List of Xanth characters
The following is a list of characters in the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
Magicians
The Magicians of Xanth are a subset of fictional characters from the Xanth series of fantasy genre novels by Piers Anthony (b. 1934). The Magicians are usually humans. They possess powerful magical abilities, and so are the only humans who are able to take the role of King of Human Xanth. Magicians who are female may be called Sorceresses. This article describes the Magicians of Xanth, who are listed alphabetically.
Arnolde
Arnolde, the first known centaur magician, is introduced in Centaur Aisle. Initially, his talent is described as the ability to generate an aisle of magic around his body when he is in Mundania. When Arnolde is ninety, his magic is discovered and he is banished from Centaur Isle by his fellow centaurs. Arnolde is well regarded by humans, however, because his magical ability enabled the rescue of King Trent and Queen Iris from a Mundanian prison. He is an acting-king during the reign of Trent.
In Night Mare, when Arnolde is ninety-eight, he is for a short time, a centaur king. 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, Arnolde reveals that when he carries reverse wood, he is able to create an aisle of non-magic in Xanth. The true nature of Arnolde's talent is revealed in Currant Events.
Bink
Bink is the Magician of Magical Invulnerability and the main character in the first two novels of the Xanth series, A Spell for Chameleon and The Source of Magic. He is the son of Roland of the High Council and Bianca. He serves as king pro-tem during Trent's reign.
Bink is banished for not possessing a magic talent when, in fact, he does possess magical ability. Bink's magic does not want to be known because, if it were, those of non-magical means would injure Bink and his family, with the magic being indirectly responsible. Hence, in order to keep itself hidden, Bink's magic works in quiet ways, by seeming coincidence, and very few people know of it. For example, it causes an invisible giant to walk by just as Bink was to reveal his magic whilst under a truth spell. Furthermore, Bink's magic protects him, making him seem an unusually lucky man.
Dawn
Dawn's magical ability allows her to know anything about the animate. She is the daughter of Dolph and Electra. She and her twin, Eve, appear in Faun & Games. In Well-Tempered Clavicle, she marries Pick a Bone. Her children with him are a human boy named Piton and a skeleton girl named Data.
Dolph
Dolph is the Magician of Metamorphosis. His parents are Dor and Irene. Dolph was engaged to Nada Naga but chose to marry Electra. His twin sorceress daughters are Dawn and Eve. He is a protagonist in Heaven Cent and Isle of View.
Dor
Magician Dor, is the son of Bink and Chameleon. He served as king pro-tem during Trent's reign. Dor is able to make inanimate objects, such as rocks, clouds, water, and bones, speak. He is married to Irene. The stork delivered them two children, Princess Ivy and Prince Dolph and they have a third child with magical ability, Princess Ida. Dor appears in Castle Roogna, Centaur Aisle, Ogre, Ogre, and Night Mare.
Eve
Through her magic, Eve knows all about the inanimate. She is the daughter of Dolph and Electra. She and her twin sister, Dawn, appear in Faun & Games and in Jumper Cable, where they fight over a boy.
Grey
Grey is the "Magician of Null Magic". This means he can nullify magic near him and then restore it stronger than it was before. He is the son of Magician Murphy and Neo-Sorceress Vadne. He married Sorceress Ivy, who rescued him from Mundania in Man from Mundania. He is the father of the triplet Sorceresses, Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. On Ptero, a moon of Ida, when Grey is older, he is known as the royal consort because his wife, Ivy, is a future King of Xanth. Captain of Xanth's star-ship, the Beta, during a dream voyage to rescue centaur expedition Alpha in Board Stiff from Demoness Xornax.
Ida
Ida is the Sorceress of the Idea: within limits, any idea presented to her may come to be. Ida must first believe that the idea will eventuate and the idea must come to her from someone who is unaware of her magical ability. Ida is the twin sister of Princess Ivy, although this may have been the result of her own talent. In Knot Gneiss, Ida weds Prince Hilarion.
