Magicians The
Magicians are a subset of fictional characters in the series. They are usually humans and possess powerful magical abilities. As such, they are the only humans able to take the role of King of Human Xanth. While this role previously could not be held by Sorceresses (female Magicians)
, they were later allowed to become Kings of Xanth.
Arnolde Arnolde, a rare
centaur magician, is introduced in
Centaur Aisle. Initially, his talent is described as the ability to generate an aisle of magic around his body when he is in Mundania. When Arnolde is ninety, his magic is discovered and he is banished from Centaur Isle by his fellow centaurs. Arnolde is well regarded by humans; his magical ability enabled the rescue of
King Trent and
Queen Iris from a Mundanian prison. He is an acting-king during the reign of
Trent. In
Night Mare, when Arnolde is ninety-eight, he is for a short time, a centaur king. During his reign, he declares that Sorceresses are merely female Magicians, and therefore eligible to serve as Kings of Xanth. In
Golem in the Gears, Arnolde reveals that when he carries
reverse wood, he is able to create an aisle of non-magic in Xanth. The true nature of Arnolde's talent is revealed in
Currant Events.
Bink Bink is the Magician of Magical Invulnerability and the
main character in the first two novels of the Xanth series,
A Spell for Chameleon and
The Source of Magic. He is the son of Roland of the High Council and Bianca. He serves as king pro-tem during
Trent's reign. Bink is banished for not possessing a magic talent when, in fact, he does possess magical ability. Bink's magic does not want to be known because, if it were, those of non-magical means would injure Bink and his family, with the magic being indirectly responsible. Hence, in order to keep itself hidden, Bink's magic works in quiet ways, by seeming coincidence, and very few people know of it. For example, it causes an invisible giant to walk by just as Bink was to reveal his magic whilst under a truth spell. Furthermore, Bink's magic protects him, making him seem an unusually lucky man.
Dawn Dawn's magical ability allows her to know anything about the animate. She is the daughter of
Dolph and Electra. She and her twin,
Eve, appear in
Faun & Games. In
Well-Tempered Clavicle, she marries Pick a Bone. Her children with him are a human boy named Piton and a skeleton girl named Data.
Dolph Dolph is the Magician of Metamorphosis. He has the power to transform and shapeshift into anything. His parents are
Dor and
Irene. Dolph was engaged to Nada Naga but chose to marry Electra. His twin sorceress daughters are
Dawn and
Eve. He is a protagonist in
Heaven Cent and
Isle of View.
Dor Magician Dor is the son of
Bink and
Chameleon. He served as king pro-tem during
Trent's reign. Dor is able to make inanimate objects, such as rocks, clouds, water, and bones, speak. He is married to
Irene. The stork delivered them two children, Princess
Ivy and Prince
Dolph and they have a third child with magical ability, Princess
Ida. Dor appears in
Castle Roogna,
Centaur Aisle,
Ogre, Ogre, and
Night Mare.
Eve Through her magic, Eve knows all about the inanimate. She is the daughter of
Dolph and Electra. She and her twin sister,
Dawn, appear in
Faun & Games and in
Jumper Cable, where they fight over a boy.
Grey Grey is the Magician of Magic Nullification. This means he can nullify magic near him and then restore it stronger than it was before. He is the son of Magician
Murphy and Neo-Sorceress
Vadne. He married Sorceress
Ivy, who rescued him from
Mundania in
Man from Mundania. He is the father of the triplet Sorceresses,
Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. On Ptero, a moon of Ida, when Grey is older, he is known as the royal consort because his wife, Ivy, is a future King of Xanth. Captain of Xanth's star-ship, the Beta, during a dream voyage to rescue centaur expedition Alpha in
Board Stiff from Demoness Fornax.
Grundy Golem Grundy was a sarcastic doll-sized golem made out of string and clay by Magician Humfrey. He was given the ability to speak to any living creature, capable of understanding all languages from human to plants. Eventually he is turned into a real man by X(A/N)th but retains his diminutive height.
