Gavin Magnus

"Also known as the Immortal King, Gavin Magnus is the haughty former ruler of Bracada and one of the most powerful spellcasters alive."

- Gavin Magnus description in Heroes of Might and Magic IV.

Gavin Magnus is one of the notorious protagonists of the Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic series, the immortal king of Bracada, the king of the wizards for a long time and king of Great Arcan who wanted to enslave the whole world of Axeoth.

Background
Gavin Magnus was an extremely intelligent man, known as a wise, determined and strong leader. He was the king of Bracada and many knew his name. He loved collecting old relics. Perhaps his biggest catch was when he found a lantern around 900-1000 AS and liberated the genie inside it, Solymr ibn Wali Barad. The genie said he would serve his lord as long as he is alive, but he didn't know Magnus was immortal. Solymr served his lord with great loyalty, but later he realized that he had hurried his vow. At the Reckoning, Magnus was died in the blast, and Solymr could barely escape. When the genie returned, Magnus was healthy, completely self-conscious and young. This was due to his immortality. Solymr took him to Axeoth on another portal, but then Magnus began to change.

After the Reckoning
He established the new kingdom of Bracada and survivors joined him. Gavin Magnus in Heroes IV was an extremely precise, energetic, purposeful, at the same time crushed and disappointed king. In addition, he was sometimes become arrogant. A few years later, Emilia Nighthaven founded the kingdom of Great Arcan, and Magnus wanted to know the territory of his neighbors. He asked for her hand to obtain the throne, but Emilia refused. Magnus then sent an army led by Solymr to launch an invasion. But Solymr was defeated, which surprised the Immortal King. Meanwhile, Magnus made an alliance with the notoriously aggressive red dwarfs and set about making a machine. He sent Solymr to rob the black dragons' cemetery and bring him bones. With his bones, he created a dragon golems.

The Old King Dreggar and the Red Dwarf revolt
The production of the new machine was progressing well, but there was a feud between the red dwarfs and soon rebellion broke out. The dragon golems destroyed half of Magnus Castle. The Immortal King and Solymr brutally suppressed the rebellion. The surviving red dwarfs were imprisoned. Magnus then locked himself in his library for a while and later, when he came out, ordered Solymr to look for the Rainbow Crystal. However, the Immortal King changed again. He did not want to give details, and kept his further plans secret even before his loyal servant.

Solymr learned that the crystal was kept by an undead necromancer, Old King Dreggar, along with other undeads. The crystal was kept in a ruined underground cave and its power was used against adventurers or enemy armies. Solymr, however, resorted to a trick (he slapped himself and his soldiers) and freed himself and his army from the effects of the crystal and the fight against the undead has begun. King Dreggar and his undead army were defeated. Solymr wanted to be sure of their destruction, so he burned their bodies. The crystal was excavated, and Magnus could begin his plan.

The Rise of King Magnus
As Solymr said, Magnus had seen too much bloodshed and war and had to endure the destruction of an entire world. His goal was to bring an end to the wars and bring eternal peace to Axeoth.

With the crystal pendulum, Magnus began to advance. Great Arcan's troops kept falling under the power of the pendulum. Even some Emilia's personal companions were bewitched and began to wage war against their former queen. At one point, one of Emilia's strongest supporter Lord Landrew recruited an army against the queen, and one of Solymr's captain set off, causing further trouble. The Queen captured her former loyal companion and defeated Solymr's captain, but she saw that it was impossible to stop Gavin Magnus. During this time, the Immortal King had tenfold numerical superiority. She hid with his remaining companions.

Magnus called himself "narrow-minded" and thought he could finally achieve his goal. Solymr couldn't follow his master's path, so he left Magnus but in two letters he begged Magnus to stop what he was doing, for it would only end badly. Gavin knew it was not easy to make decisions as a king, but he decided to continue what he had begun. He admitted that he regretted what he was doing, but he felt it was his honor that he must bring this peace at all costs. Solymr stood on the side of Emilia and they decided to kill the Immortal King. After acquiring the crystal pendulum, Magnus became very confident and arrogant. He believed no one had a chance against the power of the magic object. Magnus wanted to sacrifice everything for eternal peace which he thought was the most important goal.

The fall of Gavin Magnus
"Stand on the edge of a precipice with your toes poking into thin air. Feel the chill wind whip against your face, tug at your clothing, push at your shoulders. This is how close we came to losing.  This is how close Magnus came to enslaving the minds of the entire world...forever!"

