Was the FF black mage the first to do this?

First was Orko from He-Man.

Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes youngling!
- Not a wizard.
- Marvin didn't have the wizard hat.
- I think he just has a small very dark coloured head. He's not just eyes in shadow in a hood, he has a round head... it's just black.
They’re not wizards, but did Jawas from Star Wars establish the aesthetic?
- Seems like Jawas were the first in ~1977. The fandom wiki says that LucasArts sued Neil Young for having Jawa-like creatures on stage in 1978.
  
  Pics: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/38119-neil-young-crazy-horse-rust-never-sleeps/images/posters
- Jawas didn't wear the wizard hat. Same reason Marvin doesn't fit.
Thank you, was looking to see if someone recognized the OG.
Came in here to defend Orko's legacy. Was not disappointed.

https://he-man.fandom.com/wiki/Orko

Orko from He-Man in 1986

Shout-out to my fellow 1980s kids who played the first Final Fantasy and named their Black Mage character "ORKO" because it just felt right.

Shout out to Vivi! Love you my little homie.

He taught us so much about facing death with dignity.

TIL Jawas are wizards.

They're artificers

It is truly a great style.

(Player character from Wizard of Legend)

Where's my boy Green Mage?

I'm sorry, seems that it's not his time

Digimon: "We have eyes-only wizard at home."

I swear to god if you speak ill of Wizardmon I will beat you senseless with a two-by-four
- Does he (?) evolve into, like, a Mecha toaster or something?
  
  Or digi-volve or whatever they do in digimon

I’m not familiar with the meme template and didn’t see the wizards at first, so initially I thought it’s racist af.

Now I fully agree though. FFT did it best imo.

Oh my god, that never even crossed my mind, but I see how you could have thought that.

Yes, this is just a popular meme format!
- It's ok, some people see racism in everything. It's hard just being human if you have to constantly second guess everything just incase it might seem racist. It's only racist if it was intentional.
- Yeah it didn’t help that I was half asleep. Just found it funny enough to be shared; of course didn’t wanna imply anything.

Haven't played League of Legends in awhile but haven't forgot about Veigar

I'm glad I broke the addiction, but damn I still miss League. Late game Veigar was really fun. Good thing it doesn't work on Linux any more.
This little shit...
What's black and blue and about to show you the definition of pain!?

I AM THE BLACK MAGE! I CASTS THE SPELLS THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!

I like swords.

unnamed main character from splodey

I remember someone trying to tell me Vivi in FF9 was genderless and all I could think of was the scene where he and Zidane literally whip their dicks out and piss off a cliff.

Genitals might not equal gender though!

Wizard/witch hats do it for me every time

Faceless void gf where you at

What's the mid right one with the light blue robe and beige hat?

I recognize him but fail to remember from where

Vivi - Final Fantasy IX
- More generally, it's a Black Mage from the Final Fantasy series, of which Vivi is one.
  
  I actually don't believe the one in OP's picture is Vivi, who normal has more adornments on his clothing . It looks more like an older version of the class, like this one from FFIV artwork.

Not quite as old as Orko from '86, but did no one play Loom in the early 90's?

Musical fabric of reality wielding mages. If you looked under their hood you'd be sucked in and eaten.

I've never heard of this game, but the art style makes me nostalgic.
- Oh man, it was great. Old point and click adventure type, you went around collecting spells from the environment. Great story at the time.

Orko

The art in Final Fantasy has always been my favorite. I haven't even played in years but I still follow a bunch of their artists. Yoshitaka Amano, Akihiko Yoshida, on and on

FF really getting the mileage out of yoshis, huh?

Cousin It?

Ralsei :3