The Magicians of Xanth are mostly humans with the most powerful magical talents. With such powerful talents, they are the only people who qualify to be the King of Human Xanth. Female Magicians are also called Sorceresses.
The Magician of Storms, he was discovered by Good Magician Humfrey at the age of six, succeeded him as King of Xanth at the age of 22, and reigned until he was 93. Four years after becoming king, he declared that anyone born without a magic talent would be exiled from Xanth. By the time of A Spell for Chameleon, he was old and senile, but refused to admit it, and died of old age before the end of the book. He was succeeded by the formerly evil Magician Trent.
Aeolus reappears in Humfrey's flashbacks in Question Quest, which reveals how and when he was found by Humfrey, ascended to the throne and made his declaration to banish anyone born without magic.
Later, in Xone of Contention, Magician Grey and the golem Robota travel back in time to the events of A Spell for Chameleon, and meet King Aeolus in person. During their meeting with him, they learn he is not actually as foolish as he seems: he keeps his soul in a soular cell, created centuries before by Magician Yin/Yang, which prevents aging and death for the person whose soul is stored inside. However, the cell cannot undo aging suffered before that point. Claiming he does not need his soul with him all the time, Aeolus removes his soul from the cell only when he needs to invoke his talent, since it remains with his soul, and pretends to be senile in order to avoid onerous tasks. Grey later notes that since he has no soul most of the time, he also has no conscience, explaining most of his behavior. Despite Aeolus's efforts to stave off death, he is ultimately unsuccessful, dying not too long after the two time travelers leave the village.
Served as king pro-tem during Trent's reign. The first known centaur magician, introduced in Centaur Aisle. His talent is initially portrayed as the ability to generate an aisle of magic around his body while in Mundania, and its discovery when he was ninety years old led to his banishment from Centaur Isle. Despite being banished by his fellow centaurs, he is well regarded by humans, as his talent enabled the rescue of King Trent and Queen Iris from a Mundanian prison.
Arnolde becomes the first centaur king for a brief time in Night Mare, at the age of ninety-eight. During his reign, he declares that Sorceresses are merely female Magicians, and therefore eligible to serve as Kings of Xanth. In Golem in the Gears, he reveals that he has discovered he can create an aisle of non-magic in Xanth while carrying reverse wood. In Roc and a Hard Place, he is found to have moved into the Region of Madness with his friend Ichabod Mundane, which helps sustain his life due to the concentrated magic there, but the two leave the Region temporarily in order to help Demoness Metria travel to Mundania (without his magic aisle, she would not be able to exist there).
The true nature of Arnolde's talent is finally revealed in Currant Events: though he long believed it was a concentration of magic within his body that had generated the aisle, he actually has the ability to translate gravity (the magic of the Demon E(A/R)th) into Xanth magic in an aisle around him. After he and Clio (the Muse of History) persuade David Baldwin to let Demon E(A/R)th develop a connection with him, E(A/R)th enhances Arnolde's talent by lending him more energy.
| Bink | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | A Spell for Chameleon |
| Last appearance | Zombie Lover |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Occupation | Official researcher of the Magic of Xanth |
| Spouse(s) | Chameleon |
| Children | Dor |
The Magician of Magical Invulnerability, Bink was the main character in the first two novels, A Spell for Chameleon and The Source of Magic. He is the son of Roland of the High Council and Bianca. Later in the series, he makes a rejuvenated appearance in Zombie Lover. The later books are taken over by his magician-caliber family members.
At one point he gets banished for not possessing a magic talent. To prevent the exposure of its existence, his talent prefers to work in roundabout ways, at one time making an invisible giant walk by to stop him from revealing his talent while under a truth spell, for example. If the exact nature of his talent were known, then he would be vulnerable to those who want to attack him through non-magic means - thus making (his own) magic the indirect cause of his injury. So his talent is kept hidden by the select few who know it. It also makes him a lucky man in a series of rather bizarre and dangerous coincidences (almost breaking his ankle after tripping on a rock to escape from the Gap Dragon).
Bink's power prevents him from being harmed, or negatively affected with the intent of harm, through magical means. For example, when he was exiled from Xanth, he went through the Shieldstone, which kills anything on contact, without even a scratch, and arrived back in Xanth. His power cleverly conceals itself by acting through coincidence and also keeps Bink's loved ones from harm. There are only a few people (very clever people) who have ascertained the nature of his talent. "Bink's talent is the most wonderful and devious talent in Xanth".
