favourite wizard/s

was juat wondering seeing as though this is a fantasy board and magic forms a big part of the genre who is everyones favourite wizard or mage. Gandalf is obviously a given and prolly Harry Potter as well but there others who are they???

Some of mine are

Dumbledore(Harry Potter series)
Belgarath( Belgariad and Mallorean)
Polgara(Belgariad and Mallorean)
Raistlin (Dragon Lance Series)
Merlin(Most Arthurian Legends) although he does tend to fall into the category of Druid as well which is a different thing.
Alanon( First Shannara Series)(also called a 'Druid")
Pryrates(Memory,Sorrow and Thorn)
Voldemort(Harry Potter series)
Catweasle
Tim(Monty python and the Holy Grail)

Just a thought. On a lighter note. I do so get the attraction to Gandalf. He is one of those immortal characters that leaps off the page,and thanks to Sir Ian McKellan, off the screen and into our hearts. But honestly, He does get his butt kicked comprehensively, twice, right when his charges need him the most.

Me thinks I just made a whole heap of enemies....

Just to be diffent

Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné

Pug from the Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist is a good one.

Milamber!!! 8)

Vanyel from The Last Herald-Mage and Sirius Black from Harry Potter, off the top of my head.

Other than the wizards in Harry Potter. Numair from Tamora Pierce's Immortals series and Merlyn from almost anything hes in.

Are we just considering people called wizards, or all magic-users? In some books, there are specific differences between a wizard and, say, a witch or magician. Well, I pick all magic-users.

Nita, Kit, Dairine, and a whole host of others (human and otherwise - S'reee, for instance, is a humpback whale, Rhiow is a cat) from Young Wizards.

Mairelon and Kim from Mairelon the Magician and Magician's Ward.

Rae and Yolande from Sunshine (fake touchstone, since the real one doesn't work).

Cimorene and Morwen (and I always had a soft spot for Telemain) from The Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

I also like Numair, and Master Si-cham (also from Pierce's Tortall books).

(Gandalf and HP are not on my list of favorites.)

Chrestomanci isn't anything as 'low' as a wizard, he's a nine-lifed enchanter. ;-) But he's my favourite (in the person of Christopher Chant, of course, rather than any of his predecessors), closely followed by Merriman/Gumerry/Merlin from the Dark is Rising sequence.

I'd add Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files and Tim Hunter from The Books of Magic.

OK, by now everyone know I like the Discworld series, and I have to admit that one of the reasons for that is the wizards. All of them.
OK, maybe not Rincewind (but The Last Continent is a good one, as are a few of the others that feature him). I think the Archchancellor Ridcully is a favourite for being both daft and clever, but I think they all are kind of endearing :-)

Gandalf was a hero when I was a kid, of course, and I've always been fascinated by Merlin. But I wonder if he really qualifies here, as he's the stuff of myth, not pure fiction.

#10 I have only encountered Rincewind and the wizards in Hogfather, but I love Rincewind. The man who always wanted to run away, and often did, but when it came down to it, he got the job done. Not much for magical solutions though, I guess.

One version of King Arthur which I read years ago, actually portrayed Merlin more as a Gandalf figure than sinister. I liked that one. I'm not much for scary wizards.

#11 - Neither am I, and maybe that's why I like the Discworld ones ;-)
SPOILER WARNING
In Last Continent Rincewind is stranded in the strange country of XXX where everyone says "mate" to each other.. etc. I don't know what people from Australia thinks of it, but I think it's funny!

I have that somewhere, my daughter wouldn't let me read it until I had read the other Rincewind books, but I've misplaced it. Argggghhh. She loved it by the way.

I second Harry Dresden. The man is just a plain old bad-ass, especially in the books. I mean, the man is a wizard who packs a fucking .357 revolver, aka a Dirty Harry. Also, depending, I'm going to have to add the Elric brothers, Ed and Al, from the Full-Metal Alchemist series to the list. They use alchemy, but in the world of this series, alchemy is a pretty powerful weapon. Its a power that lets you turn anything into just about anything else, as long as you adhere to the concept of equivalent exchange, which I won't go into here.

...maybe Enoch Root/The Red of Quicksilver et al. should be considered a modern wizard? If so, I would put him on my list! In a way he is the facilitator behind most of modern history, the way Stephenson has it done in the novels featuring him ;-)

Dumbledore and Harry Potter probably top my list.

I also liked Magician Humphrey in the Xanth books and Dalben in the Prydain series.

#12 - As an Australian, I'm sure when I finally get around to reading last continent I will love it :) 'Mate' is a pretty common word, especially in the small country town I live in, even though the word usually annoys me and I only use it when i'm being sarcastic.

