Here’s Why Marvel’s Soul Stone Demands A Sacrifice To Use!
After the three long phases of MCU movies, the hunt to identify all the Infinity Stones came to an end in Avengers: Infinity War. But it was Thanos who found them and assimilate all six of the stones to terrible effect. Even though he was successful in accomplishing his purpose, the Mad Titan did face quite a lot of trouble acquiring one stone compared to the other five because it required something in return from him: the Soul Stone.
The Infinity Stones were supposedly created in the Big Bang and were said to have predated all life, with each of them tied to an aspect and power within the universe. And due to the power within the stones, wielding most of them required an immensely powerful being. But the Soul Stone was unlike any of the others; anyone could wield its power but it certainly comes with a great cost.
It could be because of an aura of mystery surrounding its power and whereabouts, the Soul Stone was often considered as the most dangerous of the stones, At a certain point in galactic history, the stone made its way to Vormir and it was concealed within a shrine and guarded by none other than the Red Skull. And in order to get the hands-on stone from the shrine, one had to be prepared to pay a price. That price, of course, as we all know isn’t monetary but in a most sentient move, the stone required the users to permanently sacrifice someone they loved to wield its immense power.
The natural question that could arise in everyone’s minds was why a sacrifice was necessary to wield the Soul Stone, and the reason was actually given in the films. Red Skull told Thanos that, “to ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the stone demands a sacrifice.”
The fans didn’t give get any backstory but just a straightforward reason! Essentially, the demand for a sacrifice was an attempt by the stone itself to make sure that users couldn’t make thoughtless use of its powers.
The idea in theory of course worked, but nevertheless, it wasn’t a catch-all system for stopping evil. Thanos sacrificed his daughter, Gamora, to get a hold of the Soul Stone but all that meant was that he believed in his cause to destroy life so much that he sacrificed Gamora with those who were doomed to die.
And after Thanos acquired the size stones, he snapped his fingers and destroyed half of the life in the universe and was almost unstoppable and it took a whole other movie to “undo” his vile deed.
Part of the time heist involved the Avengers sending Hawkeye and Black Widow to retrieve the Soul Stone before Thanos could acquire it but they too had to face the same issue that Thanos did. And that ended with Black Widow sacrificing herself to save half of the life in the universe!