When Bink freed the Demon X(A/N)th, the magic of Xanth, which poured from his slumbering body into the land, left with him. Bink's power caused X(A/N)th to return and take up permanent residence in Xanth, restoring the magic. Bink promised X(A/N)th the Shieldstone for undisturbed study and X(A/N)th granted all of Bink's descendants Magician-Caliber talents.
Her talent allows her to know anything about the animate. She is the daughter of Dolph and Electra. She and her twin Eve were in the book Faun & Games.
The Magician of metamorphosis, Dolph is the son of Dor and Irene. His talent is complementary to his grandfather King Emeritus Trent's, and grew in versatility as he matured. His first transformation was that of a wolf while still in his baby carriage. He was once engaged to both Nada Naga and Electra, but eventually chose to marry Electra. He has twin sorceress daughters: Dawn and Eve .He is sworn, by the Simurgh, to protect Che Centaur along with all other winged monsters. He starred in Heaven Cent and Isle of View.
To Magician Dor's Page
Dor is the son of Bink and Chameleon. He is of Magician class and has the power to make inanimate objects talk. This includes rocks, clouds, water, bones, and any other non living thing. He is King of Xanth and is married to Princess Irene. The stork delivered two children to them, Princess Ivy and Prince Dolph. A third child princess Ida will also enter the brood on account of her magical talent. He starred in the Xanth books Castle Roogna, Centaur Aisle, Ogre, Ogre, and Night Mare.
Ebnez became king in the year 909. His talent was to adapt magical inanimate items. He is the husband of Mnem and the father of the Muses. His most famous work was adapting a stone which created a magical field around the entire land of Xanth, impenetrable from either side. This was removed by order of King Trent.
See also Family of Ebnez of Xanth.
Elona became king in the year 797. She was the second female king and magician of longevity.
Her talent allows her to know anything about the inanimate. She is the daughter of Dolph and Electra. She and her twin Dawn were characters in Faun & Games.
The Magician of null magic, Grey is the son of the Magician Murphy and Neo-Sorceress Vadne and husband of Sorceress Ivy, who rescued him from Mundania in the novel Man from Mundania. Their children are the Triplet Sorceresses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. He can nullify any magic near him, and restore it stronger than before. On Ptero, one of Ida's moons, an older Grey is known as Royal Consort, since he is married to future King Ivy. This was only for one book, however, because the normal king on Ptero was indisposed.
Gromden became king in the year 623. His talent was to divine the history of any object he touched. He was married to a curse fiend but had an affair with Demoness Metria which produced their daughter Threnody.
The Magician of Information, Good Magician Humfrey is a withered, old, gnome of a man with five and a half wives. His talent is purportedly to know the answer to every question. In actuality, his talent is to know where to find the answer to every question. As such, he uses various forms of divination to discover the actual answers.
Humfrey's castle (the original Castle Zombie) is enchanted so he can alter it at a moment's notice, as well as the three challenges that any visitors must solve in order to enter the castle and ask Humfrey their questions. The challenges are always arranged so his visitors can prove their worthiness of taking up his valuable time to ask a question.
Good Magician Humfrey is instrumental in every Xanth book, but serves as a main character in The Source of Magic. During the NextWave Invasion of Night Mare, he serves as the fourth King of the chain. In Dragon on a Pedastal, he is accidentally exposed to water from the Fountain of Youth, which results in his being turned into a baby. He resumes his preferred age of about a hundred years old in Golem in the Gears, and goes missing (along with his current wife and their son) in the following book, Vale of the Vole. He is searched for by Dolph in Heaven Cent, and then by Ivy in Man from Mundania, in which his whereabouts are discovered by Ivy and Grey Murphy. At his direction, Grey moves into his castle and serves as Magician of Information in his place.
He finally returns to Xanth proper in Question Quest when Lacuna travels to Hell and learns his history, thus enabling him to leave Hell for good and arrange for all five and a half of his wives to leave on a temporary basis. The novel also reveals that Humfrey knows about the existence of the characters in Anthony's other books, e.g., Stile being the Blue Adept or Zane being Thanatos in On a Pale Horse. Since his return from Hell, Humfrey has resumed his duties as Magician of Information.