A small moon called Ptero orbits over her, holding every person in Xanth there ever was or might be. 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, whose Ida has Cone, whose Ida has Dumbbell, and so on. This continues into infinity, with each moon having different shapes, inhabitants, and rules. Thus, Ida is the caretaker of every conceivable and inconceivable idea. The chain of moons extends to Mundania and cycles back to Ida herself. In the later books of the Xanth series, a visit to Ida is highly desired.
Ilene
Ilene is the Sorceress of Making Illusions Real. For instance, she is able to make an illusion of maturity an actuality. Ilene is the daughter of Iris and Trent (after their rejuvenation).
Irene
The beautiful, green haired Irene is the Sorceress of Plants. She was able to create a massive arboreal defence about Castle Roogna. When he was King of Xanth, Arnold Centaur decreed her magical ability 'Magician level'. Irene is the daughter of Trent and Iris. Her husband is Dor and her children, raised under her stern eye, are Ivy, Ida, and Dolph. Irene succeeded her mother, Iris, as a female King of Xanth. Irene was a protagonist in Centaur Aisle and Dragon on a Pedestal. She served as king pro-tem during the reign of Trent.
Iris
Iris is the Sorceress of Illusion. She can create illusions in all of the five senses, including illusions of silence and invisibility, and hold them in place with minimal effort. Her illusion can exist a short way into the non-magical realm. Iris possesses a devious and keen intellect. She is a Queen of Xanth by her marriage to Trent. She is also the first contemporary female King of Xanth. Iris is the mother of Irene. She is a protagonist in A Spell for Chameleon and Night Mare. Later in the series, she makes a rejuvenated appearance in Geis of the Gargoyle.
Ivy
Ivy is the Sorceress of enhancement. She can enhance people and objects; for example, by improving their endurance and aim. Ivy is capable of enhancing any quality she desires, or even to make things as she unconsciously perceives them; for example, when she first met Humprey's son Hugo, who was described as mentally slow and had the talent to conjure rotten fruit, she enhanced his qualities while he was in her presence, making him more intelligent and giving him the ability to conjure ripe fruit, all because she perceived him as intelligent. Ivy is the daughter of Dor and Irene. She has blonde hair with a tinge of green (from her mother).Ivy's twin sister is Ida. Ivy is married to Magician Grey. Their children are the triplets, Sorceresses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. Ivy is a protagonist in Dragon on a Pedestal, Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn, and Man from Mundania.
Kadence
Kadence is the Sorceress of Alignment who can make anything move in step, to a common beat. Her mother is Princess Rhythm and her father is Cyrus, the first cyborg in Xanth.
Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm
The Triplet Sorceresses are the children of Ivy and Grey. Melody has blonde hair with a tinge of green and blue eyes like her mother, Harmony has brown eyes and hair like her father, and Rhythm has red hair and green eyes like her cousin, Dawn. Their magical ability allows them to create or enable anything they envision while playing music. If two of the three play together, the power is squared and if all three play, it is cubed. Melody hums, Harmony plays the harmonica and Rhythm beats her drum.
Murphy
Murphy is the Magician who Makes Things Go Wrong. He unsuccessfully challenged for the monarchy and was exiled for a time, and returned to Xanth with a promise of allegiance. Murphy has a son, Grey, with Sorceress Vadne. Murphy first appeared in Castle Roogna. He has served as king pro tem during Dor's reign.
Patxi
Paxti is a magician who creates enchanted paths that can prevent the passage of any creature. He appears in Cube Route.
Ragna Roc
Ragna Roc is a powerful magician bird. He is able to make an illusion real or make reality an illusion, but he cannot repeat such a transformation: that is, he cannot reverse the "real-ness" of something he has already reversed.
Rempel
Rempel is a centaur magician whose talent is to know the talents of others. He is introduced in Xone of Contention.
Sea Hag
Sea Hag is the Sorceress of Immortality and a member of the first human colony of Xanth. On her death, Sea Hag inhabits and possesses another male or female body. The character is introduced in Golem in the Gears and given further explanation in Question Quest and The Dastard.
Sherlock
Sherlock is the Magician of Reversal who can reverse the nature or characteristics of any person or object. His wife is Clio and his adopted child is Ciriana. Sherlock is introduced in Demons Don't Dream, in the company of his friend Dug Mundane, and returns in Currant Events, where he discovers his magical ability.
