- "You'll wear the Eye of Agamotto once you've mastered its powers. Until then, best not to walk the streets wearing an Infinity Stone."
- ―Wong to Doctor Strange[src]
The Eye of Agamotto was a powerful relic created by Agamotto, the first Sorcerer Supreme, as a containment device for the Time Stone. The Eye became an heirloom, being passed from Sorcerer Supreme to Sorcerer Supreme for thousands of years.
The Eye has the ability to manipulate the flow of time and was used by Doctor Strange to fight Kaecilius and Dormammu and restore the Hong Kong Sanctum. It was placed back in Kamar-Taj until Strange could learn how to control it. The Eye was destroyed by Thanos during the Battle of Titan, although the Time Stone was removed and hidden by Strange prior to the battle.
In 2023, the Avengers initiated a Time Heist in order to resurrect the lives Thanos had claimed. Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Ant-Man were sent back in time to May 4, 2012 during the Battle of New York to retrieve the Space and Mind and Time Stone, where Hulk successfully convinced the Ancient One to relinquish the stone housed with the Eye. Following the Battle of Earth, where Iron Man used all six stones to kill Thanos and his army at the cost of his own life, Captain America time-traveled to 2012 to return the Time Stone.
History
Creation
- "The father of the Mystic Arts, the mighty Agamotto. The same sorcerer who created the Eye you so recklessly borrowed."
- ―Wong to Doctor Strange[src]
The Eye was created by Agamotto as a containment device for the Time Stone, enabling him and his successors to use the stone's power without suffering the adverse effects of touching an Infinity Stone.
The Eye's mystical properties, as well as the spells and gestured necessary to use it, were studied by the mystic Cagliostro, who recorded them in his personal grimoire. The Eye remained in Kamar-Taj where it was discovered by Doctor Stephen Strange.[1]
Battle of New York
In 2012, the Ancient One brought the Eye of Agamotto with her to New York City as she defended its Sanctum from the invading Chitauri.[2]
Strange's Training
Doctor Strange using the Eye of Agamotto for the first time
- "First, open the Eye of Agamotto. Alright. Oh my. Dormammu. The Dark Dimension. Eternal life?"
"Stop! Tampering with the continuum of probability is forbidden!" - ―Doctor Strange and Karl Mordo[src]
Having read one of the passages in the Book of Cagliostro about the Eye, Doctor Strange put on the pendent and tested its power on an apple, forwarding and reversing time on the object. He then used the Eye's power on the book, discovering and reading the stolen passages about the Dark Dimension and Dormammu. However, he stopped using its power as it began creating different alternate timelines, which Wong and Mordo warned against, because it could destroy the natural order.[1]
Battle at the Hong Kong Sanctum
Doctor Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto's power
- "I'm breaking the laws of nature, I know."
"Well, don't stop now." - ―Doctor Strange and Wong[src]
Strange later used the Eye to rewind time in Hong Kong, restoring its Sanctum, and bringing Wong back to life, until he was stopped by Kaecilius, causing all of time to stop before the Sanctum could be restored, thus allowing the Dark Dimension through. Strange flew into the Dark Dimension and activated the Eye.
Doctor Strange creating a time loop to face Dormammu
When he confronted Dormammu to parley, Dormammu killed him, but the Eye's power trapped them both in a time loop that would restart every time Strange died. Dormammu finally relented and accepted Strange's terms, withdrawing his attack on Earth and taking away his Zealots.
Doctor Strange putting the Eye of Agamotto back on its place in Kamar-Taj
With Dormammu gone, Strange returned the Eye to its place in Kamar-Taj feeling he was not ready to wield it yet. Wong notified Strange that he would wear the Eye again once he learned to master it powers, but that it was unwise to walk around wearing an Infinity Stone until then.[1] Strange soon mastered its powers and began wearing the Eye on him by the time he met and assisted Thor.[3]
Infinity War
Attack on Greenwich Village
Ebony Maw tries to take the Eye of Agamotto
- "It's a simple spell, but quite unbreakable."
"Then I'll take it off your corpse!"
"You'll find removing a dead man's spell troublesome."
"You'll only wish you were dead." - ―Doctor Strange and Ebony Maw[src]
During the Black Order's arrival in New York City for the Time Stone, Doctor Strange attempted to use the Eye against Ebony Maw, but was restrained before he could activate it. As Maw attempted to grab the amulet, the Eye glowed with Eldritch Magic, burning his hand as Strange explained that he placed a protection spell over it that would hold even if he were killed. Maw decided to take Strange and the Eye to his Q-Ship, intending to torture him into giving up the Time Stone and bringing it to Thanos on Titan.[4]
Searching for a Solution
Thanos grabs the Eye of Agamotto from Doctor Strange
Strange used the Eye again on Titan to review over fourteen million possible outcomes of the impending battle against Thanos, revealing that there was only a single outcome where they were successful. Before Thanos arrived, as Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy prepared themselves, Strange removed the Time Stone from the Eye of Agamotto, leaving the relic empty during the battle. After Thanos defeated Strange, he took and crushed the relic with his hand, revealing Strange's deception before tossing the sorcerer aside.[4]
Time Heist
Theft of the Time Stone
- "It's the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone."