In Heaven Cent, it is implied that Humfrey's actual magical talent may be no more than that of locating other magic that may be of use to him. Though probably not magical talents, he does have extreme curiosity and a (usually) very good memory, which through the course of his life led him to become a master of information, as he recounted in Question Quest. Further, he recounted that he had believed that his native magical talents were not magician-class, and that he attended Demon University and gained a degree in magic, so that he could deserve the Magician appellation by which he had already become known.
The Sorceress of the idea. Any idea posited to her comes true, with stipulations. First, she must believe that it will come true (as it usually does), and second, the idea must come from a person who does not know her talent. In the first book in which she appeared, The Color of Her Panties, Ida was revealed to be the lost twin of Princess Ivy. However, this may have been the result of her talent - whatever the case, it remains true. More recently, a small moon has begun orbiting her head. It is named Ptero (see article Moons of Ida (Xanth)), and contains every person who ever existed, exists, will exist, or might exist in Xanth. The Ida on Ptero has another moon (Pyramid) where the inhabitants use a barter system that results in givers gaining size and receivers losing size. This Ida has Torus, who has Cone, who has Dumbbell and so on. This continues into infinity, with each moon having different shapes, inhabitants, and rules. The exact sequence of planets has only been revealed up to fifteen, however they have traveled further in canon. In this manner, Ida is the caretaker of every idea conceivable (and a good many that aren't). Because of her moons, and the "blessing" her talent can confer, a visit to Princess Ida has become almost mandatory in the later Xanth books. It is revealed in "Air Apparent" that this chain extends into Mundania itself and cycles back to the original Ida. Marries Prince Hilarion in "Knot Gneiss".
The Sorceress of Plants, Irene is the daughter of Trent and Iris and mother of Ivy, Ida and Dolph. She is renowned for her great beauty, green hair, and matching panties. She is married to Dor, and takes no guff from inanimate objects. She also has a reputation as a stern mother. She starred in Centaur Aisle and Dragon on a Pedestal. In addition, during the Next Wave invasion of Night Mare, Irene succeeded her mother as Xanth's second female King in known history. She used her power over plants to erect a massive arboreal defense perimeter around Castle Roogna. Her talent was not considered Magician level until Arnold Centaur decreed it so during his reign as King of Xanth.
| Iris | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | A Spell for Chameleon |
| Last appearance | Roc And a Hard Place |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Occupation | Emeritus Queen of Xanth |
| Spouse(s) | Trent |
| Children | Irene |
Iris is a secondary entity in the Xanth Universe, but a very important one. She is said to have a wonderfully devious mind full of intelligence. She is married to Trent.
The Sorceress of Illusion, Iris is a former queen and king of Xanth. She is married to King Trent and is the mother of Queen Irene. She is the grandmother of Princess Ivy and Prince Dolph and the great grandmother of Dawn, Eve, Harmony, Melody, and Rhythm. In A Spell for Chameleon, she attempted to seduce Bink but was turned down. Her illusions extend to all five senses, and any illusory light that she creates is indistinguishable from light produced by a corporeal source. Iris starred in A Spell for Chameleon and Night Mare. In the latter she became the first known female King of Xanth during the Next Wave invasion (although several books later it is revealed that there were previous female kings). During the Next Wave invasion, she used her power of illusion to manifest her image at every location in Xanth in order to coordinate emergency efforts among the populace. Later in the series, she makes a rejuvenated appearance in Geis of the Gargoyle.
Iris's Illusions appeal to all five senses. She can even render invisibility and silence. After creating an illusion she can hold it with minimal effort. While inside of magic her illusions can extend a short distance outside of magic.
Iris made a plate of rice look, smell, and taste like dragon steak for Bink. After recreating the city of Stone Hinge, she held it with hardly any effort, even in her sleep. When her daughter, Sorceress Irene, married Magician Dor, Iris clothed every one in attendance in the illusion of zombies.
The Sorceress of Enhancement, Ivy is the daughter of Dor and Irene. She has blonde hair with a tinge of green (from her mother). As a result of the events of Dragon on a Pedestal, it is understood that she is slated to be the next King of Xanth. She starred in Dragon on a Pedestal, Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn, and Man from Mundania. She is married to Magician Grey. Their children are the Triplet Sorceresses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm.
