Mahir

Overview

Mahir are counted amount the myriad of different undead varieties known to the Myth universe, but unlike Thrall, Soulless, and the like, there is no known means of creating one. Rather, Mahir are byproducts of particularly heinous deaths, ones in which the souls of the departed find themselves incapable of release, instead descending into a form of half-death, suspended partially between the physical and ethereal realms. They are ghosts of a sort, neither real nor unreal, and they exist only to cling fruitlessly to the obsessions they once held in life. Mahir do have names, though not in a traditional sense; their titles are not meant to signify who they are as individuals, but rather serve as a concept that defines their existence (Hope Forever Lost to Fate and Promises Broken to Greedy Ends are two examples).

Drawing further parallels to traditional depictions of ghosts, Mahir are commonly bound to a certain area, usually one which has some association to their object of obsession. A Mahir will roam this area tirelessly, attacking any living thing foolish enough to intrude on their sanctuary. Their touch instantly paralyzes the target, though what happens to the victim afterwards is open to debate. The remains of those who have succumbed to a Mahir attack are often barely identifiable as human, alternately being thoroughly desiccated or stripped of all but a few pieces of flesh.

Role in the Series

The Mahir appear briefly in the final two missions of Myth II's single-player campaign. They are unique enemies in that they cannot be manually targeted under most circumstances. The player's cue to their presence is a moving shadow with no point of origin. In this state, Mahir can only be damaged by concussive blast like Dwarven molotovs. When they attack, a spindly black torso arises from the ground, which can be targetted normally by any unit. As they are incredibly low on health and extremely vulnerable when attacking, they are only a real threat to players who are unaware of their presence.

Trivia

• The Mahir originated in Myth: The Fallen Lords, where they and many other unimplemented units existed in the game's data files as unused assets. These resources were used in a number of fan plugins for Myth, and come Myth II Mahir would be fully implemented as a regular (though rare) unit, making them the only unused unit from Myth: TFL to make a proper appearance in a later game.
• Mahir are conspicuously similar in appearance to the Phantasms of Bungie's earlier Pathways into Darkness. Like Mahir, Phantasms are depicted as thin, ethereal black figures with glowing red eyes.