How did Thanos know how to use this item?
General spoiler alert so I don't have to hide the whole question...
Towards the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos uses the time stone to rewind time and reassemble the shattered mind stone.
We know that Thanos only retrieved the time stone moments ago on Titan.
We also know that using the time stone is not easy, and requires significant training and ancient knowledge, as noted in this Doctor Strange scene:
Mordo (referring to the time stone):
How did you learn to do that? Where did you learn the litany of spells required to even understand it?
Dr. Strange:
I've got a photographic memory. It's how I got my M.D. and Ph.D. at the same time.
Mordo:
What you just did takes more than a good memory. You were born for the mystic arts.
Given the above, how does Thanos know how to use the time stone?
Best Answer
How did he learn how to use any of the stones, or that collecting all six would give him his final desires?
He must have researched on the whole thing long before he started, and he said he was cursed with knowledge which probably meant he learns things easily (like dr strange with his photographic memory).
I'm sure he didn't wake up one day and just guess it all, he had to either research, or get others to for him (which is unlikely as they might steal his idea).
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How did Thanos know how do you use the stones?
Similarly, Thanos has a glove which is specifically made to house the stones. It's plausible that the glove helps streamline the wielding of the stones. This could be indirectly be confirmed by the glove being severely damaged (and seemingly broken) after Thanos snaps his fingers at the end of Infinity War.How did Thanos know the snap would work?
Then again, in the very first scene with Thor and Loki, when Maw gave Thanos the Space Stone, he said that no one has ever worn two Infinity Stones together. So how come Thanos knew about the power of the Snap? Because as Wong puts it to Tony, the Big Bang hurled the six Infinity Stones across the universe.Why is Thanos able to wield the stones?
When a stone is activated, it glows in the gauntlet. Every time he holds a stone in his hand, the Power Stone is glowing. From this, it can be inferred that he is using the strength granted to him by the Power Stone to wield the others without being destroyed.How did Thanos know where the Tesseract was?
It was destroyed on Asgard. Thanos later also detects the 2 Infinity Stones on Earth. he knows exactly were they are and sends the Black Order to the exact locations of the stones.How Thanos Learned About the Infinity Stones - Infinity War Explained
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Answer 2
To build on @MadDoctor5813's answer, While the powers of the stones don't change based on how they are being used, we've seen that the stones can be infused into other objects (Loki's staff, Ronan's Hammer, Tesseract powered weapons, Visions body, Eye of Agamotto) to make them more wieldy for the users or make it easer to tap into their powers.
Fact: Agamotto constructed the necklace to house the time stone, and while he was a powerful sorcerer (the first Sorcerer Supreme), he was still a mortal.
Speculation: He was simply out of his depth. He was able to build a construct capable of housing and tapping in to the power of the time-stone, but was unaware or unable to tap into the full power of the stone effortlessly. The necklace required rigorous study of very specific spell-casting because that is how it was designed.
Fact: Thanos had the gauntlet purpose-built to house all 6 stones and access their powers easily.
Speculation: He is able to access their powers so easily because he is aware of what each stone is capable of (hence why he is looking for them) and had Eitri the dwarf design the gauntlet to fully access those capabilities.
Answer 3
Obviously Thanos could have learned how to use it, but I think it's also important to note that the container of the Stone also seems to influence how it can be used.
For example, we see in Guardians of the Galaxy that the Power Stone is nearly impossible to control with bare hands, while Ronan could use it to destroy planets in some way (we never see this) and to sort of sonic blast people. With the gauntlet in Infinity War, the Power Stone now seems to be capable of arbitrary telekinesis.
It's possible that putting the Time Stone in the Eye of Agamotto makes it much more difficult to control than placing in the gauntlet with the other stones in close proximity.
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