The Amulet of Agamotto is a similar, but less powerful, version of the amulet known as the Eye of Agamotto.[3] According to the Legend of Agamotto, this talisman was said to have been brought into existence as Agamotto completed the search of his own memories, trying to see if his mother, Oshtur, had left him a hint as to where she had gone. This talisman, the first to be created by Agamotto, was initially known as the Talisman of Agamotto or the Eye of Power[2] but it has since come to be known by other names, including the Lesser Eye of Agamotto, the Amulet of Agamotto and the Lesser Amulet of Agamotto.[3]
History
After Doctor Strange had been his disciple for seven years, the Ancient One decided that the time had come for Strange to leave to find his own way of battling the magical forces that threatened the world. To help Strange find his way, the Ancient One gifted him with both the Amulet of Agamotto and the Orb of Agamotto. Looking into the latter for the first time, Strange saw a vision of the townhouse in Greenwich Village that would soon become his Sanctum Sanctorum.[4] Once based in New York City, Strange frequently used the amulet on his various quests. Eventually, after Strange defeated Dormammu for the first time, the Ancient One rewarded him by bestowing upon him a new Cloak of Levitation and a more wondrous amulet, the more powerful Eye of Agamotto.[5]
For an unspecified time, Strange was allowed to keep both amulets. It was during this period that Strange cast the spell that severed one week from his personal timeline, creating a temporal remnant as a contingency that was then hidden away until needed. This excerpt from their timeline was equipped with his own version of the Amulet and Strange's original blue Cloak of Levitation.[6]
At some point, the Ancient One reclaimed the Amulet from Strange and, without telling him, returned it to Agamotto, who kept it in his dimension where it remained for years. Eventually, Agamotto decided to use it to test the fanatical sorcerer Silver Dagger who had been imprisoned in that realm since being defeated by Doctor Strange. After finding the Amulet that Agamotto had "carelessly" left lying around, Silver Dagger took advantage of Strange's brief visit to that realm to pluck out his own left eye and mystically implant it into Strange's left eye socket (empty since that eye had been destroyed by a demon). Silver Dagger then stole the Amulet and hid it within his now-empty eye socket before escaping to Earth. Some months later, during the Infinity Gauntlet event, Silver Dagger and some of his followers confronted Strange in an attempt to kill him and reclaim his eye. However, Strange was able to use his Eye of Agamotto to overcome and imprison Silver Dagger. As soon as that happened, Silver Dagger became blind in his left eye again just as Agamotto appeared, revealed that he had been testing Silver Dagger (as Strange had secretly deduced) and took "Dag" with him back to his realm.[1]
Soon afterwards, Strange, who had somehow regained possession of the Amulet, decided to reward his then-apprentice Rintrah for his recent heroic efforts by giving him the less powerful Cloak of Levitation and the Amulet of Agamotto. As part of a solo mission to determine if he would be allowed to keep them, Rintrah used them for the first time to defeat and banish the House of Shadows who had been posing as the top floor of a newly-built condominium.[7] Rintrah agreed that he would consult with Strange before using the Amulet and Strange's original cloak, but soon disobeyed when a violent magical force seemed to threaten Strange's safety.[8] Minutes later, after Galactus had convinced Doctor Strange to use the Eye of Agamotto to help him discover who had rendered Eternity catatonic, an angry Agamotto transported Strange, both Eyes and the Orb to his realm. Strange soon managed to bring Galactus to that realm and, when that led to a battle between Agamotto and the world-devourer, also summoned Hoggoth and Oshtur to intervene. Those other two-thirds of the Vishanti were able to convince Agamotto to stop battling Galactus and to allow Strange to depart with the three talismans.[9]
Rintrah was not wearing the Amulet when he was seemingly killed soon afterwards.[10] Although it turned out that Rintrah was not truly dead, he was going to be away from Earth for an extended period, so Strange reclaimed both the amulet and the cloak. Later, during the Infinity Crusade, Strange, whose real body was enthralled by the Goddess at the time, made use of both items while temporarily possessing the body of Wong in order to stop his brother Victor who had killed at least one person after beginning to lose control of his vampiric thirst for blood.[11]
Years later, Deadpool broke into the Sanctum Sanctorum and stole the Amulet to allow him to access the Nightmare World in order to confront and potentially kill Nightmare himself. After Deadpool returned, Strange reclaimed the Amulet.[12]
Eventually, after Doctor Strange was murdered by Kaecilius, that temporal remnant was summoned to solve his murder and appeared in the Sanctum Sanctorum wearing his own version of the Amulet of Agamotto.[13] Since the time-displaced temporal remnant, his amulet and his cloak had all been created from one week of Strange's life span, they presumably all faded out of existence once their time had run out.
