Are necromancers necessarily evil?

I don't think so, but I think that raising the dead is a pretty serious taboo that goes beyond what others do in most settings ( not talking about resurrection spells, but the undead ).
In ESO for example you can't use skills that do that in towns, guards will attack you.

I don't think that DRK and RPR for example are comparable especially not on an emotional level.
I think people would react more to the WoL raising their dead mom from the dead and throwing her to kamikaze explode a sheep for its skin to be a lot worse than other dark powers.
That dead person being utilized was someones loved one and even if it wasn't theirs that's still the idea that goes through their heads.

I think even if you can write a good Necromancer just on a fundamental level I don't think you'd ever get rid of that stigma.
I think people would definitely have an easier time getting over a Knight messing around with dark powers or a RPR with a demon that consumes souls.
Necromancers just come with this complete and utter levels of disgust on top of it all too.

That's not to say that I don't want Necromancer because I do.
But I can kinda understand why it's really iffy thematically.

Edit: There's also cultural issues that may come into play too.
I know that a lot of games have had issues with this in China for example, when it comes to how you handle the dead there's quite a lot of cultures that are very touchy about that and having a Job that revolves around it can be more work and risk than its worth.

Necromancer is established to be evil in the Source because they disturb the dead through forceful control.


Necromancer in Heroes' Gauntlet may work differently. Like, as a medium who asks the dead for aid. Or she is a WoL who has lost her beloved people and grief to the point she studies dark art, but her heart is still of a justice holder, unlike Edda who has gone too deep into the rabbit hole. Similar to Thief being considered evil for WoL in the Source, but in another shard, a thief is akin to Robin Hood, so it is regarded as a hero class to local people.


If FF14 ever adds an undead-user class, I think the name would change. Like Spiritualist. I like talk to the dead and help them rest, like Yuna who helps the Unsent.

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Originally Posted by Momo_Kozuki

Necromancer is established to be evil in the Source because they disturb the dead through forceful control.


Necromancer in Heroes' Gauntlet may work differently. Like, as a medium who asks the dead for aid. Or she is a WoL who has lost her beloved people and grief to the point she studies dark art, but her heart is still of a justice holder, unlike Edda who has gone too deep into the rabbit hole. Similar to Thief being considered evil for WoL in the Source, but in another shard, a thief is akin to Robin Hood, so it is regarded as a hero class to local people.


If FF14 ever adds an undead-user class, I think the name would change. Like Spiritualist. I like talk to the dead and help them rest, like Yuna who helps the Unsent.

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Is it actually stated where the Necromancer in the dungeon is from?
I can't really remember.

Necromancers may be viewed differently in one of the reflection.

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Originally Posted by ElizanderNorisse

Even if it "evil" so what? It's just a game anyway.

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You are free to create evil protagonists in any game you care to develop and sell to the public. This specific game has decided not to do that. And it's fine.

Aside from the shade of Hildebrand who sometimes cameos in the dungeon, we never actually learn anything about any of them. They're half-summoned shades, we beat 'em up, and they dissipate (hopefully back to their own worlds and lives, but we don't actually know).

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Originally Posted by DPZ2

You are free to create evil protagonists in any game you care to develop and sell to the public. This specific game has decided not to do that. And it's fine.

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Pretty questionable especially when the devs have said what we do isn’t really black and white. We as the WoL do really shitty things including almost causing the extinction of an animal species….so yeah lol.Like i mentioned before too...our reaper avatar literally consumes peoples souls.

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Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

Pretty questionable especially when the devs have said what we do isn’t really black and white. We as the WoL do really shitty things including almost causing the extinction of an animal species….so yeah lol.

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I find that games with evil protagonists tend to be either banal or disingenuous. Most gain a redemption arc, after which they are both banal and disingenous.

Being truly evil is more than "almost" causing the extinction of an animal species. It's also hard work, at least until the Robot Army conquers the world and everyone dies. Than it's smooth sailing through the great and vast void.

I just feel like SE has no ground to stand on anymore after reaper. Now it just makes them look extremely arbitrary at best, hypocrites at worst. I mean, if you really want to make necromancer look good, just write some bullshit like "the WoL can now conjure up noble, heroic spirits/bodies from the dead and have them fight the good fight".

My sister told me in Diablo that there was two types of Necromancers; one that used poison skills (good) and ones that used blood skills (bad). So you could technically create such a thing if the lore is right.

But how FF14 is written, everything “bad” comes from the Void. Poisons are seen as bad. And I can’t see a way to make a “good” Necromancer by FF14 lore; nature/elememtals seem to be connected with healing and thaumaturgy through the control of your aether. Same with other jobs.

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Originally Posted by DPZ2

I find that games with evil protagonists tend to be either banal or disingenuous. Most gain a redemption arc, after which they are both banal and disingenous.

Being truly evil is more than "almost" causing the extinction of an animal species. It's also hard work, at least until the Robot Army conquers the world and everyone dies. Than it's smooth sailing through the great and vast void.

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In 14 theres very little truly evil. Personal thoughts dont really come into this though, i typically dont mind good or evil as long as theyre done well. The wol is a big mix between the two, where if i had to apply a moral system i guess they'd be chaotic neutral? Either way though, they've already done pretty terrible things to the point i feel becoming a necromancer or a thief would hardly make anyone bat an eye. In retrospect, what exactly is anyone going to do about it? Tell the WoL stop? lol