Dark (magic)

Dark magic is one of the three elements of magic in the Fire Emblem series, along with Light magic and Anima magic. It often has the least amount of users in the games it is in.

Dark Magic is also referred to as "elder magic" by some who use it and study it. They prefer to call it so, saying that the word "dark" suggests that it is inherently evil, and that it is not the magic that is evil but some of the people who use it.

Playable Dark Magic users are often very rare in the Fire Emblem games. For instance in Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, only one Dark magic user is playable, Canas, and he can only be recruited by entering a house in a Gaiden Chapter (bonus chapter). Another good example is Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the only usable Dark magic users can only be unlocked on all playthroughs after the game has already be beaten once.

Dark Magic is to magic as Axes are to physical weapons. It is the most powerful of magic, and deals the most damage, but is the least accurate. However, this is usually not a real weakness as Dark Magic users generally have high enough accuracy to hit consistently.

There are fewer dark tomes compared to light and anima magic, though most tomes have a very effective tactical purpose and use. For instance, Flux is the basic Dark Tome, while Luna deals direct damage regardless of resistance and has a high critical chance, and Nosferatu steals enemy Hit Points. The tome Eclipse can enemy HP in half, or reducing enemy HP to 1 (both negating resistance).

In the majority of the Fire Emblem games only two classes can use Dark Magic. Shamans are the basic class, and Druids are their promotion. Druids have amazingly high growths among magic users. A few other classes can use Dark magic however, most of these are classes unique to a single character such as the Necromancer class (Lyon), the Dark Druid class (Nergal), or the Archsage class (Athos). Also see the Summoner class in the below Sacred Stones section.

List of Dark Magic Tomes

 * Imhullu
 * Dulam
 * Hell
 * Yotsmungand
 * Poison
 * Stone
 * Loputousu
 * Apocalypse
 * Luna
 * Flux
 * Nosferatu (in some games this was switched to being a Light magic Tome, as it was originally in Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo)
 * Ereshkigal
 * Gleipnir
 * Naglfar
 * Evil Eye
 * Crimson Eye
 * Demon Surge
 * Shadowshot
 * Worm
 * Carreau
 * Fenrir
 * Verrine
 * Balberith
 * Eclipse

The Sacred Stones
In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, monster attacks were also of the Dark element. Which made Light a very useful magic in that game, as it had the advantage over all the monsters with their Dark attacks.

Also in the Sacred Stones a new dark Magic Class was introduced, the Summoner. Summoners could use Dark Magic, Staves, and Summon Phantoms. The class is relatively unique to The Sacred Stones although one non-playable Summoner appears in Fire emblem: Radiant Dawn, Izuka.

Path Of Radiance & Radiant Dawn
Dark Magic is notably absent from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. This is mostly attributed to the introduction of the 'Anima' Magic Triangle with Wind, Fire and thunder tomes. With all the new spells created Dark magic was left out to not overwhelm.

However Dark Magic was reintroduced in Radiant Dawn. In Radiant Dawn it is particularly useful as the 'original' Magic Triangle was re-introduced alongside the Anima one, meaning Dark magic trumps all Anima magic.