Jonathan (also known as the Zombie Master) became king in the year 378. He reigned until 478. The magician of zombies, Jonathan reanimates the dead of the land of Xanth. He was a zombie when he first took the throne, but was later brought back to life. He is the son of King Merlin and Sorceress Tapis. He is married to Millie the Ghost and has twin children named Hiatus and Lacuna. He starred in the books Castle Roogna and Night Mare. He served as king two more times as king pro-tem for Dor in Centaur Aisle and again during the Nextwave invasion in Night Mare.
Kadence is the Sorceress of Alignment. She is the daughter of Sorceress Princess Rhythm and Cyrus, the first cyborg in Xanth. Her talent is a variation of her name, Cadence, making anything move to a common beat. In "Two to the Fifth" she is summoned and ages 6 years due to a garbled decade spell Rhythm uses so she can be with Cyrus. After saving Xanth, she is abolished until her parents can have her rightfully.
The Triplet Sorceresses, their ability is to create or enable anything they envision while playing music. Their powers are squared when two play together, and cubed when all three played. Of mortal creatures, only Ragna Roc could overcome them in direct magical combat. They are the daughters of Ivy and Grey. Melody had blonde hair with a tinge of green and blue eyes like their mother, Harmony has brown eyes and hair like their father, and Rhythm has red hair and green eyes like their cousin Dawn. When using their talent, Melody hums out a tune, Harmony plays her harmonica harmonizing with her sister, and finally Rhythm beats out a rhythm on her drum. In Two to the Fifth, Rhythm marries Cyrus Cyborg and goes to live on Counter Xanth.
Merlin became king in the year 204. His talent is Knowledge. He is the first king of Xanth, husband of Tapis, father of Jonathan and Taplin.
See also Family of Merlin of Xanth.
His talent was alchemy. He killed Yin-Yang and Yin-Yang's son, Lord Bliss who was Rose's father. According to Question Quest, he was only half-human at most.
The Magician who Makes Things Go Wrong. Murphy first appeared in Castle Roogna in a competition to determine the next king; to win, he had to prevent the construction of the titular castle. He lost to Roogna. He was sealed away in the Brain Coral's pool and escaped during the Time of No Magic with Sorceress Vadne in a flashback scene in Man from Mundania. The two raised a son in Mundania, Grey, who turned out to be a Magician as well. He was allowed to return to Xanth on the condition that he would use his power against the monarchy's enemies. He has served as king pro-term during Dor's reign.
He is the magician who brings golems to life.
His talent is bringing paintings to life.
He is a magician who can create invisible and unfeelable walls that can stop any creature from passing. He is the one who has created most of the enchanted paths in Xanth. He was cursed to create the enchanted paths until he was thanked. He is introduced in Cube Route where his curse was finally broken.
He was the magician of herbalism. His uncle was Muerte A. Fid.
A powerful magician bird with the talent of turning what he sees into illusion or making illusions that he sees real, but only once. In Two to the Fifth, he attempted to become king of Xanth and defeated the Sorceresses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm in direct magical combat. However, he was then lured into a giant egg made from material that he had already used his talent on, and is now confined within the egg.
Rana became king in the year 286. She reigned until 325. She was the first female king of Xanth and the magician of creation. She is the mother of Rune.
Reitas became king in the year 325. He reigned until 350. He was the magician of solving problems, however, he caused as many as he solved.
A centaur magician whose talent is to know the talents of others. He is introduced in Xone of Contention.
Roogna became king in the year 228 and reigned until 286. His talent is to adapt living magic. Roogna is responsible for the construction and features of the castle which bears his name, Castle Roogna, which becomes home to the monarchy of Xanth after being rediscovered in the first Xanth novel, A Spell for Chameleon. Many of his creations, such as the cherry bomb trees, still survive on the castle grounds. He is the husband of Taplin, Merlin's daughter.
Rune became king in the year 350. He reigned until 378. He was the magician of evocation and son of Rana.
She is the sorceress of immortality, born into the true first human colony of Xanth, 2200 years before the First Wave. When she dies, she can take over any body she wishes, male or female (a fact she discovered after her first death).
She is introduced in Golem in the Gears, serving as the main antagonist as she prepares for her latest body switch. Her efforts are halted through the efforts of Grundy Golem, resulting in her banishment to the Brain Coral's pool. She escapes 33 years later during the events of The Dastard, when a glitch ejects her, as well as several other people. Despite her best efforts and an alliance with the Dastard himself, her soul is finally banished from Xanth for good by the actions of four residents of the moon Ptero (who have temporarily switched places with their younger counterparts on Xanth).
