The Eye of Odin was an exceptionally powerful, magical artifact that had a long history with the Child of Oberon, Odin himself. It was featured on the animated series Gargoyles.
Magical Abilities[]
The Eye of Odin revealed the innermost self of anyone that wore it, transforming them physically (and usually mentally) into an exaggerated version of their innermost self. It also granted the appropriate mystical abilities to its wearer.
In the case of Fox, it granted her Odinized form absolute strength, absolute speed, and absolute agility, turning her into a werefox. However, it caused her to have an accelerated metabolism as a downside, causing her to eat constantly in order to sustain herself.
The Archmage gained vast, mystical energies and strength. This was due to him wearing the Eye on his forehead, allowing him to control not only it, but also the Phoenix Gate and ingest the Grimorum Arcanorum for entry into Avalon.
In Goliath's case, it granted all of those granted to the Archmage and Fox, turning him into a god-like being. However, due to its corrupting nature, it took Angela feigning danger to bring him to his senses.
it is absolutely difficult to remove, "giving overload" energy to any who tried to do so. And second, it corrupted the subconscious mind and free will of its wearer, turning them deadly, cruel and evil.
Appearances[]
Gargoyles[]
The Eye of Odin was a mystical object created on Avalon, apparently from the actual left eye of Odin, the fay. According to the legends that became centered around it, the Eye was said to grant "power and insight." The exact circumstances of its origin are unknown, but the artifact was apparently off Avalon by 975 AD, as the Archmage was hunting for it in his quest for ultimate power.
It eventually fell into the hands of David Xanatos, who added it to his personal art collection. Soon after his release from prison, Xanatos donated the Eye to the city and earned a favor in the process. He then donned his Steel Clan exo-frame and promptly stole it back. Its magical nature also went unrevealed until Xanatos gave the Eye to Fox as an engagement gift, unaware of its effects. In the month following this gift, the Eye's magic began to assert itself, transforming her into her "innermost self". In this case, she was transformed into a feral, ravenous were-fox during the full moon. As a side-effect, it was draining Fox's vital life-force energy; causing her werefox form to consume whatever it could find. It took the combined efforts of Xanatos and Goliath to defeat her.
Following this, Goliath took the Eye to keep it safe, but it was stolen by the Weird Sisters, who gave it to the Archmage. The Archmage used the Eye in conjunction with the Phoenix Gate and the Grimorum Arcanorum to achieve ultimate power, and sought to take over the island of Avalon. Nevertheless, Goliath managed to wrench the Eye of Odin away from the Archmage, destroying him in the process, and once again kept it with him in order to safeguard it.
Ironically, the next time that the Eye's power became dangerous, it was Goliath himself that wielded it. When Avalon sent Goliath to Norway, he encountered Odin, a fay and discovered that the Eye of Odin was, in fact, Odin's actual left eye. Odin wished to reclaim the eye, but Goliath did not trust him, as his previous dealings with the Children of Oberon had always been troublesome at the very least. In order to prevent its misuse, Goliath donned the Eye himself. The Eye transformed Goliath into the quintessential Protector, but he soon became tyrannical. Fortunately, he realized what the Eye had turned him into and gave it back to Odin, who promptly placed it back in his empty eye socket, causing it to turn back into a normal eye, effectively ending its existence as a magical artifact.
Trivia[]
- In the series, it first appeared in episode, "The Edge", as a minor MacGuffin, although the concept of the Eye originated not with the show's production staff, but with Disney Interactive.
- It served as an important plot device in the Gargoyles video game, in which it was used by Hakon and his clan of Vikings.
- When it was ported over to the TV series, the Eye's connection to Hakon was severed completely, and it was re-imagined as a jeweled eye in the possession of David Xanatos, and redesigned. Rather than the Nordic design from the game, it now looked more like the Egyptian Eye of Horus (a fact which occasionally annoyed the series creator, Greg Weisman).
