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Quote1 It's a graveyard. The corpse of every other--every symbiote that ever lived--shaped into a soulless, plastic Hell... Quote2
Eddie Brock[src]

Located at the end of time, the Garden of Time is the base of operations for the evil King in Black known as Meridius.[1] The Garden is composed of every symbiote that has ever lived, after Meridius had destroyed their minds, and Meridius has complete control over it.[3][4] The Garden is also home to "other" Kings in Black: Finnegan, Bedlam, Wilde, and Tyro,[5] all of whom are Eddie Brock at different points in time.[3]

History

Quote1 At this point, near the end of time, all symbiotes have migrated here--to the Final Hive. To await the death of this reality and the birth of the next. Quote2
Kang the Conqueror[src]
Edward Brock (Meridius) (Earth-616) and Symbiotes from Venom Vol 5 29 001

Meridius slaying the Final Hive

At the "end of time," before the Eighth Cosmos perishes and is reborn as the Ninth, the symbiotes formed the Final Hive after having evolved into an utterly harmonized community. Meridius, an evil King in Black and Eddie Brock's future self, travelled to here alongside Kang the Conqueror; Meridius entered the Final Hive and completely decimated its minds, turning every symbiote into braindead goo from which Meridius molded his Garden of Time out of.[6] Created as Meridius' "first move" in his plan to escape his fate of becoming the Eventuality,[5][4] the Garden of Time serves as the Absent Throne's base of operations -- from which Meridius and his past selves can traverse the timestream and the Multiverse -- as well as a prison Meridius desperately seeks to escape from.[3]

Edward Brock (Earth-616) and Edward Brock (Meridius) (Earth-616) from Venom Vol 5 10 002

The Garden from above

The symbiote matter comprising the Garden has been shaped to superficially simulate rocks, water, and vegetation; all of which have an unnatural plastic texture.[5] The shape of the Garden of Time -- a spiral with a straight line intersecting it seven times -- embodies Meridius' understanding of the time loop he trapped himself within to ensure his own existence,[3] though this understanding is flawed.[4] Owing to the time loop, certain events within the Garden, namely Bedlam attacking Finnegan while Meridius is introducing the newly-arrived Eddie Brock to the others, are seemingly doomed to repeat from the perspective of each iteration of Eddie Brock.[3]

Garden of Time from Venom Vol 5 13 001

Upon instigating the time loop by causing the death of Eddie Brock, Meridius greeted Eddie's codex when it manifested in the Garden using one of the braindead symbiotes.[5] Gaslighting Eddie, Meridius introduced him to their other selves -- Finnegan, Bedlam, Wilde, and Tyro -- before departing to vent his hatred of his other selves by setting up Eddie's death.[5] Sensing Dylan was in danger through the timestream, Eddie attempted to project his consciousness through time to save him while struggling to resist being pulled back to the Garden. However, Meridius pulled Eddie back, revealing the truth of himself, the other Kings in Black, and the Garden.[7]

Garden of Time from Venom Vol 5 32 001

Destruction of the Garden

The 'prime' Eddie Brock and Bedlam returned to the Garden using the Time-Sled, but because the time-travel was non-doomlocked they arrived in a parallel timeline instead. They crashed into Meridius as Space Venom began to fight Bedlam, derailing the time loop.[8] A melee broke out between the different versions of Eddie Brock, culminating in Meridius revealing that all symbiote matter in the Garden belonged to him. As he began to absorb Tyro's and Wilde's bodies, Carnage burst out of his chest and took his power before destroying Space Venom's Codex.[9] During the ensuing battle, Carnage used All-Blood to shatter all of the Garden, bringing its ultimate end.[10]

Residents

Notes

Trivia

  • The Garden of Time is named after the story of the same name by J. G. Ballard.[5]

See Also

Links and References

References

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