Her origin as a pre-First Waver is revealed in Question Quest, and her full history (including the discovery of her talent) is revealed in The Dastard, while possessing one of her latest victims.
The Magician of Reversal, he arrived in Xanth as part of the Black Wave, as seen in Demons Don't Dream, and accompanied Dug Mundane as a friend. He later featured in Currant Events, where he discovered his talent, allowing him to reverse the natures or characteristics of anything, as well as giving him power over reverse wood. He fell in love with and married Clio, and adopted Ciriana (whose talent was initially an immunity to the Adult Conspiracy, until he reversed it).
The Sorceress of talents, Surprise can use any talent imaginable once and only once. She is the child of Grundy Golem and Rapunzel, so named because the stork surprisingly didn't bring Surprise until she was five years old. In The Dastard, she found out that she could in fact use talents again after a lengthy recharge, but the Dastard saw how happy she was and went back in time and successfully prevented her from finding this out. However, she has also realized that by using her imagination, she can produce any given effect in multiple ways, effectively bypassing the limitation. She starred in Geis of the Gargoyle, and was instrumental in restoring the Interface around Xanth. She was also a central character in Stork Naked and has a daughter with Umlaut.
He is the magician of talents, creating and assigning talents to newly conceived babies. He lives in the Gourd. He is introduced in Up In A Heaval, and passed his job on to Magician Teillo when he was asked a non-self serving question about his job by Sammy Cat. His predecessor was the one who assigned the talent of cursing to all the descendants of the original Curse Fiends.
The Sorceress of Tapestry. She had the talent of creating enchanted tapestries, such as the one in Castle Roogna. She was the wife of Merlin and the mother of Jonathan and Taplin. Taplis took Electra in when she was a child, but at some point after Electra's 847-year sleep began, she was turned into a magic seed, which was rained on and sprouted in the year 1100, restoring her to her human form. Unfortunately for Tapis, this sprouting was unhappened by the actions of the Dastard after he met her, leaving her trapped in seed form.
| Trent | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | A Spell for Chameleon |
| Last appearance | Geis of the Gargoyle |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Occupation | Emeritus King of Xanth |
| Spouse(s) | Iris |
| Children | Irene |
Trent has been a major entity in the Xanth series since the very beginning. Not only is he a very powerful magician, he is also a great King and an honorable, intelligent man. He is married to Iris.
King Trent used to be referred to as the Evil Magician for attempting to take over the throne prior to A Spell for Chameleon. Trent was exiled to Mundania but later helped accidentally back into Xanth by Bink and Chameleon. After The Storm King died, Trent was made king on the condition that he marry Iris of Illusion. He did so but only out of convenience. It took Trent over twenty years to recover from the loss of his first wife and son to Mundane illness in Mundania. Eventually though, Trent came to love Iris. He stepped down as king in the 6th Xanth novel, Night Mare, after which Bink's son Prince Dor became the new King of Xanth with Trent's daughter Irene. He lives in quiet retirement in North Village. Trent was instrumental in all of the first six Xanth books but was featured as a main character in A Spell for Chameleon and Centaur Aisle. Later in the series, he makes a rejuvenated appearance in Harpy Thyme. He is one of the few (aside from Humphrey and Bink's future wife) that grasps Bink's extraordinary talent of protection from all magic.
Trent's power allows him to transform any living thing into any other living thing. Whatever form he renders becomes one's "natural" form. Any offspring sired while in a form will be in that form.
For Bink's Source of Magic quest Trent transformed Crombie into a griffin.
She is the sorceress of topology (changing the shape of something, but not the size, mass, or intrinsic properties). Her husband is Murphy, and her son is Grey. Her talent was not considered magician level until Dor decreed it.
Vortex became king in the year 478. He is the magician of demon summoning.
He was a ghost when he took the throne and his talent was making ghosts. He reigned for forty-three years until he was exorcized by the people.
His talent was the creation of invokable spells of both good and evil alignment depending on who he "was". In his attempts to take over Xanth in the book Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn, he used a faux split personality taking the form of the twins Yin, the good magician, and Yang, the evil magician. They only created spells of the type associated with their respective personalities: good or evil. Chosen by Threnody and briefly married to her, Yang became ruler. After she killed herself because she was miserable, he remarried and had a son, Lord Bliss.
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