In the world of fairy tales and adventure stories, we are often invited into a strange

new land, a place of monsters and magic, of danger and destiny.

That's what we love about these powerful stories. They transport us, they move us, they

show us another world.

Fantasy is more mainstream today than it's ever been. From the Lord of the Rings to the

Game of Thrones, we love it all. But each new fictional world needs a new guide, a voice

to help the reader find their bearings and make sense of it all. And for a very long

time, that voice has been the wizard. Everyone has their favorite wizard, from the

Arthurian Merlin and Shakespeare's Prospero to the more modern Gandalf and Dumbledore.

The wizard is the voice of reason, our tour guide in a strange and dangerous place. They

often speak for the author and serve as a tutor for the uninitiated, readers and fictional

characters alike.

We could spend the next 20 minutes discussing why that is. Why it seems that deep down

our brains cry out for a sage old voice, full of power and magic and depth to walk us

through a strange new world. But I'm not going to do that, because some things are better

left unspoken.

The wizards, you see, are the stuff of legend, but we've invented them to help us cope,

to help us understand or to help us find our way. They're a pillar of storytelling,

and yet they're nothing more than make believe. At least, that's what most of us think.

But history hides many secrets, and if you know where to look, you might be surprised

by the sorts of individuals tucked away in those dusty pages. Real people, people who

lived and breathed and walked among us, and who had a reputation for the otherworldly.

...