[thesalus]

Obo and Agayla are two powerful mages that have made their residence in Malaz City. Obo was the guy whom ST asked to get rid of Oponn in tBH, and Agayla was the one whom Bottle asked regarding the whereabouts of Withal. Tehy are also featured in NoK. NoK spoiler...

Spoiler

Obo considers the possibility of living through Stormrider occupation on Malaz City, whilst continually besieged by them. Agayla seems to think that Obo could live through this, so there must be some merit to it. This could be seen as a measure of his potential

And the quote Kimloc is referring to is:

Quote

'Welcome, High First,' Quick Ben said, straighening, adding a slightly deferential bow to Tayschrenn. 'Colleague...'
Tayschrenn's thin, almost hairless brows rose. 'A field promotion, wasn't it? Well, perhaps long overdue. Nonetheless, Id o not believe the Empress has sanctioned that title as yet.'
Quick Ben offered him a broad, white smile. 'Do you recall, High Mage, a certain other High Mage, sent by the Emperor, early on the Blackdog Campaign? Kribalah Rule?'
'Rule the Rude? Yes, he died after a month or so-'
'In a horrible conflagration, aye. Well, that was me. Thus, I've been a High Mage before, colleague...'
Tayschrenn was frowning, clearly thinking back, then the frown became a scowl. 'And the Emperor knew this? He must have, having sent you - unless, of course, he didn't send you at all.'
'Well, granted, there were some improprieties involved, and had one set out on that particular trail they might well have been noted. But you did not feel the need to do so, evidently, since, although briefly, I more than held my own - pulling you out of trouble once, I seem to recall... something about Tiste Andii asassin-mages-'
'When I lost a certain object containing a demon lord...'
'You did? Sorry to hear that.'
'The same demon that later died by Rake's sword in Darujhistan.'
page 124-125 BoneHunters

[Kimloc]

The Crippled God;277791 said:

I think he is talking about a sort of Rashan, that can create an illusion aroud a person and change his appearance.

Sigh. Of course. Thanks. Damn, QB is good at dying. Maybe he gave the Crusts lessons. The demon Pearl said his name was inscribed on a list of dead in 7C, I think. I wonder how many more deaths he has.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Kimloc;277804 said:

Sigh. Of course. Thanks. Damn, QB is good at dying. Maybe he gave the Crusts lessons. The demon Pearl said his name was inscribed on a list of dead in 7C, I think. I wonder how many more deaths he has.

Lol... probably the same amount of souls he has.

[Ezikeil]

I really think Most of you are not giving Sinn enough credit. There is a part in BH (where's my books when I need them) where someone is talking about fire and what happens when it reaches a certain point and spawns an elemental. If I remember corectly they said bad things happen even if it is for a short time only.

Also She just was not destroying any old Iceberg's. It was the remanants of Gothos' ritual. It took thousands of Imass to get past the Jaghut Magic and many of them died. And she just boils the 'bergs away.

Also if I remeber Beak called her "scary" and a magic user that can scare Beak scares the living daylights out of me.

then again maybe I am just biased towards Sinn because she is part of my own pet theory.


With that being said here is my top ten
1)QB. & and the god behind him!?!
2) Sinn wtfpwn Gotos ritual
3)Beak. Jack of all trades, master of none (imho)
4) Kuru Qan. Hi you think you killed me instead I am going to spends years making a ritual to destroy you...as a ghost
5) Silverfox She is three mages and a Bone caster thrown into one
6)Tays More of a survivor than anything else.

Does Paran count?

Sorry I can't really justify anymore. I have never been a huge fan of the Mages (except for a few) Now If it was a discusion on the Top 10 Marines of all time that I could throw in more than six

[Zanth13]

Battalion;277742 said:

Rumours still persist about whether or not Quick Ben is Soletaken or not, if he were, he'd be elimitated from our enquiries.

What about Shadowthrone. Allthough he has ascended, he's still essentially human, or he was, and he's obviously a very poweful mage.

I thought RG pretty much confirmed QB being Soletaken via his conversation with Hedge...cannot quote but it was something along the lines of

"I always thought I smelled the spice of soltekan on you QB"

[Battalion]

yeah, that's true, I'd forgotten that.

Back on topic, a couple of other mages we seem to be overlooking are Baruk, who Rake rated fairly highly, and also Kruppe. Surely he has great powers?

[The Crippled God]

Hm, I am not so sure of Kruppe being a mage....he is either a servant of a god, or...who knows, may be a god himself....So many of the ancient, Elder gods remain unknown....Also he calls K'rul, "his friend" and somewhat speek to him like equal....

[Veilside]

Silencer;277061 said:

No way does Tay go above QB.
Even if he has 3 high warrens, he doesn't have as many as Quick, nor does he have the cunning to back them up.

While he is no doubt powerful, he can't beat Quick.

