Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture, a bard was a professional poet/story teller and music composer, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.

Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland and Highland Scotland, with the decline of living bardic tradition in the modern period the term "bard" acquired generic meanings of an epic author/singer/narrator, comparable with the terms in other cultures (azmari, minstrel, gayen, skald, scop, rhapsode, udgatar, griot, ashik) or any poets, especially famous ones. For example, William Shakespeare and Rabindranth Tagore are known as "the Bard of Avon" and "the Bard of Bengal" respectively.

Etymology and origin

The word is a Celtic loan word from Scottish Gaelic bàrd, Irish bard, Welsh bardd. In Scotland in the 16th century it was a derogatory term for an itinerant musician, but was later romanticised by Sir Walter Scott.

Final Fantasy character jobs

In several installments of the Final Fantasy series of role-playing games by Square Enix, classes (jobs) are roles assigned to playable characters that determine the character's proficiencies. Classes can be loosely categorized into physical classes, which specialize in using weapons and techniques; magical classes, which are proficient in magic; and mixed classes, which combine elements of both classes in addition to other special abilities.

This article summarizes the most common character classes; many games in the series have featured unique classes that have not reappeared in subsequent games. For information on those classes, see the article regarding the game in which the class appeared. Job classes in Final Fantasy XI are featured in Final Fantasy XI character classes; those in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance are featured in List of jobs in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

History and development

Bard the Bowman

Bard the Bowman is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. A Man of Laketown and a descendant of the ancient Lords of Dale, Bard manages to kill Smaug, the dragon, after which he becomes king of Dale. Tolkien created the character specifically to kill Smaug, since none of the other protagonists of the story were able to fulfill this role. Bard the Bowman could have been inspired by Wiglaf from Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.

Fictional history

Bard is a descendant of Girion, the last lord of the city Dale, which had been destroyed by the dragon Smaug two centuries before the events of The Hobbit, which takes place in year 2941 of the Third Age. He is the captain of a company of archers in Esgaroth (Lake-town), and is tall and grim with black hair. When Smaug attacks Lake-town, Bard is the last of the archers to survive, but the dragon is immune to arrows. However, a thrush speaks to Bard, showing him the weak spot in the dragon's armour in the hollow under Smaug's left breast, which Bilbo had discovered in his conversation with Smaug. He fires his favourite shaft, the family heirloom "Black Arrow", so powerfully that it kills Smaug, who falls in ruin into the lake.