King Magnus Lukas Damora is the crowned King of Mytica.
He is the son of King Gaius Damora and Queen Althea Damora. He is the adopted brother of Lucia Damora, for whom he once had strong romantic feelings for, and Queen Cleo's husband.
He is often mistaken by the other characters as an antagonist of sorts, thought by most to be a kindred spirit of his father, desiring nothing more than to one day become a king as blackhearted and tyrannical as his father. While Magnus does yearn for his father's approval, he is no such thing. In reality, he is closer to a misguided protagonist with very conflicted emotions, who has suffered years of psychological and physical torment at his father's hands.
Magnus is the former Crown Prince of Limeros, now King of Mytica alongside his wife Queen Cleiona Bellos, with whom he’s expecting their first heir, prophesied to be a son, who will grow up to be handsome and strong, and to discover a treasure that will benefit the world.
Personality[]
Magnus has dark and conflicting feelings. Although he has a cruel father, he also has a deep and unmistakable admiration for him. His personality contains dark sarcasm, arrogance, meditation, cunning intelligence and is easily irritated. He has a sensitive, compassionate and reasonable side, but he hardly shows it. Magnus rarely ever speaks what’s exactly on his mind, making him a difficult person to understand to other characters. Magnus uses almost impenetrable “masks” to cover up his true feelings, due to his extreme sensitivity towards all that he cares for.
Appearance[]
Magnus is imposingly tall, with pale skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. He is considered to be extremely handsome like his father but his beautiful face is marred by a horrific scar that runs down from his ear to his mouth. He has a muscular physique with broad-shoulders and his features appear rather "cold and serpentine", like his father. Despite the hideous scar and intimidating appearance, he is still broodingly gorgeous and unintentionally attracts many girls and women. He always wear very dark Limerian clothes (Limerian colors mostly black; dark maroon red, or dark grey.) and always appears strict and elegant.
Relationships[]
Romantic Relationships[]
Lucia Damora[]
Magnus's younger, adopted sister. Since everyday seems to be great torture for Magnus, his sister Lucia is the happiness and light of his life. Lucia is a very beautiful girl, arguably the most beautiful in all Limeros, with raven colored hair, sharp blue eyes like shards of the clear blue crystals, and naturally pink-orchid colored lips. Magnus is hopelessly in love with her but since such incestual pairings are unnatural and forbidden even amongst royals, and since Lucia only loves him as a brother, Magnus knows that he can never have her romantically, and fears to confide in her his secret desires, believing she will be repulsed by his perversion, and he refuses to risk their platonic relationship. Magnus ultimately does, though, when learns from his father's beautiful and wicked mistress, Sabina Mallius, that Lucia is not his sister by blood, but in fact a Paelsian peasant girl (this is later proved untrue: Lucia was in fact the daughter of Chieftain Hugo Basilius, which is as close as anyone cane come to Paelsian royalty) who was stolen at birth by Sabina and her sister Jana, powerful but mortal witches, because of her true identity: Lucia is a prophesied sorceress, said to be the original sorceress Eva reborn, who can proficiently wield all types of elementia. She was raised as a Damora so that she would become unconditionally loyal to the Damoras and Limeros, and fight on their behalf. Magnus confirms this with his mother, Althea, who admits Lucia was not of her womb. Empowered by this revelation, Magnus makes a sexual advance on his sister, and when she rejects him, horrified and in shock, he reveals the truth of her heritage. Despite knowing the truth, Lucia has lived her entire life alongside Magnus and considered him a brother, if not in blood, in bond, and loved him only as such. Magnus, ashamed and humiliated, became distant with Lucia, unable to bear her presence. Lucia was disheartened by this, for she loved Magnus dearly, but, knowing she could never give him what he sought, accepted the arrangement. Over the course of the other novels, Lucia and Magnus become further estranged, although they do occasionally reconnect. Lucia saves Magnus's life after the battle for Auranos with earth elementia near the end of Falling Kingdoms, and Magnus constantly visits Lucia's