The "good side" of Black Mage?

[Meister]

I figure it's basic human nature paired with the fact that he's perfectly able to kill people with his thoughts. Via the medium of fireballs and lightning bolts but it's the same thing in essence. Let's say you become a good person by learning that acting good makes the people around you act good towards you in return; Black Mage simply doesn't need that because he's more powerful than the people around him and if he feels they don't act sufficiently good towards him, fireball. Once that behavioral premise is set it just spirals out of control. But part of him has actually understood that "do unto others" principle and pipes up every now and then. You can see a hint of his motivations in this episode.

Or, y'know, if that's not it, "evil little man" just was the character type that fit best to the class that throws around destructive magic in the game, the way "strong, protective, but dumb guy" fit the class that would soak up damage, hit things with swords but have an abysmal understanding of magic [disregarding the whole class change deal], i.e. low INT or whatever the stat was called in FF1.

[Sliths]

I'll admit it. In FFXI and WoW I would play as a caster and claim to have higher Intellect than the melee's in my group.

The best was when they didn't understand what I was actually saying.

[cwDeici]

Originally Posted by Nuklear Waste

That "Good Emperor" thing was only in the GBA/PSP remakes, and we have no evidence that Brian ever played Dawn of Souls or anything. Plus, the whole thing made no sense.

And, uh, whoever said it was a reference to FFII?

EDIT: On a somewhat related note, recently I remembered an old theory that killing Black Mage would be the greatest act of Good, hence why he never tries to kill himself (as he would go to Heaven). I thought to myself, "That's ridiculous, Lich killed Black Mage and went to Hell." But then I realized Lich wasn't exactly "killed", he was banished to Hell. Thus, Lich may have, in fact, registered as "Good" at the time. Furthermore, since Sarda killed the Light Warriors multiple times, he should count as, like, Super Good. (I'd say killing Red Mage is about as Good as killing Fighter is Evil, so it's more Good than Evil.)
EDIT2: But then again, he brought them back each time and eventually decided to let them live. That's, like, the worst act imaginable.

Red Mage is a good guy, you charlatan.

Reread the strips, he comes off as a hero who makes a few questionable mistakes here and there. Last I checked console heroes got off with stealing anything unguarded and killing suspicious strangers and NPCs they meet on the road in return for trying to do good and saving the world (they have saved the world by defeating 3 Fiends for starters, one of whom Red Mage killed personally).

Originally Posted by Meister

I figure it's basic human nature paired with the fact that he's perfectly able to kill people with his thoughts. Via the medium of fireballs and lightning bolts but it's the same thing in essence. Let's say you become a good person by learning that acting good makes the people around you act good towards you in return; Black Mage simply doesn't need that because he's more powerful than the people around him and if he feels they don't act sufficiently good towards him, fireball. Once that behavioral premise is set it just spirals out of control. But part of him has actually understood that "do unto others" principle and pipes up every now and then. You can see a hint of his motivations in this episode.

Or, y'know, if that's not it, "evil little man" just was the character type that fit best to the class that throws around destructive magic in the game, the way "strong, protective, but dumb guy" fit the class that would soak up damage, hit things with swords but have an abysmal understanding of magic [disregarding the whole class change deal], i.e. low INT or whatever the stat was called in FF1.

That's good, but it's a weak form of natural good.
Btw., about natural (biological), altuistic or conditioned 'good': research shows around 75-95% of people in stable, modern, western societies pay for things even if there's no one guarding the goods. (Freakonomics)

[timemonkey]

Originally Posted by cwDeici

Red Mage is a good guy, you charlatan.

Reread the strips, he comes off as a hero who makes a few questionable mistakes here and there. Last I checked console heroes got off with stealing anything unguarded and killing suspicious strangers and NPCs they meet on the road in return for trying to do good and saving the world (they have saved the world by defeating 3 Fiends for starters, one of whom Red Mage killed personally).

Are you serious or not? Because Red Mage is NOT a good guy. At all. On any level.

[redjirachi]

Red Mage may not be a good guy,but I don't seem him as a truly bad guy. I seem him more as an insane individual.That is why he was hurt less by those blessed swords

As for why BM is evil,I would blame the dark magic coursing through his veins.If you were a nexus of destructive magic,you'd probably go ballistic.When you think about it,over the years BM has gotten more and more evil

When we first saw him he was a jerk who kills people.Then he becomes a a-hole who tortures people{not just those he hates}.Then he becomes a wannabe-Satan who wants to destroy all.Then he becomes a proto-Satan that want to torture all.The dark magic that is inherent in him has been chipping and eroding away the humanity in him,ever since he was born.His good side has been so depleted and weakened it can't affect his actions,thus the evil and atrociously evil side have taken over.And soon the evil side will be consumed by the atrociously evil side,who will then contend with the "I make the atrociously evil side look like a nun" side,and so on until it reaches infinity,then it will loop back on itself and BM explodes

[Grognor]

Originally Posted by TARDIS

he can't chagne his own timeline. haven't you watched Doctor Who?

Oh, that's where the Sarda subplot comes from.

[Codemonkey85]

Originally Posted by Nuklear Waste

...we have no evidence that Brian ever played Dawn of Souls or anything.

Actually, Brian claims to have stopped playing Final Fantasy games after about VI or VII. Even though technically he also played XI. Anyway, I'm like 98% sure he didn't touch the handheld remakes.

Originally Posted by redjirachi

When you think about it,over the years BM has gotten more and more evil

Well, he killed his family when he was much younger... then again, he also can no longer tell the difference between "evil side" and his "atrociously evil side", so I dunno.

I think the original idea was that he was driven mad by his own power, but even with it gone I doubt he'd ever be just a normal guy. And even without the magic pushing him over the edge, he probably had some issues to begin with.

[timemonkey]

No doubt Black Mage has always been evil for as long as we've known him but he's certainly gotten worse since the formation of the Light warriors. He used to only be minorly evil, in that while willing to murder and steal and lie he was still capable of functioning relatively normally and just seemed moderately annoyed at Fighter.