- Solymr before the final battle. Emilia and Solymr set off with the Sword of Gods to seek out a relic called the Mind Shield to resist the power of the pendulum and defeat Gavin Magnus. However, without the artifact they had no chance against the Immortal King, so one of Emilia's talented loyal friend, General Tharj, pledged to divert Magnus's attention until the two heroes found the shield. The situation was hopeless, especially when Magnus found the hiding place of the heroes sent against him and captured them all. General Tharj surrendered to the power of the Crystal Pendulum and it seemed that if Emilia and Solymr were to fail, nothing in the world would stop Gavin Magnus. After that, Magnus did a very humiliating thing to him. He ordered Tharj, like his puppet, to kill Emilia. He wanted to stab her with his sword at night, but he was noticed and an arrow hit his heart and died. This caused enormous outrage, and some of Emilia's officers immediately demanded retaliation for this extremely shameful humiliation. Solymr couldn't believe that his former lord could do that, and beside him, Emilia and everyone else wanted to see Magnus death. But the search for the Mind Shield was considered a primary.

"Before I record those last seconds of the battle against my former master, Gavin Magnus, I must state again that I had no choice but to take this course. It was the world, or Magnus. He forced me into such a position, yet I still feel pity for what this once-great man has become."

- Solymr description of his former lord's last fight.



Magnus was very surprised that the pendulum did not work on his last opponents due to the effect of the Mind Shield. Emilia and Solymr headed straight for him and he realized that his former servant was his best strategist, so they could easily bypass his armies. Magnus suffered multiple wounds and seemed to have lost. However, not even the Sword of Gods was able to kill the Immortal King, who after some time got up and his wounds were healed immediately. Magnus attacked Solymr furiously with a bent sword, but Emilia was faster and stood before his friend. The sword pierced Emilia's tummy, but with such force that the weapon even pierced Solymr at his stomach. Magnus then wanted to destroy the Mind Shield with a spell, and it seemed he would finally win. Solymr, on the other hand, smashed the crystal pendulum with a lightning strike. Magnus began to scream, fell to his knees, he clasped his hands to his head, and howled with extreme pain. His former servant watched in horror at his former master's howling and how much he was suffering. Emilia didn't die, but she couldn't walk anymore because the sword had damaged her spine. Everyone regained his free will after being released from the powers of the pendulum. Gavin Magnus didn't die, but his fate was much worse than death. Because his brain was in direct contact with the pendulum, when Solymr destroyed the pendulum, he specifically destroyed Magnus' consciousness and his "brain". Magnus could never recover after the pendulum had destroyed. He became completely unconscious and had no idea who he was or where he was. The Immortal King was imprisoned and his former servant undertook to supervise him.

Personality
"I fear that no one but myself will ever understand that my Master, Gavin Magnus, was not an evil man. I hate to call him misguided, or misunderstood - those words seem so cliché. He was a man who had lived too long, who had seen too much war and pain, who had witnessed the destruction of a world.  After so much horror, wouldn't you want to put an end to it too?"

- Solymr about Magnus

Gavin Magnus was initially an acknowledged, wise and fair king. Many people knew his name and were highly respected. Solymr talked about telling everything in detail, not having secrets, and always acting with a firm and clear decision. Magnus also spoke politely and respectfully.

After the Reckoning he changed. The rejuvenated Immortal King would have begun to be cold, arrogant and control manic, but retained his polite and respectful demeanor. He felt more and more that this world he lived in was full of chaos and only peace could be perfect.

He believed that free will is a deleterious trait and that eliminating it could be the way to create peace. Magnus deep inside was a completely broken and tragic person. He had gone through so much war and bloodshed that he fanatically sought a solution to the peace of the Axeoth world.

When he own the crystal pendulum, Magnus became very opinionated, much more arrogant, selfish and contemptuous. More and more people were hating him. The Immortal King, after the assassination attempt against Emilia, was hated by many and they wanted his death. During the final duel, Magnus showed how much anger and hate he had.

Powers and Abilities
Gavin Magnus was a mage of immense power, one of Axeoth's most powerful and threatening enemies. Before gaining the pendulum, many were afraid of his power and heard of it.
 * Immortality: Magnus was immortal and almost indestructible. Not even an extremely strong artifact like the Sword of Gods could kill it but wound it.
 * Intelligence: Gavin Magnus was an amazingly intelligent and smart man. He also had absolute knowledge of magics, artifacts and old stories. Magnus also had mechanical knowledge and created the dangerous machine called the Dragon Golem. According to Solymr, Magnus was capable of such a magic spells (for example, in making the pendulum) that even the oldest ginies are not familiar with.
 * Regeneration: Magnus's body was able to regenerate immediately. Even the wounds from the Sword of Gods were healed immediately.
 * Grandmaster Light Magic: Magus was a grandmaster and teacher of Light Magic. This level included the Divine Intervention spell. This spell, to whom the spell is cast, removes all adverse conditions from them, heals all their wounds, and their magic is complete again.
 * Grandmaster Order Magic: Magnus also knew Order Magic at the grandmaster level, so he could perform the highest level of spells.
 * Swordsmanship: Magnus could do some melee combat, especially with the sword, but he didn't do this too often.