chambers in Rebel Spring when she is bedridden and comatose. The distance grows again with marriage of Magnus to Princess Cleo, and with Lucia making quite derogatory comments about Magnus to her father, unaware Magnus was listening in. Their relationship further declines when Lucia begins a a close friendship and eventually courtship with Alexius. Magnus is infuriated by this, and near mad with envy. When Lucia and Alexius elope, however, Magnus puts his personal feelings aside and sets off to save Lucia, who he believes is being manipulated by Alexius and is in grave danger. He does not find her, however, and they are apart for a short while, until Lucia arrives at Castle Damora alongside Kyan, a dangerous stranger in Magnus's eyes. Lucia manipulates Magnus, using his lingering feelings for her to try to convince to divulge information. She confesses her undying love for him, and kisses him deeply. Even so, he refuses, dismayed by Kyan. Lucia then uses her magic to forcefully extract the information from him regarding a stone wheel, given to Magnus and Cleo as a wedding present, that can be used as a portal of the Sanctuary. Shocked by his sister's betrayal, Magnus lashes out at Kyan, who he believes is responsible for his sister's drastic personality change. Unable to wound Kyan, he insults him, and Kyan lashes out with his power, nearly killing Magnus. Lucia intervenes just in time, and convinces Kyan to spare him. The two depart, without the stone wheel, which proved to be unsuitable for the foul purposes. Despite Lucia's actions, Magnus still has faith in his sister's goodness, and believes that Lucia will return to her family and to him, before all is said and done.
Cleiona Bellos[]
In the first two novels, Falling Kingdoms and Rebel Spring, Magnus and Cleo despise one another. In the first novel, Magnus, in a moment of weakness, stabs Cleo's personal guard, and love interest, Theon Ranus, in the back, believing his life to be in danger, and Cleo absolutely abhors him due to this fact. The feeling is mutual, for Cleo reminds Magnus of that moment of cowardice. It was the first time Magnus took a life, and he regrets it deeply- not the act itself, which he believed was justified, but the manner in which it was committed: cowardly and dishonorably. The subject of Theon is always a dangerous one for Magnus and Cleo, for even as of Crystal Storm Cleo has not truly forgiven Magnus. She has accepted Theon's death, and she has moved on, allowing herself to fall in love with others, and she understands the dilemma Magnus faced, and his reasoning, but it remains a hurdle, for Magnus has yet to truly admit wrongdoing. He admittedly regrets the way he killed Theon, but not that he did kill Theon, and openly asserts that given a chance to relive that moment, he would not have acted differently, aside from challenging Theon to a fair fight.
Magnus and Cleo become betrothed and are married in Rebel Spring, even though they continued to loathe each other. Magnus makes no advances toward her, so Cleo is content to tolerate him and appear as his lover in social gatherings. They share one kiss in Rebel Spring, only because the circumstances demanded it. They were in front of a cheering crowd and were expected to sell their love story, at the very least, for Cleo's sake.
In Gathering Darkness, Magnus and Cleo avoid each other whenever possible, but it is not always possible. One night, Magnus learns that Cleo is allowed to travel outside the palace in order to worship in The Temple of Cleiona. Magnus knows that Cleo isn't devout, so he is suspicious and he confronts her inside the temple. Heavily itoxicated as he is, he makes a none-too-subtle advance on Cleo. Although Cleo rejects him, and is loathe to admit it, she enjoyed the moment somewhat. Magnus, at this point, had become increasingly frustrated with the princess, both because he desired her and wished he didn't and also because he knew she didn't feel the same, or so he thought. Magnus begins a relationship with Amara Cortas to take his mind off Cleo, and he unknowingly succeeds in making her envious. Later on in the book, Cleo is discovered as a rebel spy and sentenced to death for aiding and abetting Jonas Agallon. Magnus, in a bold and decisive move, spares her, slaying her executioner and fleeing Castle Bellos and the City of Gold alongside her. Magnus chalks this up to sparing Cleo only for Lucia's sake, who he believed to be in danger and whose whereabouts Cleo, and only Cleo, was aware of. But this was untrue, which Magnus admits to himself later on.
