FF1's Inspiration: pre-production and development

[ohyo]

Ultima and Wizardry: The 2 games cited as Sakaguchi's inspiration in many themes and tropes. Dragon Quest was mentioned too, but as a competitor. Japanese culture and ancient world mythology probably had a great deal of influence also.

Sure, most of the Final Fantasy tropes stayed with the series and serve as well-known associated icons, but they all had their origins somewhere in the Square offices back in the day. Other archetypes appeared along the way with each iteration in the series.

Whether it's from some official source, interview or pure speculation, what are the 'inspirations' that make what we find in FF1 (or onward?)

For example:
Black Mage -
Robe and pointy hat, standard wizard trope, right? or is there a more unique inspiration?

White Mage - (Like the Ultima cleric or Wizardry 1 priest?)
Why white robe with red triangles? What culture or symbolism is this reminiscent of?
Why only hammers/wands equippable? My theory is that it upholds the morality of a less lethal weapon, as opposed to a skin-breaking weapon like a dagger used by a black mage.

Leviathan - sea monster from Hebrew scripture
Tiamat - ancient Sumerian "Chaos monster"
Ifrit - Islamic folklore jinn

Any input on these or other real-world influences that ended up in Final Fantasy?
E: Found this interesting page with some speculation on origins behind character names throughout the series. http://www.ffcompendium.com/h/nchara.shtml