Who do you think was/is the most powerful mage ever? What was the extent of his/hers powers? What did he/she do with his/her powers?

Divayth Fyr. 4,000 year old wizard pretty much sums it up.

Sotha Sil. He was a demigod.

Or Mannimarco. He underwent apotheosis.

Magnus

Can't beat the sun.

Sotha Sil would be high up on the list, although I'm not sure if he is the most powerful.

Magnus isn't a mage, Magnus IS Magicka.



He had the power of the Heart... though it was waning at his time of death.

Fast Eddie.

If you didn't even think of him, you must have been taken by one of his tricks! bliviongate:

I do not believe that Sotha Sil would have been the most powerful mage due to this question seeming to question the potency of non-divinities.

What about Kagrenac of the Dwemer? Learning to bend the Earthbones is truly an awe-inspiring feat, however the Dwemer were engaging in "profane" undertakings and not "magical" undertakings per se. As this question is about who has the greatest ability to control magicka and not mythopoeic forces, I believe this rules out Kagrenac from consideration.

Voryn Dagoth could be that mage. He managed to bind himself to the Heart of Lorkhan while supposedly experimenting with the Tools for the short time that they were in his possession. However, I would say that most of his power came from the Heart and not from himself.

Some would say that Galerion would be the most powerful, though I would state that forming a powerful institution (i.e., the Mages Guild) does not equate to personal potency on the part of the originator.

Mannimarco? While it it true that a Dragon Break allowed the King of Worms to become the Revenant (the "God of Worms" or "Necromancer's Moon"), this apotheosis was achieved via the Numidium and not due to the personal power reserves of Mannimarco himself.

Jagar Tharn is a good candidate, however I would say that most of his power came from Mehrunes Dagon, so I will not label him as the most powerful.

Zurin Arctus would certainly be right up there on my list. He took on the Numidium....and WON. Now if Arctus was truly an enantiomorphic part of the Ghost of Shor-who-is-Lorkhan, then I believe that he starts out with a bit of an unfair advantage against most mortal mages. Still, until that is determined, I cannot help but admire the feats performed as a mortal and later on as a "undead wizard".

Divayth Fyr. Finally, to the man we all speak so highly about. Divayth Fyr is nearly as old as the Tribunal itself and has sustained his life through his expertise of regular, mundane magic, or at least so we have been told. He has studied the "Old Ways" of the Psijiics and the "New Ways" of the Dwemer and has been granted audiences with Sotha Sil himself in the Clockwork City. While it is true that many Telvanni appear to be "immortal" due to their trucking with necromancy, it was never stated exactly how Fyr pulls his off.

I guess, my friends, I believe that all of the mages listed above are powerful in their own right, however many of them have traces of "destiny" or are pieces of divine entities. But when it comes right down to it, I believe that Divayth Fyr is truly the most powerful mortal to have harnessed magicka and become what we recognize as a "mage".


___The Word Merchant of Julianos

Great. Yet another 'Who is the most powerful...' thread. I was starting to miss them. Really.

Gandalf is the most powerful mage, everybody knows that!

He's probably older actually...

"And what of your own mortality? How does that stand? If you live longer than a god, are you any less sublime?"--Sotha Sil

With 4000 years, that places his birth around 243 of the First Era, about 150 yrs before Nerevar and Dumac unite to drive out the Nords. Given the long lifespan of Elves, they're all probably of about the same generation...

If you're going for somebody that's not a god, then either Divayth Fyr... Apart from what's been mentioned about Fyr, he also traffics with the Daedra, can travel to Oblivion through thought alone, made clones through corprus and has enough power in the Telvanni that he could be on the council if he wanted...

Psh Gandalf is only a Maiar. The Valar is where the real power is.

What about Phynaster?

Dude, anybody that can make a race of mortals live longer by WALKING HAS to be pretty damn magickal in my opinion.

Yep,I agree. :foodndrink:

Morrowind really doesn't do him justice, I think.

OIB's Top Ten 5ive

• Divayth Fyr
  
• Celarus THe Loremaster
  
• Zurin Arctus
  
• Sotha Sil
  
• Jagar Tharn

Explanation:
Divayth's choice is obvious, Celarus because he probably lived a couple thousand years too and was (is?) head of the Psijics.
Zurin really cause like Wordman said beat the Numidium, Sotha Sil cause...well he had his own [censored]in city...I think of him as Fyr Jr.
Jagar because he usurped the Emperor, and fooled countless people with his Illusion mastery.

Fyr is Sil Jr, actually.

Aryon is Fyr Jr.

Yea, but outside of a small following of fans, who even knows who those are.

--

The concept of 'the most powerful' is something that does not belong into Lore. At least I like to think so because a level of power must be measured some way, but the only mesurement avaible so far are stats. Which aside from obviously being purely gameplay related and having little bearing on Lore, are mostly unknown.

So what this discussion will turn out into isn't a argument about who is stronger, but an argument about who is cooler. Gandalf being the most fleshed out character, he's obviously the coolest because the list of all the cool stuff that he has done will be bigger.

Hence Gandalf is the coolest and therefor the most powerfull mage.

pAH! I found Saruman cooler than Gandalf at times. Subtle and devious wisdom is just cooler than cosy and pipe smoking!

Though, in terms of Lotr, Sauron, definately is teh nomber 1 sorceror. Dagoth Ur number should be the 1 TES.

Can Gandalf turn into a wolf? NO. So, Gandy phails at coolness.

Pish-posh! Those Valar are only schizophrenic emotional baggage!

Illuvitar is where it's all happnin.

Sauron might have great power but it comes with the disadvantage that he can't move around. So he's really only as strong as half a million of orcs and a couple of ring wraiths that half of mankind can beat up without much of a problem.

Not to mention the liability of being dependent on only one single item. He clearly didn't read the Evil Overlord list which makes him an amateur.

The same goes for Dagoth Ur.

It all depends on where you put your characters. Put Gandalf in middle of an ocean, on a canoe for example... And, he isn't going to be able to do much. Sauron however enjoys first class spirit-travel, and regulary moves around wherever he wants. In the books. The movie turned him into a giant eye... lol

Power as in innate power... Sauron still packs quite a punch with his spells, and could fell any spirit in Arda with a few words even by the last days of the War of the Ring, I'd say.

Well that depends where Lost: of the Ring is broad casted. In Europe Gandalf would simply take off his robe and use it with his paddle to create a mast and sail. Then have a magical breeze blow him towards land.
In America he'd be screwed because he's not allowed to take his robe off on TV. Though in that case a mysterious dolphin might come and push his canoe to land for reasons that won't be explained for atleast another fifty episodes.

Either way it has some sort of cool. Spirit Travel on the other hand just won't cut it, just look at the jumper movie, I've never heard a thing about it after it's mass advertisemant campaign stopped.