After arriving in Limeros by sea, they hunt for Lucia and her fiancé, Alexius, who Cleo believes to be making for The Temple of Valoria to claim the awakened Water Kindred. Whilst journeying to the temple, they stop for the night in the home of Lady Sophia, a member of the Limerian court. After dinner, Cleo confronts Magnus about saving her life, and he confesses that he did it for her, not Lucia. They share a single passionate kiss, but are interrupted by Amara and Ashur, Princess and Prince of Kraeshia, who are holding Nic Cassian captive and demand that Cleo and Magnus take them to the Water Kindred.
When they reach the Temple of Valoria, they do not find Lucia or Alexius, only a great deal of blood inside and a scene of death and destruction outside, apparently wreaked by a winter storm. Once inside, Ashur betrays Amara, and is revealed to have colluded with Nicolo against his sister, who he deems to be power-hungry and whose behavior he believes to be self-destructive. It is revealed that Nic has already claimed the Water Kindred. Amara, in response, feigns remorse to get close enough to her brother to drive a dagger into his heart, which, in turn, shocks Nicolo so completely that for a moment he forgets entirely about the Water Kindred and rushes to Ashur's side, giving Amara a chance to claim the orb for herself, which she does. She then flees the scene, setting her guards on Magnus, Cleo and Nic. During the altercation, Cleo saves Magnus's life, and he realizes, much to his dismay, that he has fallen in love with her. Magnus knows that his newfound love for her will bring him only pain and misery.
In Frozen Tides, Magnus struggles to come to terms with his feelings for Cleo, especially when he discovers that she has not only been working with Jonas to reclaim her kingdom, but that she is in possession of the Earth Kindred, entrusted to her by Jonas. This was disputed before in Gathering Darkness, and King Gaius sentenced her to death for it, but there was no evidence and Cleo never confessed. It is Jonas, believing the truth already had been revealed, that exposed her treachery. However, after Cleo declares her belief that Magnus would be a superior king to his father, in front of a large Limerian crowd, Magnus finally understands that he truly does love her unconditionally, and that perhaps there is hope that she might love him too.
Prince Magnus and Princess Cleiona in the cabin.
Cleo is abducted shortly after her speech, and Magnus races to her rescue, believing her life to be in danger at the hands of Amara. Cleo, however, had already escaped Amara's clutches and had taken refuge in small cabin located in the thick of a forest, where Magnus discovers her. Magnus breaks down before her, admitting that he thought he was too late, that she would be dead before he reached her, and that his father would have succeeded in ripping her away from him. Magnus admits his love to Cleo, and Cleo, emboldened by his honest and emotional words, confesses her feelings for him. That night, they consummate their marriage.
The next morning, however, they are apprehended by the King of Blood, who demands Magnus kill Cleiona to prove his loyalty to Gaius, his father, and to redeem himself for his many treasonous sins. Magnus draws his weapon, and Cleo, terrified, believes for a moment that despite everything they have endured, Magnus will kill her to please his father. He does not. Instead, he directs his attention to his father, and Gaius, a vastly more experienced swordsman, easily bests his son. Cleo intervenes, angering the Earth Kindred by tossing it over a cliff, causing an earthquake that unbalances King Gaius and sends him tumbling over the said cliff. He does, however, survive, and emerges from the experience "changed".
In Crystal Storm, this "new" King Gaius causes a bit of a rift between Cleo and Magnus, and among the other rebels as well, seeing as how having the King of Blood in your rebel group, plotting to restore his former power so that he can, as far as the rebels know, re-enslave Mytica, seems a bit counterproductive. Another rift is found in the form of a curse, which Cleo carries within her- a curse that will cause Cleo to die giving birth to her first child. Her mother suffered from the magical affliction as well, which is what caused her near-death while bearing Cleo's sister, Emilia, and her actual death while bearing Cleo. It is said the curse was uttered by a vengeful witch who was a former lover of King Corvin, and one whom he cast aside. This prevents Magnus and Cleo from further sexual activity, much to their dismay, lest they risk Cleo becoming pregnant. It is later revealed that this curse is nonexistent, and that Queen Elena's death was actually caused by Selia Damora, Gaius's mother, who wished to purge the world of the Auranian queen that Gaius held so dear, believing his love for Elena weakened him.
