Voozh

Abracadabra.

The High Elves were reduced to fighting a guerrilla war in their own land while the servants of Darkness reigned everywhere. But now a new rumour filled all ears: a sorcerer was abroad and no-one could stand against him. He was a pale youth who wore the War Crown of Saphery. Where he walked, the Dark Elves trembled, for he commanded the powers of magic as if born to them. His words summoned lightning. He cast down monsters and destroyed Chaos warriors with a word. The Slaaneshi Champion Alberecht Numan challenged him to a duel, but he and all his followers were in an instant reduced to dust. He intervened at the battle of Hathar Ford and slew Ferik Kasterman's Coven of Ten — the most feared Tzeentchian sorcerers of the day.

— Warhammer: High Elves Army Book (4th Edition), on High Loremaster Teclis

Be it a Wizard Classic, Eccentric Mentor, Evil Sorcerer, Benevolent Mage Ruler, or even a bratty Child Mage, the Archmage is the apex of magical learning and/or power. This comes to the point of being practically a demigod (or more) in the world they are portrayed in, able to create miracles as if a minor but annoying chore, discover a world-shaking truth, or even brawl with The Devil himself.

The term "Archmage" (with or without hyphen) is a neologism formed from the prefix "arch-" or "archi-" (as in archbishop). It originates from the name of the character Archimago in the renaissance poem The Faerie Queene. "Archimage" was occasionally used as an alternate spelling for the character's name, and Percy Bysshe Shelley later used this form as a synonym for "wizard" in his own poems. The modern form of the word, both in spelling and meaning, was coined a few centuries later by Ursula K. Le Guin in her novel A Wizard of Earthsea, where it referred to the leader of a college of magicians. As an analogy, the Archmage is to a normal wizard what the Surgeon General is to a resident physician.

An Archmage character, in the grand scheme of most stories, is either given their title via their country, becoming the head of that region's magical study and schooling (in which case he may also be the Court Mage for the ruler), or even by the majority of magicians in the world, to the point of being the ruler of a Magocracy. Sometimes it's even a divinely given title. If the local god of magic says you're the best and/or the chosen one, you're practically set to become an Archmage without being threatened by the same church that said-god rules over. More than likely that same church will become an avid supporter and bring its new leader to a highly sought-after position of power.

Granted, not all Archmages are centered within society, and certainly not all are good. An Archmage could very well become isolated from the world within a massive tower fortress in hope of quiet study in creating the flux capacitor they need for a time machine. Neither is the Archmage restricted to being human, or even the dominant race of the society in question; in fantasy, the Archmage could be a freakin' owl that can cast Meteor and Doom spells.

Most Archmages are depicted as old and wise wizards, but sometimes characters become Archmages without even being called one, simply by being the only magician (or one of the only magicians) in the world, maybe even because said-world doesn't have such a title as Archmage. Nevertheless, the Archmage is intelligent and worldly in knowledge and wisdom, and is considered an epic power within the grand scheme of things.

A character need not actually bear the title "Archmage" to qualify for this trope, though many do. The defining trait is that they are recognized in-universe as representing the pinnacle of magical power.

Note: Arguably an Archmage can also be merely the leader in a specific form of magic, but this may or may not change the title to reflect the school of magic in question (e.g. Archevoker, Archabjurer, etc, etc). Also, in some cases an Archmage that becomes a sentient undead is considered an Archlich.

