Vishanti (Earth-616)

Vishanti
Name	Vishanti, though stated to be nameless
Aliases	Eternal Ones Mystic Triumvirate Three-Who-Are-One Those Who Sit Above Eternal Vishanti Undying Vishanti
Members
Current Member(s)	Hoggoth, Oshtur, Agamotto
Affiliation and Identity
Identity	Secret
Allies	Ancient One Doctor Strange, Eternity
Enemies	Chthon Shuma-Gorath Sligguth Dormammu Slorioth Trinity of Ashes
Origin and Status
Origin	Mystic trinity of benevolent entities
Status	Active
Reality	Earth-616
Base of Operations	Unknown extradimensional realm
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, Dick Ayers, Gardner Fox, Sam Kweskin
First	Marvel Premiere #5 (August, 1972)
First	Marvel Premiere #5 (August, 1972)

The Vishanti are a trio of supernatural, god-like, magical entities:

• Omnipotent Oshtur, "the gracious lady," "Lady of the Skies," "Bright Lady," and one of the Elder Gods of Earth, who left Earth early to explore the universe and the dimensions beyond, possibly the most powerful of the Vishanti.
• Hoary Hoggoth, the "Lord of Hosts," an Old One and last survivor of his race (his dead kinsmen persisted as spirits known as the Hosts of Hoggoth, themselves Old Ones).
• All-Seeing Agamotto, the son of Oshtur, who taught early man white magic, served in the role later known as Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. Born a mortal, Agamotto ascended as a mystic principality.

The Vishanti act as patrons for the Sorcerer Supreme and defenders of the Earth realm. According to Hoggoth and Oshtur, the first law of the Vishanti is "With great power there must also come great responsibility." They boast an incredible amount of magical power and authority, though they are still inferior to The-Powers-That-Be.

History

Origins

Oshtur was one of the Elder Gods of Earth, the first lifeforms created when the planet's sentient bio-sphere, the Demiurge, breathed life into the world. Oshtur left Earth for the stars to explore, and as a result she was not present when Set and Chthon led the corruption of the Elder Gods into Demons, or when the remaining pure Goddess Gaea mated with the Demiurge to produce Demogorge, the God-Eater, who slew most of the Elder Demons and drove Set and Chthon into exile.

During her travels, Oshtur met Hoggoth, last survivor of an ancient alien pantheon. Hoggoth and Oshtur learned a great deal from one another, and when Oshtur was ready to move on, Hoggoth offered to go with her. The two eventually traveled back to Earth, where Oshtur was disheartened to learn about the genocide of her brothers and sisters. She made contact with Gaea, Set, and Chthon, and they conceived a pact to avoid direct interference with each other's affairs. Oshtur came to care for the developing mankind of Earth, however, and felt trapped by her own promise not to interfere when Set's Serpent-Men and Chthon's N'Garai demons tormented the young race.

One day, Oshtur observed three children at play, and their joy caused her to shed a single tear. A child of her own emerged from that tear, and Oshtur named him Agamotto. Agamotto loved to learn, and the two were quite happy together. Oshtur sent Agamotto on a great quest to find her, and in doing so he mastered the Three Forms of Magic, forging the three Eyes of Agamotto as he did so. Agamotto grew into a great teacher and sorcerer, who loved humanity as much as his mother. Through him, Oshtur could protect humanity from her Elder God brothers, for Agamotto (like the N'Garai or Serpent-Men) was not bound by their oath of non-interference. Furthermore, Oshtur and Agamotto joined with Hoggoth to become a mystical trinity known as the Vishanti, and Agamotto encouraged the study of magic in humanity through his writings in the Book of the Vishanti.

In this way, Agamotto became the first Sorcerer Supreme of the Earthly dimension. Agamotto was somewhat emotional and mercurial, however -- whenever humanity failed or disappointed him, or succumbed to the temptations provided by Chthon or Set, Agamotto would retreat from humanity in disgust, only to forgive them decades or centuries later. Agamotto occasionally tried to chose a successor, but these mages either died or became corrupt, further anguishing Agamotto. Thousands of years ago, the human known only as Genghis sought out the Vishanti and asked them for knowledge and mystical power. In return, Aged Genghis would gather the most powerful mages and sorcerers on Earth every century to test them. The strongest would become Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. The Sorcerer Supreme would protect Earth's dimension for the Vishanti and fight their enemies and in return could call upon the powers of the Vishanti. Agamotto and the Vishanti accepted this proposal, for Genghis was wise in humanity in ways Agamotto could never be, and so the role of Earth's defender and agent of the Vishanti officially became known as the Sorcerer Supreme.

When deciding a new Sorcerer Supreme, the Vishanti occasionally hosted magical tournaments. In ancient times, they fought the wickedness of Shuma-Gorath. They became mystic principalities, beings whose names were often invoked for spells.

Hyborian Age

During the Hyborian Age, after the prophet Epemitreus died circa 11,500 BC, the Eternal Ones set him at Golamira as Man's guardian. During the Age of Conan, circa 10,000 BC, all went according to their wishes from Epemitreus' first meeting with King Conan of Aquilonia, and until the threat of the Red Shadows arose in Hyboria.

Modern Age

War of the Seven Spheres

In the Modern Age, the Vishanti and other magical beings became embroiled in the War of the Seven Spheres with their counterparts, the Trinity of Ashes. The Vishanti assumed that Doctor Strange, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme would fight at alongside them, but when they mentioned that the war was expected to continue for several millennia, Strange declined, unwilling to leave Earth undefended for so long. Strange renounced the Vishanti's power, and was expelled from Earth by the ancient sorceress Salome who offered her services to the Vishanti in exchange for power. The Vishanti found Salome's lack of ethics distasteful, yet accepted her offer due to the needs of the war. Warmed Agamotto about the deal with Salome, Strange found new power in the mystical energy of Earth itself.

After Salome was defeated, the Vishanti approached Strange again, and this time he accepted to repay the support Vishanti offered him over the years, as the Vishanti considered that their defeat at the hands of the Trinity of Ashes was possible, and that Earth would likely suffer if they losed, prompting Strange to accept and lead the Vishanti's armies against those of the Trinity of Ashes. Strange's one condition was to be returned to the present moment after the war's conclusion, ensuring that Earth remained protected. During the War, Doctor Druid acted as the avatar of Slorioth who would take hold of Earth. The Vishanti were notified of Slorioth's activities by Gaea's servant, and aware that direct confrontation would annihilate Earth and its dimensional plane, the Vishanti summoned the Living Tribunal to decide on the matter. It resulted with Slorioth removed from Earth.

After 5,000 years of war, in fear of General Strange destroying them, the Trinity of Ashes sued the Vishanti for peace at the condition that General Strange would be imprisoned where he could never threaten the Trinity of Ashes again, which they accepted, despite Strange's protest. As an agreement was already made with Doctor Strange, the Vishanti separated Doctor Strange from General Strange. After returning Doctor Strange to Earth without any memory of the War, they gave him a crystal of great danger, linked to his life force, in which was held General Strange.

Shortly after the War concluded, one of the principal artifacts involved in it - the Sphere of Sara-Kath - lighted upon Earth once more, but was dabbled with by Technomages who were ignorant of its power. They accidentally released an entity called Buel, a 'Gremlin-Lord' who was imprisoned in another dimension. Doctor Strange succeeded in destroying Buel and the Sphere with the help from Spider-Man.

Kubik and Kosmos

The Vishanti appeared to the entities Kubik and Kosmos on their tour of the planes of existence, alongside various other deities, abstract concepts and cosmic entities.

Axis

In the course of World War Hate, after Red Onslaught broadcasted hate across the planet, an arrogant and angerly Doctor Strange attempted to commune with Hoggoth and Agamotto, in vain.

Strange Academy

After the Vishanti granted Doctor Strange the request to teach and prepare the magical youth, Strange Academy contracted a high debt to Hoggoth, who hate the magical cost to allow the Strange Academy to exist.

After Emily Bright of Strange Academy siphoned the power of two beings (including her classmate Doyle Dormammu) and collapsed, Doctor Strange was unable to unable to help her. He decided to plea for Hoggoth's help despite the already tremendous debt. Despite being angered by Strange's request, Hoggoth removed most of the magics from Emily, though wasn't unable to fully cleanse her. The combination of the chaos caused by the Death of Doctor Strange along with the cost of the Strange Academy eventually led to Hoggoth's collapse. Hoggoth seemingly recuperated afterwards.

Later, during Strange Academy's First Year Commencement Ceremony, Emily Bright and Dormammu's army stepped on the Academy's ground, ready to confront both teachers and students. Dormammu and his army were transported by the faculty staff to the Vishanti's plane where Oshtur, Agamotto and Hoggoth attacked them, while Bright and her followers were opposed by Doyle Dormammu and his fellow students. During the battle, as Doyle and Bright unleashed their powers at each other, Bright pierced the dimensional boundaries to tap directly into Hoggoth's magic core, the cue for Dormammu to retreat as the prophecy was accomplishing, starting the "Dawn of Bright". Voodoo asked Hoggoth to transport them back to Strange Academy, where Doyle had taken back his magic from Bright, and awas about to lose control of that power. Witnessing the noble act of Doyle, Hoggoth intervened and swallowed the dark magic from Doyle, saving him.

Return of General Strange

To counter the return of General Strange, Doctor Strange consulted the Vishanti who revealed they couldn't track the General, as any search for him led to the Doctor, and informed him that the General would resume the War and use Earth as his war camp and its inhabitants conscripts, but feared he would go after the Vishanti rather than the Trinity of Ashes.

Afterwards, the Vishanti confronted Strange for having not destroyed the General as well as for his alliance with the Trinity of Ashes to defeat the General, resulting in a heated exchange between the Doctor and the Vishanti.

After Doctor Strange lent the title of Sorcerer Supreme to Doctor Doom to save the world, but was betrayed by Doom who kept the title, Strange went to the Vishanti who denied him (which Strange considered they did so because he had defied them on the General's matter).

Scarlet Witch

When Valeria Richards died, Doctor Doom went to the Vishanti and attempted to force them to bring her back to life; however, the Vishanti refused to listen. Doom then went to an even higher power, the Living Tribunal, but the cost of restoring Valeria's life was his own, which included the Eye of Agamotto and the Cloak of Levitation. Only weakened remnants of both artifacts persisted within the Astral Plane. The Scarlet Witch sacrificed the Last Door to restore the Eye and Cloak to physical form, subsequently assuming the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme for herself. This act forced the Vishanti to intervene and demand the immediate return of the artifacts, but Wanda refused and openly defied them. In response, the Vishanti seized the artifacts from her, only for Wanda to forcibly reclaim them, declaring that the Eye and Cloak had chosen her as their Sorcerer Supreme and that she would safeguard them against all threats, including the Vishanti themselves, whom she then banished to the Crossroads. Enraged by her defiance, the Vishanti selected Agatha Harkness as the true Sorcerer Supreme.

Notes

• The Vishanti first appeared on-panel in Marvel Premiere #5 (November, 1972), a story written by Gardner Fox and strongly influenced by Robert E. Howard and the Cthulhu Mythos, as the "Eternal Ones", benevolent elder entities having fought the Great Old One Shuma-Gorath, seemingly acting as counterparts to August Derleth's benevolent Elder Gods. "The Eternal Ones" were also a benevolent group of entities, tied to Epemitreus, mentioned in the adaptation of Conan of the Isles (October, 1968; Lancer Books) by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter in Conan the Barbarian Annual #7 (reprinted and completed in Marvel Graphic Novel #42: Conan of the Isles), written by Roy Thomas and penciled by John Buscema. The mention of "Eternal Ones" in Marvel Premiere #5 was possibly a reference to those entities.

Trivia

• The Seal of the Vishanti predominantly featured in the Sanctum Sanctorum's window and the Book of the Vishanti was designed by Steve Ditko as an homage to the design of a window present in Will Eisner's The Spirit.
• Agamotto was once misidentified as the "tiger" of the Vishanti instead of Hoggoth.

See Also

• 21 appearance(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 6 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 5 minor appearance(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 79 mention(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 9 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 200 invocation(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 8 image(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 3 member(s) of Vishanti (Earth-616)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Vishanti (Earth-616)