Black Mage



"The ultimate light can only be found in the ultimate darkness."

- White Mage

The Black Mage, formerly known as the White Mage, is a recurring evil entity that threatens Maple World, and is also the Transcendent of Light. He is known to cause mass events related to other classes, specifically the Heroes.

As the main antagonist of the Maple World, the Black Mage is the one who threatened the world before the time of Altaire Camp and was sealed away by the Heroes. Freud died from his injuries while the rest was cursed and encased in ice. It was also said that the curse wiped out their memories, although this only affected Aran.

He currently resides beyond the Gate of the Present at the Three Doors map of Temple of Time. Once the player passes through the Gate, he enters a new Dimension created by the Black Mage known as the Arcane River, where he lies waiting at the end of the river.

Story
A long time ago, before Victoria Island and Ossyria were separated, the White Mage went to Magatia to study alchemy and later secretly went into exile to found Aurora, an organization that researches and protects the light, and soon rose up as Maple World's Transcendent of Light. However, shortly after, Maple World became chaotic; the White Mage believed that people can't be trusted in making their own decisions, believing that there needs to be a king controlling their lives. This enticed him to give up his light and went into darkness, becoming the Black Mage. The Black Mage invaded the Temple of Time and stole the powers of Rhinne, the Goddess/Transcendent of Time, for himself.

After the invasion of the Temple of Time by the Black Mage and his subordinates, he ordered all his commanders, except the Demon, to attack the Demon's hometown of Leafre. This greatly angered the Demon, who ended up fighting the Black Mage, but the Demon was brought down as the Black Mage was too powerful.

Two of the Heroes, Freud and Mercedes, entered the Black Mage's chamber. The Black Mage unleashed his power, and Mercedes ended up injured, leaving Freud to tend to her. Fortunately, the other two Heroes Luminous and Shade have arrived. Freud told them that the Black Mage could not be destroyed and that they had to seal him.

To activate the shield to seal the Black Mage, Shade sacrificed his existence and Luminous forced the Black Mage to use his power of darkness. The sealing was about to be finished until the Black Mage attempted to break the seal. To prevent this from happening, Luminous brought a final physical punch to the Black Mage to subdue his breaking of the seal, however this also corrupted Luminous' body as the darkness crawled up onto his shoulder.

The Black Mage cursed the Heroes by forcing them into a slumber and encasing them in ice. Freud, however, sacrificed himself to protect Afrien and his egg.

Continuity errors

 * 1) In Aran's storyline, the Black Mage was said to have trapped the five Heroes in ice and erased their memories. However, Aran was the only one to have her memories erased, and instead of being encased in ice, Freud died while protecting Afrien and his egg.
 * 2) According to Evan's storyline, Aran helped Freud escape the Black Mage with Afrien's egg. However, the Silent Crusade and Luminous' storyline nullifies this; Freud did not attempt to escape at all, nor did he actually have the egg.
 * 3) In Big Bang, the Black Mage was resurrected by the Black Wings and caused destruction to Victoria Island, causing cataclysm and chaos. Ironically, the "destruction of Victoria Island" made traveling in Victoria Island much easier. However, in the following content updates, it is said that "the revival of the Black Mage is coming soon". Also, in Mercedes's storyline, it is revealed by Orchid that the Black Wings does not have the intention to revive the Black Mage. It is also not possible to have been done accidentally, since reviving the Black Mage requires a lot of power. However, the Black Mage himself does appear at the end of Luminous' storyline.
 * 4) In Chaos, the Black Mage opened a crack to the future. This is not possible since the Black Mage was still sealed at that point.
 * 5) It's possible (by the player's discretion) to take the FriendStory storyline and confront his White Mage form as early as level 33, even though the quest where he is freed can only be taken by an Explorer of level 70 or higher. It's also not explained how he appeared as the White Mage.

