Grune from ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia''
174	* Jade Curtiss from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''.
175	%%* Angela of ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', right down to the weapon and personality.
176	* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
177	** ''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' have the Human Conjurers and Orc Warlocks who exclusively use offensive magic, especially SummonMagic. They also have the AreaOfEffect spells Rain of Fire and Poison Cloud respectively.
178	** ''Warcraft II: Tide of Darkness'' carries on the tradition of offensive-only casters, but also added Ogre-Magi to the mix who are in essence [[MagicKnight mage-cavalry]] who use Bloodlust to dominate battles with the overwhelming boost it gives to allies. They also have a rune-mine spell as a supporting option for laying down traps, something that might be typically be cast by a SquishyWizard character.
179	** ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' and ''The Frozen Throne'': The game still has caster units, but it's your HeroUnit(s) that will potentially take on this role instead due to a new game paradigm. Standouts include the Human-Alliance Elven Bloodmage who focuses upon destructive fire magic, The Undead Lich who focuses upon Frost and Death magic, The Orc Farseer who favors earth, lightning, and summon magic, and Night Elf Demon Hunter who favors the use of Fel Magic to wade into melee battle and burn the mana out of spell users, can use an immolation aura to damage melee attackers surrounding him, and can ultimately morph into a Demon to become a devastating ranged attacker.
180	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
181	** Mages fulfill this role. No self-healing while nuking from a distance.
182	** Destruction Warlocks are all about throwing hellfire at things until they fall down.
183	%%* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': Though her mode of dress [[TheRedMage resembles something else]], this is Rita's role.
184	* ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'': Yu Nanba acts in this role in battle, as he sports not only the highest Magic stats in the party but also the most TP. However, he is also a CombatMedic as he has access to various support skills ranging from healing to buffs and debuffs.
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	[[folder:Webcomics]]
188	* Black Mage from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', naturally. Parodies his character class, just like his teammates--he has several incredibly destructive spells, but rarely uses anything other than his once-per-day [[{{Kamehamehadoken}} hadoken]], and just as rarely manages to actually hit something with it. His real weapon of choice is his seemingly endless supply of daggers, mostly used for [[DisproportionateRetribution stabbing his teammates when they do something annoying]].
189	%%* Iris from ''Webcomic/AetheriaEpics''.
190	* Ariel from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', though she prefers shapeshifting to her offensive spells.
191	* Richard from ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' is as [[BlackComedy black as they come]], and deadlier than he is [[OurLichesAreDifferent dead]].
192	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
193	** On the subject of liches, Xykon. Other than the occasional hold spell, he tends to leave all non-hurty spellcasting to menials.
194	** Vaarsuvius was initially this, mostly going for powerful and destructive spells like Fireball. However, after a brief stint as evil, a chat with ''Xykon'' of all people, and a HeroicBSOD, V is trying to be a little more rounded, creative, and strategic, and use support spells more. It was off to a rocky start but helped with the return of [[spoiler:Zz'dtri]].
195	%%* Angelika from ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure''.
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Western Animation]]
199	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Raven serves this role to her team, attacking by firing ebony blasts of black magical energy. [[WindsOfTheDestinyChange Jinx]] serves this role for the Hive Five.
200	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BlackMage