Thanos, his children, the stones, and Vormir
The other day I read another post questioning how Thanos was able to give Loki the Mind Stone for his attack on New York. Followed shortly by another post regarding who knows what about Vormir. So I decided that I would type out my understanding of Thanos’ hunt for the stones and what that means for the other characters in the MCU.
The infinity stones. We do not know how Thanos learned of the existence of the Infinity stones. There is no hint or clue as of now for how Thanos was made aware of the stones and their abilities. But all that matters is that he at some point found out.
Thanos has 6 children. Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Nebula, and Gamora. We see how Thanos enlisted Gamora and we can assume that he enlisted the other 5 in similar fashion. Thanos seems to have favorites as seen with Gamora and Nebula. He also makes special mention of Ebony Maw by name when he doesn’t with any of the other 4 members. (“I take it the MAW is dead” “this day extracts a heavy toll” When talking with Strange) So one can assume he looks at least favorably to Ebony Maw over the others. As we know, Gamora is Thanos’ favorite child as she accomplishes what is asked of her with flying colors, (something I believe Ebony Maw also does) which leads him to assign the search for the soul stone to her.
Now with this information I believe that all six members of the Black Order were assigned to locate a single stone. Acquire it if possible and return it to Thanos. (remember this would be during ‘guy in chair’ Thanos’ time. Also explaining the “Fine, I’ll do it myself” line from Age of Ultron)
I believe that Ebony Maw was assigned the Mind Stone (which would make sense for a telekinetic) and he was the only one who succeeded. Then something interesting happens. Loki shows up. When Loki arrives he has two things that help him immensely, 1) his silver tongue and 2) knowledge about 1 of the stones (space). Aside from the Mind Stone, this is only the second confirmation of the stone’s whereabouts. (unbeknownst to him, Gamora knows the Soul stone is on Vormir and destroyed all clues leading to it)
So with the exciting news that Loki can acquire him the second stone, Thanos gives him the Mind Stone to assist with getting the Space stone. (this I believe is a reference to a bit of comic lore for the stones, where the stones ‘call out’ to each other. Meaning a person WITH a stone is more likely to find a second. This lore is also encouraged by Sif and Volstagg commenting that having two stones in one place is unwise.)
Now, we know what happens next. Loki eats expensive flooring by means of an overly hulking waiter, and Loki loses not one stone but two. When Thanos sees Loki next, on the Asgard refugee ship, he is none too pleased, but takes the opportunity to steal the space stone.
Thanos isn’t upset with Corvis, Proxima, or Cull because they haven’t ‘failed’ they just haven’t succeeded yet.
Now on to my Vormir rant. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS ON VORMIR!!! ABSOLUTELY NO ONE. Gamora says she destroyed the map, we can deduce through her dialogue and her actions on Vormir, she has never been there. Nebula only knows that Thanos and Gamora left to get it, and only Thanos returned. She has NO IDEA what happened and for her to assume that Thanos needed to kill her to get it is a MASSIVE leap that is an unrealistic expectation. Red Skull even acknowledges that the Soul Stone is different and has different rules. And if Nebula doesn’t know what happens on Vormir, NEITHER DO THE AVENGERS. No, Black Widow and Hawkeye weren’t specifically chosen for their platonic love for each other, they were picked because when they are a team they get shit done. (and plot wise, they were the most narratively interesting to put in that scenario)
TLDR: Thanos has 6 kids in order to find 6 stones. Loki fucked it up. And no one knows about Vormir except Thanos and Clint (and technically Gamora and Natasha but they aren’t very talkative atm)
Sorry for the rant but this is how I always interpreted these events.
The infinity stones. We do not know how Thanos learned of the existence of the Infinity stones. There is no hint or clue as of now for how Thanos was made aware of the stones and their abilities. But all that matters is that he at some point found out.
Thanos has 6 children. Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Nebula, and Gamora. We see how Thanos enlisted Gamora and we can assume that he enlisted the other 5 in similar fashion. Thanos seems to have favorites as seen with Gamora and Nebula. He also makes special mention of Ebony Maw by name when he doesn’t with any of the other 4 members. (“I take it the MAW is dead” “this day extracts a heavy toll” When talking with Strange) So one can assume he looks at least favorably to Ebony Maw over the others. As we know, Gamora is Thanos’ favorite child as she accomplishes what is asked of her with flying colors, (something I believe Ebony Maw also does) which leads him to assign the search for the soul stone to her.
Now with this information I believe that all six members of the Black Order were assigned to locate a single stone. Acquire it if possible and return it to Thanos. (remember this would be during ‘guy in chair’ Thanos’ time. Also explaining the “Fine, I’ll do it myself” line from Age of Ultron)
I believe that Ebony Maw was assigned the Mind Stone (which would make sense for a telekinetic) and he was the only one who succeeded. Then something interesting happens. Loki shows up. When Loki arrives he has two things that help him immensely, 1) his silver tongue and 2) knowledge about 1 of the stones (space). Aside from the Mind Stone, this is only the second confirmation of the stone’s whereabouts. (unbeknownst to him, Gamora knows the Soul stone is on Vormir and destroyed all clues leading to it)
So with the exciting news that Loki can acquire him the second stone, Thanos gives him the Mind Stone to assist with getting the Space stone. (this I believe is a reference to a bit of comic lore for the stones, where the stones ‘call out’ to each other. Meaning a person WITH a stone is more likely to find a second. This lore is also encouraged by Sif and Volstagg commenting that having two stones in one place is unwise.)
Now, we know what happens next. Loki eats expensive flooring by means of an overly hulking waiter, and Loki loses not one stone but two. When Thanos sees Loki next, on the Asgard refugee ship, he is none too pleased, but takes the opportunity to steal the space stone.
Thanos isn’t upset with Corvis, Proxima, or Cull because they haven’t ‘failed’ they just haven’t succeeded yet.
Now on to my Vormir rant. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS ON VORMIR!!! ABSOLUTELY NO ONE. Gamora says she destroyed the map, we can deduce through her dialogue and her actions on Vormir, she has never been there. Nebula only knows that Thanos and Gamora left to get it, and only Thanos returned. She has NO IDEA what happened and for her to assume that Thanos needed to kill her to get it is a MASSIVE leap that is an unrealistic expectation. Red Skull even acknowledges that the Soul Stone is different and has different rules. And if Nebula doesn’t know what happens on Vormir, NEITHER DO THE AVENGERS. No, Black Widow and Hawkeye weren’t specifically chosen for their platonic love for each other, they were picked because when they are a team they get shit done. (and plot wise, they were the most narratively interesting to put in that scenario)
TLDR: Thanos has 6 kids in order to find 6 stones. Loki fucked it up. And no one knows about Vormir except Thanos and Clint (and technically Gamora and Natasha but they aren’t very talkative atm)
Sorry for the rant but this is how I always interpreted these events.
Commentaires
https://www.vulture.com/2018/04/avengers-infinity-war-children-of-thanos-black-order.html
I wouldn't call them is children, closer to acolytes and cultists for his cause.
..... fuck, that was deliberate wasn't it?
Anyway, didn't mean to divert things that badly
*Ding!* "He calls them his children yet they're clearly not even of the same species"
To add on to the stones being connected, it can't be a coincidence that 3 out of the 6 stones are in the 9 Realms. Maybe the space stone helped Yggdrasil connect to where the reality and time stones are.
It's possible that most advanced alien civilizations know about them.
So did Earth’s sorcerers. (At least the high ranking ones.)
"Hear me, and rejoice. You are about to die at the hand of the children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributed to the balance…"
It's an MCU invention.