Bard Magic? Song Magic?

[CrimsonDark]

Does anyone explain the nature of bard's ability? songs are magic like white/black/red/blue (manipulate the ether to create magic) or is something else?

[ObsidianFire]

All the special effects of all the Jobs are Aether Manipulation in some way. The non-mage jobs like Bard are more about manipulating your own aether then aether you get from somewhere else though. Bard's songs are probably along those lines as well.

[Rongway]

"Magic" doesn't have to be so overt and glorious as causing your enemies to burst into flames. Bard songs reshape aether using their understanding of emotions to elicit the desired emotional response from listeners. I don't recall if anyone in game says that outright, but looking back at my bard quest journal entries, that's the vibe I'm getting. For example, the Lv35 quest says

You have defeated the spirits and, in so doing, sensed something of their undying regret...After reporting your success to Jehantel, the bard appears satisfied with the changes the defeat of the spirits has wrought in your soul. Return to your training and perfect your performance of the new melody you have earned.

which isn't explicit, by any means, but I like to think it implies something along those lines.

[Zohar_Lahar]

Some throwaway lines in the Mogmender quests suggests it might related to the Dragonsong ability of dragons, or at least a version for the Spoken races.

[CaesarCV]

I think that this is a good chance to explain Aether and magic in the FFXIV setting! *Puts on Scholar Cap*

Quick disclaimer, I'm away from my lorebooks and game resources at the moment, so apologies if there are any wrong names or if I've misunderstood anything. Also this might be a little long, so I'm splitting it into two posts. If you just want to learn about how it applies to bards, go to the second post.

First off, one thing I would like to explain is Aether. It's a term that gets a lot of use in the game, from the in universe sciences of Aetherology and Aetherochemistry to major plot points such as calamities and why primals are bad for the world. In the world of Hydelyn, don't think of Aether as MP, but as a fundamental building block of reality. It collects in the world in various forms, and serves as the 'life force' for all creatures among. Regions with high aether are verdant and wild, with lots of random magical effects. The Black Shroud (Gridania) was noted as one region with especially high aether, even able to support beings (the Elementals) purely composed of it. Conversely, The Burn is an area with almost no aether at all, and thus only supports the barest amount of life. Aether also naturally collects into crystals which are a very highly valued resource. Aether can also be split into various aspected versions of it, but for now just think of it as a generally usable energy force. Primals and other major events tend to drain the land of aether, threatening the health of all life in the region. That's part of why they are such a threat, and taken so seriously by the Scions and (kind of) Garlemald.

Aether tends to exist in two states most of the time in game. They exist within creatures and in the world. Aether within creatures is generated by their normal life processes, while Aether loose in the world can be considered much like a natural resource. Aether in both is replenished over time, but much less so for the ambient aether in the world rather than a creature's personal aether. This distinction will become important in a moment! Aether is a powerful energy force, and can form entire creatures, control the elements, and all other sorts of miraculous things.

And that brings us to the real question. What is magic?

Magic is, put simply enough, the manipulation of Aether. When a Thaumaturge causes a blast of flame, they manipulate aether, convert it to fire, and send it out. When an Arcanist summons a carbuncle, they capture aether, use their advanced mathematics to gather it into the shape and nature of a creature, and let it loose into the world for (adorable) destruction. Magic is mentioned in the lorebook as originally coming from faith and religious rites which provided the discipline and framework for mystical feats. However, while there are codified 'magic systems' such as Arcanima or Conjury, they don't have to always take that same form. Many monsters in the world can manipulate aether through instinct, able to complete miraculous feats whether or not they are 'physically possible.' The vast majority of creatures in the world can manipulate aether to some extent, whether through instinct or training. There are exceptions to this though. The Garleans are one example, as would people like poor Thancred, who had his ability to do so ruined, or Cosobuki from the Thaumaturge questline who had such a limited internal reserve of aether as to make Thaumaturgy basically impossible. Most of the time, the user only takes Aether from their own personal pool, something represented by that lovely little blue bar on your screen.

Now that we've established just what magic is, we can talk about how magic works for the Disciples of War jobs/classes.

First off, all jobs and classes in the game manipulate aether. While a sword swinging Gladiator or fist throwing Pugilist might not be using the same codified systems to manipulate aether, they inevitably do. An archer can shoot arrows that fly farther and faster with bullets, or let them pierce the toughest of obstacles. A paladin can summon their aether to take blows that would normally slay a man. They may not think of their abilities as 'magic', but for the purposes of this discussion they really are. This is part of the in game explanation for why guns are less popular in Eorzea, and how small groups of adventurers can compete against giant beasts and other deadly creatures. They may have their own methods and philosophies around harnessing aether, like a Monk's Chakras, a Samurai's Ki, or a Warrior's Inner Beast, but in the end they are still manipulating aether.

You may ask, how does this relate to Garleans and those few who can't use magic? Well, they can't naturally manipulate aether in the same way that most creatures can. Thus, they have to rely on some other means to pull off the same effect. The best described in game is the Magitek used by Garlemald and (according to the Ivalice storyline) the Clockwork City of Goug. Magitek accomplishes the same effects as magic, just through technological means. It replaces the natural ability with some sort of machine or chemical process. For a real life corollary, think of a person born lame. When someone who isn't lame wants to walk, they can just sort of do it naturally. Sure they can train at it, they can get better at it, and they can improve their processes to do it, but in the end they're still doing it naturally. By contrast, someone lame has to invent or use a machine to get from point A to point B without outside assistance. Getting back into the world of the game, where an Eorzean might use their natural abilities to cause aether to form a ball of light and read at night, a Garlean has to say, build a generator to gather and push Aether through a wire to heat it up and cause light to be emitted. While using such technology is 'harder' it also means that it's less reliant on the person's skill, and can be mass produced. That's part of why they've been able to dominate other countries militarily.

Now that the basics are covered, let's get into how things specifically are for Bards!

TLDR: Every class is using 'magic' by manipulating aether through personal means rather than technological ones.

[CaesarCV]

Now, as for Bards themselves, from the earlier discussion we know that Bards are manipulating aether. Thus, it can be considered a form of 'magic' even if the 'Disciples of Magic' might scoff at it being called that. But just what are they doing? And where does it come from?

Jehantel the Godsbow, our erstwhile mentor, describes the discipline as coming originally from the soldiers who sung deep songs of sorrow and glory from their experience on the battlefield. These songs were tinged with magical effects that could aid allies, and allow the Bard to perform miraculous feats. While a 'normal' song only can do so much, the ability to manipulate aether allows these songs to accomplish far more than that, something now noticed by the Gods Quiver and other organizations who wish to recruit bards. So like other forms of 'magic' Bardic Songs are a way to manipulate aether with a specific set of traits and codified techniques.

It does get a little more complicated than that though! Namely due to their relation to our little furry friends, the Moogles. In the Dark Knight questline, we learn that the Moogles are actually masters of forms of magic that manipulate or rely on emotions. And who else trained with the moogles but fair Jehantel? Since Aether is a thing in all living creatures, there is power in emotion. Just as a Dark Knight pulls on the power of their inner emotions to manipulate aether, a Bard does something similar to push power and emotions into others. 'Normal' music lacks this actual magical ability, even if it can inspire people in a mundane fashion.

Bards are also noted in how they have real experiences to back up their musical leanings, something which separates them from lesser musicians. It makes their songs far more authentic and reaching, more able to capture the ability to manipulate aether and change the world around them. While the magic drifted into popularity for a time, the tendency of musicians to seek fame and comfort rather than experience and battle meant it was doomed to fade into the background. At least until now. With the Twin Adder approving the formation of new Bardic training programs, and skilled teachers like Jehantel teaching faithful pupils like Guydelot and our player characters, the future for this strange little martial/magical tradition is looking bright!

[Sounsyy]

In addition to CaesarCV's summary of aether manipulation, you can find out more about Bard magicks specifically in this lore post on the history of Bards and Battlesongs! Hope this helps!