If it was Merlyn’s quirky, lesson-by-experience guidance of Wart—like turning him into a fish and a hawk, or schooling him with Archimedes—that won you over, you’ll love how Ogion mentors Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea. Ogion’s quiet, paradoxical teaching pushes Ged to understand names, power, and humility, much as Merlyn’s odd lessons prepare Wart to pull the sword in London. You get that same sense of apprenticeship shaping a future leader, but with Le Guin’s spare, luminous magic and a moral journey as memorable as Wart’s.

Did Merlyn’s backward-in-time jokes, dry asides, and the general comic sparkle around Wart’s lessons make The Sword in the Stone sing for you? Howl’s Moving Castle matches that mischievous tone. Howl is as eccentric and endearing a wizard as Merlyn, and Sophie’s banter with him (and Calcifer) hits the same witty, cozy vibe you got from Wart, Kay, Sir Ector, and Archimedes. It’s clever, warm fantasy where the jokes land without dimming the magic.

If you loved watching Wart grow from an unassuming boy in Sir Ector’s castle to the one who quietly pulls the sword, The Book of Three offers that same heartbeat. Taran starts as an Assistant Pig-Keeper and, like Wart, learns bravery and decency the hard way—on the road, among friends who become family, and under the shadow of legends. The camaraderie you enjoyed with Wart, Kay, and Archimedes echoes in Taran’s bonds with Eilonwy, Gurgi, and Fflewddur Fflam.

If Archimedes the owl stole your heart—his tart advice and real help in Wart’s education—Mogget will too. In Sabriel, the sardonic, unsettling cat isn’t just comic relief; he’s pivotal to Sabriel’s necromantic duties, much as Archimedes is essential to Wart’s lessons and scrapes. You get that dynamic where the nonhuman companion deepens the magic and stakes, while the young protagonist shoulders responsibility earlier than anyone expects.

If it was the breezy, anything-can-happen feel of Wart’s transformations and Merlyn’s unfussy magic—turning boy into bird, conjuring lessons out of everyday life—that charmed you, Stardust carries that same fairy-tale lift. Tristran’s journey into Faerie brims with sky pirates, talking stars, and casual enchantments, the kind of wonder that made London’s tournament and that blade in the anvil feel both miraculous and inevitable.