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A wizard is a skilled or clever person, with the implication of knowledge less commonly known.

During the 15th century, the term "wizard" referred to a philosopher or sage.

Semantically, the distinction between having knowledge and the active use of that knowledge is the difference between a sage and a magician (literally: a user of magic).

Such a person is thus noted as being wise to the knowledge, and utilization of such knowledge is often called magic by those not otherwise informed.

Anyone who is especially adept or talented in such utilization may be referred to as a wizard (such as a "computer wizard", or in reference to the eponymous character in The Who's song Pinball Wizard), and its utilization called wizardry.

In modern colloquial usage, a wizard is often seen as a practitioner of supernatural magic, such as found in mythology, folklore, fantasy-themed works of fiction, and role-playing games.

Wizards in Fiction

The archetypical wizard is the wise old man. In works of fiction, this kind of character is typically represented by a kind and wise, older father-type figure who uses personal knowledge of people and the world, to help tell stories and offer guidance, that in a mystical way illuminate to his audience a sense of who they are and who they might become. The wise old man is often in some way "foreign", that is, from a different culture, nation, or occasionally, even a different time, than those he advises.

Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends

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• Merlin - the famous wizard from Arthurian legends and their modern retellings.
• The wizard in the fairy tale of The Wizard King.
• The Telchines - four wizards of ancient Greek myths.
• Väinämöinen - the grand wizard of Kalevala

Wizards in works of fiction

• The eponymous character of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a stage magician pretending to be a genuine wizard; in the 1939 movie version the wizard was also a fake. However, in later Oz stories, he studies magic with Glinda and becomes a genuine wizard. See Wizard (Oz).
• Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, Alatar and Pallando - from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - are called Wizards, but are really supernatural beings called Maia. In Middle-earth, "wizard" is a term applied only to the five members of the Order of the Istari. While other practitioners of magic exist in Middle-earth (good and evil), they are never referred to as wizards.
• Ogion and Ged (Sparrowhawk) from Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea book series, the most well-known of which is A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968.
• All male magic-users from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and its sequels are called wizards. (Note that female practicioners of magic are called witches.)
• In the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, wizards are numerous, and can normally be found in the Unseen University. One of the predominant wizards in the series is Rincewind.
• Diane Duane describes wizards as emmissaries of "the One" (see God), who take an oath to use powers beyond the comprehension of a non-wizard in the service of life, to keep entropy, personified as a Lone Power, under control and therefore delay the demise of the universe. They are said to still exist in the present day, but due to negative public perception, work undercover.
• The Wizards of Skyhall Trilogy is a three book series, about twelve-year-old antihero turned hero, Arianna Kelt, a reformed thief and wizard seer. It is set in J. R. King's imaginary land of Skyhall.

Wizards in Role Playing

Dungeons and Dragons

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the wizard is one of the base character classes. A wizard is an arcane magic user, and weak in mêlée combat. Wizards spend several years studying magic.

The magic system--where wizards memorize spells which they then forget when they cast them--was heavily influenced by the The Dying Earth stories and novels of Jack Vance.

Historical Wizard claimants

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A wizard, in this case, is a person who claims to be skilled in arts considered hidden or arcane.

Throughout history, there have been many who have claimed that to have secret knowledge, meant having great, often supernatural, power. Some claimed to know occult (literally, "hidden") techniques that they felt could be of great aid.

Perhaps the oldest example of this is the knowledge of the making and tending of fire, a secret jealously guarded.

It should be noted that a person being attributed alleged magical power does not necessarily indicate the person is a wizard.

Some historical figures have also had magical powers attributed to them by legends and in fiction, with their actual abilities lost or unknown.

In modern semantical use, the distinguishing aspect for wizards from other magicians is that their abilities were based off of knowledge, rather than faith. This is not to say that wizards did not invoke religion, but it was usually done through secret techniques and rituals as opposed to only prayer (See also Magic and religion and Gnosis).

Etymology

Middle English wisard : wise, wise. see wise1; + -ard, pejorative suffix; Indo-European root: *weid-

References

1. Wizard in the Jargon File, and its Wiki version
2. http://www.highbeam.com/ref/doc3.asp?docid=1E1:fire and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3670017.stm
3. Wizard - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

• Fictional wizards