Ida Ida is the Sorceress of the Idea: within limits, any idea presented to her may come to be. Ida must first believe that the idea will eventuate and the idea must come to her from someone who is unaware of her magical ability. Ida is the twin sister of
Princess Ivy, although this may have been the result of her own talent. In
Knot Gneiss, Ida weds Prince Hilarion. A small moon called Ptero orbits over her, holding every person in Xanth there ever was or might be. The Ida on Ptero has another moon (Pyramid) where the inhabitants use a barter system that results in givers gaining size and receivers losing size. This Ida has Torus, whose Ida has Cone, whose Ida has Dumbbell, and so on. This continues into infinity, with each moon having different shapes, inhabitants, and rules. Thus, Ida is the caretaker of every conceivable and inconceivable idea. The chain of moons extends to Mundania and cycles back to Ida herself. In the later books of the Xanth series, a visit to Ida is highly desired.
Ilene Ilene is the Sorceress of Making Illusions Real. For instance, she is able to make an illusion of maturity an actuality. Ilene is the daughter of Iris and Trent (after their rejuvenation).
Irene The beautiful, green haired Irene is the Sorceress of Plants. She was able to create a massive arboreal defence about Castle Roogna. When she was King of Xanth, Arnold Centaur decreed her magical ability "Magician level". Irene is the daughter of
Trent and
Iris. Her husband is Dor and her children, raised under her stern eye, are Ivy, Ida, and Dolph. Irene succeeded her mother, Iris, as a female King of Xanth. Irene was a protagonist in
Centaur Aisle and
Dragon on a Pedestal. She served as king pro-tem during the reign of
Trent.
Iris Iris is the Sorceress of Illusion. She can create illusions in all of the five senses, including illusions of silence and invisibility, and hold them in place with minimal effort. Her illusion can exist a short way into the non-magical realm. Iris possesses a devious and keen intellect. She is a Queen of Xanth by her marriage to Trent. She is also the first contemporary female King of Xanth. Iris is the mother of Irene. She is a protagonist in
A Spell for Chameleon and
Night Mare. Later in the series, she makes a rejuvenated appearance in
Geis of the Gargoyle.
Ivy Ivy is the Sorceress of Enhancement. She can enhance people and objects; for example, by improving their endurance and aim. Ivy is capable of enhancing any quality she desires, or even to make things as she unconsciously perceives them; for example, when she first met Humphrey's son Hugo, who was described as mentally slow and had the talent to conjure rotten fruit, she enhanced his qualities while he was in her presence, making him more intelligent and giving him the ability to conjure ripe fruit, all because she perceived him as intelligent. Ivy is the daughter of
Dor and
Irene. She has blonde hair with a tinge of green (from her mother). Ivy's twin sister is
Ida. Ivy is married to Magician
Grey. Their children are the triplets, Sorceresses
Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. Ivy is a protagonist in
Dragon on a Pedestal,
Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn, and
Man from Mundania.
Kadence Kadence is the Sorceress of Alignment who can make anything move in step, to a common beat. Her mother is
Princess Rhythm and her father is Cyrus, the first
cyborg in Xanth.
Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm The Triplet Sorceresses are the children of
Ivy and
Grey. Melody has blonde hair with a tinge of green and blue eyes like her mother, Harmony has brown eyes and hair like her father, and Rhythm has red hair and green eyes like her cousin, Dawn. Their magical ability allows them to create or enable anything they envision while playing music. If two of the three play together, the power is squared and if all three play, it is cubed. Melody hums, Harmony plays the harmonica and Rhythm beats her drum.
Murphy Murphy is the Magician who Makes Things Go Wrong. He unsuccessfully challenged for the monarchy and was exiled for a time, and returned to Xanth with a promise of allegiance. Murphy has a son,
Grey, with Sorceress
Vadne. Murphy first appeared in
Castle Roogna. He has served as king
pro tem during
Dor's reign.
Patxi Paxti is a magician who creates enchanted paths that can prevent the passage of any creature. He appears in
Cube Route.
Ragna Roc Ragna Roc is a powerful magician bird. He is able to make an illusion real or make reality an illusion, but he cannot repeat such a transformation: that is, he cannot reverse the "real-ness" of something he has already reversed.
Rempel Rempel is a centaur magician whose talent is to know the talents of others. He is introduced in
Xone of Contention.
Sea Hag Sea Hag is the Sorceress of Immortality and a member of the first human colony of Xanth. On her death, Sea Hag inhabits and possesses another male or female body. The character is introduced in
Golem in the Gears and given further explanation in
Question Quest and
The Dastard.
