The Ancient One (portrayed by Tilda Swinton) is a major character in the Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange. She is the Sorceress Supreme, a Master of the Mystic Arts who has spent centuries trying to safeguard the Earth from extra-dimensional threats, such as the dread lord Dormammu. Ironically, the Ancient One has drawn on the power of Dormammu's Dark Dimension to prolong her life.
History[]
Early history[]
The Ancient One's past is shrouded in mystery; even her real name is unknown. Apart from her responsibilities as the mystical defender of Earth, the Ancient One was also dedicated to helping others in need, especially those who were paralyzed, heartbroken from the loss of loved ones, or suffering from ailments believed to be incurable.
Whether by coincidence, by luck, or by their own intentions, if they managed to reach Kamar-Taj, she would tutor them in the arts of sorcery, which in turn could either cure them of their supposedly incurable ailments, or enable them to find inner peace as well as to develop a better understanding of the natural laws. Examples of such individuals would be Jonathan Pangborn, who was cured of his paralysis through magic, and Karl Mordo, who claimed that the Ancient One gave him the power to defeat his demons and to live within the natural law. The Ancient One had also kept close tabs on famed neurosurgeon Stephen Strange, as she was aware that he would eventually become her successor. According to her comments of him, she believed that he was eventually going to be the best among all of the Sorcerer Supremes for millennia.
However, the Ancient One's healing methods were not always effective: Kaecilius, one of her most gifted students in the mystic arts, did not manage to recover from his emotional wounds, and later on he discovered the secret of her drawing power from the Dark Dimension to preserve her immortality. Given how the Ancient One had forbidden others from doing the exact same thing, Kaecilius viewed this hypocrisy as an act of ultimate betrayal and, besides losing all faith in her, decided to gather his own group of followers to carry out his own nefarious plans for the entire world.
The Book of Cagliostro[]
One night, the Ancient One witnessed Kaecilius and the Zealots murder the librarian at Kamar-Taj and steal a couple of pages of the Book of Cagliostro, containing a spell that would summon the Dark Dimension to enhance their mystical powers and bring Dormammu to Earth. The Ancient One revealed herself to the Zealots from the shadows and warned the Zealots that the dark spell would only bring them doom. Not wanting to fight the Ancient One considering that her powers greatly eclipsed his, Kaecilius instead fled with the Zealots to the London Sanctum.
The Ancient One pursued the Zealots as they ran down the streets of London. As they attempted to escape from her, however, the Ancient One used her manipulated power from the Dark Dimension to trap the Zealots in the Mirror Dimension to prevent them from escaping and using their stolen ritual to contact Dormammu. The Zealots turned around in shock, facing the Ancient One and accepted that they would have to fight the Sorcerer Supreme.
As the Ancient One used the Dark Dimension to warp the landscape of various buildings, Kaecilius called out her hypocrisy. The Ancient One conjured her Tao Mandalas and used her superior skills to defeat and kill several Zealots. As the Sorcerer Supreme, she managed to overwhelm every single Zealot who challenged her, even beheading a couple of them with her Tao Mandalas. Kaecilius soon realized that the battle could not be won as the Ancient One was drawing power from the Dark Dimension.
As one Zealot fought the Ancient One, Kaecilius used that as an opportunity to escape. After having killed the attacking Zealot, the Ancient One watched helplessly as Kaecilius used his Sling Ring to transport him and the surviving Zealots to another location. With them gone, the Ancient One restored the warped reality before she left the Mirror Dimension, returning to the real world as several bystanders observed her appearance, and she later returned to Kamar-Taj.
Meeting Stephen Strange[]
One day, Karl Mordo brought Stephen Strange to Kamar-Taj as the latter hoped the Masters of the Mystic Arts could mend his damaged hands. As he was offered tea by some mystics, Strange mistook Hamir for the Sorcerer Supreme until she revealed herself as the Ancient One. After hearing the Ancient One's explanation of how she healed a paralyzed Jonathan Pangborn, he began to question her methods and efficacy.
When initially confused about her methods, the Ancient One showed him an ancient book about acupuncture written in Sanskrit. The Ancient One alluded to healing Pangborn in a mystical way, as she claimed that they used his spirit to heal Pangborn's body. Skeptical, Strange began to question the Ancient One's methods and accused her of lying. The Ancient One responded by giving an examination of his personality.
Furious at having been lied to, Strange continued to accuse the Ancient One until she pushed his astral form out of his body, thus sending him into the Astral Dimension. As she returned Strange's astral form to his body, he shockingly asked her if the tea was drugged. After she explained what the Astral Dimension was, the Ancient One taught him a lesson by sending him through the Multiverse.
As he was brought to many realities, including the Quantum Realm and the Dark Dimension, the Ancient One reminded him that Earth was a part of the bigger Multiverse and that there were an infinite amount of realities. As he was brought to Kamar-Taj, Strange became fully convinced that her teachings and methods were legitimate and effective. When he asked to be taught into becoming a Masters of the Mystic Arts, as a test, she said no.
The Ancient One, along with Minoru, Sol Rama, and Daniel Drumm finished a meeting after her first encounter with Doctor Strange. The Ancient One's activity with the Eye of Agamotto was interrupted by the arrival of Mordo. As she asked Mordo if she was wrong to dismiss their new potential recruit, Mordo identified that Strange was persistent. The Ancient One discerned that Strange was highly ambitious, arrogant, and stubborn, which reminded her of Kaecilius.
The Ancient One reminded Mordo that she wouldn't want to enlist another disciple into the Masters of the Mystic Arts and lose him to darkness. However, Mordo assured her that Strange was different and convinced her that he would be an important asset in the defeat of the Zealots. Despite the Ancient One's initial refusal, she was reminded that Kaecilius's plan still posed a threat to the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and even, the world. As a result, she allowed him to stay at Kamar-Taj and be trained to become a sorcerer.