Surprise
Surprise was the Sorceress of Talents who can use any magical ability, but only once. However, by using her imagination, she is able to endlessly reproduce any effect. Her parents were Grundy Golem and Rapunzel. Surprise was just that to her parents, as the stork delivered her when she was five. She was a central figure in Geis of the Gargoyle and Stork Naked. She has a daughter by Umlaut. In The Dastard, it is discovered that she can reuse talents she's used before, after a long time has passed but the Dastard "unhappens" this discovery.
Tallyho
Tallyho is the Magician of Talents, who creates and assigns magical abilities to newly conceived babies. He lives in the Gourd. His predecessor was the Magician of Talents who assigned the talent of cursing to all the descendants of the original Curse Fiends. The character is introduced in Up In A Heaval.
Tapis
Tapis was the Sorceress of Tapestry. She created enchanted tapestries, including one decorating Castle Roogna. Tapis was the wife of Merlin and the mother of Jonathan and Taplin, and took in Electra.
Vadne
Vadne is the Sorceress of Topology: she can change the shape of an object without altering its size, mass, or intrinsic properties. She married Murphy and they had a son is Grey. Dor decreed her ability to be Magician-level.
Kings of Xanth
The Kings of Xanth are humans who possess a magical talent that is strong enough for them to be classified as a wizard, a pre-requisite for the role. This list is composed of the Kings of Xanth in order of their reign. This does not include the magicians that served as king pro-tem (Bink, Dor, Irene) during the reign of King Trent unless they had previously served formally.
Merlin
Merlin, the first King of Xanth and Magician of knowledge, reigned from 204. He married Tapis; their children are Jonathan and Taplin.
Roogna
Roogna, the second King of Xanth, reigned from 228 until 286. Roogna is able to "adapt" the magic of living things, changing it into a similar but distinct form of magic. He built the castle which was named for him and which became the home of the monarchy of Xanth in A Spell for Chameleon. Roogna is married to Taplin, Merlin's daughter.
Rana
Rana, the Magician of Creation, was the third king and the first female King of Xanth. She ruled from 286 to 325. She is the mother of Rune.
Reitas
Reitas, the Magician of Problem Solving, was the fourth King of Xanth, reigning from 325 to 350. Despite his title, he created problems.
Rune
Rune, the Magician of Evocation, was the fifth King of Xanth . He ruled from 350 to 378. Rune's mother was Rana.
Jonathan
Jonathan, the sixth King of Xanth, the Magician of Zombies or Zombie master, reigned from 378 to 478. He is able to re-animate the dead of Xanth. He himself was once a zombie. Jonathan is the son of King Merlin and Sorceress Tapis. He is married to Millie the Ghost; they have twin children, Hiatus and Lacuna. He appears in Castle Roogna, Night Mare, and Centaur Aisle. He was twice king pro-tem for Trent.
Vortex
Vortex, the Magician of Demon Summoning, became the seventh King of Xanth in 478.
Neytron
Neytron, the Magician who Brings Paintings to Life, was the eighth King of Xanth.
Nero
Nero, the Magician who Brings Golems to Life, was the ninth King of Xanth.
Gromden
Gromden, the tenth King of Xanth, is able to divine the history of any object he touches. His reign began in 623. While married to a curse fiend, he had a daughter, Threnody by a Demoness.
Yin-Yang
Yin-Yang, eleventh King of Xanth, is able to create invokable spells. Yin is his good self, who creates spells of good alignment, and Yang his evil self, who creates spells of evil. His first wife was Threnody. After her death, Yin-Yang remarried and had a son, Lord Bliss.
Muerte A. Fid
Fid, whose talent was alchemy, was the twelfth King of Xanth. According to Question Quest, he is, at most, only half human.
Quan
Quan, the Magician of Herbalism, was the thirteenth King of Xanth. His uncle was Muerte A. Fid.
Elona
Elona, the Magician of Longevity, was the fourteenth King and second female King of Xanth. Her reign began in 797.