Sherlock Sherlock is the Magician of Reversal who can reverse the nature or characteristics of any person or object. His wife is Clio and his adopted child is Ciriana. Sherlock is introduced in ''
Demons Don't Dream, in the company of his friend Dug Mundane, and returns in Currant Events'', where he discovers his magical ability.
Surprise Surprise is the Sorceress of Talents who can use any magical ability, but only once. However, by using her imagination, she is able to endlessly reproduce any effect. Her parents are Grundy Golem and Rapunzel. Surprise was in fact a
surprise to her parents, as the stork delivered her when she was five. She is a central figure in
Geis of the Gargoyle and
Stork Naked. She has a daughter by Umlaut. In
The Dastard, it is discovered that she can reuse talents she's used before after a long time has passed, but the Dastard "unhappens" this discovery.
Tallyho Tallyho is the Magician of Talents, who creates and assigns magical abilities to newly conceived babies. He lives in the Gourd. His predecessor was the Magician of Talents who assigned the talent of cursing to all the descendants of the original Curse Fiends. The character is introduced in
Up In A Heaval.
Tapis Tapis is the Sorceress of Tapestry. She created enchanted tapestries, including one decorating
Castle Roogna. Tapis is married to Merlin. She is the mother of Jonathan and Taplin, and she takes in Electra.
Vadne Vadne is the Sorceress of
Topology: she can change the shape of an object without altering its size, mass, or intrinsic properties. She marries Magician
Murphy and they have a son, Magician
Grey. Dor decreed her ability to be Magician-level.
Kings of Xanth The Kings of Xanth are humans who possess a magical talent that is strong enough for them to be classified as a Magician, a pre-requisite for the role. This list is composed of the Kings of Xanth in order of their reign. This does not include the magicians that served as king pro-tem (Bink, Dor, Irene) during the reign of King Trent unless they had previously served formally.
Merlin Merlin, the first King of Xanth and Magician of Knowledge, reigns from 204 to 228. He marries Tapis, and their children are
Jonathan and Taplin.
Roogna Roogna, the second King of Xanth, reigns from 228 until 286. Roogna is able to "adapt" the magic of living things, changing it into a similar but distinct form of magic. He builds Castle Roogna, named for him, which becomes the home of the monarchy of Xanth in
A Spell for Chameleon. Roogna marries Taplin,
Merlin's daughter.
Rana Rana, the Magician of Creation, is the third King and the first female King of Xanth. She rules from 286 to 325. She is the mother of
Rune.
Reitas Reitas, the Magician of
Problem Solving, is the fourth King of Xanth, reigning from 325 to 350. Despite his title, he created problems.
Rune Rune, the Magician of Evocation, is the fifth King of Xanth. He rules from 350 to 378. His mother is
Rana.
Jonathan Jonathan, the Magician of Zombies or Zombie Master, is the sixth King of Xanth and reigns from 378 to 478. He is able to re-animate the dead of Xanth. He himself was once a zombie. Jonathan is the son of King Merlin and Sorceress Tapis. He is married to Millie the Ghost; they have twin children, Hiatus and Lacuna. He appears in
Castle Roogna,
Night Mare, and
Centaur Aisle. He was twice king pro-tem for Trent.
Vortex Vortex, the Magician of Demon Summoning, becomes the seventh King of Xanth in 478.
Neytron Neytron, the Magician who Brings Paintings to Life, is the eighth King of Xanth.
Nero Nero, the Magician who Brings Golems to Life, is the ninth King of Xanth.
Gromden Gromden, the tenth King of Xanth, is able to divine the history of any object he touches. His reign began in 623. While married to a curse fiend, he had a daughter,
Threnody by a demoness.
Yin-Yang Yin-Yang, eleventh King of Xanth, is able to create invokable spells. Yin is his good self, who creates spells of good alignment, and Yang his evil self, who creates spells of evil. His first wife was Threnody. After her death, Yin-Yang remarried and had a son, Lord Bliss.
Muerte A. Fid Fid, is the twelfth King of Xanth, and his talent is alchemy. According to
Question Quest, he is, at most, only half human.
Quan Quan, the Magician of Herbalism, is the thirteenth King of Xanth. His uncle is
Muerte A. Fid.