I have always loved Gandalf. I think it is because Gandalf is a smart wizard, but he still makes mistakes. And probably because he reminds me of my father so much, you know, big nose, the long hair, big grey beard :D

Tristen from Cherryh's Fortress in the eye series. If he counts, sort of innate magic, everything happens around him at his will.

Harry Dresden is pretty good.

Yikes forgot to list Sparrowhawk from Earthsea

But of course! Good thing you made me remember. Because he is definitely one of my favourites.

Dammit! And I'm even reading a Wizard of Earthsea at the moment as well. Sparrowhawk is definitely up there with Gandalf in terms of the classic cloak and staff wizard type.

I think I stopped looking at him as a wizard after reading Tehanu, and that's why I made this error!
I'm still kind of shocked that I never even thought of him...

Okay, I just have to reread The Earthsea Trilogy soon. It's been 30 years or more for me. It's all so dim. :o(

They're a fast read, or at least they are for me, so shouldn't take much time!
Even if I enjoy reading The Dark is Rising sequence right now I think Earthsea is much more rewarding - Cooper tells a story basically made out of quests stacked on each other, and Le Guin tells a tale of coming into age.

Yup. I have a very vague recollection buried somewhere in my grey matter. It's another 'pig boy' type story, I believe. I remember loving it. :o)

DOn't just read the trilogy - start with Tales from Earthsea then the trilogy then Tehanu and finish with the other wind (currently)

its a bit longer, but an impressive set of works.

Touchstones are very slow today.

OK, I said at another thread that I should go back to work, but... I agree with you reading_fox, but if time is limited the original trilogy is good enough.
What one should NOT do is to start with Tehanu. In my mind that book is truly a sequel - I think you have to read the trilogy first to understand the characters when reading Tehanu.

Those touchstones are wierd! Is Tim or someone experimenting?

Well, you learn something new every day! I had no idea that there were books to be read after the trilogy. I wonder how I missed that.

They only got published recently, if you've not read the trilogy for 30yrs, they weren't around then.

I would agree with Busifer, that Tehanu is very definately the fourth book, it doesn't make much sense without the others.

I just read the trilogy - just finished the third book a few days ago, in fact. I sort of knew there were other books, but I'm glad this conversation sprang up so I could find out their names.

(The touchstones are driving me crazy! The Blue Sword really exists, I have two copies!)

I know I said this on another thread some months ago, but there's a love scene in Tehanu which I think is one of the best ever written.
Or is it that I've not read that many love scenes, or are the books I read not love scene kind of books?
Anyway, I think it's a good one. But still, you have to read the trilogy first, else I don't think you'd appreciate it.

Hmm, where's the wizards in here? They seem to have fled ;-)

Sonea from Trudi Canavan The Black Magician's Guild, The Novice, and The High Lord. Of course Gandalf, and Dumbledore as well as Hermione Granger. And the people in in The Mageborn Traitor! One of my fav's!

Honestly, any wizard is awesome! ;)

Well, not a wizard but a witch - Granny Weaterwax from Terry Pratchett's discworld series makes me cackle with glee.

#32 - blah, I can't believe I forgot Hermione! I love her. She and I are so much alike.

Re: Sparrowhawk: he doesn't do much for me. I find that all Le Guin's characters feel more like archetypes than actual people, so I have trouble connecting with them.

(Although, now that I think about it, I enjoyed The Tombs of Atuan the most out of all the books because Arha/Tenar felt real to me. But she's not a wizard, sooo...)

#34 How different we can feel about books and characters! I like Tenar and The Tombs of Atuan but all in all I think it's the weakest book in the original trilogy...
Also, I like her work because I think she writes good characters :-)

Sparrowhawk is an odd case for me. I enjoy the Earthsea series greatly. However, it reads much more like an epic poem in prose more than traditional high fantasy.

Obe Wan

Luthe from The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. Harimad-sol is pretty good with the magic, too.

Nevyn!

Excellent thread revival, except that I think my favorites have already been mentioned.

Well, except for Severus Snape.

But other favorite magic users do include Chrestomanci, Telemain (and Morwen and Mendanbar), Luthe, Merlin, Gandalf, and Dumbledore.

Wait, I thought of a few more that haven't been mentioned -- Derk of Derkholm, the wizard Howl, and Senneth from Sharon Shinn's Mystic and Rider.

I love Belgareth. He's so cranky!

Would Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next and her amazing colleagues qualify, or are they just too far over the top? (Touchstone not working; try First among Sequels)

Not too into wizards.

I like Math from the Mabinogion, which won't touchstone - a wizard of welsh legend. He was nasty, and very very interesting.

Most of the wizards I like are from myth really. Old guys with long beards, or secretive nasty ones.