History Main / TheArchmage

** Blue Suede Heartstrings (now King Caerulus Melodia Equestria-Corporatum) is considered to be by far one of the most powerful musical mages in the world, and for good reason. Blue Suede sees spellcasting [[https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/930821268/5013942909 the same way as a musician sees music]], and thus uses music to cast Unicorn-related spells like ElementalPowers and SummonMagic. After [[spoiler:reincarnating as Mana Equus]], he became capable of things like calling down cosmic phenomena, casting spells of the powerful yet notoriously complex Malrègnarian Dark Magic branch (though he generally saves them for dire situations), and [[RealityWarper altering reality itself]]. And [[https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/935689348/5093947967 at one point]], he left Vicearch Iniquitous' divine avatar almost completely exhausted during their WizardDuel, despite ultimately losing; for comparison, both [[https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/914602463/4984336724 Queen Hocus Pocus]] and [[https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/857612387/4884378170 Karaldina De Hex]] either fought Iniquitous to a standstill or merely lasted longer than her other opponents did. Even Princess Twilight Sparkle, herself a famous magical prodigy, admits that Blue Suede vastly outclasses her in terms of music.

** Magic Star (now Princess Magicum Ponyland) is called "the Supreme Enchantress", and for good reason. Even as a mortal, she was an extremely talented wand-maker and enchantress, even helping Queen Majesty craft the Wands of Ponyland using materials provided by the [[TheOldGods Grand Primevals]]. When she became the Alicorn goddess of Enchantments and Wand-Making, she naturally became even ''more'' powerful; she can create powerful, long-lasting wands and artifacts that are perfectly suited to their user(s), and many artifacts she created in the First Age still retain their enchantments for tens of thousands of years. She can also enchant things that otherwise wouldn't be able to be enchanted, like AntiMagic materials. And after re-Ascending [[spoiler:as a divine {{Reincarnation}} of Plasmatio Equus]], she becomes a goddess of Creation, allowing her to create whatever she pleased (though she's quite inexperienced with it). In addition, she's an extremely powerful mage and is capable of defending herself in a magical fight. Even her Codex entries outright label her as an Archmage in recognition of her power and talent.
** While not as powerful as Queen Dark Crystal, a Hydianite witch-turned-AnthropomorphicPersonification of Evil who nearly succeeded in turning Equus (then called Tellus) into a corrupt hellhole during the Second Age, Grand Matron Hydia was still regarded as one of the most powerful witches to have ever lived. She was so powerful she was known to have destroyed entire kingdoms on her own, and was skilled in making magical potions and monsters. Notably, one of Hydia's best and most powerful creations was the Smooze, a "[[EldritchAbomination living flood]]" capable of destroying continents and corrupting people into angry, spiteful beings by [[EmotionControl suppressing their "spark"]]. She was also capable of fighting Queen Majesty, who was titled "Mage Magnificent" in life due to her sheer magical power and talent, and became one of few mortals capable of doing so. 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".

** Mana Equus, also known as "The Thirteenth Empyrean", is widely considered to be the greatest and most powerful spellcaster in Equinekind's history, and for good reason. As Equinekind's first goddess of Magic, she not only possesses a vast, eidetic memory regarding all branches of magic known to Equinekind, but also created them herself. Her skill is such that she can combine multiple branches in complex ways that go beyond the scope of what they're normally capable of, and has personally created various spells, artifacts, and weapons that she and others had used over the Ages. Furthering her magical prowess are her domains of Friendship, which makes her spells even stronger when she is with friends, and Mana, which allows her to use and control primal energies found within Equus' atmosphere. Fittingly, she taught countless students in her lifetime, including her older siblings, and it is believed InUniverse that had she survived to the present Age, she could have [[CurbStompBattle easily defeated even other divine prodigy spellcasters]] like Vicearch Iniquitous, Archwizard Manamagus, Overlord Vondur, and Lady Thauma.
* ''Webcomic/DestinyIntertwined'': 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.

* ''Webcomic/FourCutHero'': Gathell Phrodine, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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 KungFuWizard possessing sword skills and martial arts to boot.
* [[JerkAss Sarda]] from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' is, in his own words, the [[AWizardDidIt Wizard that did it]]. Exaggerated -- he's literally older than the universe and omnipotent, and uses his ridiculous RealityWarper powers [[ForTheEvulz solely to screw with, torture, and/or murder people for his own amusement]]. [[spoiler:But even he's no match for Chaos, who takes over his body when he [[PhlebotinumOverload overloads on magical power]].]]

* Miranda Deegan from ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan''. "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. [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler: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.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{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 [[spoiler: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 [[TookALevelInBadass his first appearance]].[[note]]This would be because he was originally written as a one-off villain, and series creator Creator/GregWeisman wasn't terribly interested in him. Then Creator/DavidWarner turned in a remarkably sinister and badass vocal performance for him, and Weisman decided to bring the character back with a [[BreakoutVillain much-expanded role]].[[/note]]

*** The GodEmperor of Mankind is the most powerful Psyker humanity ever produced, and perhaps ''the'' most powerful Psyker in the exiatence. Even Magnus the Red pales in comparison to him, the Chaos Gods call him The Anathema, and Greater Daemons ''fear'' him. [[spoiler: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.]]

** From the same series [[spoiler:[[RogueProtagonist Negi Springfield]]]] qualifies as well, every time [[spoiler:he]] appears everybody shits their pants in utter terror [[spoiler:helps that he is fused with [[BigBad the Lifemaker]]]]

** Sunset Shimmer ''Fanfic/TheFreeportVenture'' has this as the first step of her plan, followed by taking over the titular WretchedHive, 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.

** Sunset Shimmer ''Fanfic/FreeportVenture'' has this as the first step of her plan, followed by taking over the titular WretchedHive, 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.