In a moment of weakness, Magnus demanded Nic pursue Prince Ashur, whom they believed had stolen the Kindred from the rebel group (this is later disproved- it was Selia Damora). Magnus threatens to "withdraw his protection" of Cleo should Nic fail to comply, and even goes as far as to threaten Cleo's life directly. Having no choice, Nic leaves, and pursues Ashur to Chief Basilius's Compound. There, a rebel attack takes place, and chaos ensues. Nic is mortally wounded, but while he lay dying, Lucia Damora used what remained of her earth elementia (she had been greatly weakened by her pregnancy) to heal him. Olivia, who saw Nic be dealt a fatal blow, did not witness his healing, and so when she returned to Cleo, she told the princess Nicolo was dead. She did not fail to implicate Magnus. Cleo, infuriated, confronted Magnus, who denied the reality of Nic's death. Cleo was not so certain, and she blamed Magnus for the loss of Nic. She subsequently ended their relationship, even after Magnus affirmed his undying love for her, claiming "love can't fix this".
Cleo then betrayed the Damoras, giving up their location to enter Amara's good graces. Magnus and his father were brought to Amara's dungeons, and Cleo watched, apparently, indifferent, while Amara questioned them. Magnus pleads with Cleo, all but begging for forgiveness, and in the end, she replies by telling him, "I told you to call me Cleiona" (or something along those lines). In Frozen Tides, Magnus expressed distaste for her nickname, saying "a goddess's name should never be shortened", and proceeded to call her "Cleiona". Magnus takes this as a message that Cleo has not yet abandoned him. Magnus was right to think so- Cleo openly acknowledged her love for Magnus at the end of Crystal Storm, which was another problem between them. Cleo's shame of having fallen in love with the son of her greatest enemy, the murderer of her first love, was great, and that understandably bothered Magnus. But Cleo has finally overcome that obstacle, and can unreservedly that she loves him, without shame. Magnus was not, unfortunately, there to hear her declaration, seeing as how he has been buried alive a short while before in the middle of nowhere by Kurtis Cirello. Luckily, as Magnus lays in a wooden coffin, buried alive, he sees his father has placed the bloodstone on his finger (a ring of dark magic which can keep you from dying). Emboldened, Magnus scratces his way out of the coffin amd dirt, surviving for the sole sake of protecting Cleo.
Familial Relationships[]
Gaius Damora[]
Magnus's father and King of Limeros. Magnus has a very strained, cold, and not-so-loving relationship with the cruel and "iron-fisted" King Gaius. As the eldest of the King of Blood's brood, Magnus tries to do his best to be loyal, helpful, and ruthless in order to impress his father and not become disgraced and unworthy of his father's trust. Throughout his childhood, Magnus was abused and tormented by his father. The reason why his father abuses him so is because King Gaius wants his son to be strong, steel minded, and ruthless like himself. When Magnus was seven years old, his own father gave him a brutal scar on his cheek for punishment of stealing precious treasure while the Damoras were guests in the Auranian palace (Magnus admitted that the dagger was the most beautiful thing he had even seen, and that he wanted to possess it more than anything else in the world.) Magnus witnessed, at a young age, his father kill his grandfather, King Davidus, and from this learned that his father will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants: Absolute Power. Magnus fears his father's rage and terrible personality, but he knows that must stay strong in order withstand the King of Blood's tyrannical rule. Although Magnus does not often agree with his father's decisions to take lives, among other things, Magnus follows his father's orders often without question and does his best to please his father and King. But that suddenly changes in Rebel Spring, during the hunt for the famed rebel leader Jonas Agallon. Magnus discovers, from Aron Lagaris, that his father was the one who was responsible of his mother's death, Althea Damora. Magnus is shocked and enraged about this. He renounces his father, declaring (internally) that King Gaius is the person he hates more than anything else in the entire world and that he will do anything to destroy him. Still, throughout the course of Gathering Darkness, Magnus feigns love and respect for his father, all while silently loathing him. This deception comes to a halt when Magnus is faced