A master of the mystic arts, Arion is a demigod born from two Atlantean gods representing light and darkness and was raised by his father, Calculha, into becoming both a savior to his nation and later a Lord of Order. Unknown to him until much later in life, he also had a brother, Garn Daanuth, who was raised by his mother, Dark Majistra. When the both of them desired to use mystical artifacts known as the Zodiac Crystals to usher in a age of dark magic, both Arion and his father battled the two. Their family feud eventually caused Majistra to be seemingly "killed", scarred Garn by draining all of his skin color, jettisoned Calculha into another dimension, and converted Arion's body to energy. Using all his power, Calculha manages to save his son by sending his converted body into a star and his soul into the same dimension he was sealed within as a way to later resurrect his son. Both Calculha and Garn, survivors of the incident, would learn years later that the battle had actually caused an Ice Age that would eventually destroy the Earth. Calculha used his power and a wandering warrior by the name of Wyynde to resurrect his son. Proving himself to still be a skilled sorcerer in his new incarnation, Arion was named Lord High Mage and with Wyynde, Chian, and Mara at his side, they defended Atlantis and battled both gods and demons alike until its eventual sinking. Since then, Arion would live out his immortality acting as a Lord of Order until he eventually retired...and then got out of retirement (reluctantly) to fight evil once more until eventually having his soul expunged and body stolen by Mordru. He would have his spirit ascended to the afterlife to finally be with his family.
As of DC Rebirth, he is instead re-imagined to be one of Aquaman's distant ancestors, one of the first kings of Atlantis, and both a mystic and scientific genius responsible for the advanced magic and science Atlantis. While a renowned hero much like his Pre-Flashpoint counterpart, he instead eventually became evil and was a Big Bad in Blue Beetle. He would later be temporarily revived as Merlin's "Scarlet Knight" during Justice League Dark (2021).
Arion made his animated debut in Young Justice's fourth season, Phantoms, where he's made a grandson of Vandal Savage.
Tropes in Arion, Lord of Atlantis
- The Ace:
- In Atlantis, Arion is considered this in the purview of magic. Wyynde and Chian share this in being the best mortal warriors in Atlantis and possibly the world.
- In the Atlantean Pantheon, Calculha serves as this.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: All the Atlantean gods with the exception of Thalas has some sort of purview fitting for their nature. Somewhat retconned to be part of the Lords of Order or Lords of Chaos. Although the purview still exists, it is not portrayed to be as high up as it were previously.
- The Archmage: Arion is considered the most powerful Atlantean wizard in Atlantis's history. Prior, Calculha served as Sorcerer Supreme and Garn Daanuth was recognized as the most powerful sorcerer on Earth after Calculha and Arion ended up in Darkworld for 10,000 years. Of course, keep in mind much of the early years of the book was written within its own contuniuity and not in DCU canon until later.
- Badass Normal: Lady Chian and Wyynde. They're hailed within the series to be have no MORTAL peers in this regard. S'Net also counts.
- Continuity Snarl: Several; While Arion is often billed to be the best Atlantean wizard in Atlantis's history, Atlan will share that claim. Furthermore, entities like Calculha, Chaon, Tynan, and Gemimn served as entities that would be in the position of those like Lucifer Morningstar, The Pressence, etc. within Arion's independent universe. However, their inclusion into the DCU instead marked them as Lords of Order and Lords of Chaos, making them significantly less powerful.
- De-power: Several times; Arion's magic was taken from him by Calculha for a trial to learn humility and give rise for him for his destiny (retconned to be him being selected to become an agent of order). He was re-powered by the end of the trial but later sacrificed his star-related magics it to end the Ice Age. Finally, once he regained magic MUCH later from the Weaver, he loses it by the time of Arion the Immortal due to Darkworld (the source of Atlantean magic) mysterious disappearance. He had to rely on mystic artifacts and actual chants to invoke magic.
- Divine Parentage: Arion and Garn Daanuth are parents of both the Atlantean gods of light and darkness.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Arion is more or less this without his magic, having natural psychic powers that are independent from his magic. Furthermore, his body is still superhuman enough to withstand high temperatures. But other than that, his physical abilities are no more different than a human and trained to be a skilled swordsman.
- Evil Old Folks: All the evil gods Arion face are billed to be older than creation itself.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: Arion, Yoshihiro, and Garn Daanuth are capable unarmed fighters and swordsman, though each vary vastly in skill.
- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: Calculha and Dark Majistra. Arion and Garn Daanuth also to a lesser extent since Garn's powers can also stem from light and he simply chooses not to. Arion can also call forth his power from darker sources and usually does not.
- Magic Versus Science: One of the series' early sub-plots deal with General Ballar's increasing preference of science over magic although mostly to spite Arion, who is vastly becoming more popular than he is.
- The Old Gods: Calculha, Tynan, Gemimn, and Chaon. All are gods that were said to have been existed since before creation. Although they're fellow gods that share the same origin point (Darkworld), they're often treated as such due to their power and prevalence.
- Squishy Wizard: Inverted; In Arion's universe, it's considered very foolish and stupid to face any wizard (especially black magic practitioners) with hand-to-hand combat or weaponry, as magic is capable of easily healing mortal wounds.
Tropes in Arion the Immortal
- God Is Dead: Deedra reminds her group of immortals of this when Gemimn attempts to wish Arion luck in Calculha's name.
- Magic Knight: By this time frame, Arion is considered a master of the sword and sorcery, having long graduated from being taught by Chian and his short tenure teacher, Yoshihiro. It is mentioned, however, that he still prefers mystic solutions.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: Arion is treated as this by his fellow (former) Atlantean gods for admitting his attraction to Amanda. Although Amanda is well over 18, Arion himself is hundred of thousands of years old and is super young for him in comparison.
- Older and Wiser: Although far more cynical and pessimistic too, Arion has wizened over the years.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Very much Arion; the writer and creator of the character did so on purpose to attempt to showcase change in Arion since his prime. However, he also attempted to justify it by saying the old characterization of Arion did not work seeing as Arion, Lord of Atlantis got cancelled.