"Then why the hell did Strange give it away?" - ―Ancient One and Bruce Banner[src]
In 2023, five years after the Snap, Tony Stark devised a method to use the Quantum Realm in order to travel through time safely. In order to reverse the effects of the Snap, the Avengers subsequently initiated a Time Heist, a mission involving traveling to the past in order to reclaim all six Infinity Stones and bring them to the present. During a brainstorming session to ascertain the location of the stones, Natasha Romanoff informed the team that the Mind, Space and Time Stone were all in New York City in 2012.
In order to retrieve the Time Stone, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Scott Lang were sent back in time to May 4, 2012, during the Battle of New York, back when the stone was inside the Eye of Agamotto protected by the Ancient One. When Hulk arrived at the New York Sanctum, he attempted to take the Time Stone from the Ancient One only to be forced out his body and into the Astral Dimension so they could talk civilly. While Banner insisted that the Time Stone would be returned before its absence caused any damage to the timeline, the Ancient One refused, citing that if he died and did not return the Time Stone, then the new timeline would be left defenseless against its own version of Thanos and any other threats before Banner revealed Strange had given up the Stone willingly. Convinced, the Ancient One opened the eye and surrendered the Stone to Banner who brought it to 2023.[2]
Capabilities
- "Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Unstable dimensional openings, spatial paradoxes, time loops! You want to get stuck experiencing the same moment over and over again forever, or never having existed at all?"
- ―Karl Mordo to Stephen Strange[src]
The Time Stone inside the Eye of Agamotto
As the container of the Time Stone, the Eye of Agamotto allows its wielder to use the Infinity Stone's power without having to physically touch it. The eye itself is usually closed and must be opened via sorcery in order to access the stone. Eldritch Magic is shown to be one of the ways of tapping into the stone's power to harness it in the form of time manipulation spells.
Empowered by its Infinity Stone, the Eye has tremendous time-based powers, able to control the flow of time on a small or massive scale. On a smaller scale, the Time Stone allows the user to turn something back to its previous state or accelerate its time in order to apply changes that have not yet happened. At a large scale, the stone can rewind time to undo entire events, even to the point of bringing the dead to life, by going to a point prior to their death. If the user is interrupted while rewinding time, time freezes until the user resumes the spell.
The Eye's powers of reconstruction are strong, but not perfect. While the prodigiously gifted Doctor Strange was able to reconstruct the stolen pages of the Book of Cagliostro, he was unable to make the reconstruction "real", only revealing what had once been there. However, full reconstruction is possible for wielder's of sufficient skill such as Thanos who, with the Time Stone, was able to recreate the Mind Stone after it was destroyed by Scarlet Witch while simultaneously resurrecting Vision.
The Ancient One was able to use the Eye to peer through time to a limited extent and gain a degree of awareness of possible futures, suggesting that in addition to the Eye's control over the flow of time, it can also be used to grant a sorcerer a degree of clairvoyance should said sorcerer have the necessary knowledge. Doctor Strange later gained this ability, using the Eye to glimpse 14 million futures where he and his allies were defeated by Thanos, against one possible victory.
The Eye can also be used to set up a time loop, resetting its state and repeating an event infinitely until the wielder halts the process. It appears skilled sorcerers, or perhaps users of powers from the Dark Dimension can, to an extent, subtract themselves to the effects of the stone, stopping the time reversal affecting oneself or noticing that one is stuck in a time loop.
Wong and Karl Mordo have noted that the Eye acts against the natural order of the universe and is extremely dangerous. If mishandled, the Eye can very well kill its wielder. With Wong's approval, Strange put it back on its pedestal until such time as he learned how to properly harness its power.[1]
Trivia
- In the comics, the Eye of Agamotto is one of three eyes created by Agamotto, placed into the care of Eternity until given to Doctor Strange to battle Dormammu. It is used for order or "white" magic only. It does not respond to an evil user's commands, and can only be utilized by a magician with a pure heart and clean soul.
- Scott Derrickson, director of Doctor Strange, said the Eye of Agamotto from the comics was too powerful to be used in the film.[5]
- This is the second Infinity Stone not to be used to destroy the main antagonist during its first appearance, the first being the Aether. However, it is nonetheless instrumental in defeating both Dormammu and Kaecilius.
- Due to a filming error, Doctor Strange was briefly shown wearing the Eye of Agamotto during the lineup in the Battle of Earth, right before Captain America said "Avengers, assemble!"
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