Elona Elona, the Magician of Longevity, is the fourteenth King and second female King of Xanth. Her reign begins in 797.
Warren Warren, the fifteenth King of Xanth, is a ghost who can create ghosts. After forty-three years in power, he is exorcised by the people of Xanth.
Ebnez Ebnez becomes the sixteenth King of Xanth in 909. He is able to adapt magical inanimate items. Ebnez marries
Mnem and their daughters are the
Muses. He adapts a stone to make an impenetrable magical field about Xanth, which is later removed by order of King Trent.
Humfrey Humfrey, the seventeenth King of Xanth, is the Magician of Information, also known as Good Magician Humfrey. He is an elderly, withered,
gnome-like man with five and a half wives. Humfrey is very curious and has a good memory. He is said to possess all knowledge, but his magical talent is actually the ability to find the answers to all questions. In
Heaven Cent, it is implied that Humfrey's magical talent may be no more than that of locating other magic that may be of use to him. His story of becoming a master of information is recounted in
Question Quest. Humfrey believes his magical abilities are not those of a Magician, and so he studies for a degree in magic at Demon University in order to validate his Magician title. Humfrey was a king pro-tem during
Trent's reign. He lives in the Good Magician's Castle, the former Castle Zombie. It is an enchanted place that provides easy access for Humfrey, but any visitor must face three challenges posed by him. Visitors must prove their worthiness to approach Humphrey with their queries. Humfrey is the protagonist of
Question Quest and is instrumental in every book of the series. He acknowledges characters in non-Xanth books by Piers Anthony, such as in
On a Pale Horse.
Aeolus Aeolus becomes the eighteenth King of Xanth at the age of twenty-two in 971. He is known as the Magician of Storms, and his talent is the control of the weather. He ruled until his death at ninety-three in
A Spell for Chameleon. His predecessor, Good Magician Humfrey, discovers his abilities when he is six years old. In
Question Quest, Humfrey has
flashbacks that give details as to how he found Aeolus, how Aeolus became king, and how Aeolus made his famous edict. Aeolus's edict, issued four years into his reign, decrees that anyone born without a magic talent would be exiled from Xanth. In his later years, Aeolus fell into senility, something he never acknowledges. Later in the series, in
Xone of Contention,
Magician Grey and Robota, a golem, travel back in time to the events of
A Spell for Chameleon. They meet Aeolus and learn he is not the fool he appears: Aeolus keeps his soul in a '''' that was created centuries before by Magician Yin-Yang. The cell prevents the aging and death of the person whose soul is held within. However, the cell cannot undo aging that occurred before the person's soul was stored. Aeolus' magic resides with his soul, which he removes from the cell only when he needs to use it. Aeolus claims he does not need his soul day to day, and that he feigns senility in order to avoid mundane tasks, but Grey realises that Aeolus' unconscionable behaviour is the result of his lack of soul. Aeolus' efforts to stave off death fail, and he succumbs shortly after Grey and Robota depart.
Trent Trent, the nineteenth king of Xanth, is the Magician of Transformation and is a major character throughout the
Xanth series. His power allows him to transform any living thing into any other living thing—whatever form he renders becomes one's "natural" form, and any offspring sired or birthed will also be in that form. In his childhood, Trent was trained by Good Magician Humfrey. After trying to take the throne, he was exiled to Mundania for 20 years, then returned to Xanth and was crowned King after the passing of the Storm King. He later retired and moved to the North Village with his wife Sorceress Iris. Prior to
A Spell for Chameleon, he is known as the Evil Magician for attempting to take over the throne. For this offense he is exiled to Mundania for 20 years. There he married, and he and his wife had a son, but he loses them both to illness. Later, he is accidentally helped back into Xanth by Magician Bink and Chameleon. After the Storm King dies, Trent is made king on the condition that he marry Sorceress Iris. He does so, but only out of convenience. It takes him over twenty years to recover from the loss of his first wife and son, but eventually, he comes to love Iris. In the sixth novel,
Night Mare, he steps down as king, after which Bink's son Magician Dor becomes the new King of Xanth with Trent's daughter Sorceress Irene as his wife. Trent now lives in quiet retirement in North Village. Trent is featured as a main character in
A Spell for Chameleon and
Centaur Aisle, but makes a reappearance later in the series in
Harpy Thyme. == Minor characters ==