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Anime & Manga

Celica in Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor is the only seventh-ranked magician on the continent. As an example of her magical prowess, she can simultaneously cast three different high-ranking spells while using shortened incantations that have nothing to do with the spells. She's famous (and feared) for singlehandedly taking on armies and defeating the apostle of an evil god.
Black Clover has the title of Wizard King, held by the strongest Magic Knight of the Clover Kingdom who leads the Order of the Magic Knights. The current Wizard King in the beginning of the story is Julius Novachrono. Despite having no magic himself, Asta and his friend Yuno who has magic, compete to become the next Wizard King.
Goluun from Call Girl in Another World was an incredibly powerful sorcerer who created the Book of Prophecy and the Holy Sword Golkadian.
Clow Reed. Though we get some hints of his power in Cardcaptor Sakura, it really gets hammered home in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- (it's the same character in both series), where we learn that he caused the entire, extremely convoluted plot to happen because he accidentally lost control of his powers for a moment. To his credit, he spent the rest of his life undoing that mistake and setting things up so that everything would be fixed. The guy has multiverse-spanning Reality Warper levels of power and his clairvoyance is so powerful he almost seems omniscient. Indeed, he also set up the entire plot of Cardcaptor Sakura to ensure that his reincarnation did not have the same insane level of power, as it had left him unable to ever live a normal life.
A Certain Magical Index:
- A Majin (Magic God) is a magician who has reached a level where they can do practically anything with magic. The few known Majins are among the most powerful beings in the setting. However, 'pure' Majins have a problem — due to encompassing all possibilities, they have an equal chance of success and failure — something which Majin Othinus is trying to fix. 'Impure' Majins stopped their growth before this point and lack the 50/50 downside but are weaker as a result, though they are still powerful enough to easily take out Level 5 espers, as Ollerus has shown. The true GREMLIN is an entire organization of Majins from all of the world's religions.
- Aleister Crowley is known as the best magician in existence. He literally invented the modern system of magic and can counter any magic used against him (so long as it follows his system). He devised a spell that can strip the aforementioned Majins of most of their power and can also kill them, while he himself is able to fight them on their own turf in combat and walk away alive when most would be erased without a struggle. Which makes sense given one of his spells has the power of the Big Bang, which he can multiple by a factor of 10x. He even mentions that he could have reached the rank of Majin if he desired it, but deliberately altered his own body to keep that from happening. The other members of the Golden cabal are all on his level.
In Fairy Tail, most wizards specialize in one or two types of magic at most. There are a few exceptions, and they are some of the strongest mages in the series:
- The title of "Wizard Saint" is given by the Magic Council to the ten wizards of Ishgal who are considered publicly the strongest on the continent. While there are powerful wizards not recognized by such titles whose strength surpasses even them, each one has earned their title.
  - Fairy Tail guild master Makarov can turn himself into a giant and wields powerful white magic. His most powerful spell, Fairy Law, immediately destroys anyone he considers an enemy while leaving allies unharmed.
  - Phantom Lord guild master Jose Porla can create an almost-unstoppable army of Living Shadows with his Shade Magic, and his control darkness is such that Makarov praised his abilities during their battle and noted he could have been an incredible role model for the young.
  - Jellal Fernandes is a master of at least fire, water, wind, earth and darkness elemental magic, in addition to Heavenly Body Magic, self-destruction magic circles capable of obliterating mountains, rune magic he learned in only three days for a cover, and a spell capable of dropping meteors from the sky. He was so strong that he earned the title of Wizard Saint at only half power, using a body double he passed off as a twin named "Siegrain" that he gave half his magical energy to in order to play into his plans. Should it be mentioned he's an Expy of Sieg Hart?
  - Even the weakest pre-Time Skip, "Iron Rock" Jura, was a master of Earth Magic to the point he defeated the leader of one of the most powerful dark guilds of Ishgal on his own without a scratch, and his power only improves until he becomes the 5th-ranked Wizard Saint post-Time Skip above even Makarov.
  - Warrod Sequen also counts. In-universe, he's part of Ishgal's Four Gods, who are the four strongest members of the Wizard Saints and considered to be the true pinnacle of magic, even beyond the likes of Makarov. His Green Magic, though self-admittedly not combat-oriented, is such that he can create a massive forest with ease.
- Makarov's predecessor, Precht Gaebolg, taught Makarov a lot of what he knows about magic. He later expanded his knowledge to include various "Lost Magics" and spells from the Book of Zeref. Demon summoning, shadow magic, light magic in the forms of chains and his own variant of Fairy Law, are all his to command.
- Precht's predecessor, Mavis Verimillion, was Fairy Tail's first guildmaster. Fairy Tail Zero reveals that she originally only knew how to conjure illusions. Though she is long dead now (and a ghost) except not quite either, the incredibly powerful spells she left behind prove that she had become a true master wizard.
- Black Wizard Zeref, the most powerful and feared wizard who ever lived. The books he left behind contain spells that contain knowledge of, among other things, demon summoning and time travel. He was also a master of Living Magic and Death Magic. He was also the one who trained Mavis, Precht, and Warrod into mages.
- Ishgal's rival nation the Alveraz Empire has the Spriggan 12. The Praetorian Guard of Emperor Spriggan, these elite wizards are all on par with the strongest of Ishgal's Four Gods, God Serena, who left Ishgal to join their ranks. They were all handpicked by Emperor Spriggan aka Zeref, someone who would obviously be a good judge of magical ability.
  - One of the Spriggan 12 is "Wizard King" August, who is said to have mastered all forms of magic, surpassing even the aforementioned Black Wizard Zeref in terms of versatility. Specifically, his main magic is the ability to copy any Caster-type magic used against him and nullify it. This includes magic on the level of Gildarts' Crush magic and Cana's Fairy Glitter, one of the strongest magic spells in the series. He can also unleash a suicidal Fantastic Nuke so strong it can wipe out a country the size of Fiore at least and everything within it right down to the molecular level. It makes sense, however, since he is Zeref and Mavis's biological son.
  - God Serena himself, in addition to his credentials as The Archmage of Ishgal, can also be considered The Archmage amongst Dragon Slayers due to possessing eight Dragon Lacrima in his body to give him eight different elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Diamond, Flash, and Darkness Dragon Slayer Magic) with which he can stomp his fellow Gods of Ishgal.
  - Irene Belserion is considered a mage on equal footing with August, who by all rights, is an absolute monster that has Makarov regard him with sheer awe and terror. Among her major feats include shrinking the entire landmass of Fiore to 1/20th of its size, randomly teleporting all of Fiore's citizens and Alvarez soldiers all across said land (except for Zeref, where he was teleported right to Fairy Tail's doorstep), and dropping a massive meteor after using her magic to drag it down from outer space. It is for these feats of hers that she is all but outright stated as the strongest woman in the entire setting. It also turns out she's the one who invented Dragon Slayer Magic on account of being four hundred years old.
- The most powerful existing (not necessarily human) wizard in the entire setting would be Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. A Dragon Slayer from over 400 years ago who became a dragon from bathing the blood of hundreds, he is all but stated to be the reason dragons, the most powerful race in existence, are no longer around in the present and is so powerful thanks to his immunity to Magic itself and ability to eat it to get stronger even Zeref fears him. He also puts down God Serena in one of the shortest "fights" in the series's history.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End has three, all of whom are part of a master-apprentice chain:
- First, there is Serie, quite possibly the oldest living being in the world and a veritable Master of All where magic is concerned. That second point is Not Hyperbole, as most, if not all of what her students, and to an extent all of human mages, have learnt about magic comes from her.
- Second is Flamme, human apprentice of Serie and teacher of Frieren. She is known as the progenitor of magic for mankind and, even a millenium after her death, her feats of strength have yet to be surpassed. For example, the barriers she had conjured in life are so strong that demons still cannot break through them in the present.
- Third is Frieren, the title character. She is known to be one of the mightiest mages around, second only to Serie in the present day, thanks to having over a thousand years to learn different kinds of magic and hone her skills. To note, precious few have ever been able to get the upper hand on her in her very long life.
In the Lyrical Nanoha series, there are only two characters in the entire series to have attained an SS mage rank, and Hayate only has that kind of power because she had her head plugged into a sentient magical tome that downloaded its entire store of centuries worth of accumulated spell knowledge directly into her mind. Precia, on the other hand, earned her rank the hard way, and was a brilliant magical researcher in her prime. By the time of the series, she's lost most of her sanity and is practically on her deathbed, but she's still capable of spells powerful enough to disable a spaceship from another dimension, effortlessly incapacitate an entire squad of TSAB mages, and summon up an army of Mecha-Mooks. On the historical scale, the greatest combat mage of all times is believed to be Olivie Sägebrecht, the Last Sankt Kaiser of the Belkan Empire, who secured that title shortly before her death by defeating her lifelong rival Claus Ingvalt (himself a One-Man Army) in the final battle of the Belkan wars.
Shouta's father in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is mentioned to have the highest possible mage qualifications and is the appointed guardian of the region (exactly how big said region is isn't specified).
The Lifemaker in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, who is not only immortal and at least 2,600 years old, but has created an entire world and nearly a billion living beings to inhabit it (hence his title). He has also been shown as capable of effortlessly Curb Stomping even the most powerful combat mages in the setting, with only the most powerful mage alive able to successfully stand against him in battle.
- In sequel series UQ Holder!, Fate Averruncus is recognized as the single most powerful mage in the Solar System.
- From the same series Negi Springfield qualifies as well, every time he appears everybody shits their pants in utter terror. Helps that he is fused with the Lifemaker
Overlord:
- Momonga: Most magic casters are able to learn 300 spells, which is already a huge amount. But because of a skill he has known as Dark Wisdom that allows him to steal spells from corpses, he has at least 700 spells to choose from, and he's memorized them all. The character chart for him even lists his mana level as exceeding the limits of the scale! He may not have the most offensive power, but he has the versatility to deal with nearly anything.
- Ulbert Alain Odle is an even better example. He was a member of a special class that very few could attain known as World Disaster, which granted the strongest offensive capabilities in Yggdrasil.
- Fluder Paradyne is the Archmage for the new world: humans are able to cast magic up to the third tier, with other races able to cast fourth tier magic, with fifth-tier and above being the realm of legendary heroes. Fluder is able to cast sixth-tier magic... and the minute he meets someone capable of casting tenth-tier and beyond (aka Momonga), he instantly begs to serve them. It's honestly kind of sad to see a man of his age and position geek out over finding someone better at magic than he is, but it's par for the course for the series.
In Rave Master, Sieg Hart has the title of being an archmage. He is also an elemental master because he is not aligned to any single element and can use them all, even time! But the funny thing is, Sieg ranks as third strongest mage in the series, right behind Haja the Infinite, a sorcerer with a never ending supply of mana. And even higher is Haja's master, Shakuma.
The Seven Deadly Sins has Merlin, but unlike the typical old man form, this one takes the form of a Lady of Black Magic in very revealing clothes. Known also as the Crimson Boar, she is one of the titular sins, bearing the Sin of Gluttony for her insatiable appetite for knowledge. Her magical powers include Absolute Cancel which can end any spell, mastery of teleportation magic to the point she will send her enemies on teleporting from one unfortunate situation to another in seconds, creating powerful fire and ice magic which will last for all time or until she ends the spell, and lastly she has halted her own body from moving forward in time. Even her own allies, when hearing just how powerful she is, lampshade the game breaking nature of her powers.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime:
- High Wizard Razen of the Kingdom of Falmuth is considered by many as the pinnacle of what a human mage can achieve. His mastery of magic includes various Summon Magic, Nuclear Cannon, Teleportation, powerful defensive spells, soul-destroying attacks, and Possession. These latter two in particular he's used in combination to extend his lifespan into the centuries by constantly moving to younger bodies when his current one gets too old, and he retains some of the Skills of those he possesses. His most recent body, that of the Otherworlder Shougo Taguchi, makes him a Kung-Fu Wizard thanks to combining its powerful physical abilities with his own magical knowledge and skill. He's spoken of with respect by those who know him and even Demon Lord Carrion's Three Beastketeers admit that while they could beat him in a physical fight, actually reaching him against all his magical prowness would be a worthy challenge they'd relish. Then along comes Primordial Noir, who No Sells everything Razen at his best throws at him and makes Razen go unconscious in fright when he realizes he's fighting basically a demon god.
- Razen's Old Master Gadra is an even greater example. Razen is on record at living for at least a few centuries. Gadra is at least over a thousand years old. Everything Razen can do, Gadra can do just as well if not better, and unlike Razen who needs to rely on stealing bodies to stay alive Gadra mastered the Secret Art of Reincarnation, allowing him to rewind his age back to infancy with all his knowledge and abilities intact. Though he never actually fights him, however, he still admits Noir, now going by Diablo, is still his superior, and indeed eventually makes a deal with him that in exchange for mutual servitude under Rimuru Tempest, Gadra's next incarnation will revive as a Black Colors Demon. The deal is struck, and when Gadra seemingly perishes during the war with the Empire, he returns as a demon possessing a Golem with far greater physical and magical power than ever before.
- Primordials have some of the greatest knowledge of magic known in the world since they're the first demons and among the first beings in existence. Primordial Noir/Diablo especially fits this, as he decisively proves his mastery of magic time and time again even over human masters of the arts, calling Razen a weakling with a bit of skill, and even defeats a fellow Primordial Bleu/Rain in a magical battle.
- Rimuru Tempest transitions to this level thanks to Analysis, Power Copying, and Great Sage/Raphael constantly adding and expanding upon his magical knowledge. In particular, he uses those skills to copy every magic tome in a library in the human city of Ingracia and stored the information inside his mind, which he can access, comprehend, and cast instantly at his leisure. He did it all in two days when it would take a normal human their whole life to just read through all those tomes, much less master the magics within. Even before he became a True Demon Lord, he could cast Meggido, a spell that relies on manipulating water droplets in the air to focus sunlight into concentrated lasers that slaughter entire armies at literal lightspeed. He develops an improved mass Teleportation spell that allows for safe passage of living beings, when before specially-designed gates were needed for such travel since mass teleportation otherwise would kill most organic beings due to fatal exposure to magicules in transit.

