A wizard is popular fictional character, often benevolent but usually feared, who has supernatural powers (often called "magic").
The quintessential wizard is Gandalf, in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, who is revealed to be the Maia Olórin, an angelic being sent from the far West with a human body and the power to inspire the good people of Middle-earth to great deeds resisting the evil of Sauron.
In the Harry Potter books, all males with magic powers are called wizards, and all females with magic powers are called witches. The head schoolmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, is a classic wizard who resembles Gandalf in many ways.
In the science fiction Gaean Trilogy by John Varley, Cirocco Jones, although female, is the Wizard of the living world of Gaea, with powers of life and death over the Titanides.
See also
- Wizard (occult) (Biblical prohibitions)