Above right: The Archmage, in his most powerful form.
Gender: Male
First Appearance: "Long Way Till Morning"
Other Appearances: "Vows", "Avalon" Part II & III, "Dying Of The Light" (in flashback)
The Archmage was a wizard with grand ambitions and power. He made his first appearance in the year 975 A.D. as advisor to Prince Malcolm of Wyvern, using his magic and knowledge to help the Prince in his daily rule. In secret, he searched for years for the ultimate power in the magical triumvirate of objects- the Phoenix Gate, the Eye of Odin, and the Grimorum Arcanorum. He already had the Grimorum, and the spells within were potent indeed. He learned that the Lady Elena, fiancée to Prince Malcolm, was traveling to Castle Wyvern to be wed, with the Norman Ambassador as an escort. More importantly, he learned that the gift that the Lady Elena was going to present to the Prince was the coveted Phoenix Gate. He hired bandits to waylay the Lady Elena and steal the precious gift. This was foiled by the sudden appearance of the timelost newlyweds, David and Fox Xanatos, Xanatos's father, Petros, and Goliath and Demona. They had come to this time for reasons of their own, Demona having used the Phoenix Gate of her own time to bring them here.
With the failure of that plot, the Archmage turned to a young, innocent Demona of the past, whom he was presumably teaching rudimentary magic to. She served as his apprentice. She successfully stole the Phoenix Gate from Lady Elena's chambers, but before she could deliver it to the Archmage, her future self appeared in a ball of flame with her own Phoenix Gate to give her a terrible message of the future. After witnessing the death of her clan, a young Demona hid the Gate from an angry Archmage. He mistook the Phoenix flame of the departing time travelers as his own Phoenix Gate, lost to him now. In anger, her hurled a magical blast at Demona, and would likely have injured her further but for the clan leader Hudson, who drove him away with threats of the truth. The Archmage vowed he would not forget this treachery.
Likely, the Archmage laid low for a long while, doing his duty while taking on a new apprentice to train, the boy who was to become the Magus. But in the year 984 A.D., he tried to usurp the Prince's throne by magic and was somehow thwarted in his desires once again. He was banished, and in a rage, shot the Prince with a magically poisoned dart. The clan leader, Hudson, feeling guilty that he had failed to protect the Prince, took a young Demona and Goliath and headed after the Archmage, for the antidote to the poison was kept only in the pages of the Grimorum.
In a lair of ancient magic, the Archmage ambushed the company, an was responsible for the loss of Hudson's eye. In the battle, he lost the Grimorum Arcanorum and fell, seemingly to his doom. The Prince's sickness was healed.
But the Archmage did not die in the fall. He was rescued by his Future self, who carried everything the Archmage wanted, the Eye of Odin, the Phoenix Gate, and the Grimorum Arcanorum. The Future Archmage was here to teach him how to receive ultimate power, and revenge. They time travelled to the year 995 A.D. where they watched an older Magus battle the Weird Sisters and win. After the Magus and company left, the duo of wizards gained the Sisters as allies by joining them in a quest for revenge. They then travelled to the year 1020 A.D. where the Future Archmage showed his past self his "cannon fodder", Demona and MacBeth. The Future Archmage told the Sisters to watch for his three magical talismans, because his past self will not receive them in the future, if they did not get them for him in the past. He also told them to watch and guide the courses of Demona and MacBeth so they will be alive to be soldiers in their war, citing that "The Law that cannot be Broken, can surely be Bent." They would all meet at the gate to Avalon in 975 years.
The present, bumbling Archmage was baffled by all these strange events,
but his revenge was all consuming. In the year 1995, all things came
together, and the Sisters gave the three magicks to the past Archmage.
The Phoenix Gate enabled him
to travel time and space, the Eye of Odin greatly increased his power,
and, after literally eating the Grimorum, he had the knowledge to use them
both. He was convinced he could conquer the world from a safe base
of operations, Avalon. And all he needed to do was kill a few humans
and gargoyles. So with the Sisters, and Demona and MacBeth, he attacked
Avalon, and sent them packing with a warning- leave this island, or die.
In reality, he was merely giving them time to have Goliath arrive, so that his vengeance could be complete. The Future Archmage now sent his past self back to meet the old, bumbling human he used to be, to continue the cycle once more. In the ensuing battles, the Archmage unfortunately failed once again. His battle with Goliath ended with the Eye being ripped from his forehead and the power of the Grimorum consuming him from within, leaving only the ashes of one of the most powerful wizards the world has ever known.
Originally, the Archmage was a skilled wizard, drawing most of his magic through the conduit of the Grimorum Arcanorum. His primary weakness was his short temper, and his vengeful nature.
When he gained the vast power of the three artifacts, he became supremely mighty. He could create various magical effects by simply saying a word- he managed to undo the Magus' spell, create a skiff from the waters, and freeze a lake, among other things, through these means. He could also create other magical effects without words, and could use the abilities of the Phoenix Gate without reciting the incantation. However, while he was no longer temperamental, he was still vengeful.