Comic Books

Astro City has had several.
- Simon Magus was a European magician who came to Astro City in The '70s because he foresaw a time of great strife centered on the city. He helped exorcise the spirit of vengeance known as the Blue Knight and warned about The Continuum's judgement of Earth. After an accident with a great spell, he was transformed into the Green Man.
- Magus' assistant, Grimoire, became a sorceress in The '80s after Magus disappeared. She appeared during the Rise of Kerresh the Devastator, and wrote a tell-all book about her relationship with Magus.
- Currently, the Silver Adept is considered the most powerful magician of the forces of light in the Astro City cosmology. However, this means there are a lot of mystical matters that need her attention, keeping her busy enough to require a personal assistant.
- Infidel is a villainous example, being an Evil Sorcerer out to rule the universe. Only his Self-Imposed Exile keeps him from being a frequent menace to the heroes.
Black Moon Chronicles:
- Methraton is the "ultimate archmage" who approaches the level of power of a Physical God, though he specifically denies being one.
- Haazheel Thorn is the leader of a whole army of dark mages, and is the most powerful one of them all.
In The DCU, The Archmage was a being of magic imprisoned at the heart of Zerox, the Sorcerer's World.
The title of "Sorcerer Supreme" also exists in the DC Universe, though it's not brought up nearly as often for obvious reasons. It denotes the strongest known magic user in the world. Zatanna Zatara has been indicated to be the "Sorceress Supreme" of Earth, and Kent Nelson as Doctor Fate has been acknowledged to be the most powerful sorcerer of the modern age. The most powerful wizard, however, is destined to be Timothy Hunter.
Italian Disney Ducks Comic Universe stories sometimes feature magic users that powerful (some even bearing the actual title), the most notable (and only recurring ones) being the three members of the Witches' Council.
- Played with by Magica: she has the magical knowledge and skills to be one, but lacks the reserves to properly feed such powers. In at least two occasions her plan to steal the Number One Dime was actually a plan to obtain the power to become a proper archmage and then steal the coin without Scrooge being able to stop her, only failing at the last moment due an unexpected development, such as her accomplice getting fed up on her abusive treatment and take the empowering artifact for himself or the final ingredient for the empowering spell requiring her worst enemy's most prized possession (that is, the Number One Dime).
Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, is more or less the designated Archmage of Earth (the title comes with a power boost but a lot of responsibility). The Ancient One, his tutor, was an Old Master at their first meeting (after six hundred years of being the former Archmage).
Magik is the Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo and once managed to defeat Doctor Strange there.
Loki, The Mighty Thor's adopted brother, is a master of magic especially the alternate-universe version Avenger Prime who's not only the Sorcer Supreme but also used his magic to kill every Eldritch Abomination and Cosmic Entity that attacked the Earth.
Dakhim the Enchanter in Man-Thing.
These things vary in comic books with the tendency for characters to gain or lose power through plot or depending on the writer, but the wizard Shazam! prior to his death at the hands of The Spectre was the most powerful magician in the DC universe. Feats include chaining the seven deadly sins and bestowing godlike powers on a succession of champions.
- The Wizard is still considered very powerful in modern comics, being a member of the Quintessence, but isn’t usually included among the normal rankings these days as he’s been revealed to be a literal god himself—Mamaragan, a god of lightning in Australian Aboriginal mythology. His Earth-5 counterpart presumably still retains his old backstory and thus his status as the Arch-Mage of that universe.

