# Wizards and Witches and Magic Users of All Types Etcetera   in Cinema, Television , Literature, Graphic Novels Games Thread .



## BAYLOR (Feb 14, 2021)

This topic about great magic Users  in All Fantasy Whom do you think are the best and worst and most memorable  what makes them so. This also includes non human magic users and creatures as well.

Thoughts.


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## .matthew. (Feb 14, 2021)

I'm going to kick this off with the magicians *Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell* as I love the whole English magic thing they have going on. The dynamic between the two magicians is also brilliant, a master and apprentice at odds while trying to remain gentlemanly about it.

I'm also fond of *Eli Monpress* because come on, a smarmy thief who uses his magic to charm spirits into helping him commit crimes with the sole intention of upping his own bounty


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## Wayne Mack (Feb 15, 2021)

*Carrie *is the most memorable because of her use of magic. *Merlin*'s name is memorable, but I can't actually recall him doing any magic.


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## nixie (Feb 15, 2021)

Harry Dresden (Dresden Files)
Quickben ( Malazan)
Pug (Magican)
Bayaz( First Law)

And the most powerful ever, nixie (chronicles network)


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## CupofJoe (Feb 15, 2021)

*Rincewind* - "the magical equivalent to the number zero"


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## BAYLOR (Feb 15, 2021)

nixie said:


> Harry Dresden (Dresden Files)
> Quickben ( Malazan)
> Pug (Magican)
> Bayaz( First Law)
> ...



A good list


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## BAYLOR (Feb 15, 2021)

CupofJoe said:


> *Rincewind* - "the magical equivalent to the number zero"



The Wizard who at one point only knew one spell. I couldn't help but like him.


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## .matthew. (Feb 15, 2021)

_"Pre-eminent amongst Rincewind’s talents was his skill in running away, which over the years he had elevated to the status of a genuinely pure science; it didn’t matter if you were fleeing from or to, so long as you were fleeing.  It was flight alone that counted.  I run, therefore I am; more correctly, I run, therefore with any luck I’ll still be. "_


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## M. Robert Gibson (Feb 15, 2021)

Let me be the first to mention Gandalf, if only for his fantastic smoke rings


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## BAYLOR (Feb 15, 2021)

.matthew. said:


> _"Pre-eminent amongst Rincewind’s talents was his skill in running away, which over the years he had elevated to the status of a genuinely pure science; it didn’t matter if you were fleeing from or to, so long as you were fleeing.  It was flight alone that counted.  I run, therefore I am; more correctly, I run, therefore with any luck I’ll still be. "_



It seems  Rincewind  took  a page from *Monty Python  and the Holy Grail.*

Which bring to mind the mighty and magnificent  Tim The Enchanter !


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## Vladd67 (Feb 15, 2021)

CupofJoe said:


> *Rincewind* - "the magical equivalent to the number zero"


more like the number eight.


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## Guttersnipe (Feb 17, 2021)

I like Ogion from A Wizard of Earthsea because he teaches philosophy as well as magic.

Gandalf is obviously cool.


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## Bick (Feb 17, 2021)

Raistlin


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## Rodders (Feb 17, 2021)

I've recently come to the conclusion that the Jedi are just wizards under a different name.


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## .matthew. (Feb 17, 2021)

Rodders said:


> I've recently come to the conclusion that the Jedi are just wizards under a different name.


I've thought that before but it's a very limited powerset. Telepathy and telekinesis being the main ones - though I think there are a few extras like the ghost thing or possibly precognition? Oh, and force lightning if you're a baddie 

They don't have anything I can remember in way of spells though, which to me loses them the title.


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## Rodders (Feb 17, 2021)

The mind trick is quite a useful spell, as is healing. I also believe that Force users are supposed to have a natural affinity with animals, (although i can't remember where i read that.)


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## Wayne Mack (Feb 17, 2021)

Rodders said:


> I've recently come to the conclusion that the Jedi are just wizards under a different name.


How about superheroes in general? Are there any real differences between superheroes' abilities and those of warlocks and witches?


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## M. Robert Gibson (Feb 17, 2021)

Wayne Mack said:


> Are there any real differences between superheroes' abilities and those of warlocks and witches?


I would suggest that superhero powers are inherited/natural or bestowed through some nuclear/radioactive accident.  Warlocks and witches have to learn incantations and how to brew potions. Or something


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## paranoid marvin (Feb 17, 2021)

Dolores Umbridge is an awful person. How quickly can someone make themselves be _so _disliked? And she's a cat lover!!

Catweazle was a latter-day Rincewind (the tv show is on Talking Pictures in the UK at the moment). Very funny show, and a brilliant actor.

