The best mage of all time (especialty from the perspective of this game) is Sauron, the Dark Lord from the Lord of the Rings. Even though he never makes a personal appearance he dominatates the saga. He forged a dark defendable empire created for the sole purpose for forcing all others to bend to his will. However, his might was greater than his armies and through the creation of the rings of power was able to bring numerous kingdoms under his sway by bringing their kings into his service. In fact his magic was so powerful that when his body was killed in the sinking of his great rival realm, his spirit was able to continue on. He also did not fear to enter into personal combat when needed. The only reason he fell was his over confidence and failure to believe his enimies would even conceive of destroying the greating artifact ever created that housed most of his remaining essense. Never have I played a fantasy game and not compared my villian to Sauron or if playing a dark realm myself how it matched against Mordor.