Fan Works

The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan: At the end, Nova Shine begins training to become Equestria's new archmage. Come the sequel, he properly assumes the position, although he has more than a few internal qualms about his own competency at it.
Child of the Storm has quite a few wizards who are powerful and skilled enough to be among the greatest practitioners on the planet.
- Gravemoss was a Loki-level sorcerer even before he got the Darkhold.
- Loki, as Asgardian God of Magic, has literally godlike levels of power, and centuries of practice. He built Hogwarts in twenty minutes, wards and all, and since then has had a millennium to refine his abilities.
- Dumbledore is, as per canon, universally agreed to be the most powerful and skilled wizard of the British wanded wizarding world, if not the entire wanded community.
- Arthur Langtry, meanwhile, as Merlin of the White Council, holds this position for the wandless community. Given that Stronger with Age is a solid supernatural rule, he's probably better than Dumbledore as well, as he's had a couple more centuries to practice.
- Wanda Maximoff is definitively the strongest human mage, and with decades of experience, mentorship from three of the other individuals on this list, is immensely skilled.
- The single strongest practicioner of this list is the original Merlin himself, who is still around and kicking.
- However, in terms of pure skill, however, it's universally agreed to be Strange, who routinely bullies gods, taught Wanda and Victor von Doom's teacher, crushed Gravemoss in a duel, and once challenged the entire White Council to a duel. The only reason he hasn't forgotten more magic than literally anyone else has ever learned is that no one's sure if he ever actually forgets anything.
Codex Equus: There are many individuals, both divine and mortal, who can wield incredible arcane power. In the case of divines, some of them are this by virtue of embodying concepts relating to magic and sorcery.
- Noble Grace is an incredibly powerful unicorn sorceress, mostly due to her wealthy background giving her access to higher education, and her voracious childhood desire to learn everything that she could. In addition to age manipulation magic, which is described as being a highly-coveted yet extremely difficult magic to master among unicorns, she knows a variety of elemental spells such as fire, water, earth, and air. This, along with her Affably Evil behavior, is what makes her a truly dangerous person, since she wouldn't hesitate to attack and destroy anyone who opposes her and her beliefs despite her nice, encouraging, and friendly personality. Notably, one of her former students, a then-young Scarlet Bell, understandably feared getting injured or killed by her during a confrontation, but still did it anyway because her desire to save her classmates was stronger than her fear.
- Kúzelník is a Deer god of Sorcery, Transformation, and Duality, which along with his intelligence and aptitude makes him a powerful sorcerer. He can use both White Magic and Black Magic, as well as elemental magic and other forms of sorcery like ritual magic, druidism, and potion-making. His Transformation domain makes him an expert in Voluntary Shapeshifting, so much that the Alvslog Deer Herds call him "The Sorcerer/Prince of a Thousand Faces". He also possesses strong Psychic Powers, but he sees Prince Crimson Star as the better psychic due to embodying Psionics. His great power made his parents fear his potential of becoming an Evil Sorcerer like Grogar, so they tried restricting him to only 'good' magic... but it not only made him magically weaker, it also gave him insecurities over his identity once he discovered the extent of his parents' hypocrisy via what happened to his unborn brother. Only after saving a non-Deer kingdom from a tyrannical cabal of sorcerers with 'evil' magic did he accept both aspects of his Sorcery domain.
- Prince Varázsló, one of Kúzelník's infernal grandnephews, is an Alicorn-Deer Draconequus god of Magic, Knowledge, Fate, and Hope. Because he was thrown into the 'Well of Eternity' as a young foal, he was given a massive power boost, turning him into one of the most powerful sorcerers of the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon. While his powers and capabilities are the same as Kúzelník's, he leans towards psionic magic and was tutored in Malrègnarian dark magic by Vicearch Iniquitous. And through his other domains, he can do things like mess with people's memories, perceive multiple futures and alternate timelines/dimensions, bind people to fates (or make them immune to fate), and warp reality. However, because he was never able to properly grow into his power, he's Unskilled, but Strong, which both Kúzelník and Golden Scepter are helping him overcome.
- Much like Magnus the Red, his character inspiration, Prince Crimson Star is currently one of the most powerful psychics in Equus, being surpassed only by his father, Golden Scepter, which is rather fitting since they both embody Psionics. This stemmed from absorbing a huge amount of magic while protecting a group of students from a dangerous ritual they cast to give themselves more knowledge. However, it is believed that Crimson Star has the potential to equal or even surpass Golden Scepter himself one day. According to Princess Twilight, meeting Kúzelník, an older Deer god of Sorcery and a fellow psychic, caused him to "Squee", and the feeling was mutual.
- As a deity of Sorcery, Princep Indicum Occento is an incredibly powerful sorcerer. Their domain grants them access to various branches of magic like Black Magic, White Magic, Psionics, Alchemy, and Druidism. They can sense the presence of magic and strip someone of their magic indefinitely. They can also reverse-engineer any spell, whether "good" or "evil", which makes them a nightmare against Evil Sorcerers like Hydianites. However, their domain functions similarly to Queen Aoide's domain of Musical Magic — they channel their spells through music and song. This comes from them being the Fusion Dance between Princess Winter Opera and her former mentor, Blue Suede Heartstrings, both of them equally powerful spellcasters themselves.
- While not academically smart (he dropped out of high school as a teenager three Ages ago), Moon Ray Vaughoof (now King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil) is pretty intelligent and perceptive everywhere else. He also has incredibly strong Psychic Powers and is believed by many In-Universe to be one of the most powerful psychics of his generation. While Moon Ray/Tunglið's most famous ability is precognition, he learned water-based psychic attacks under Emperor Golden Scepter's tutelage. Re-Ascending as an eldritch deity strengthened his psychic powers to the point where he could bend reality on a whim. He also drove the Nemesis Crown into insanity by showing it every single vision he had as Caelum Filum, an impressive feat since the Nemesis Crown was crafted during the heyday of the Alicorn Civilization. As an Alicorn King and a member of the Church of the Stars, he serves as one of many spiritual leaders and mentor figures alongside others like him. He's also widely seen as the most powerful Seer of his generation, especially after re-Ascending, because his visions are clear and far-reaching, but he's rather contemptuous of this view.
- Twilight Sparkle (now Queen Amicitia Sparkle Equestria) is presently one of the most intelligent and powerful divine mages alive, and even as a filly, her magical potential got her picked as one of Celestia's students. What led to her Ascension to demi-godhood was finishing a spell that even Star Swirl the Beard of the Pillars of Equestria had trouble with. It's also noted that while she wielded the combined powers of all three Equestrian Alicorn Princesses at once to fight an empowered Tirek, most of Twilight's power came from herself and Cadence, a fellow divine prodigy. Luminiferous, himself a divine prodigy, noted that Twilight's magical potential rivals his own when he was her age, which says a lot. Her reincarnating as Mana Equus upon Ascending to true godhood all but effectively formalized her status as this for all of Equidkind.
- Blue Suede Heartstrings (now King Caerulus Melodia Equestria-Corporatum) is by far one of the most powerful musical mages in the world. Blue Suede sees spellcasting the same way a musician sees music 👁 Image
  and thus uses music to cast Unicorn-related spells with ease. After reincarnating as Mana Equus, his power and skill drastically increased. During a Wizard Duel with Vicearch Iniquitous' divine avatar, Blue Suede left her almost completely exhausted 👁 Image
  despite losing the duel; for comparison, both Queen Hocus Pocus 👁 Image
  and Karaldina De Hex 👁 Image
  either fought Iniquitous to a standstill or merely lasted longer than her other opponents did. Even Queen Twilight Sparkle, herself a magical prodigy, admits that Blue Suede vastly outclasses her in music.
- As children of Tuzu, the Magic Primeval, the Filii Magicae are incredibly powerful spellcasters. One of them, Prince Stella Fictor Cahaya, is both a very powerful Seer and one of the most powerful astrologers alive, wielding Star magic and notably creating entire Pocket Dimensions that housed entire races. He's the one who taught the people of Kerajaan Cahaya the "Voice of the Stars" ability, which netted him the position of chief astronomer in the Church of the Stars. Being half-Grand Primeval through his "father" Tuzu also helps. For bonus points, he served as headmaster of a magical academy he founded during the Alicorn Civilization's heyday.
- Magic Star (now Princess Magicum Ponyland) was such an extremely talented wand-maker and enchantress that she personally helped Queen Majesty craft the Wands of Ponyland using materials provided by the Grand Primevals. When she became the Alicorn goddess of Enchantments and Wand-Making, she created countless more wands and artifacts that anyone can use, and can enchant things that normally wouldn't allow it like Anti-Magic materials. After re-Ascending as a divine Reincarnation of Plasmatio Equus, Magic Star becomes a goddess of Creation, letting her create whatever she pleased (though she's quite inexperienced with it). She's also an extremely powerful mage in general and can defend herself in a magical fight. Even her Codex entries outright label her as an Archmage in recognition of her power and talent, and her title is "the Supreme Enchantress".
- Though eclipsed by Queen Dark Crystal, who nearly succeeded in turning Equus into a Crapsack World in the Second Age, Grand Matron Hydia was still seen as one of the most powerful witches to have ever lived. She was strong enough to destroy entire kingdoms by herself, but her forte lay in magical potions and monsters, with her best creation being the Smooze, a "living flood" that could level continents and corrupt people into angry, spiteful beings by suppressing their "spark". Hydia was one of few mortals capable of fighting Queen Majesty in a one-on-one Wizard Duel, which was no small feat as Majesty held the title of "Mage Magnificent" due to her sheer magical power and talent. It apparently ran in the family as Hydia's deceased mother, Grand Matron Alexis, was similarly very powerful, and her entry also outright called her an "archmage".
- Queen Majesty isn't just a Archmage, but the Archmage', and the single most powerful mortal magic user to ever live. Her Wizard Duel with Hydia was her severely weakened due to losing everything exclusive to the Imperium Era, at her strongest Majesty was so immensely powerful Orks consider 'Bigga' to a degree they can never top and fought in conflicts that 'shook worlds.' At her weakest she's on par with Discord. She's so powerful the title archmage is considered insufficient to describe her.
- In reference to how magic is highly prized in Unicorn cultures/societies, Archduke Regal Pillar Heartstrings is a powerful mage who takes after his adoptive Papa, Blue Suede/Caerulus, in both sheer skill and talent. Being a Unicorn god, Regal Pillar honed his tribal magic to a finer degree, making him more experienced in Unicorn magic than a typical Alicorn. And as a god of Power, he specifically embodies magical power — though not to the level of deities like Blue Suede/Caerulus and Twilight/Amicitia, both who embody some form of magic, Regal Pillar wields a huge repertoire of spells, including elemental magic, reality-warping, and spatial manipulation. His true talents, however, lie in dark magic, such as occult and eldritch spells used by cults operating within the most insidious and wicked noble Houses — according to Blue Suede/Caerulus, Regal Pillar began learning Malrègnarian Dark Magic from him by watching him cast musical spells within that school of magic. There's also how Regal Pillar attended Canterlot's School for Gifted Unicorns while disguised as a young Unicorn colt, contributing to his magical prowess. Due to his status, many Unicorn nobles have prayed to him for magic-related matters, like getting stronger magic or access to rare lore and spells.
- Melody of the Virtuous Seven is retroactively seen as an Archmage due to her incredible power and talent in Magic Music, being capable of things like opening/closing dimensional barriers with her voice (an ability her Evil Counterpart, Melodrama, also shared). This is helped by her being a natural-born prodigy. She was so powerful that she became one of few people who could legitimately rival Blue Suede Heartstrings as the greatest musician of the Second Age. When Melody became an Alicorn demigoddess of Music, her musical powers became even stronger, though she's naturally weaker than Blue Suede due to how divine aging works.
- Blue Diadem's entry explicitly calls her an Archmage as of Silk Dawn's four oldest daughters, she is both the strongest and most skilled in magic. Many applications of her domains focus on the magical aspects of them; while emotion manipulation and energy blasts are part of the list, Blue Diadem can cast various other spells through her domains, like creating portals and illusions, summoning tidal waves and floods, healing injuries, and purifying dark magic. Furthering her power is her Magic Staff, which she uses to cast even greater spells. Blue Diadem's entry also notes that as a goddess of Water, she's even more powerful than her adoptive father, Moon Ray Vaughoof, had been back when he was a Water god, both due to divine aging and having more experience than him.
- Mana Equus, known as "The Thirteenth Empyrean" (among other titles 👁 Image
  ), is the greatest spellcaster in Equinekind's history. As Equinekind's first goddess of Magic, Mana not only remembers all branches of magic known to Equinekind, but also created them herself. Her skill is such that she can combine multiple branches in ways that go beyond what they're normally capable of. She also personally created various spells, artifacts, and weapons that she and others had used over the Ages. She taught even her older siblings, and it is believed In-Universe that had Mana survived to the present Age, she would have wiped the floor with other divine spellcasters like Vicearch Iniquitous, Archwizard Manamagus, Overlord Vondur, and Lady Thauma.
Doors to the Unknown: Multiple examples appear, most notably Valigan Talaire, a min-maxed psionicist with the ability to do just about anything a non-epic-level spellcaster can. Multiple other members of the Prime Material Cartographic Society also apply, with almost all of them being of a similar epic level of power. Baron Merrix d'Cannith also makes an appearance, and is just as skilled at artifice as he is in canon.
Durothé in The Keys Stand Alone, for the simple reason that she's over 500 years old and spent the better part of that unable to do much besides study magic.
- Although there are a number of wizards running around Baravada, some of whom teach at the Wizards University, no one is ever described as being “the best” or “the most powerful.”
- In Daarthayu, in the gameworld set on C'hou, there is a ruling council of wizards, one of whom is presumably the boss. However, given that all these wizards are simply non-player characters in the game, it hardly matters whether that one is an Archmage.
Laserllama:
- Ascended Vessels have had the spirit of a powerful mage sealed within them. This allows them to learn Wizard spells along with their usual spell list, and empowers their spell use in general.
- As implied by the name, the Archmage Patron for Warlocks allows them to make a deal with incredibly powerful spellcasters in the setting. Mechanically, this gives them traits associated with the Wizard Class, with their subclass spell list having many signature Wizard spells and using Intelligence instead of Charisma for spellcasting.
The Life and Times of a Winning Pony:
- The Lunar Rebellion: Together with acting as Celestia's vizier, this is Sunbeam's official position as the Archmagus of Canterlot, tasked with overseeing Canterlot's magical academy and overseeing the magic users in and around the city. There are also four other Archmagi overseeing the western, northern, eastern and southern portions of Unicornia, and while all five are technically equals the Archmagus of Canterlot is far and away the most influential, and the de facto leader of Unicornia's magic orders. As the magi are noted to be one of the few organizations in Unicornia to care about one's skill over what family and rank you were born into, this comes with a dose of Asskicking Leads to Leadership, and the archmagi are some of the, if not the, most powerful magic-users among ponykind.
- The institution continues into the story's present day, and Twilight's mother Twilight Velvet is mentioned to have held the position of Archmage of Canterlot in her youth, something she's still quite proud of.
- Sunset Shimmer in The Freeport Venture has this as the first step of her plan, followed by taking over the titular Wretched Hive, and ascending to alicornhood. Notably, Freeport usually doesn't have an Archmagus because it's an Equestrian institution, but when the former student of Princess Celestia herself shows up in your town and starts throwing around incredible magics, refusing to name her Archmagus isn't really an option.
The Moonstone Cup: The titular contest is intended to determine who exactly can rightfully claim to be the greatest living mage, and most of its contestants have strong preexisting claims to this title. Most notable is Amarok, who won all nine times that he participated, is a master of every known form of magic, and appears to be fully up to date will all magical developments every time he turns up.
Pony POV Series: Queen Majesty is the most powerful unicorn to have ever lived, and repeatedly acknowledged as such. She was so incredibly powerful that she was known as a Titan, a mortal with power on par with a god.
Queen of All Oni: It's revealed that Daolon Wong was the Darkest Mage, the most powerful Evil Sorcerer in the world. His loss of power in canon and death in-story has created an Evil Power Vacuum. Several minor plot threads in the story focus on the various villains who are now trying gain enough power to take up Wong's mantle.
A Song of Silk and Saplings: When Team Snakemouth sees what Quirrel can do magically in a spar with Hornet, Kabbu suggests that he might be the greatest mage in the entire history of Bugaria.
Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K:
- Anakin Skywalker isn't believed to be The Chosen One for no reason. When held in the Anti-Magic field of a secret Inquisitorial prison, he unleashes a torrent of psychic energy so powerful he utterly obliterates it, burning out the Power Nullifier and killing most of the Un Sorcerers fueling it, their heads bursting like fireworks from the sheer overload of psychic energy.
- Saphran is an Epistolary of the Crimson Razors Space Marine Chapter, making him the second-most powerful psyker in their forces. He takes on anywhere between fifty and a hundred-plus Jedi simultaneously, kills several of them, injures many more, causes one to fall to the Dark Side by using a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to battle him, and doesn't die until after he is stabbed in the heart and lung with a lightsaber, then has a hole burned completely through his torso by an ancient weapon from the last Jedi-Sith war, obliterating his spine, both hearts and all three lungs.
- Iskandar Khayon, a 10,000 year old Chaos Space Marine Sorcerer of Tzeentch from the Thousand Sons Legion, so powerful that he is the only being other than the Emperor known to have bested the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red in a psychic duel. He is regarded as one of the most powerful Chaos Sorcerers in the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy, and serves as one of the Heralds of Abaddon. Yet even he is awestruck at the potential psychic power of Anakin Skywalker, abandoning his initial plan to bodyjack the Jedi Knight.
To the New World: Gwyndolin becomes this after adding the Lands Between's sorceries to his own arsenal. No longer "just" a Master of Illusion, he packs gravity magic, honing spells, a Rain of Arrows, the ultimate magic Comet Azur, and more.
The Traveling Tutor And The Librarian: As said in Chapter 11 👁 Image
, some letters call Twilight an arch mage, of Ponyville:
“Some of them even put in the address weird. Princess Twilight of Sparkleopous. The Magus of Magic. Solarus Secundus. Arch-Mage of Ponyville. Lady Sparkle of House Twinkle.”
When Reason Fails: Magisters are the pinnacle of what magic-wielding humans can be, being able to more freely use magic due to being resistant to most of the potential downsides overusing magic.

