Angelina Jolie’s Eternals Character Suffers From Memory Loss

Producer Nate Moore has revealed that Angelina Jolie’s Eternals character, Thena, suffers from memory loss in the movie. The third Marvel Cinematic Universe film in Phase 4 introduces a brand new batch of characters to a time after the events of Avengers: Endgame. The lead of Eternals is Sersi (Gemma Chan), one of the superhuman beings who enjoy living on Earth among humans, but her story is supported by other characters like Ikaris (Richard Madden), Ajak (Salma Hayek), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), and Thena (Angelina Jolie).

Thanks to the star power of Jolie, Thena is one of the Eternals characters that fans can’t wait to see in action. She is one of the team’s best warriors and can manifest weapons out of thin air. However, the specifics of Thena’s role in Eternals’ story haven’t been revealed in detail. Previous trailers have confirmed that she’s living with Gilgamesh (Don Lee) during the modern-day part of the story. There have also been teases of Thena’s connection to the Deviants’ leader Kro in the marketing, as the two sparked an unexpected romantic relationship in the original Marvel comics at one point. Now, another new part of Thena’s story has been revealed.

As part of a round-table interview Screen Rant participated in during a visit to the Eternals set in January 2020, producer Nate Moore discussed Thena’s role in the movie and revealed a “tragic” part of her story. He confirmed that Thena suffers from memory loss that is similar to dementia in the movie, due to her advanced age as an Eternal. This is an idea pulled straight from the comics known as Mahd Wy’ry, which Moore referenced when discussing Thena’s memory loss. Read his full comments below:

“She has a tragic story in our film in that she comes down with something called Mahd Wy’ry. If you guys are fans of comics Mahd Wy’ry is something that can beset an Eternal. It’s a version of dementia. Because of the amount of memories they have, they become unstuck in their own mind, so she starts to forget exactly when she is, so through the course of the movie, Gilgamesh becomes her protector. And when we find them in the modern day, they’re living off the grid in a cabin in Australia because she’s too dangerous to have around humans, so it’s a fun arc for Angelina to play.”

Even though the Eternals are created by the Celestials as an advanced version of humans, they are still humans in some sense. This means that there they aren’t perfect (which is how the Deviants came to be originally) and a phenomenon like Mahd Wy’ry can affect them. In the comics, the memory loss issue is also known as Eternal madness. There is a cure for Mahd Wy’ry, but it involves killing the sufferer and bringing them back to life using a backup. Although it is Thena who has Mahd Wy’ry during Eternals after living for 7,000 years, the comics also saw Sersi rapidly develop the disease after an alternate version of Black Knight forces her to go on multiple attacks across Earth.

Now that it is known that Thena suffers from memory loss in Eternals, that does provide more context and intrigue for her role in the film. It should also give audiences an early example of how the movie will use its 7,000-year scope to show how the Eternals characters have changed over time. Based on how Mahd Wy’ry works in the comics, it is possible that the film will see Thena die in an effort to cure her memory loss. Fans will have to wait just a few more weeks to see how this difficult condition plays out in Thena’s story when Eternals finally releases in theaters.

About The Author

Cooper Hood
(5625 Articles Published)

Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.

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