Who Are the God-Like Entities Vishanti in Doctor Strange 2?
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has become one of the biggest Marvel movies to date because of how it includes a lot of elements coming from the comics, on top of the fact that it explores the multiverse in a different way. In that regard, the Book of Vishanti was one of the things that were taken straight out of the comics. And this book is something that the Vishanti created. But who exactly are the Vishanti from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?
The Vishanti is a trio of god-like beings that act as the patron gods for the Sorcerer Supreme and the other masters of the mystic arts and defenders. This trio is composed of Hoggoth, Oshtur, and Agamotto. It was Agamotto who created the Book of Vishanti to promote the study of magic in humanity.
It is interesting to note that the Vishanti are some of the most powerful entities in Marvel lore, as they themselves are the sources of the magic that the defenders and the Sorcerer Supreme themselves use to defend Earth. In that regard, let us look at what we know about the Vishanti and what they have done in Marvel lore.
What Is The Book Of Vishanti In Doctor Strange 2?
At the very start of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we already saw a different variant of Stephen Strange called Defender Strange, and this was the variant that was helping America Chavez get away from the demonic entity that was chasing them in the dimension they were in. Their goal was to get to a mystical artifact that Defender Strange called the Book of Vishanti.
Defender Strange died trying to get to the book, and the encounter with the demon caused America and his corpse to travel all the way to universe-616. It was in this universe that Chavez was able to meet the MCU version of Doctor Strange, who assisted her in a battle against a one-eyed tentacle beast. And after learning why America Chavez was running away, Strange learned that she and Defender Strange were trying to get to the Book of Vishanti, which he originally thought was a myth but was revealed by Wong to be a multiversal object.
In fact, when Strange and Chavez got to universe-838, they were able to find a waypoint that led them straight to the location of the Book of Vishanti, as they were so desperate to get to the book so that they could defeat the Scarlet Witch. But what exactly is the Book of Vishanti?
Throughout the entire Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness film, it was clear that neither the masters of the mystic arts nor the Sorcerer Supreme himself could defeat Wanda Maximoff. An entire army of defenders led by Wong and Strange stood no chance against her, and that was when they needed a magical artifact that they could use to defeat the Scarlet Witch. That was when Strange realized that he needed to get to the Book of Vishanti, which is a magical artifact that is capable of granting the user what they need to do to defeat an opponent.
In that regard, the MCU version of the Book of Vishanti is kind of vague in the sense that it was never really explained what was contained in the book. It was only mentioned that the book was going to give the user what they needed to defeat an opponent, and the opponent, in this case, was Wanda Maximoff.
Considering that neither Strange nor any of the other defenders could defeat the Scarlet Witch, the book could’ve given him what he needed to defeat her. However, we were never able to see what the book could’ve given to Doctor Strange so that he could defeat Wanda because the witch destroyed the book before the sorcerer could even use it. As such, the MCU version of the Book of Vishanti didn’t really offer much of anything.
However, in the comics, the Book of Vishanti actually isn’t a great tome that could immediately give its user what they needed to defeat an opponent. Instead, it is a codified book that contains all of the white spells that a sorcerer needs to learn. In that regard, the user had to read the contents of the book to learn the magical spells hidden inside it. It is also mentioned in the comics that it was Agamotto, the final member of the Vishanti, who wrote the Book of Vishanti so that humanity could learn magic and defend Earth real with the spells inside the book.
Who Are The Vishanti?
As established in the comics, it was Agamotto who wrote and codified the spells that are contained in the Book of Vishanti. He is also a member of the Vishanti, and that means that the Vishanti is not a single person but is actually a collective. But who exactly are the Vishanti?
The Vishanti is actually a group that’s composed of three god-like beings that the Sorcerer Supreme and the other defenders or masters of the mystic arts treat as patron gods. That’s because a good part of the origin of the powers that they have come from the Vishanti. This trio is composed of entities named Hoggoth, Oshtur, and Agamotto.
Oshtur is the first of the Vishanti. She is one of the Elder Gods responsible for creating the sentient beings of Earth. However, she later left the planet to travel the universe so that she could explore the other planets. She was not present when the other Elder Gods Set and Chthon corrupted the rest of the Elder Gods and when Gaea produced Atum to defeat Set and Chthon and sent them into exile.
It was during her travels that Oshtur met Hoggoth, who is also a god-like being from another planet but is the last remaining survivor of the gods of his planet. Oshtur and Hoggot learned from one another and went on to become her companion on her way back to Earth, where she learned about what had happened to the other Elder Gods.
On Earth, Oshtur made a pact with Gaea, Set, and Chthon to not interfere with each other’s affairs. But this turned out to be a trap because Set and Chthon created creatures that tormented mankind while Oshtur was forced to only watch because of their pact.
Oshtur learned to care for the humans that were developing their own civilization on Earth. When she shed a tear while watching children playing, the tear became Agamotto, her child. Through Oshtur’s teachings, Agamotto was able to master the Three Forms of magic. Because Agamotto was a separate entity, Oshtur was now able to protect humanity from Set and Chthon through her son. And the trio of Oshtur, Hoggoth, and Agamotto became the Vishanti.
Agamotto, who loved humanity and wanted them to learn magic so that they could also protect themselves from the demons sent by Set and Chthon, taught them magic and even codified all of the spells he knew in the Book of Vishanti.
Later, when a wise human named Genghis sought the Vishanti for wisdom and mystical power, he ended up gathering all of the powerful mages all over the planet so that the strongest of them all could be the Sorcerer Supreme. It was only the Sorcerer Supreme that could draw power from the Vishanti as this role came with the responsibility of protecting and defending Earth as the representative of the Vishanti.
Will The Vishanti Appear In The MCU In The Future?
Considering that the only mention of the Book of Vishanti played a minimal role in Doctor Strange 2 and that the only other time that the power of the Vishanti was used was when Doctor Strange was using the Eye of Agamotto, it is unknown whether or not the Vishanti will make an appearance in the MCU in the future.
However, in the comics, they did appear in a storyline called the War of the Seven Spheres, which was a war between the Vishanti and the Trinity of Ashes. In this storyline, the Vishanti expected Strange to fight for them, but he refused to do so because the war would take millennia, and he didn’t want to leave Earth unguarded. This caused him to lose a lot of his power as the Vishanti no longer granted him their powers.
Meanwhile, Salome agreed to be the soldier fighting on the side of the Vishanti but ended up abusing it. Strange, who learned to rely on the mystical powers of the Earth, defeated Salome. He agreed to fight for the Vishanti in the War of the Seven Spheres under the condition that they would bring him back to the time when he left Earth.
It is unknown whether or not such a storyline will be taken into consideration by Marvel Studios, considering that there are numerous other storylines that could be added to the MCU. But there are some connections that we can make, especially with the recent conclusion of Moon Knight.
As mentioned, the Vishanti are god-like beings and that Oshtur is an Elder God. Meanwhile, Set and Atum, two of the other gods we mentioned, are also Elder Gods that are related to the Egyptian gods in Moon Knight.
We could make a wild guess that the Vishanti dwell in a dimension or realm that is similar to the real where the Egyptian gods also dwell, considering that they are very similar to each other. And when you look at the fact that the MCU is yet to establish how Moon Knight connects with the other movies and series, it might be possible that the Vishanti could be a starting point that could be used to connect Moon Knight with Doctor Strange.