Also the chap who portrays Merlin in Excalibur; very brilliantly played.


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## Rodders (Feb 18, 2021)

My first witch would've been the one in the Hansel and Gretel story by The Brothers Grimm. (I think the original story is quite violent. Don't the kids come back and chop the witch up?) 

The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz is probably my most memorable witch. She terrified me as a child.


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## Vladd67 (Feb 18, 2021)

Rodders said:


> My first witch would've been the one in the Hansel and Gretel story by The Brothers Grimm. (I think the original story is quite violent. Don't the kids come back and chop the witch up?)
> 
> The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz is probably my most memorable witch. She terrified me as a child.


I believe they throw her into the oven and locked the door.


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## BAYLOR (Feb 18, 2021)

Rodders said:


> My first witch would've been the one in the Hansel and Gretel story by The Brothers Grimm. (I think the original story is quite violent. Don't the kids come back and chop the witch up?)
> 
> The Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz is probably my most memorable witch. She terrified me as a child.



I liked the version of Wicked Witch of the West  in  show  *Once upon a Time *. They gave her a history, depth and dimension that she never really had in *The Wizard of OZ.   *


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## Vladd67 (Feb 18, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> I liked the version Wicked Witch of the West  in  show  *Once upon a Time *.


Now there was a show with a bit of everything. Not to mention a convoluted family tree.


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## BAYLOR (Feb 19, 2021)

Sybel the Sorceress  in Patricia McKillip's *Forgotten Beasts of Eld* .  Makes me wish her and his menagerie of remarkable beast were real.


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## Rodders (Feb 19, 2021)

Ann Rice wrote some books about the "Mayfair" witches. I remember reading The Witching Hour, but it was a long time ago.

Clive Barker's Weaveworld (one of my favourite books) had a trio of witches as the main combatant. One was beautiful and alive, the other two were dead. Their power came from "The Menstruum".


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## BAYLOR (Feb 19, 2021)

Rodders said:


> Ann Rice wrote some books about the "Mayfair" witches. I remember reading The Witching Hour, but it was a long time ago.
> 
> Clive Barker's Weaveworld (one of my favourite books) had a trio of witches as the main combatant. One was beautiful and alive, the other two were dead. Their power came from "The Menstruum".



Yes, that trio was of witches were  memorable for mode of power, especially  the on sister  that produce parody doubles of those they victimized   and was  Shadwell and  magic coat . I remember when *Weaveworld* first came  bookstore, I grab it immediately.  This is a  great  fantasy novel , a powerful and epic read and a fantasy classic.


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## BAYLOR (Feb 20, 2021)

Vladd67 said:


> Now there was a show with a bit of everything. Not to mention a convoluted family tree.



I loved Regina.


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## Guttersnipe (Feb 20, 2021)

Professor Lupin


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## BAYLOR (Feb 21, 2021)

*Malygris* the  sorcerer. appears in only two stories by Clark Ashton Smith .  He was one of  most powerful sorcerers that Clark Ashton Smith ever came up with. I wish Smith had done more stories then he about the character .  Malygris who lives a place in the city of Susan on the continent of Poseidonus  is the most feared and hated man.  His knowledge and magical power are the greatest of any Wizard in that age.   He's best left alone.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 13, 2021)

Then there's Gandalf .


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## Saiyali (Mar 13, 2021)

Tolkein is full of wizards and witches and Gandalf is basically an underachieving stoner compared to most of them. Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, Sauron, Celeborn and Galadriel can create and destroy entire worlds at will, Gandalf the Grey is a mere _conjurer of cheap tricks _by comparison (though Gandalf the White is possibly another matter)

I always liked the Mad Mage Halaster, creator and boss of Undermountain (from various D&D settings)


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## paranoid marvin (Mar 13, 2021)

I really like Saruman; such a complicated character. And so said that he has fallen from such a lofty powerful position - and he knows it. The thing that fascinates me about him is a small passage from LOTR where it is mentioned that he is known by the Uruk-hai affectionately as 'Sharkey'. Whereas the orcs of Mordor deeply fear their master and are ill-treated, Saruman's orcs like him, and he seems to treat them almost as his children.

It's also ironic that if it wasn't for Saruman, Pippin and Merry would have been carried off to Mordor, and all of the Fellowship's plans would have been exposed. He was obviously at one time and great and powerful wizard for the force of good, but the lure of the Ring has changed him to the 'dark side'.

Probably the most interesting and multi faceted of any character in LOTR.


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## Rodders (Mar 13, 2021)

What about the rise of witches in TV shows, such as Charmed. There are a few now, I think. (I never saw Charmed, but my dad loved it.)

Wasn‘t Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer a Witch?


