Arishem the Judge is the Prime Celestial credited for creating the first Sun to bring light to the universe as well as the progenitor of an intergalactic law. Millions of years ago, Arishem created the Deviants in order to aid in Celestial births, but when his creations went rogue, Arishem created the race of Eternals using the World Forge, in order to combat the Deviants, who were interfering in his work. One such world Arishem sent his Eternals to was Earth, in order to ensure the Emergence of Tiamut. Arishem communicated directly with Ajak on Earth, but after her death, he spoke with Sersi, informing her of the Eternals' true purpose in order to ensure the Emergence took place. However, the group grew attached to Earth and worked to successfully avert the Emergence, displeasing Arishem. Afterwards, Arishem pulled Sersi, Kingo and Phastos into space in order to study their memories and judge if humanity was worth preserving.
"I created the Deviants, Sersi, for the same purpose I created you. Every Celestial host planet has its own predators. I first sent the Deviants to exterminate them so intelligent life could grow. But there was a flaw in their design. They evolved. Became predators themselves. And I lost control of them."
As the Prime Celestial, Arishem set out to create the universe, using his incredible powers to create the first sun, bringing light into the universe. Over millions of years, and with the help of the other celestials, he created countless stars and planets across the cosmos, leading to the formation of solar systems, galaxies, and of life itself. In order to preserve the progression of life as time went by, Arishem designed a plan in which he implanted many Celestials seeds in different planets. In time, those seeds would lead to the Emergence of other Celestials, which would in turn create new stars and thus allow new life forms to appear and evolve.
Initially, Arishem created a specific kind of life form, the Deviants, which he sent onto targeted planets so they would eliminate predators keeping intelligent life from arising. However, due to the Deviants becoming predators themselves, thus interfering with Arishem's plan, Arishem used the World Forge to create Eternals, synthetic beings unable to evolve, which he sent to exterminate the Deviants. He remained in contact with the Eternals under his commands, most notably Ajak, who helped many Celestials to be born. Every time an Emergence occurred, Arishem reset the memories of the Eternals who had achieved it and sent them to another planet.[1]
"You destroyed my planet... my people, I challenge you to combat under Arishem's Law." "Youâre joking, those antiquated decrees mean nothing to me. I donât even know who you are."
Since the creation of the galaxy by the Celestials, an intergalactic law named after Arishem had evolved among the civilizations of different planets, but became rarely observed over time. When Drax the Destroyer sent out a message trying to lure Ronan the Accuser to Knowhere to fulfill his revenge, he offered to fight the Kree in a fair duel under Arishem's Law. But Ronan was unimpressed, bluntly stating that Arishem's Law was an antiquated decree and ignored Drax's claim.[2]
Arishem instructed Ajak and her group of Eternals to journey to Earth, where he had planted the seed for the Emergence of Tiamut the Communicator. For 7,000 years, Arishem monitored the appearance of intelligent life on Earth, mainly in the form of humanity, and occasionally discussed their progression with Ajak, the only Eternal who knew her true purpose. During one of these conversations, as the Eternals protected Babylon, Arishem warned Ajak against growing fond of Earth and Humanity after she told him that she felt that Humans were special.[1]
"In order to grow, Tiamut needs vast amounts of energy from intelligent life. The Deviants prevented this by consuming humans until the Eternals eliminated them. Now, the human population of this planet has reached the required amount. It is time for the Emergence to begin."
In the aftermath of Ajak's death in fall 2024, the sphere she used to communicate with Arishem was transferred to Sersi. Arishem briefly made contact with her, but only gave her a cryptic message about the imminence of the Emergence. Later, Arishem once again talked with Sersi, and this time he told her the truth about the Eternals' origin and purpose to bring Tiamut the Communicator to life, showing her images of the World Forge and revealing that he had created the Deviants and sent the Eternals to hunt them down.[1]
"You have chosen to sacrifice a Celestial for the people of this planet. I will spare them, but your memories will show me if they are worthy to live."
In October, after learning about Tiamut's death, Arishem personally came to Earth, his mere presence causing massive weather changes to the planet. He then summoned Sersi, Kingo, and Phastos, with whom he expressed his displeasure with their having sacrificed a Celestial to save the human race. However, Arishem agreed to spare them, but only if the Eternals' memories demonstrated that they were worthy. He then left with them through a singularity.[1]
Arishem is entirely dedicated to the role of the Celestials in the universe, and as a result, holds both little regard for lesser life by using them as a sacrifice, but also high regard as they willingly create innumerable worlds with sentient life in them. Arishem understands that life and death is a cycle, and the destructions of inhabited planets is necessary. Arishem is distant and shows objective understandings and no biased/prejudiced decisions, as he does not appear angry when Tiamut is stopped by the Eternals.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
"Every billion years, new Celestials must be born. I plant Celestial seeds into host planets across the universe."
As a Celestial, Arishem is an ancient being of almost unfathomable power and constitution, beyond any human logic and understanding, possessing almost infinite powers of a creator and destroyer.
Superhuman Strength: Due to his huge size, Arishem possesses incalculable levels of superhuman strength.