with the decision of whether or not to allow Princess Cleo life. His father had already sentenced her to death for conspiring with the rebels against the Damoras, but Magnus chose to intervene at the last second, killing Cronus, the king's personal guard, who had been ordered to take Cleo's life, and fleeing with Cleo for Limeros. He claimed he did this for Lucia's sake, believing Cleo to have knowledge of her whereabouts after she had eloped with Alexius, but in reality, he had spared her because he was beginning to fall in love with her. It is not until Frozen Tides hat the King Gaius finally confronts Magnus for this horrendous act of treason. Gaius offers Magnus a chance at redemption, stating that if Magnus kills Cleo, then and there, all would be forgiven. Magnus once again defies his father, and raises his weapon against King Gaius. Magnus, the less experienced of the two, is bested, and would have bene promptly executed by the king if not for Cleo's intervention. Cleo drops the obsidian Earth Kindred off a cliff onto a bed of ice, which causes an earthquake. King Gaius falls to his apparent death. His life force, however, lingers, a side effect of a magical potion he took long ago that was supposed to purge his of his weakness, when in truth, purged him of emotion. Relieved of the malignant magical enchantment, he emerges a changed man. Magnus does not, however, forgive him his many sins, but neither does he abandon his father's side. Magnus, it seems, still has some place in his heart, however small, for his villainous father, and some small part of him, wants to believe he is redeemable.
Althea Damora[]
Althea Damora is Magnus's mother, wife of King Gaius, and Queen of Limeros. Magnus and his mother are not close, having never bonded during Magnus's childhood. Their relationship is cold and distant. It is in Rebel Spring that Althea first starts to show affection for Magnus. Althea is revealed to care deeply for her son, and even goes so far as to threaten Princess Cleo on the way to Hawk's Brow to design her wedding dress, warning her not to cause him harm. Their mother-son bonding is brought to a halt, however, when Althea is killed, supposedly by rebel Jonas Agallon. Blinded by fury, Magnus seeks the rebel relentlessly, but he later learns that it was Aron Lagaris who murdered Althea, on the orders of the king. The revelation turns him against his father. Later on, King Gaius lies to Magnus by telling him that Althea is not his birth mother, but Sabina Mallius. Afterwards, Gaius admits the truth and reveals that Althea is actually his birth mother.
Notable Friendships[]
Jonas Agallon[]
Magnus despises Jonas. Jonas has outwitted Magnus multiple times and escaped from his clutches on numerous occasions, which is humiliating for Magnus. Jonas is trying to usurp Magnus's father and liberate Mytica, which would essentially mean robbing Magnus of his power and his throne. Despite their differences, Magnus and the rebel are quite alike. They both have the same romantic feelings for Princess Cleo, who both of them, at one point, despised. They are both handsome and charismatic when needs be, and both cut an intimidating figure. Despite their dark thoughts and malicious desires, they are both good men at heart. In Frozen Tides, Magnus and Jonas form an uneasy truce, with neither one fully trusting the other, in order to defeat King Gaius, who Magnus believes will strip him of his titles and his honor and quite possible take his life for his treason. He sends Jonas off to Kraeshia to kill his father, but by the time Jonas arrived, King Gaius had already departed back to Mytica. The two continue their uneasy alliance in Crystal Storm, despite the fact that Magnus is a fallen prince and has nothing left to offer to Jonas, and that King Gaius has apparently joined their entourage. It should be noted that Jonas did attempt to kill Gaius, but failed, Gaius's miraculous magic potion coming to his aid once more. Magnus becomes more and more distasteful of Jonas as the days go by, believing that Jonas and Cleo have a secret relationship of which he is extremely envious, desiring the princess for himself.
Magnus is not very fond that Jonas has developed a budding romantic relationship with his sister, Lucia Damora by the end of Immortal Reign. But with encouragement from Cleo, he will slowly come to accept his sister's happy new relationship. Though Jonas and Magnus still get on each other's nerves, they both hold a great amount of respect and acceptance for one another. In other words, they are no longer going at each other's throats.
Gallery[]