After Doctor Doom betrayed Strange and kept the title of Sorcerer Supreme for himself,[14] Strange lost the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation to him.[15] Consequently, he started to wear the Amulet of Agamotto alongside a new cloak to replace the items he had lost.[16]Properties
The Amulet of Agamotto can provide mystic illumination, penetrate illusions, and track both corporeal and ethereal beings by their emissions, be they magical or psychic in nature. Unlike the Eye of Agamotto, the Amulet doesn't has the ability to serve as a gateway to other dimensions.[3]
Alternate Reality Versions
Earth-691[]
In this timeline, the Amulet of Agamotto was presumably also the first amulet given to this reality's Stephen Strange by his mentor, the Ancient One. Strange presumably kept the amulet even after he left Earth following its conquest by the Martian Masters during the War of the Worlds in 2001 A.D. However, this amulet was not actually seen until the early 31st century, after Strange himself had become known as the Ancient One and had been succeeded as Sorcerer Supreme by his disciple, a Lem named Krugarr.
In 3018 A.D., the Ancient One was wearing this amulet when he fought and was killed by Dormammu.[17] Later, after Dormammu had been banished, Krugarr took this "amulet of the Ancient One" from his master's body and gave it to his own former apprentice, the Inhuman Talon.[18] As a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Talon wore the amulet on a number of adventures until he underwent a transformation that made his personality more bestial. From afar, Krugarr detected Talon's intent to now use the amulet for personal aggrandizement and confiscated it because Talon was no longer worthy.[19]
Talon would later travel to Krugarr's Sanctum Sanctorum on his homeworld of Lem in a vain attempt to take it back by force. However, after Talon was forced to acknowledge his problem and had asked to be allowed to begin the process of regaining his spiritual balance under Krugarr's guidance, Krugarr allowed him to wear the amulet again.[20]Notes
- The creation of the amulet represents the creation of the first "path" of magic, where a magician draws upon their own internal energies.[2]
- The appearance of the Amulet of Agamotto can change slightly. When it was first given to Strange, its backing was round[4] and it remained that way for several of his early adventures in New York City.[21] However, its backing then became square[22] and has remained that way ever since.
- In the early stories, neither of the amulets won by Doctor Strange were given their own names. This amulet was called an "early-model Eye" by Agamotto in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #32 and "this Amulet of Agamotto" by Doctor Strange in the Rintrah story in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual #2.
- The idea that this amulet was one of the Three Eyes of Agamotto first appeared as part of the Legend of Agamotto that was presented in Marvel Tarot #1. However, Tony Stark: Iron Man #12 seemingly contradicted that claim by showing that two of the three Eyes, the Eye of Agamotto worn by Doctor Strange and the Eye of Power (at that time in the possession of the Asgardian dragon Sandurang) looked very similar to each other. The third Eye was said to have been lost to time in Savage Avengers, and thus could not have been this amulet.
- Agamotto has referred to both amulets as his "amulet eyes."[9]
- Although the sudden blindness that Silver Dagger experienced after being defeated by Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #32 was almost certainly due to Agamotto removing the Amulet from his body, what Agamotto did with it was not shown. How it ended up in Strange's possession has also not been revealed.
See Also
- 81 appearance(s) of Amulet of Agamotto
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Amulet of Agamotto
- 2 minor appearance(s) of Amulet of Agamotto
- 3 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Amulet of Agamotto
- 11 image(s) of Amulet of Agamotto
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #32
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Marvel Tarot #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic #1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #56
- ↑ Strange Tales #128
- ↑ Death of Doctor Strange #2
- ↑ Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme Annual #2
- ↑ Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #42
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #43
- ↑ Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #51
- ↑ Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #56
- ↑ Deadpool Annual (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Death of Doctor Strange #1
- ↑ During the Blood Hunt, Doctor Strange lent the power of his office as Sorcerer Supreme to Doctor Doom, as he could end the threat of Varnae and his hordes of vampires.
- ↑ Blood Hunt #5
- ↑ Doctor Strange (Vol. 6) #18
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy #36
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy #37
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy #52
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy #61
- ↑ Strange Tales #110
- ↑ Strange Tales #115