Magician

Magician or The Magician may refer to:

Performers of magic

In entertainment

Books

Films

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, originally released in Japan as Paper Mario RPG (ペーパーマリオRPG), is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube. The Thousand-Year Door is the second game in the Paper Mario series.

The Thousand-Year Door borrows many gameplay elements from its predecessor, such as a paper-themed universe and a turn-based battle system with an emphasis on action. For the majority of the game the player controls Mario, although Bowser and Princess Peach are playable at certain points. The plot follows Mario's quest as he tries to retrieve the seven Crystal Stars and rescue Peach from the X-Nauts.

The game was well received by critics, attaining an average score of 88 percent from Game Rankings. Critics generally praised the game's engaging plot and gameplay, but criticised it for not being a big progression from its predecessor. The Thousand-Year Door won the "Role Playing Game of the Year" award at the 2005 Interactive Achievement Awards.

Magician (Feist novel)

Magician is a fantasy novel by Raymond E. Feist. It is the first book of the Riftwar Saga and was published in 1982. It led to many books written by Feist in the world of Midkemia, which was the setting for this book. Originally reduced in size by his editors, it was re-published in 1992 (after the author's fame had grown) in an edition titled "The Author's Preferred Edition" (or "revised edition" in some markets) with much of the deleted text restored. Magician was separated into two volumes for the United States market and published as: Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master. The book is still published as a single volume, titled Magician, in the UK.

Plot introduction

At Crydee, Pug, an orphan boy is apprenticed to a master magician. Suddenly the Kingdom is aswarm with alien invaders, destroying the peace of the kingdom. Pug and his friend Tomas are swept up into the conflict, with Pug's destiny leading him through a rift to a new world.

Plot summary

In the twelfth year of the reign of Rodric the Fourth, an orphaned kitchen boy named Pug is made an apprentice magician to the magician Kulgan in Crydee. An indifferent student of magic, he rises to high station by saving Princess Carline, Duke Borric’s daughter, from mountain trolls and becomes a squire of the Duke's court.

Magician (comics)

Magician is the name of different characters in Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The Lee Guardineer version of Magician first appeared in Tales to Astonish #56 and was created by Stan Lee and Dick Ayers.

Fictional character biography

Lee Guardineer

Lee Guardineer is a stage magician who used his stage acts to rob rich party guests. His activities attracted the attention of Giant-Man's ants who reported this to him. Magician then robbed a yacht party run by a rich socialite named Sterling Stuyvesant and kidnapped Wasp to make Giant-Man jealous. In response, Giant-Man set up a phony yacht party which he used to lure the Magician to a trap. Once that trap was sprung, Giant-Man captured Magician and saved Wasp. Magician was fished out of the water by the police and was later taken to prison.

While Hank Pym was out of town, Magician escaped from prison and set up a clothing store with Wasp-inspired clothing. When Wasp arrived, Magician attacks in order to capture Wasp. Wasp soon makes short work of Magician using quick thinking and the store's many toys to take down the Magician who is promptly arrested by the police.

Magician (paranormal)

A magician is a practitioner of magic who attains objectives or acquires knowledge using supernatural means.

Some modern magicians, such as Aleister Crowley and those who follow the traditions of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis, describe magic in rational terms, using definitions, postulates and theorems. Aleister Crowley said "the magician of the future will use mathematical formulas".

The paranormal kind of magician (unlike the stage illusionist) can also be referred to as an enchanter, wizard, mage, magus or thaumaturgist. These overlapping terms may be distinguished by some traditions or some writers. When such distinctions are made, sorcerers are more often practitioners of evocations or black magic, and there may be variations on level and type of power associated with each name.

Some names, distinctions or aspects may have more of a negative connotation than others, depending on the setting and the context. (See also Magic and Magic and religion, for some examples.)

Magic (illusion)

Magic (sometimes referred to as stage magic to distinguish it from paranormal or ritual magic) is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means. These feats are called magic tricks, effects or illusions. A professional who performs such illusions is called a stage magician or an illusionist. Some performers may also be referred to by names reflecting the type of magical effects they present, such as prestidigitators, conjurors, hypnotists, mentalists, or escapologists.

The first book containing explanations of magic tricks appeared in 1584. During the 17th century, many similar books were published that described magic tricks. Until the 18th century magic shows were a common source of entertainment at fairs. A founding figure of modern entertainment magic was Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, who had a magic theatre in Paris in 1845. John Henry Anderson was pioneering the same transition in London in the 1840s. Towards the end of the 19th century, large magic shows permanently staged at big theatre venues became the norm. As a form of entertainment, magic easily moved from theatrical venues to television magic specials.