Mages of Notoriety

Throughout history, many powerful mages have become famous for their feats. It is only sensible that I catalogue some of the most famous here

Abe no Seimei
Abe no Seimei was a Japanese half-kitsune painter and mage who advised the Heian government. He often dueled his rival Ashiya Dōman.

Abramelin
Abramelin was an Egypt-born mage who took upon several apprentices. One of his apprentices, Abraham of Worms, documented his life story in written form.

Saint Albertus Magnus
Saint Albertus Magnus was a German friar, mage, alchemist, and theologist. He is credited as one of the most diverse mages of his era.

Astrampsychus
Astrampsychus was a Persian fortune-teller and an avid writer of magical papyri. Some say that Alexander the Great employed his services.

Atomus
Atomus was a Cypriot mage-for-hire who served several officials of the Roman Empire.

Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga is a notorious Russian witch known for her flying mortar and her chicken-legged house. She is a hag, someone whose use of dark magic has physically disfigured them.

Black Annis
Black Annis was a dark mage that kidnapped children from their homes and sold their skin to other hags. She lived in a cavern beneath the Dane Hills that could be accessed by a hollow tree.

Bodhmall
Bodhmall was a druidess, aunt of the folk hero Fiona mac Cumhaill and wife of the warrior Liath Luachra.

Ceridwen
Ceridwen was an evil potioneer and shapeshifter. Famously ate a young boy named Gwion Bach for drinking her potion of wisdom and rebirthed him as the legendary bard Taliesin.

Chedipe
Chedipe was a vampire and witch who tormented the Godavari River in India. Removed the blood of men through their toes after using magic to put them to sleep and unlock their doors. Rode on a demonic tiger.

Chu Fu
Chu Fu was a Chinese witch decapitated for teaching love spells to Empress Chen Jiau.

Circe
Circe was the demigod daughter of Hecate and a powerful dark mage who ruled over an island in the Mediterranean. Hated men and turned them into animals.

Cyprianus
Cyprianus was a mysterious dark mage of Scandinavian origin who compiled a grimoire also named Cyprianus. It is said that Cyprianus was so powerful that he escaped hell, and that the original copy of his grimoire contains instructions how to do so, amongst other powerful spells.

Dedi
Dedi is one of the first recorded mages, who served the pharaoh Khufu of the 4th Dynasty of Egypt.

Edward Kelley
Edward Kelley was a friend of John Dee with a gift for summoning ghosts.

Eiríkur í Vogsósum
Séra Eiríkur Magnússon í Vogsósum was an Icelandic priest who learned magic to defeat the monsters inhabiting the region.

Francis Barrett
Francis Barett was an eccentric English occultist known for translating many ancient texts and pioneering research into magical theory by writing a guidebook known as The Magus.

Ge Hong
Ge Hong was instrumental in establishing magic and alchemy as a part of Daoism. He was the first to create the pill of immortality.

George Pickingill
George Pickingill was a magical healer who lived on a farm in Canewdon, Essex. Introduced French and Danish-style magic to Europe.

Grimhild
Grimhild was a dark enchantress who married the king Gjúki of Burgundy and tried to erase the memories of the hero Sigurðr so he would marry one of her daughters.

Gullveig
Gullveig was a Norse fortune teller given her powers by Odin.

Gwydion fab Dôn
Gwydion fab Dôn was a Welsh mage and cursebreaker who was known for trickery and cunning. Also taught magic to his nephew Lleu Llaw Gyffes.

Heimrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim
Heimrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a mage-for-hire imprisoned for heresy. He is known for the occult books he authored, as well as several spells and rituals attributed to him.

Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus was a mage and herbalist who invented the philosophical and magical doctrine known as Hermeticism, or the European system of alchemy.

Hossiadam
Hossiadam was a monsterous Siberian hag who killed people to assume their form.

Huld
Huld was a Norse mage who bore the demigod twins Þorgerðr and Irpa with the god Odin.

Hu Yong'er
Hu Yong'er was a Chinese sorceress born when her mother burned a cursed painting. She was taught by a kitsune how to summon armies, which she used as part of a failed coup.