Tay doesn't really need the brains though, the scene in MoI where he wipes out a few Panion mages kind of shows that. He uses brute force, and lots of it.
I guess it'd just depend as to who gets the first hit in a fight between Tay and QB, i'd put them about equal though.

[deegee]

Okay as much as I love QB,...he is not even close to the most powerful in my opinion. Though he is improving lol....My list might go like this...

1 - Beak ( man just re-read RG, nuff said)
2 - Tayschrenn (only from his reputation)
3 - Bottle (the guy can access the older magics)
4 - Sormo
5 - Tanno Spiritwalker
6 - Mammot
7 - Sinn (man she really scares me for some reason)
8 - Quick Ben
9 - Ceda
10 - Tattersail

[magicrealist]

Quick Ben not even close to the most powerful??

I'm sorry, but Quick Ben beat off three of the MOST powerfull soletaken dragons, and then beta of SILCHAS RUIN. THat is WAYYYY more impressive than anything bottle can do. Bottle is like apoor mans QB. And it was said that the bonehunters missed quick ben because he was a TRUE High Mage. Sinn had the talent of a High Mage but was not tried and true. How can you POSSIBLY have bottle so high. he has done nothing to warrant that kind of respect. ( except when the eres al was using him.)

[deegee]

[QUOTE=magicrealist;278096]Quick Ben not even close to the most powerful??

I'm sorry, but Quick Ben beat off three of the MOST powerfull soletaken dragons, and then beta of SILCHAS RUIN.

Yeah good point...but doesn't he have like 12 souls in him or something that kinda makes him more powerful? And don't get me wrong, he is one of my favourite characters in the whole series (maybe 2nd fave after Fiddler) but he seems like he just plays an okay hand of cards really well...ie he is crafty but not innately powerful like say tayschrenn is...

[Silencer]

The 12 souls are part of his innate power.
Most of them were High Mages.
That alone should put him above Tay.
Not to mention that the Pannion Mages weren't that powerful - Quick also kills a couple.
And he defeats Soletaken Dragons. Which walk all over Pannion Mages.

And he is probably just as naturally powerful as Tay is - but he specialises in not being noticed. That's his thing. As we have seen - he can do it.
In fact, I would put both of those in the top 3 mortal mages. Definitely above Bottle, and Beak. Beak isn't that powerful - I've made this argument before - he killed himself to do that magic. If Quick did the same thing, it would be 10 times more powerful.

[Optimus Prime]

I'm tempted to have Shadowthrone at the top of this list.

Quick Ben also......

You guys even thinking about Crimson Guard's bad ass mages?

[Silencer]

No - haven't seen them, so no evidence.

[The Deragoth]

Most people seem to be placing tays quite high, but I'm a little surprised by the doubters.

Admittedly we haven't seen all that much from him, but of all the malazan(7c, genb etc) area mages his power seems more akin to what you would see from a hold than anyone else. Holds tend to be powerful and brutal, Tays seems to be just as brutal, but with his warren.

Analogy: Warren = rapier Hold = Karsa's sword Tays = rapier the size of karsa's sword

I think the most telling thing was in MoI(I think) when Korlat witnesses Tays unleashing his power and feels pity for Rake for having to face him alone. Rake did manage to fight them all and keep moonspawn in the air, so I'm not trying to compare them, but I do think Korlat's opinion is pretty telling of his pure power.

[Silencer]

I don't doubt his power, I just doubt that he is as good as Quick.
They are both in the top 3 for me, as I said, but QB just edges Tay out (unless we see some uber action from him in RotCG).

[Dancer+]

I agree with Silencer almost entirely in these ways.

• QB and Tay in the top three
  
• Beak quite a way down, people don't account for the unusual circumstances. Beak was only at that power level when all of the candles lit up, he couldn't do that without dying. You can't argue power on last gasp efforts because you can't die and win at the same time.
  
• Contrary, I still have to voice some disapproval to QB > Tay but I think it may be true. Tay, to me, has even more secrets than QB - I expect great things of him.

I'd also like to point out as an afterthought that Beak's efforts only sufficed because they were defensive.

[greenteam]

has anyone mentioned the assassin leader vorcan she is a high mage and alot more powerful than baruk was or any other members of the t'orrud cabal

[Aptorian]

I mentioned her. The fact that she was able to kill some of the Torrud cabal doesn't make her more powerfull than them, just more crafty.

You're not more powerfull than someone if you manage to stab them with an ottataral knife or strike them with death magic.

[eekwibble]

What's with all the Beak-hating? :confused:
In terms of pure power and 'when they were alive'ness, nobody has come close to displaying the kind of power that he did. Not against that much of an onslaught.
The thread didn't mention anything about having to have remained alive after the fireworks.
:folken: :hand:
"Everyone alive?" "Check."
"Everyones armour polished?" "Check."
"Everyone had their hair dyed?" "Check."
"Bye then" :angel:
Awesomeness!

:cool: