Soulflayers are blue mages

[Malthar]

Hello SE,

Is it true that every time you kill a soulflayer you're killing a blue mage that went crazy?

Just curious...

[Shadotter]

I think that's the implication right?

[Metaking]

actually some of them are sane they just lost control for just a moment, flans were blus as well....

[Prothscar]

Flans are BLUs who failed to become BLUs
Soulflayers are BLUs who let their power take control of their soul

[Tennotsukai]

this is interesting...

[Mirage]

Yeah, I had kind of a mind=blown moment when I did my BLU AF quests. It's too bad they didn't continue that story arch. Actually, it is too bad that they didn't continue any of the job specific quest stories.

[Asymptotic]

It's kind of amusing that there are "friendly" soulflayer NPCs representing members of the Immortals in a few places.

[Edyth]

Yes, Soulflayers are blue mages who lost control of their powers. That's not just the "implication"; it's the explication. It's directly stated in the game's cutscenes. I think it would be cool if some of them retained their blue magic though rather than becoming black mages when they lose their minds.

[Volkai]

Yes, Soulflayers are blue mages who lost control of their powers. That's not just the "implication"; it's the explication. It's directly stated in the game's cutscenes. I think it would be cool if some of them retained their blue magic though rather than becoming black mages when they lose their minds.

I think the word you're looking for is explanation.



Anyways, nice job on the lack of spoiler alerts, OP.


And yes, this is how it is. No, it does not make any sense that Soulflayers, as former Blue Mages, are all Black Mages.



Anyways "went crazy" isn't quite the right term.

As part of becoming a Blue Mage, the form of the Blue Mage's soul (normally a static 'shape') is permanently destabilized, allowing the Blue Mage to copy the shape of a monster's soul and thus mimic its power momentarily. As a result, a Blue Mage has to actively and constantly maintain their soul's shape as that of their own.

A Soulflayer is a Blue Mage who is no longer able to willfully maintain the shape of their soul as that of who they are. The destabilized soul collapses and reforms into that of a soulflayer - and the body follows suit.

As far as I know, there has never been an explanation as to why Soulflayers are Black Mages. I wonder if it might have to do with the process of creating the Cobalt that is used to make Blue Mages?

It's kind of amusing that there are "friendly" soulflayer NPCs representing members of the Immortals in a few places.

Really? Where are these NPCs?

[Limecat]

Really? Where are these NPCs?

The immediate one that comes to mind is in one of the Mamool assaults.

I got to thinking when doing the RUN unlock quest, though. That guy talked about the runic brands going haywire. I wonder what sorts of fun implications that could have if you crossed the streams(so to speak) with out of control runic and blue magic in one individual at the same time.