Film — Animated

Aladdin (1992, Disney): Jafar uses his second wish to become the world's most powerful sorcerer, but after Aladdin taunts him that genies are more powerful, he uses his last wish to become the genie and ends up trapped in a lamp.
‘’The Sword in the Stone’’: Merlin describes himself as the “world’s most powerful wizard,” and demonstrates throughout the film his vast array of magic. He also handily defeats The Dreaded Madam Mim, the only other witch in the film.

Film — Live Action

The Beastmaster: The villain, Maax. Maax is the High Priest of Aruk and a cruel fanatic who has no qualms about sacrificing others to further his insidious goals.
Dungeons & Dragons (2000): Profion. He holds this as his title in the Empire of Izmir. As such, he heads up their Council of Mages. He is hands down the most powerful magic user in the film.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves:
- While neither of them appear in the flesh, Elminster Aumar is named as being one of Simon's ancestors, while Mordenkainen from Greyhawk is named as the creator of the arcane seal locking the treasure room of Castle Never as well as that of the Helm of Disjuction. They are two of the most powerful wizards ever.
- Szazz Tam is generally considered the most powerful lich (undead wizard) in the world, with the only significant drawback being that he only has power within the nation of Thay.
Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Stephen Strange. Quickly demonstrating he was born for the mystic arts within a short time in Kamartaj, he quickly grew to become the greatest wielder of the mystic arts on Marvel Earth and the leader of the NY Sanctum. Infinity War, No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness showcase he's recognized as The Ace of the MCU as a whole (despite not even being the Sorcerer Supreme) and in the latter his power has grown so much he's the only one capable of contending with the Scarlet Witch at her peak, albeit with his ingenuity as opposed to raw power.
- Wong is the head librarian at Kamataj and the most skilled Kung-Fu Wizard in the series next to Strange and possibly Mordo. By the time of No Way Home he's the official Sorcerer Supreme.
- Wanda Maximoff was introduced before either of the above and was shown to be incredibly powerful, but relatively inexperienced and limited in practice. However, as the movies continued and her experience grew, she became more adept at using and controlling her powers and demonstrated more diverse abilities. WandaVision confirms that she is the wielder of Chaos Magic and is indeed the Scarlet Witch, a sorceress more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme. Multiverse of Madness confirms her powers are derived from the ancient archdemon Chthon, who prophesised she would one day rule or destroy the universe.
Star Wars: Yoda and Palpatine are the respective heads of the Jedi and Sith Orders, two opposed philosophies for harnessing the mystical power of the Force, and are quite easily the two most powerful Force-users alive by the time of the movies. While Anakin Skywalker is theoretically more powerful than either, the phrase "knowledge is power" very much applies with the Force—Anakin has more raw strength, but either one could crush him in a fight.

Gamebooks

Blood Sword has the True Magi. These evil wizards from Krarth are so knowledgable and powerful that they have achieved a form of deathless immortality and can wield magic far beyond any of your other enemies. In the final book of the series, they have hatched their plan to learn the Song of the Spheres while the world is ending. If they succeed, they'll ascend to true godhood where the apotheosis of such powerful evil will tip the balance of Judgement Day into condemning the world to Hell.
Fighting Fantasy have its share of villainous Arch-mages as the Big Bad of their respective adventures, including the Archmage of Mampang from Sorcery! (envisioned as the powerful ruler of his own empire, who wants to use a powerful artifact called the Crown of Kings to make himself permanent king of four kingdoms) and the villainous Archmage Globus from Spectral Stalkers (a Dimension Lord who rules supreme in his own citadel filled with glass-based elemental monsters).
- On the side of good, there are the wizards Yaztromo and Nicodemus. They mostly just provide information and equipment (Yaztromo also teaches you minor magic in Temple of Terror). But in The Port of Peril, they show how powerful they are in holding back the army of Zanbar Bone with their magic.
GrailQuest, your benefactor is the legendary Merlin himself (though given this is a semi-comedic series, he's quite the screwball and not quite as powerful as he claims).
Wizards, Warriors and You potentially has The Wizard who is not only an expert of various magical spells, he's also a master artificer and made a number of the Warrior's enchanted weapons.
- However, the book often references even more powerful spellcasters called Grand Wizards. They don't show up much, but it's still clear the player-wizard is nowhere near their level. It's even pointed out in the spell descriptions that his ace-in-the-hole spell, Combat Magic, will not work against the magic of a Grand Wizard.

Live Action TV

American Horror Story: Coven: Witches and warlocks are ruled by a Supreme — the most powerful witch born to each generation.
Kingdom Adventure: The Prince has shades of this, being both royalty and wielding powerful magic, sometimes even carrying a gold staff.
Legend of the Seeker: Zeddicus Z'ul Zorrander, Wizard of the First Order, the most powerful type which exists. By the second season, he's the Last of His Kind.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The Dark Wizard is a rogue Istar who abandoned his original purpose and now leads a faction of outlawed sorcerers, and mystics in Rhûn. His immense magical powers have been compared to that of Sauron himself. As the leader of this shadowy cabal, he seeks forbidden knowledge and dominion, making him one of the most dangerous magical entities outside of the Dark Lord.
In the BBC Merlin (2008), Nimueh was one, as the High Priestess of the Old Religion. At least until Merlin fried her. Apparently Morgause became the next High Priestess, and now apparently Morgana's filled the role, based on events in Season 4. She and Merlin are neck and neck for 'most powerful magical person in the world'. As of the Grand Finale, Merlin has taken his traditional place as the undisputed greatest sorcerer of all time.

Mythology

Merlin from Arthurian Legend can be considered an Archmage, depending on the version of the tale in question.
Abe no Seimei is pretty much the Merlin of the East and could be considered an Archmage, not only was he regarded by all other Onmyōdō as the pinnacle of magic, but also by his ruler.

Tabletop Games

13th Age has the Archmage as one of its Icons — a major player in the defence of the Dragon Empire, who has among other things set up protective wards around the Empire to detect powerful threats. His chief problem is that all the tasks he's assumed responsibility for have him badly overworked, forcing him to get adventurers to solve certain issues for him.
Age of Aquarius: In the first edition, Semyon Nikolaev was described as simply a mysterious Voice with an Internet Connection; the second edition elaborates on him more, establishing him firmly as The Archmage and possibly the Big Good.
Ars Magica: The title of "archimagus" is awarded to distinguished members of the Order of Hermes. The particulars vary, but as a baseline, a mage needs to complete a major service to the Order as a whole, invent an entirely new high-level spell, and defeat a sitting archmage at a challenge of the archmage's choosing. Archimagi in the Order enjoy high status, extra voting authority, and possibly membership in an Ancient Conspiracy...
Champions: The Archmage functions much like Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme. However, the position of Archmage has been vacant since The Tunguska Event, which killed the last one (yes, it was deliberate), and the subculture of wizardry is a little paranoid, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who fulfills even one of the requirements for Archmagery. This has arguably not been to the planet's benefit, as the Archmage is intended to be the online line of defense against magical threats the planet needs.
Dungeons & Dragons:
- Archliches generally fit this trope due to the reason they (despite being almost entirely identical in abilities and appearance) are described separately from normal liches: the normal lich ritual includes lots of evil shortcuts that makes it much easier to use and discover, so the archlich ritual requires much more magical power and much more knowledge. As a result, archliches tends to on average be more powerful and learned mages than the average lich, and neutral or even good (since evil mages had no real reason not to use the evil shortcuts of normal liches), but also much rarer.
- Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition: Specific levels in a character class had a name associated with them. In this case an "Archmage" was a member of the Magic-User class who had reached 18th level and could potentially cast 9th level spells (the highest available at the time). Other classes had similar naming systems (e.g. "Patriarch", "Lord", "Hierophant", etc.). Although the level names did not carry over into 2nd Edition generally, the tradition of wizards of 18th level or higher being called "Archmages" stuck. Then, from Third Edition and onward it became the name of a prestige class (documented in the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting). This prestige class was updated in 3.5 and included as a stock PrC in the Dungeon Master's Guide from the core rulebooks. Their powers allow them to perform feats of magic available to few others (imagine being able to cast the spell fireball without having to worry about friendly fire ever again), but at the cost of some of their spells. The class was updated again in 4th Edition, as an epic destiny available to characters over 20th level. Now focused on reusing spells and using them more often, archmages can also exist as an arcane spirit. At 30th level, they are said to retreat into seclusion to study magic, eventually merging with the singular Demispell. In 5th Edition, Archmage is a standard non-player character who can cast the highest-level wizard spells.
- Dragonlance: Wizards like this aren't as common as in other settings, but Raistlin Majere, one of the Heroes of the Lance (who later tried to slay Takhisis to obtain godhood, and managed to kill all three pantheons before timeline was changed) counts at the height of his power.
- Forgotten Realms: "Archmage" is an old honorific for people who are obviously better at arcane arts than the majority of wizards. Elminster Aumar, Sage of Shadowdale, and Chosen of Mystra (the goddess of magic) definitely is an archmage.
  - Sometimes, it's used as a formal title: e.g. Gromphe Beanre is "the Archmage of Menzoberranzan", effectively the most powerful arcane caster and headmaster of the mage school in the largest city of drow. In Halruaa it's synonymous with "Elder" — a high-ranked wizard who gets to own a skyship (not all "Elders" are old). Netherese arcanists earned the title of "archwizard" by creating a floating island, to found a city on top and rule it.
  - Szass Tam is the leader of the Red Wizards and in terms of his game stats is definitely more powerful than Elminster. Halaster Blackcloak is another example.
  - Larloch, described by Word of God as a 46th level lich who has had over a thousand years to construct personal defense spells, cannot be touched by a spell unless he chooses to be, and personally commands a hive mind of sixty (at least) other liches, all of whom are bound with him as their directing agent.
  - Ioulaum has perhaps slightly less magic than Larloch, but makes up for it by having transformed himself into an undead Elder Brain commanding a city of mind flayer liches.
  - The Simbul (aka Witch-Queen of Aglarond), also one of the Chosen of Mystra, is one of Elminster's allies and occasionally lover, and as far as game stats go, even more powerful than he is. Other powerful wizards of note in the Realms include Manshoon, the founder of the Zhentarim, Laeral Silverhand of Waterdeep, and the Seven Sisters (of which the Simbul is a member). (In short, powerful wizards seem to be everywhere in the Realms.)
  - Daurgothoth the dracolich is one of the most powerful magic-users in the Realms. He's functionally reached the limits of arcane powers and has spent the past several centuries actively experimenting with and inventing new spells and ways to use old ones. As a result of this, he's easily the most proactive and productive magical researcher in the world. Mechanically, this is represented by him being a full-level wizard with five levels in the Archmage prestige class. He's not a Chosen of Mystra, but she has declared him off-limits to her Chosen because of how much his endless experimenting has expanded the Art.
- Greyhawk: Mordenkainen is probably the straightest example, being the second strongest mortal wizard in the setting and typically serving as a wise, inscrutable Big Good (well, Big Neutral, but whatever). There's also his buddies, notably Bigby, Tenser, Otiluke, his former friend, Rary, the last generation's big archmage, Zagyg, and the strongest mortal wizard, Iggwilv the Witch-Queen. Bar Robilar, pretty much every epic-level mortal in Greyhawk is a wizard of some stripe.
- Ravenloft: The Archlich Azalin Rex is perhaps among the most powerful spellcasters within the Demiplane of Dread, being both a Dark Lord and having (almost) escaped the Dark Powers.
Exalted has the various tiers of Sorcery, but only Solars and Infernals can learn the upper limits of Solar Circle Sorcery. In history, the two most likely to be recognized as archmages are Brigid (who first discovered the secrets of Sorcery) and Salina (who created a secret working that effectively rewrote the source code of Creation so that anyone, not just a Solar, could initiate themselves into at least the first circle).
- Brigid holds the place of honour as the Mother of Sorcery, but later on Devon, Salina and Silur would found the three principal methods of learning, studying and practising sorcery — naturally, all of them were Solars. In the Age of Sorrows, the most well-known Sorcerers would be the missing Dragonblooded Empress and her daughter Mnemon, but the most powerful would most likely be the Lunar Raksi, Queen of Fangs, who rules over the ruin-city of Mahalanka — formerly known as Sperimin, the greatest seat of sorcerous learning in all of Creation.
- Necromancy is more specialised than Sorcery, matching its power but lacking its full scope, with only Abyssals able to learn the upper limits of Void Circle Necromancy.
GURPS: Fantasy: Geaticus the Chaldean is an archmage with no magical abilities at all. Instead he has become so familiar with magic that he can track down places where anyone can cast spells and then wait until the astrological signs enhance the right sort of magic.
Mutant Chronicles: The Revered Teacher Chang Dang-Vu, most revered of the Keepers of the Art. Master Dang-Vu is a small, apple-cheeked, perpetually smiling man, whose mastery of the Art is such that he can heal the sick, raise the recently deceased, predict the future with infallible accuracy centuries in advance, create illusions so life-like they can fool people who know they are illusions, extract memories from the minds of others that their owners had forgotten, make lightning strike from a clear sky, and make himself fast enough to be invisible and strong enough to rip tanks to shreds with his bare hands. He can't teleport, but that's only because he thinks teleportation is "vulgar".
Adrian Eldrich was the "Master Mage" in the Freedom City setting of Mutants & Masterminds. He's also the Doctor Strange Expy of the setting. As of third edition, Eldritch passed the role over to Seven (the Next Gen's expy of the Titans' Raven), then was killed by Una, Queen of the Netherworld. Upon defeating her, Seven became Queen of the Netherworld, and had to abandon the Master Mage role, which is now vacant.
New World of Darkness portrays being an archmage in Mage: The Awakening as a desire for any specialist of a specific arcanum, the title meaning one has reached the height of excellence within that field (in gameplay terms, by transcending the 5-dot limit in a particular Arcanum, like in the Mage: The Ascension example) and become capable of godlike feats; to be an archmage within more than one arcanum is the stuff of legends (though they are presented in the books). However, each side has their own archmages (be they Pentacle, Exarchs or Abyss) who really aren't happy with a force of cosmic destruction on the other guy's side. Hence, all these factions (along with god-like spirits) are sworn to an ancient pact that prevents each side's archmages from exerting direct influence upon the world. The pact says nothing about indirect influence, however... also, it doesn't apply to rewriting the universe from the Supernal Realms.
Old World of Darkness: In Mage: The Ascension, Archmage refers to a mage who mastered a sphere of magic to the point of surpassing the 5 dot limit. Though in the same region of power there are also Exemplars who were archmages but became focused on one sphere to the point where they started becoming extensions of that sphere, Gods who put aside regular magery and instead became powerful spirits manifesting various concepts, and the rare Oracles who actually succeeded at following the path of personal ascension to its end, then at the last moment chose to turn back and help the rest of the universe ascend instead of just ascending themselves. Normally, at least.
Pathfinder doesn't really use the actual term "Archmage" much, but there are many characters who fit the definition.
- Most prominent would be the seven Runelords of ancient Thassilon, all of whom were high-level wizards and many of whom had mythic ranks to make them even more badass. When they foresaw the world-shaking calamity of Earthfall, they sealed themselves away to wait it out, except they underestimated the scale of Earthfall and ended up staying locked away for roughly 10,000 years. The "Rise of the Runelords" and "Return of the Runelords" adventure paths deal with what happens when they start to escape their cans.
- There are others fitting the title peppered throughout the setting, notably Old-Mage Jatembe who brought magic back to the world after Earthfall and founded the magic college of the Magaambya Academy, Geb (ghostly founder of the eponymous necrocracy), his archenemy Nex (founder of his own Egopolis, current whereabouts unknown) Baba Yaga (who after conquering Irrisen usually only returns once a century to switch out the ruling queen), Hao Jin who's preserved peoples and places in danger of extinction inside the tapestry artifact of her own making, and the mightiest lich to ever walk Golarion, Tar-Baphon The Whispering Tyrant (back in business after centuries being a Sealed Evil in a Can and causing a massive political upheaval in the lands surrounding his lair as everyone scrambles to prepare for his next onslaught).
Warhammer:
- Kairos Fateweaver is amongst the most powerful of all magically gifted daemons by Tzeentch the Chaos God of magic, and his rules make him one of the most powerful and versatile spellcasters in all three game systems.
- Warhammer 40,000:
  - Many people in-universe believe that Varro Tigurius, Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines Chapter of Adeptus Astartes, is the strongest psyker within the Imperium, his power only surpassed by the Emperor himself. Whether this is the case or not, the current Chief Librarian is certainly the most powerful psyker to hold position since the Chapter's founding.
  - Magnus the Red was one of the greatest psykers and arcane scholars in the galaxy even before he ascended into daemonhood, and once presided over the Imperium's only true and open Magocracy (which exists now only as a fractious, brutal Magical Society). In the 8th Edition of the game this is represented by Magnus receiving bonuses when he manifests psychic powers.
  - Ahzek Ahriman, former First Captain and Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons, an Astartes Legion full of powerful psykers, and his powers have only grown greater in the centuries since then. In the 8th Edition of the game he knows more psychic powers than any other Thousand Sons character except his daemonic gene-sire Magnus and receives bonuses to his casting. Meanwhile, in the first book of his novel series Ahriman is still powerful enough to take on seven other opponents killing them all in the span of five heartbeats.
  - Any Exalted Sorcerer who leads one of the Sects of the Thousand Sons, known as an Arch Magister, is said to be dark exemplar of arcane might, able to bend the forces of the warp to his will with a mere thought. The 8th Edition rules represent this with the 'High Magister' Warlord Trait that gives the Thousand Sons Warlord a bonus when casting Psychic Powers.
  - Aldrik Voldus is the most powerful psyker to have served with the daemon hunting Grey Knights for centuries, able to harness the energies of the Warp to destroy his foes or banish the most powerful of daemons with ease. In game terms Grand Master Voldus is able to manifest more Psychic Powers than any other Grey Knight character.
  - The God-Emperor of Mankind is the most powerful Psyker humanity ever produced, and perhaps the most powerful Psyker in existence. Even Magnus the Red pales in comparison to him, the Chaos Gods call him the Anathema, and Greater Daemons fear him. And he's been growing in power ever since his internment to the Golden Throne, that he is able to revive a dying Guilliman, raze Nurgle's prized garden and almost killed The Plaguefather himself.
  - Farseers are the senior psykers of the Aeldari, a species naturally given to psychic powers. Craftworld society is structured around a system of vocational paths, with the idea being that each person will devote themselves to one, channel their energies along it, and leave it for another when they've explored as much of it as they reasonably can; some become "Lost" on a path, meaning that they remained on it a bit too long, delved a bit too deeply in its ways, and are now permanently mentally stuck in it, becoming unrivalled masters in it in exchange for being able to do nothing else in their lives. Farseers are those lost on the Path of the Seer, and spend centuries, if not millennia, honing their psychic powers, future sight, and strategic acumen beyond the levels achievelable by shorter-lived species.
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: The nine Gaunt Summoners are some of the most powerful followers of Tzeentch, the God of Magic, and are the most accomplished magic uses in all the Mortal Realms, able to easily summon daemons from the Realm of Chaos or burn their enemies to ashes with infernal flame.
- Warhammer Fantasy Battle:
  - "Archmage" is used specifically to refer to the most powerful High Elf mages. Other races (except the dwarfs) have a similar rank, such as Wizard Lord, Supreme Sorceress or Sorcerer Lord, that fulfill the same role.
  - The Slann spend most of their time in contemplation of the heavens and the nature of magic, tweaking things to stay on the Old Ones' plan^noteand by "tweaking" things, they mean things like altering permanent weather patterns or reversing tectonic plate movements, and are the most powerful wizards in the setting. In sixth and seventh edition Slann could take unique upgrades or bought in different generations that could put them miles above any other mage in the game, although generations were replaced and the upgrades were heavily nerfed by eight edition.
  - The named characters Teclis of the High Elves (the page quote is about him) and Arkhan the Black of the Tomb Kings are the only two level five wizards in-game (all other wizards are levels one through four). Both of them need magic items for it in the form of Teclis' Cool Crown and Arkhan's Tome of Eldritch Lore.
  - Arkhan's boss, Nagash, was the most powerful mortal wizard of his time, and the strongest human mage to ever live. He invented necromancy and could draw his power from multiple distinct lores, including Light and Death, which humans normally cannot. Unfortunately for everyone else, he then gave himself a huge power upgrade and transformed into a terrifying lich demigod with magical power to match.
World Tree (RPG): Iraz Varuun is the goddess of magic, who knows every spell ever written and can invent and write new ones at will.