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## The Ace (Mar 13, 2021)

"Charmed," was a vehicle for Shannon Doherty, until she did her usual of getting up everyone's nose - the reboot is utterly pointless.

I always had a soft spot for Belgarath, a drunk, a womaniser, a thief, a lar, and capable of stopping the sun in its tracks, and his daughter, Polgara, the only one who could tame him into some kind of responsibility.


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## paranoid marvin (Mar 14, 2021)

Another I've just remembered - Samantha Stephens from Bewitched. Used to love watching this on tv, and she's probably the best looking witch there's been!


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2021)

paranoid marvin said:


> Another I've just remembered - Samantha Stephens from Bewitched. Used to love watching this on tv, and she's probably the best looking witch there's been!



It was a fun show but, went down hill when Dick York left.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2021)

Rodders said:


> What about the rise of witches in TV shows, such as Charmed. There are a few now, I think. (I never saw Charmed, but my dad loved it.)
> 
> Wasn‘t Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer a Witch?



Yes , Willow was a witch and one one point the she such power and promise the head of the Vengeance demons wanted to recruit here. She politely  and nervously  turned him down . He was very clearly  disappointed by tis   but,  gave her a talisman if she ever decided to change her mind.  That scene and reaction  on his part was unexpected and  hilariously funny.    I loved that show !


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2021)

paranoid marvin said:


> I really like Saruman; such a complicated character. And so said that he has fallen from such a lofty powerful position - and he knows it. The thing that fascinates me about him is a small passage from LOTR where it is mentioned that he is known by the Uruk-hai affectionately as 'Sharkey'. Whereas the orcs of Mordor deeply fear their master and are ill-treated, Saruman's orcs like him, and he seems to treat them almost as his children.
> 
> It's also ironic that if it wasn't for Saruman, Pippin and Merry would have been carried off to Mordor, and all of the Fellowship's plans would have been exposed. He was obviously at one time and great and powerful wizard for the force of good, but the lure of the Ring has changed him to the 'dark side'.
> 
> Probably the most interesting and multi faceted of any character in LOTR.



Someone on Youtube did scenario of  what if Saruman had taken a different path and  stayed a good guy and traced how the story of LOTR might have unfold differently.


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## paranoid marvin (Mar 14, 2021)

BAYLOR said:


> Someone on Youtube did scenario of  what if Saruman had taken a different path and  stayed a good guy and traced how the story of LOTR might have unfold differently.




Thanks will check that out. I think that even if Saruman had remained good, he would have wanted the Ring to be used to destroy Sauron, which would have led to disaster. With him in charge, the Council of Elrond would have gone _very_ differently.


Ironically, if 'bad' Saruman had sat back and allowed the Ring to be destroyed by the Fellowship, he and his Uruk-hai would have been the major force in Middle-earth.

Either way, if Saruman had done anything differently to what he did, it is likely things would have ended badly.


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## BAYLOR (Mar 14, 2021)

paranoid marvin said:


> Thanks will check that out. I think that even if Saruman had remained good, he would have wanted the Ring to be used to destroy Sauron, which would have led to disaster. With him in charge, the Council of Elrond would have gone _very_ differently.
> 
> 
> Ironically, if 'bad' Saruman had sat back and allowed the Ring to be destroyed by the Fellowship, he and his Uruk-hai would have been the major force in Middle-earth.
> ...



There LOTR  other scenarios  on Youtube you might find of interest  , What if Saruman had got the ring , What Gandalf  had taken the Ring , what if Thorn Oakenshield   had lived  .


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## jjcomet (Mar 28, 2021)

I'll throw another one into the mix - Elric of Melnibone.  A powerful sorcerer with a wicked sword.   Where dragon's and god's are an everyday thing, at least in the glory day's.  Not as common in Elric's time.       

Raistlin and Gandolf in each their own way

Towards the talk about the Jedi, I would have to consider them as psionicists then mages.


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## BAYLOR (Apr 3, 2021)

Lets not forget about Merlin  in all his many incarnations.


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## BAYLOR (May 2, 2021)

Ingold Inglorion  The Wizard in Barbara Hamby's Darthwaith novels.    He reminds me a bit of Gandalf but he's quite different.


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## alexvss (May 5, 2021)

I just finished a Dark Horse graphic novel called *Harrow County*. It's a southern horror about a girl who's the reincarnation of the witch that was executed there. Great, great horror comic.


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## BAYLOR (May 30, 2021)

alexvss said:


> I just finished a Dark Horse graphic novel called *Harrow County*. It's a southern horror about a girl who's the reincarnation of the witch that was executed there. Great, great horror comic.
> View attachment 78249



Sounds interesting.


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