Training Strange[]
During one teaching session, the Ancient One showed Strange and other apprentices how spells work, using her Sling Ring to create images and shields from thin air made of pure energy. When Strange questioned how he could possibly do the things she could do, she responded by questioning how he had become a successful surgeon, when Strange explained it had taken years of practice to reach an advanced level the Ancient One told him it was the exact same concept. When he continued to face difficulty, the Ancient One had Hamir show Strange how to conjure weapons, who had no hands.
Having witnessed his difficulty in using magic, she promptly abandoned him on the top Mount Everest as an encouragement for him to finally work out how to wield his Sling Ring. Seeing this test, Mordo declared "not again" suggesting that she had used this method of 'encouragement' before to varying success, and considered helping him out in mastering the Sling Ring. However, the Ancient One confidently assured Mordo that Strange would return to Kamar-Taj within a few minutes. Strange succeeded in returning Kamar-Taj again only to rapidly progress in magic so much that he found it difficult to work in the conditions offered.
Having been informed by Wong that Strange had used the Sling Ring to steal restricted books from the library, the Ancient One decided to teach him how to cast spells a couple days later. She showed him the Mirror Dimension and explained that it remains present and undetected in the real world. When asked about its purpose, she responded that it contains threats, although issued a warning that it had other purposes.
Attack on the Sanctums[]
Once Doctor Strange managed to stop the Zealots from destroying the New York Sanctum after the London Sanctum was destroyed, the Ancient One and Mordo reunited with Strange shortly after his duel on the Astral Plane with one of the Zealots. With Strange having killed the attacker and defended the New York Sanctum from attack, the Ancient One offered him the title of Master in the wake of Daniel Drumm's death.
Strange told the Ancient One that his preferred title was "Doctor Strange", insisting that he became a doctor to save lives, not take them. The Ancient One told Strange that his arrogance and ego were his biggest flaws and thus reminded him that he still believed in the delusion that he had control over death, which beings including her had no control over. Strange then noted aloud that the Ancient One was still seeing through him, before pointing out the fact that Dormammu offered eternal life.
Having been accused of believing that death could not be controlled, Strange accused her of drawing power from the Dark Dimension. The Ancient One was defended by Mordo, who assured Strange that she was not corrupted by Dormammu. Speechless, the Ancient One continued to listen to Strange, warning him to measure his words carefully. Ignoring her, he continued to reveal that he knew that she used spells from the Book of Cagliostro to extend her longevity.
The Ancient One continued to listen to Strange's accusations. Strange assured the two of them that he knew how she worked the spells, relating back to Kaecilius's confession after the battle at the New York Sanctum. Instead of defending her actions, the Ancient One warned the two sorcerers that the Zealots would regroup soon in their effort to finally destroy the New York Sanctum before leaving. As the Ancient One left, Mordo and Strange fought over the ethics of killing.
Battle of the Mirror Dimension[]
During the second attack on the New York Sanctum, the Ancient One saved Doctor Strange and Mordo from the Zealots. Mordo stared in shock at the Ancient One, after having realized that she did, in fact, summon Dormammu's power to enhance her powers as the traditional symbol appeared on her forehead. Making a battlefield out of a subway station, she separated Kaecilius and his Zealots from Mordo and Strange. Kaecilius then reminded the Ancient One of how he had come to Kamar-Taj years ago as a broken man with the desire to overcome his grief.
As Kaecilius then claimed that he initially trusted her to help him find his way only for her to lie to him ever since, the Ancient One responded with her claim that Dormammu has been feeding Kaecilius and his Zealots lies with his promise of eternal life in the Dark Dimension, explaining that living in Dormammu's world would cause them a great deal of pain and suffering. She continued to lecture them before being called a liar.
Kaecilius and his two remaining Zealots conjured their Space Shards and proceeded to fight the Ancient One. The Ancient One managed to simultaneously engage both Zealots and pushed Kaecilius back. She then managed to overwhelm and almost behead one with her Tao Mandala until Kaecilius stabbed her through him. The Ancient One was kicked by Kaecilius into the Earthly Plane and fell several storeys below.
Death[]
As Doctor Strange rushed her to Metro-General Hospital, where he, Christine Palmer, and Nicodemus West operated on her, the Ancient One left her physical form and went out onto a balcony, prompting Strange's astral form to follow. Once outside, she confessed to Strange that she had always known the exact moment of her death, and though she had only been able to foresee the possibilities of his future, she did know what kept him from true greatness: his inability to learn that the world did not revolve solely around him.
The Ancient One went on to explain that Strange, like Jonathan Pangborn, also had a choice through his newly-acquired magical powers and could have his hands restored to their former state and regain his old life, or he could serve something greater than himself. The Ancient One confessed that she had always hated using the power from the Dark Dimension, but she did it to ensure that she was able to protect the world and that he too would have to bend the rules.
Despite agreeing with Strange's assessment that Mordo would fail to understand her perspective, the Ancient One still told him that he needed Mordo's rule-abiding nature, just as Mordo needed his flexibility, for it was only through their cooperation, Dormammu could still be stopped. When Strange argued that he was not ready, the Ancient One told him that no one was ever ready, and took his hand in hers.
With a final piece of advice to him regarding treasuring his time, as well as acknowledging her own fallibility, despite the centuries she had lived, she was also not ready for death and was actually using magic through her astral form to manipulate time so she could watch the snowfall one last time. The Ancient One released Strange's hand and then vanished from the Astral Plane, signifying her death despite Palmer and West's best efforts to save her.