Theatre

Hermione Granger has become this in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. She's Minister for Magic and was always the best witch in her year at Hogwarts, possibly the world now with Dumbledore and Voldemort gone.

Visual Novels

From the Nasuverse:
- Introduced in Tsukihime, Kishur Zelretch Schweinorg. He is a centuries-old vampire mage with the ability to travel between realities, and he is far and away the most powerful (currently living) mage in the series. At the height of his power, he punched out Brunestud of the Crimson Moon by hitting him with an "Ether Cannon" backed up by an infinite amount of magic power. He's also one of only five practitioners of "True Magic", or magic that breaks all laws of magecraft because it's just that powerful. The Second Magic (aforementioned jumping between realities) is his domain. Even leaving aside his True Magic, however, while there are many magus who ranks above Magicians in terms of pure magecraft skill, Zelretch is considered to be at the pinnacle of magus ability even when it comes to magecraft, earning him the title of "Wizard Marshal", and he's successfully taught many students in the field of magecraft to become some of the brightest in their generation.
- Fate/Grand Order introduces several of these:
  - The powerful mage in history being King Solomon of Israel, who invented the entire practice of magecraft when he realized that True Magic was dying out along with the Age of Gods, forcing him to come up with an alternative if humanity was to continue wielding any magic at all. He is famous for having controlled the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia as familiars, noted to have been the most powerful familiars a human has ever commanded. As a Servant, he's naturally summoned as a Caster, and is in fact the Grand Caster, meaning he's the most powerful Caster class Heroic Spirit in existence.
  - Unsurprisingly, Merlin also qualifies as a Grand Caster and is a Half-Incubi with Complete Immortality and clairvoyance capable of bending time and space to his will, though in fights he tends to prefer swinging Excalibur as well as using his powers to mess with others, such as pretending to be a Virtual Celebrity to mess with King Solomon's human incarnation Romani Archaman.
  - Circe of Colchis was the teacher of Medea and taught her everything she knows, and is still able to pull a fast one on her at her pleasure. She proudly calls herself the "Queen Witch" and demands everyone acknowledge her as such. Alongside The Queen of Sheba below, she helped restrain an Eldritch Abomination long enough for Chaldea to defeat its host.
  - The Queen of Sheba is a mage in the same league as Circe and Medea as shown by when she worked with Circe to fight an Eldritch Abomination as well as an intellectual equal of King Solomon and his God-given wisdom (in fact, that's exactly what started their closer friendship). She could even cast a spell that allowed her return from the dead after being turned into a monstrous ghoul.
  - Morgan le Fae is an Evil Sorcerer considered an equal to Merlin, and her Alternate Timeline self as a Lostbelt King is so powerful she can launch attacks into other Lostbelts without leaving her own, which basically means she can attack across dimensions and space-time. More impressively is that Morgan isn't even of the Caster class: She's a Berserker.
  - Among human mages, Kirschtaria Wodime is introduced as both one of the most powerful mages of the modern world and the most powerful mage in Chaldea before his Face–Heel Turn. However, he didn't truly become this until he was able to maximize his Animusphere magecraft within his Lostbelt, which takes place during the time of the Greek Age of Gods and allows him to align the planets and stars into a Magic Circuit. This allows him to unleash feats on a scale that absolutely dwarfs any mage in Pan-Human History, including those of the Age of Gods, and lets him unleash spells powerful enough to dominate Servants and actual gods, including a Colony Drop of asteroids that is considered on par with a Noble Phantasm.
  - Marisbury Animusphere may have topped everyone since he created an artificial Earth and an artificial Root that overwrites Proper Human History.
- Medea of Colchis is said to be one of the greatest mages of the setting, described as being "infinitely close to Magicians" without actually using True Magic thanks to her tutelage under Circe and her High-Speed Divine Words. In an all-out battle of magecraft no modern magi should be able to match her, not even the likes of Zelretch and Aoko Aozaki. And it should be noted that ringing endorsement of her abilities comes from King Solomon himself. Unfortunately for her, she finds herself in a war where most every single combatant has some form of Magic Resistance, she herself is crippled by possessing a Muggle Master (when everyone else has at least an Inept Mage), and her physical abilities are so pathetic Rin beat her bloody once she closed the distance on Medea before she could get out a spell, meaning she has to rely less on magical might and more on fighting dirty.