James Murrell
James Murrell was a good mage who solved problems in the kingdom of Essex.

Jiraiya
Jiraiya was a Japanese mage who could transform into a giant frog. His wife Tsunade could transform into a giant slug.

Johann Georg Faust
Johann Georg Faust was an unscrupulous German dark mage and demon-summoner who lived during the Renaissance Period.

John the Conqueror
John the Conqueror was a Congonese prince who used magic to escape from slavery and outwit his foes. He possessed a giant crow named Old Familiar and his wife was a cambion (half-demon). It is said that his immortal spirit can be summoned through the root that shares his name.

John Dee
John Dee was the court wizard and astronomer of Queen Elizabeth I.

José de Moraleda y Montero
José de Moraleda y Montero was a Spanish naval captain known to study Magic in his free time.

Kalku
Kalku was an evil Mapuchean mage who could summon dark spirits.

Kiyomori
Kiyomori was a Japanese samurai and politician who mastered temporal magic.

Klingsor
Klingsor was a dark mage who would lure knights and heroes into his fortress and trap them there.

Koschei the Deathless
Koschei is a Russian mage who succeeded in becoming immortal by removing his soul and hiding it somewhere else.

Lucius
Lucius was a man who tried to learn witchcraft but accidentally transformed himself into a donkey.

Marie Laveaux
Marie Laveaux was a famed master of voodoo who ran the magical community of New Orleans in the 1800s.

Medea
Medea was one of the strongest and most renowned dark mages in the Ancient Greek era, specialising in poisons. Trained personally by Circe.

Merlin Ambrosius
Merlin, famed court wizard to the royalty of Britain, is said by some to be the most skilled mage of all time. Legend says that he still lives in the otherworld forest of Brocéliande.

Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay is the illegitimate daughter of King Uther Pendragon and a fae woman. She became a great healer, but also an enemy of her half-brother King Arthur, but eventually redeemed herself and now lives in the land of Avalon.

Mug Ruith
Mug Reith was a blind Irish mage who could become a giant and turn people to stone with his breath. He often wore a bull-skin cloak and rode through the night in a mystical war machine called the Roth Rámach.

Muma Pădurii
Muma Pădurii was a reclusive mage who cared for animals but hexed any humans who disturbed her peace.

Nostradamus
Nostradamus was a travelling oracle who has written many books of prophecy.

Peg Powler
Peg Powler was a hag that lived at the bottom of the River Tees in England. She would drag kids into the river with her extremely long arms, which became a common tactic used by hags.

Prättäkitti
Prättäkitti was a skilled and friendly Finnish mage taught by her midwife.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the Duke of Cumberland, was a mage who served during the English Civil War. He conducted his magic through his familiar poodle named Boy and also a familiar monkey.

Simon Magus
Simon Magus was a Samaritan mage attested in the Bible and attributed to founding Gnosticism.

Solomon
Solomon, or Jedidiah, was a king of Israel known for studying magic, which he used to help his kingdom flourish. His greatest possessions were his ring which could bind demons and his throne which could follow after him.

Sycorax
Sycorax was a witch and a spell inventor who worshipped the demon lord Setebos. She was banished to the island of Algiers with her monstrous son Caliban, where she became the ruler of the spirits inhabiting it.

Wei Boyang
A famous Chinese alchemist praised for both magical and non-magical discoveries, including the invention of gunpowder.

Witch of Endor
The unnamed Witch of Endor was consulted by Saul to contact the prophet Samuel.

Väinämöinen
Väinämöinen is an immortal Finnish wizard blessed with a magical singing voice. Apparently born from a duck egg incubated by the goddess Ilmatar.

Zhang Guolao
Zhang Guolao was a Chinese hermit who mastered healing and resurrection magic. He eventually ascended from mortal form and became one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism.

Zhang Jue
Zhang Jue, the General of Heaven, was a Taoist sorcerer who participated in the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Zoroaster
Zoroaster was a well-studied mage and astronomer who founded the Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism.