Ancient One
Unknown (a.k.a. Ancient One)
The sorcerer known as the Ancient One was a member of the Masters of the Mystic Arts. She served as Sorceror Supreme from 1497 until her death in 2017.
After becoming Sorcerer Supreme, she became convinced that only she could protect the earth from magical threats. She swore a pact with Dormammu, allowing her to extend her life indefinitely by drawing power from the Dark Dimension. Despite this, she taught her students that such power was evil, and that they should not interfere in the natural process of life and death.
She was eventually killed by one of her students, Kaecilius, who was seeking to contact Dormammu in order to resurrect his family.
Physical Description
Specialized Equipment
Tao Fan: a wooden fan that allowed the Ancient One to conjure weapons.
Sling Ring: allows the wearer to open a portal to another location.
Sling Ring: allows the wearer to open a portal to another location.
Eye of Agamatto: an ancient relic that enables its wearer to harness the power of the Time Stone. It has been the traditional badge of the Sorceror Supreme since Agamotto himself.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Early Life
Little is known of of the Ancient One's life prior to her joining the Masters of the Mystic Arts in the late 15th century. She is believed to have been born in the Outer Hebrides, possibly the Isle of Lewis, in around 1440. Her ability to travel in search of the Masters has lead to speculation that she was born to a wealth family. In the 1700s, the philosopher and alchemist William Backhouse proposed a theory that she was a daughter of Clan MacLeod, though no definitive confirmation of this has ever been found.As a young woman, she sought out the Masters of the Mystic Arts in London. She was accepted as a student, and was sent on to the Masters' Sanctum in the Black Forrest (since abandonned). Later, while still a student, she undertook the journey to Kamar-Taj. She was trained by a number of famous sorcerers, including the immortal Margali Szardos, and later, Master Yao himself.
She quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the Kamar-Taj Librarian. When Master Yao passed on, she was chosen as his successor as Sorcerer Supreme.
Becoming Immortal
Her early years as Sorcerer Supreme saw a number of very serious magical threats, including incursions from Otherworld, an attack by Nightmare, and an attempted invasion by Sheo-Gorath. The loss of life in the battle against Sheo-Gorath was one of the worst the order had ever seen, and the Ancient One became convinced that it was necessary for her to find some way to extend her own life, at least until a worthy successor could be found.She consulted with as many magicians as she could, but the immortal known as Cagliastro (author of the Book of Cagliostro) was the one who offered her a solution, in the form of a deal with Dormammu.
When she first made the deal, her intention was that it would be temporary, however over the years she found repeated excuses to prolongue the bond, and her life.
Under her control, the Masters became more structured, transforming it into a tight-knit organisation with clear lines of command, rather than a loosely affiliated brotherhood of magic users. She was also responsible for the creation, or at least formalisation, of the Sanctum Sanctorums as bases of opperations for the Masters. Previously, the homes of individual Masters had been used for a similar purpose, but this had meant that their geographic reach was not consistent, and had meant a number of dangerous artefacts being lost as they were inherited by non-magic relatives of deceased Masters.
The Zealots
In the 21st century, one of the Ancient One's students, Kaecilius, approached her about finding a way to resurect his dead wife and child. She told him she could not help him, but agreed to train him, hoping he would find peace in Kamar-Taj and come to terms with his loss.However, he continued to fixate on the loss, eventually breaking away from the Masters to form the Zealots, a group of students who resented the Masters' strict rules on access to books demed dangerous. The Zealots launched an attack on the House of Wisdom, killing the Librarian and stealing pages from the Book of Cagliastro, despite the efforts of the Masters to stop them.
During an attack by the Zealots on the New York Sanctum, the Ancient One fought Kaecillius and some of his followers, resulting in her being fatally wounded. Her student, Stephen Strange, rushed her to Metro General Hospital, but they were not able to save her.
Having learned the truth about the source of the Ancient One's power, and watched Strange abuse the power of the Eye of Agamatto, the Ancient One's student and friend Karl Mordo became dissolutioned, and vowed to put an end to magic use entirely.
Intellectual Characteristics
The Ancient One learned a great deal over her long life, demonstrating a keen understanding of human nature in addition to her vast knowledge of magic.
Her decision to use the power of the Dark Dimension to prologue her life demonstrates her arrogance, as she did not believe that the Masters could survive her death, despite the order having survived the deaths of hundreds of Sorcerers Supreme in the past. While she did eventually accept her own death, it was only after her secret had been revealed. It is possible that the belief in her own necessity was the result of, or at least influence by, her having been trained by an immortal (the sorceress Margali Szardos).
Morality & Philosophy
Karl Mordo described the Ancient One as "steadfast, but unpredictable; merciless, yet kind."
She strictly enforced the orders rules, but broke them herself, and allowed her favoured student Stephen Strange to break them as well. She hid her link to the Dark Dimension, although it is unclear if this was from pride, guilt, or simply because she did not wish others to break the rules.
However, when it was necessary to save the lives of her students, she was willing to reveal the link.
When she was stabbed by the Zealots, she accepted her death as a part of the natural cycle, and did not seek to use her connection to the Dark Dimension to heal the wounds.
Species
Ethnicity
Previously Held Ranks & Titles
Life
1442 CE
2017 CE
575 years old
Circumstances of Death
Killed by Kaecilius
Birthplace
Place of Death
Children
Pronouns
She/Her
Gender
Female
Aligned Organization
Related Plots
Scotts Gaelic (native), English (fluent), Mandarin Chinese (fluent), Sanskrit (fluent), Nepali (proficient), Carpathian Romani (proficient), Latin (proficient)