Warren
Warren, the fifteenth King of Xanth, was a ghost who could create ghosts. He was exorcised by the people of Xanth after forty-three years in power.
Ebnez
Ebnez became the sixteenth King of Xanth in 909. He is able to adapt magical inanimate items. Ebnez married Mnem and their daughters are the Muses. He adapted a stone to make an impenetrable magical field about Xanth, which was removed by order of King Trent.
Humfrey
Humfrey, the seventeenth King of Xanth, is the Magician of Information, also known as Good Magician Humfrey. He is an elderly, withered, gnome-like man with five and a half wives. Humfrey is very curious and has a good memory. He is said to possess all knowledge, but his magical talent is actually the ability to find the answers to all questions. In Heaven Cent it is implied that Humfrey's magical talent may be no more than that of locating other magic that may be of use to him. His story of becoming a master of information is recounted in Question Quest. Humfrey believes his magical abilities are not those of a Magician, and so he studies for a degree in magic at Demon University in order to validate his title of Magician.
Humfrey was a king pro-tem during Trent's reign. He lives in the Good Magician's Castle, the former Castle Zombie. It is an enchanted place that provides easy access for Humfrey, but any visitor must answer three challenge questions posed by him. Visitors must prove their worthiness to approach Humphrey with their queries.
Humfrey is the protagonist of Question Quest and is instrumental in every book of the series. He acknowledges characters in non-Xanth books by Piers Anthony, such as On a Pale Horse.
Aeolus
Aeolus, the eighteenth King of Xanth, is known as the Magician of Storms. His predecessor was Good Magician Humfrey who discovered his abilities when he was six. Aeolus became King of Xanth at twenty-two and ruled until his death at ninety-three in A Spell for Chameleon. Four years into his reign, Aeolus made an edict that anyone born without a magic talent would be exiled from Xanth. In his later years, Aeolus fell into senility, a fact he never acknowledged.
In Question Quest, Good Magician Humphrey has flashbacks that give details as to how Humphrey found Aeolus, how Aeolus became king and how he made his edict.
Later in the series, in Xone of Contention, Magician Grey and Robota, a golem, travel back in time to the events of A Spell for Chameleon. They meet Aeolus and learn he is not the fool he appears: Aeolus keeps his soul in a soular cell that was created centuries before by Magician Yin/Yang. The cell prevents the aging and death of the person whose soul is held within. However, the cell cannot undo aging that occurred before the person's soul was stored. Aeolus' magic resides with his soul, which he removes from the cell only when he needs to use it. Aeolus claims he does not need his soul day to day, and that he feigns senility in order to avoid mundane tasks, but Grey realises that Aeolus' unconscionable behaviour is the result of his lack of soul. Aeolus' efforts to stave off death fail, and he succumbs shortly after Grey and Robota depart. He is succeeded by Magician Trent.
Trent
Magician Trent has been a major character in the Xanth series since the very beginning. He is the nineteenth king of Xanth and is married to Sorceress Iris.
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 or birthed while in a form will be in that form.
In his childhood, Trent was trained by Good Magician Humphrey. After trying to take the throne, he was exiled to Mundania for 20 years, then returned to Xanth and was crowned King after the passing of the Storm King. He later retired and moved to the North Village with Sorceress Iris.
The Magician of Transformation, King Trent used to be referred to as the Evil Magician for attempting to take over the throne prior to A Spell for Chameleon. For this offense he was exiled to Mundania. There he married, and he and his wife had a son, but he lost them both to illness. Later he was accidentally helped back into Xanth by Magician Bink and Chameleon. After the Storm King died, Trent was made king on the condition that he marry Sorceress Iris. He did so, but only out of convenience; it took him over twenty years to recover from the loss of his first wife and son. Eventually, though, Trent came to love Iris. He stepped down as king in the 6th Xanth novel, Night Mare, after which Bink's son Magician Dor became the new King of Xanth, with Trent's daughter Sorceress Irene as his wife.
Trent now lives in quiet retirement in North Village. He 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 remains one of the few people to recognize Bink's extraordinary talent.