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Miriel is the first mage recruited in Fire Emblem Awakening and arguably the most studious individual on this list. She treats magic like a science and spends most of her free time reading to gain even more knowledge. Meticulous, methodical, and the embodiment of efficiency, Miriel keeps track of everything in the army. Her expansive vocabulary is a point of great confusion for others. , but her intelligence is apparent to all. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to overthink things and is so engrossed in her research that she’s often oblivious to her surroundings. She’s constantly conducting experiments and pondering how the world around her works, but she’d be at risk of walking off a cliff if she wasn’t surrounded by others. With a dreamy far-off look (and her a nose stuck in a book), what a puzzle to the rest of us is Miriel.

GrimGrimoire is a real-time strategy game in which Lillet Blan essentially functions as the cursor. After being admitted into a prestigious wizard school, Lillet awakens one day to find that all of her classmates have died. The young magician is then propelled back in time to her first night at the school and desperately tries to prevent the tragic events from taking place. Lillet finds herself living the same five days over and over again, but she retains any knowledge gained while working to unravel the mystery. As Lillet delves into the history of the school, she uncovers dark secrets about her classmates, teachers, and even the academy itself. Lillet uses the powers of glamour, necromancy, sorcery, and alchemy to summon armies of creatures to assist her in battle en route to freeing herself from the Groundhog Day time loop she’s stuck in.

Joneleth Irenicus is a depraved elvin wizard with an unhealthy obsession with power. After attempting to enter the elven pantheon of gods, Irenicus was punished by exile. The sentence did nothing to quell his lust for power and only served to make him even more bitter and contemptuous than he was before. Revenge became a driving force in his life to the point where it was hard to tell if his twisted actions were informed by an appetite for power or a desire for reprisal. Irenicus is a skilled spellcaster who can eradicate a rival in an instant. (One of his spells can even annihilate six enemies at once!) The fact that he has no moral compass is what makes him truly dangerous. He’s not above torturing his enemies, and he often conducts dark experiments as a means of obtaining divine power.

The author of The Witcher novels sees the games as a separate universe and outright rejects convergence between mediums. That said, most of the characters in the games stay faithful to the source material. Triss is being recognized here over other sorceresses simply because her video game iteration feels like an entirely new character. Some of the changes are superficial (her hair color, for instance), but other differences are more significant. Triss was just a side girl in the books, but she’s the primary love interest in the first two games. She’s a lot more assertive in the games too, and borrows traits from other characters. Triss isn’t the most powerful mage in the series, but she can still conjure fireballs, produce hail storms, or seduce men with her magic. Having seen her Playboy spread, I doubt she needs magic to seduce anyone.

A wise wizard who has become forgetful in his old age, Tellah can only remember a few spells. He’s also become short-tempered in his twilight years and has been overprotective of his daughter, Anna, ever since his wife passed away. When Anna decided to elope with a spoony bard, a frail Tellah set out after the newlyweds. Tellah’s hatred of Anna’s husband was misplaced, but he was right to worry about her. Tellah caught up with his daughter just in time to see her die from an attack meant for her husband. From this point on, Tellah became motivated by vengeance. By casting a powerful spell called “Meteor,” Tellah was able to severely injure the man responsible for Anna’s death. Using the spell in his old age had fatal consequences for Tellah, so he implored his friends to continue his mission to avenge his daughter.

Agahnim was the first wizard to be given a substantial role in the Zelda series. The dark being is depicted as the main villain in A Link to the Past, and he uses his cunning to throw the Kingdom of Hyrule into chaos. After gaining the trust of the royal family, Aganhim brainwashes all of the soldiers, disposes of the king, and kidnaps seven maidens in order to break the seal to the Dark World. Agahnim is believed to be a pawn of Ganon, but others describe him as the Dark Prince’s alter-ego. Either way, he’s extremely dangerous. Although Agahnim often uses manipulation and misdirection to achieve his goals, his magical abilities also lend themselves well to combat situations. The fireballs he conjures are so powerful that they can only be deflected by the legendary Master Sword… or a bug-catching net for some reason.

Shang Tsung is a shapeshifter who absorbs the living souls of his opponents in order to maintain his youth and power. His ability to morph into other characters and use their movesets made him the perfect final boss in the original Mortal Kombat. Although he had the appearance of an elderly man, he could basically choose to use any fighting style he wanted. Whether he was freezing his enemies in blocks of ice or overwhelming them with fireballs, there was no technique beyond his reach. Shang Tsung’s role was scaled back in Mortal Kombat II and he was revealed to be an underling of the Outworld Emperor, Shao Kahn. It wasn’t a complete downgrade, however, as he was given his youth back. He was no longer the tournament grandmaster, but the evil sorceress was probably swimming in poon after his youth was restored.

Serving as the caretaker and advisor to Baby Bowser, Kamek is the most visible antagonist in Yoshi’s Island. Foreseeing that Mario and Luigi will cause a great deal of trouble for the Koopa Troop in the future, Kamek attempts to kidnap the twins while they are still infants. He managed to capture Luigi, but Mario fell from the sky during the skirmish and was befriended by the Yoshis. The Yoshis set forth to reunite Mario with his abducted brother, but Kamek was a constant thorn in their sides. In Super Mario World, various unnamed Magikoopas would appear out of thin air and attack with magic wands, but Kamek’s abilities are much more sophisticated. He demonstrates teleportation, telekinesis, and precognition, but his trademark spell increases the size of his allies in order to create supersized foes for his rivals to contend with.

Janus was the young prince of the ancient Kingdom of Zeal and born into a family of powerful magic users. His mother and sister were renowned for their abilities, but Janus was said to be even more impressive. After being transported thousands of years into the future, Janus was ambushed almost immediately by an onslaught of magic-using fiends. Although he was still a child, he easily defeated his assailants and soon found himself in control of the dark army. It was during this time that Janus took the name Magus and declared war against humanity. Incidentally, he only started the war as a means of increasing his power so he would be able to defeat a world-destroying alien that was destined to cause devastation on a cataclysmal scale. He seems brooding and self-interested, but Magus shoulders the burden of saving the world.

Final Fantasy IX was a return to form for the series. Its high fantasy setting and super deformed characters were throwbacks to the 8-and-16-bit eras, and Vivi was modeled after the traditional black mages that appeared in the very first Final Fantasy game. It would be easy to underestimate Vivi. After all, he’s uncoordinated and severely lacking in self-confidence. He clearly has a lot to learn about the world, but his childlike innocence is not indicative of his true power. He stumbles over his words and falls on his face, but he can also incinerate his enemies with a simple thought. Incidentally, Vivi is actually an elaborate bio-weapon that was created in the factory alongside the other black mages. He’s not content to be an instrument of war, however, so he has to work through an existential crisis in order to evolve as an individual.