Webcomics

Daughter of the Lilies: Wizards are supposed to be the "gold standard" when it comes to magic, and what we've seen of Wu so far supports this — he can transform into a nigh-invulnerable dragon and heal devastating physical and spiritual wounds with a handwave, which are far beyond an ordinary mage's capabilities. Wizards' extra power is implied to be granted by the setting's Crystal Dragon Jesus.
Destiny Intertwined: In a general sense, dragons who achieve the highest possible level of mastery in magic are referred to as "Magicals"; these are fairly rare, and it's not guaranteed that one will be around in any given period. Formally, the title of Grand Master of Magic is reserved for the most powerful and accomplished magic-user in Warfang's society. The current holder of the title, Eurune, is also the only living Magical at the story's time.
Dominic Deegan: Miranda Deegan, the titular Dominic's mother, holds the title of Archmage; among her many feats, she is capable of sending people who piss her off to a dimension crawling with Eldritch Abominations. "Archmage" in this series seems to be a title given to the most powerful mage in an entire plane of reality, and there is a council of such beings across the multiverse; the council's meeting place normalizes the size and speech of the members, so they can better communicate. Miranda's predecessor King David (who retired to pursue politics, hence the "King" title) was powerful enough to convince the rest of the council to accept him in their ranks, when in the past they had dismissed humans as not being magical enough. David is apparently still powerful enough to give even Miranda pause. The Circle Archmages initially intended Miranda to be their first human archmage, but David used subtle suggestion magic on them to take the position. When he left the role of human archmage to Miranda, David also made her to restrain her own power via a suggestion spell. Later, David's plot lead to the non-human Archmagi being possessed and killed as scapegoats, but one of them manages to publicly declare they are being controlled by David, before dying. At the end of the story, Miranda retired as archmage, leaving Milov as the new leader of the Circle, with Luna as his apprentice before she took the position years later.
8-Bit Theater: Sarda is, in his own words, the Wizard that did it. Exaggerated — he's literally older than the universe and omnipotent, and uses his ridiculous Reality Warper powers solely to screw with, torture, and/or murder people for his own amusement. But even he's no match for Chaos, who takes over his body when he overloads on magical power.
4 Cut Hero: Gathell Phrodine, real name Kal Toven, alternate version of protagonist Zeed Toven, is an extremely powerful mage and possibly the strongest character in the entire setting. His feats include destroying an entire country single-handedly, warding a mountain so that no magic can be used on it and creating a separate dimension at the top, easily killing a lord dragon with the power to cross alternate dimensions, smacking an evil apocalyptic god around like an uppity child, and terrifying the top god of the setting with the mere mention of his name. Oh, and he's also a Kung-Fu Wizard possessing sword skills and martial arts to boot.
The Great Wizard Transcendent has Mikhail in the first timeline being the most powerful wizard in the world with having nine circles.
The Archmage from Looking for Group is one of these in both practice and name.
Nixvir: Jack O'Quant, the trainer of the best wizards in the World Oak, was this. However, he was a very powerful good wizard, who fought against the Evil Sorcerer Zephyron when he invaded the forest. Archon Stegg remembers him very fondly as "one good wizard."
The Order of the Stick:
- Dorukan, a Posthumous Character who dedicated his life to creating the most powerful set of spells possible in order to guard his Gate.
- Vaarsuvius's master, Aarindarius. Very little has been revealed about them, but a what-if scenario shows them effortlessly taking down a dragon that defeated Vaarsuvius, who is quite a powerful and experienced wizard. Their lack of role in the story makes them a bit of an All-Powerful Bystander.
- A less scholarly examples is Xykon, who, as a sorcerer, makes up for a relative lack of magical flexibility with a considerable helping of raw power. Upon becoming a lich he grew so powerful he defeated the aforementioned Dorukan in a magical duel.
Our Little Adventure: Brian and Angelo are the leaders of the Souballo Empire and widely considered to be the most powerful spellcasters in Manjulias. Both are "Epic"-leveled beyond the usual Character Level cap in the RPG Mechanics 'Verse: Brian is a wizard and preeminent magic researcher, while Angelo controls both arcane and divine magic, overcoming the usual limitations of The Red Mage through pure overwhelming force.
Unknown Lands: Inara is the most powerful mage of a people who are born with strong magic and easily kills swaths of elves, a race with similar inborn magic and more time to practice it, without even really trying. She is by far the most powerful magic user yet known in the setting which is why she is the Champion.
Zebra Girl: Jack turns into one after many years of studying magic.

Web Original

In The Gamer's Alliance, Jemuel is given the title of archmage because he is a very powerful de facto leader of the Council of Mages which rules over the Magicracy of Alent during the Third Age.
A Class in Overlord Ascendant. Merlin in particular is regarded as the first, and was the creator of dungeons, and is rumored to have been the creator of the entire Adventurer system in the first place.
The Stickworld: Ever since Ava's brother Balthazar discovered magic, Ava aspired to be the strongest magician so she can protect her world. After various tests creating monsters that can grow stronger than stick figures, she creates one that tries to eat her, but is able to absorb its mana from within. This made her the only stick figure to break the innate limits placed on stick figures to become even stronger than the Overseers. In her first actual fight she has enough mana to summon an entire Storm of Blades whereas Justice, the Overseer who invented Sword Magic, could only summon one.

Western Animation

The Dragon Prince:
- The Startouch elf Aaravos is explictly described as such by Harrow. He is apparently powerful enough to have mastered magic in all six primal sources, despite logic dictating he should be only capable of using star magic. Aaravos can also cast spells just by drawing a rune without a verbal incantation. He even seems to have some ability with dark magic, and has tutored Lord Viren, he himself an expert in the craft, in its use.
- Viren himself qualifies, especially in the political sense as the "high mage" of Katolis. He's clearly regarded as an expert in the field and shows great ingenuity. He also has considerable skill in primal magic, or at least Sky magic, that he could use with a primal stone.
Gargoyles: The Archmage was a 10th century foe of the gargoyles who returned in modern times to lay siege to the island of Avalon. He was so mystically wise (or insane...) that he could actually speak to time-traveling incarnations of himself, hold a civil conversation, and work with them to complete their goals. Although you wouldn't know it from his first appearance.^noteThis would be because he was originally written as a one-off villain, and series creator Greg Weisman wasn't terribly interested in him. Then David Warner turned in a remarkably sinister and badass vocal performance for him, and Weisman decided to bring the character back with a much-expanded role.
Masters of the Universe;
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): Orko is an Inept Mage whose never-ending failed spells make him the resident Butt-Monkey of Eternia. However, this is only because magic on Eternia works completely differently to magic on his native Trolla. His companions are therefore stunned to learn that Trolla views Orko as one of their greatest archmages and call him "Orko the Great". When given the chance to go home, Orko has no trouble protecting Prince Adam and saving his entire planet from an evil plot by one of Skeletor's most powerful servants. Single-handed.
- There was a canceled prequel series that would have focused on He-Man's ancestor, He-Ro who could transform into the most powerful wizard in the universe.
- In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021), the greatest practitioners of magic earn the title of Sorcerer or Sorceress, and can create magic with a mere thought. Through the Power of Grayskull, Teela is given this level of magic control and so dubbed herself Sorceress while transformed. Through the power of Havoc, Evelyn has the same Sorceress level of power as Evil-Lyn.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- Star Swirl the Bearded, natch. He lived centuries ago, but his name is still widely known, due to making many ground-breaking discoveries and inventions in the field of magic. Twilight, a student of magic herself, quite naturally idolizes him. When freed from Limbo where he and the rest of his allies sent themselves to seal away the Pony of Shadows for over a thousand years, the villain after taking a magic blast straight from alicorn Twilight states she's almost as strong as Star Swirl is.
- In the Season 3 finale "Magical Mystery Cure", Twilight Sparkle writes her own magic, fixes a spell Star Swirl himself had failed to get right, and becomes the Alicorn Princess of Magic. It is pretty much safe to say that Twilight herself has become an Archmage, and she only gets better as the seasons keep going. By the beginning of Season 9, she's strong enough once properly motivated to match King Sombra's magic.
  - In general, any unicorn whose specialization is magic has the potential to become one, as most unicorns are confined to a few spells related to their domain of expertise, while a unicorn with the talent of magic as a whole can learn a plethora of different spells for every occasion. However, even among those privileged unicorns, there are different levels of aptitude and Twilight Sparkle seems to be at the very top or somewhere close to it, mastering in minutes spells that other unicorns take months if not years to learn. Even as a "mere" student, and despite occasionally falling into the Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot (not due to any Inept Mage tendencies, but rather because Twilight is focused more on learning as many spells as possible over actually practicing any of them), even by the time the series starts, Twilight already has the trappings of an Archmage, as demonstrated in Boast Busters where her telekinesis — normally the most basic of unicorn powers, used primarily to handle objects — allows her to nonviolently defeat and dispose of a small Kaiju.
- King Sombra of the Crystal Empire is a villainous example, being a terrifying One-Man Army and an expert at various curses and traps that repeatedly stump even the Princesses.

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