Influential Wizards

Merlin

The stories of fifth-century King Arthur were very popular in all of Celtic Europe and beyond. Beginning about 540 A.D. Arthur's legend began to grow in histories and poems. More to the point, sometime before 1135, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote Prophetiae Merlini (The Prophecies of Merlin). Merlin gave Europe the image of the wizard—the pointed hat, wizard's robes, gray beard and staff are still common among the wizards of today.

Gandalf

Created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his book The Hobbit, Gandalf is similar to Merlin in many ways. He is a mentor to the characters of the book, and dressed the part of a wizard, with his staff and robes.

Harry Potter

The most influential wizard today is Harry Potter, created by J.K. Rowling. Harry gives the classic idea of a wizard a modern twist, in that he is growing into his powers. Harry wears jeans under his robes and, before going to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, lives a normal existence in an English town

Other Modern Wizards

A classic film, based on the famous book, is the Wizard of Oz—but there isn't an actual wizard in the movie, only several witches, who are fascinating in their own right.

There are many less known low-budget fantasy films with wizards in major and minor roles. The more worthwhile include:

• Wizards, directed by Ralph Bakshi, was released in 1977. It is an animated film set in a post apocalyptic world, in which the good wizard represents magic, and the evil wizard represents technology. While the film only earned modest returns on first release, it is now a cult classic.
• Merlin, a Hallmark film released in 1998, tells the story of King Arthur from the perspective of Merlin. At the film’s opening, Merlin says sadly that in his day, magic was much more commonplace than it is today, and believed in deeply.
  

Fascinating facts provided by Jason Polaski.

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