Webtoon
Nexon has commissioned the author and artist to make a webtoon called Black Mage Origin, which serves as a prologue of Black Mage's story.
 * Black Mage Origin Part 1
 * Black Mage Origin Part 2
 * Black Mage Origin Part 3
 * Black Mage Origin Part 4
 * Black Mage Origin Part 5
 * Black Mage Origin Part 6
 * Black Mage Origin Part 7
 * Black Mage Origin Part 8

Occurrences

 * 1) In the pre-release quests of Pirates, they came to Victoria Island to warn the people about the resurrection of the Black Mage.
 * 2) The Black Mage tried to persuade Afrien, Freud's companion, to join him, but the offer was turned down, stating that the Onyx Dragon's power was not meant for evil.
 * 3) He took control of Zakum and Horntail, making them a lot stronger and fiercer.
 * Edelstein is the place where the Black Mage was raised, and went to Magatia to study alchemy. The Black Wings used Verne Mine as a base to resurrect the Black Mage, and took over the city.
 * 1) The Black Mage altered the entire Victoria Island, causing a cataclysm and chaotic change.
 * 2) Von Leon, whose wife was murdered on the same night the Cygnus Knights marched to El Nath, was crazed for vengeance and pledged himself to the Black Mage to one day get his revenge.
 * 3) In the future, the Black Mage lures Cygnus and her knights into a trap, corrupting them, which causes them to turn evil. However, Shinsoo of the present states that that is only a dream created by the Black Mage with the Dream Stones.
 * 4) During the time the Heroes fought against the Black Mage, Aran's friend, Hudak, succumbed into his own pride and became the Ice Knight, working for the Black Mage, but was ultimately defeated by Aran who claimed he was a "pile of armor and weapons with no honor at all." Hudak was then sealed inside the Ice Knight's armor for all of eternity. In present day, whenever a group of Maplers find the armor, Hudak possesses one of them, turning them against their friends, but Hudak would never win another victory.
 * 5) The Black Mage betrayed the Demon, breaking his promise on not laying a finger on the Demon's family. The Demon discovers his master's betrayal and turns against him. The Demon did not know that his brother, Damien, would become a commander of the Black Mage, and thought that he had died in the ruins of his home.
 * 6) When it was confirmed the Black Mage would rise, the Explorers, Cygnus Knights, Heroes, and Resistance forms an alliance to stand ready for battle.
 * 7) Arkarium, a faithful commander to the Black Mage, traveled from the present to the past and attempted to unseal his master right after the Heroes defeated the Black Mage.
 * 8) Hilla, another faithful commander to the Black Mage, betrayed Azwan by selling it and its citizens out to her master. In return, Hilla was granted numerous powers including necromancy.
 * 9) The Silent Crusade was created by the Cygnus Knights many generations ago, intended to collect information about the Black Mage.
 * 10) Luminous is, in fact, the "light" the Black Mage cast aside, which explains why he became tainted so easily.
 * 11) The Black Mage finally breaks free from his seal and personally invades Lania's Home, tainting both the area and Lania with darkness. After Luminous frees Lania and she goes unconscious, the Black Mage shows up and mocks Luminous for "killing" his friend. Luminous swears to defeat the Black Mage once and for all, but he says he won't be able to and leaves. Luminous acknowledges this, knowing he has to get stronger in order to challenge his greatest enemy.
 * 12) The Black Mage's unsealing is theorized to have caused the Interdimensional Portal connecting between Grandis and Maple World to appear in the Six Path Crossway.
 * 1) A girl with the power to control dreams, Lucid accidentally stumbled into the Black Mage's consciousness. The Black Mage gave an offer of granting her whatever she wishes - if she worked for him. Lucid later becomes responsible for the events of Twilight Perion, manipulating present day Maple World's dreams of foreseeing it.
 * 2) After the Explorers mobilize against the Black Wings, they discover the presence of the Black Mage in the Temple of Time's Gate to the Present, where one of the pillars Luminous used to seal the Black Mage has broken. The explorers attempt to use a Seal Stone to fix the pillar, but the Black Mage tempts them and breaks free from the seal, then warns them that they will face much suffering that lies ahead before vanishing. The Black Mage then proceeds to lay waste to Maple Island, the birthplace of all Explorers, to intimidate them. It is only their combined efforts that drives away the Black Mage's shadow and restores Maple Island to its original state.
 * 3) After the Black Mage captured Rhinne, she shed her tears to create a child and a successor, who would later be known as Zero. However, the Black Mage was aware of this and tasked one of his commanders, Will, to split the child into two beings and seal them off in the Mirror World, and keep the two halves separate to prevent them from regaining full power. Unfortunately for the Black Mage, the two halves eventually reunite and proceed to find a way to escape their prison. However, this is all according to the Black Mage's plan to merge Maple World and Grandis together to become the Transcendent of both worlds.
 * 4) The Grand Athenaeum reveals the past of the Black Mage. Formerly known as the White Mage, he tried to make the world a better place and needed power to do so, but as the world continuously grew into turmoil, the White Mage eventually realized he must submit to darkness and vanished without a trace. A wealthy merchant from Ariant named Hastar tried to hire the White Mage, and so sent an intrigued mercenary to find him. Ephenia, a fairy queen who trusted the White Mage, informed the mercenary that the White Mage went deep into the darkest depths Ellin Forest. After reluctantly recruiting an orphaned kid named Arin, who wishes to seek revenge on an unknown dark monster named Omen for killing her parents, the two eventually find the White Mage and discover that he is working with the Aurora in studying the light. After hearing the White Mage's ambition in finding the truth behind the light, the mercenary stays with the Aurora to aid in their research. Meanwhile, Arin leaves to continue taking her revenge on the Omens, but finds an astonishing truth behind them before being knocked into a coma. As the mercenary waits for Arin to awake, they realize that the Omens have been appearing since the White Mage disappeared to research. The mercenary rushes to confront the White Mage, only to discover that his research is complete: there is no ultimate light, but an ultimate darkness. The mercenary chases after the White Mage, passing by a crystal ball of light that was shed off, and tries to fight the newly formed Black Mage but is defeated and killed in the end; Arin cries at the mercenary before all fades to black.
 * 5) There were actually six heroes. The last hero, Shade, was completely forgotten in present day and switching between Maple World's and Grandis's dimensions force everyone to forget him, an event caused by Lucid.
 * 6) In Black Heaven, it is revealed the White Mage gave Orchid and Lotus human bodies and named them. In the ending of Black Heaven, Cygnus uses the final Seal Stone to heal the player, removing the last restraint on the Black Mage's power. He also appears briefly in the epilogue talking to Arkarium, entrusting his plans to Damien.
 * 7) In FriendStory, he appears as the White Mage, as the main antagonist and is one of the few characters present who is actually native of Maple World (as opposed to being a counterpart of one). He creates the Motes and the Troublemakers, and is also the main focus of the fifth chapter, where he poses as a student teacher with unearthly physical beauty that enchants the female students and turns the male students into squids. He confronts the player - possibly part of his goal - at the end of the chapter.
 * 8) Later in FriendStory, he confronts Kinesis, the confrontation causing the young hero to temporarily lose control of his psychic abilities, creating a sinkhole that destroys a large portion of Seoul, sending Kinesis and thousands of civilians though a dimensional portal. The villain's goal here still remains unclear.
 * 9) At the end of the Heroes of Maple Blockbuster, Hilla reports to the Black Mage that his goal of splitting the Transcendence of Time into two (Zero) and the Transcendence of Life being scattered to the world has been achieved (the World Tree bound to Transcendent Stone). The Black Mage replies that it is time to "Allow them to come here." The Black Mage was probably referring to the Arcane River.
 * 10) In the Arcane River quest and 5th Job Advancement, it is revealed that Arcane River is an area created by the Black Mage, by merging both the Maple World and Grandis. The Black Mage is said to reside at the Door of Present, at the end of Arcane River.
 * 11) In the Vanishing Journey questline, it is revealed that Kao, the amnesiac temple keeper is actually the player from the future. He fought the Black Mage at the end of the River but was defeated. The reason was because he did not have the crucial power, as he was deceived by Lano, Aruma's Underling. He returned to the past using his leftover powers to warn the player about Lano.
 * 12) Just before Kao's Death, Kao tells the player that since he was not deceived by Lano, unlike Kao, the player protected his power from Aruma and can receive the "Crucial Power" known as Arcane Symbols and Arcane Force. The player now has to adventure through Arcane River to meet different monsters and collect Arcane Symbols to grow in power, until the end of the river where the Black Mage is waiting.

Trivia

 * The Black Mage shares many similarities with Gerand Darmoor, Grandis' Transcendent of Life. Both are evil Transcendentd of their world, had robbed their world's Transcendent of Time's powers, and Magnus is both of their servants. Whether or not this is coincidental is unknown.