Creation
Magnus was created by Bronwyn Taggart and penciler Peter Gross in The Books of Faerie issue 1 in 1998.
Major Story Arcs
Magnus is the grandson of Haakon, who was himself the son of the first king of Faerie, Huon the Small. Magnus started off well. He had an affair with the Hag of the Iron Well, from which came a son, Amadan. However, he did not acknowledge Amadan, since he was a bastard. According to the Hag, he had a great heart, and according to the Gyvv, he should have been Magnus the Great.
However, he started doing research into why Fairies didn’t have many children. It turned out that something in their heritage caused problems if it came from both sides of the family. He started a program of breeding fairies with humans and others. This works to some extent, although the mothers always die if there is a baby. Fairy social culture at the time is racist, so any time it works, it has to be covered up. As all this goes on, he gains a reputation for being a lech, and it seems that in the process, he does in fact lose all morality. He throws great parties to instigate drunken breeding, and great gladiatorial contests.
At one of these, Sturm is the greatest gladiatorial champion. He defeats all comers. Seemingly out of his head, Magnus challenges Sturm. The crowd is so racist, they assume a troll would let himself die rather than fight the fairy king. However, Sturm kills him.
Magnus had no acknowledged child, so the kingship fell into dispute among three more distantly-related rivals: Lord Obrey, Lord Huonnor, and the child Auberon. Eventually Auberon becomes king with Obrey as regent, then Obrey takes full control, and then finally Auberon becomes the longtime king.