Superhuman Durability: Being a Celestial, Arishem owns a body able to withstand any kind of condition. As such, he was able to live in outer space without being affected in a single manner by cosmic radiations.
Superhuman Stamina: To be added
Immortality: As a Celestial, Arishem is immortal, being able to live forever, without dying due to old age or illnesses. He has already existed for billions of years.
Flight: Arishem can fly, glide and float through the air and vacuum of space without outside help.
Self-Sustenance: Arishem is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space completely unaided. He doesn't need air, and does not need any kind of consumption or rest to survive.
Nigh-Omniscience: As a Celestial, Arishem is nigh-omniscient, capable of comprehending the fundamental principles and implicate order of all of reality. This does not, however, grant him understanding of the future and sometimes his plans go awry.
Cosmic Awareness: Arishem is able to know what happens in a cosmic scale. When Eternals defeated Tiamut, Arishem almost instantly became aware about this, resulting him to go to Earth and kidnapp Sersi, Kingo and Phastos.
Nigh-Omnipotence: As a Celestial, Arishem unrivalled power over cosmic forces makes him nearly omnipotent. He is implied to be one of the highest-ranking entities in existence. Regardless, he cannot do everything; relying as he does on his servants and minions for the minutiae of the universe, and he can be surprised.
Cosmic Energy Manipulation: Throughout time, Arishem has used his cosmic energy to create the building blocks of all of life across the cosmos.
Arishem is capable of teleporting himself and other individuals to any location he wants. He used this power to pull Sersi, Kingo and Phastos away from Earth, in order to judge their decision of killing Tiamut.
Portal Creation: When pulling Sersi, Kingo and Phastos out of Earth's atmosphere in order to be judged, Arishem generated a giant portal taking the shape of a black hole to travel to practically any other location in existence instantaneously.
Energy Absorption: To be added
Gravity Generation: When heading to Earth, Arishem was shown having a plethora of asteroids or meteors and other celestial bodies orbiting himself due to the sheer scale and mass of his being. He can certainly manipulate that gravity in order to not have Earth and its Moon be affected in any way for it to not collapse and be spared.
Heat Generation: To be added
Life Creation: Arishem is capable of creating fully-sentient creatures using his cosmic energy, shown as he created the Deviants and the Eternals. Throughout time, Arishem has used his cosmic energy to create the building blocks of all of life across the cosmos. While he can, of course, use his powers against his creations, their loyalty and obedience are not assured.
Illusion Manipulation: While communicating with Sersi, Arishem was able to cast detailed illusions of the World Forge and to show her images of how the Celestials created the universe.
Telepathy: Arishem is fully capable of telepathically communicating to any individual from any other location in the universe. He uses this ability to communicate to the Prime Eternal, Ajak and Sersi, for new orders and/or information for the rest of the group.
Telekinesis: When heading to Earth to judge the remaining Eternals, Arishem was shown telekinetically manipulating their position to move them out of Earth's presence.
Presence Concealment: To be added
Weather Manipulation:
Arishem manipulating the weather
When heading to Earth, Arishem was shown completely manipulating the clouds and atmosphere of Earth in order for the general audience of humanity to know of his presence.
Electricity Manipulation: To be added
Wind Manipulation: To be added
Constructs Creation: Arishem is capable of creating energy constructions using his cosmic energy. He used this power to create rings around of Sersi, Kingo and Phastos.
Abilities[]
Genius-Level Intellect: As a Celestial, Arishem holds extreme levels of understanding of all the laws and mechanisms that apply in the whole universe, as well as all knowledge of billions of years of the universe's existence. However, for all his wisdom, even he cannot perfectly predict the actions of others.
Master Tactician: As the Prime Celestial, Arishem is responsible for the grand design which involves planting seeds of other Celestials on planets so that they could emerge and create more stars so life can continue forever. Even when confronted with his mistake when the Deviants escaped from his control, Arishem immediately reacted by creating the Eternals to exterminate them.
Master Scientist: Arishem holds almost infinite knowledge in any scientific field. This enabled him to create a completely new type of life form, the Deviants, to accomplish his design.
Master Engineer: Once he realized that the Deviants, he had created could no longer be controlled because of their biological nature that allowed them to evolve, Arishem resorted to the creation of synthetic beings, the Eternals, which he designed and created in the World Forge to look like perfectly natural humanoids.
Omnilingualism: Thanks to his nigh-omniscience, Arishem knows every language spoken in the universe.
Equipment[]
Celestial Communication Spheres: In order to communicate with Eternals, Arishem had small golden spheres implanted in their bodies, which were activated every time Arishem needed to converse with the Eternals.
Facilities[]
World Forge: Arishem worked in the World Forge to create the Eternals as incredibly advanced humanoid synthetic beings, although he concealed their true origin to them and instead made them believe that they originated from the fictitious planet of Olympia.
In the comics, Arishem the Judge is a Celestial who was tasked with judging whether the civilization of a planet should live or die. When it came time to judge Earth, Arishem judged Earth as worthy of existing. The leader of the Celestials was a being known as the One Above All, who bears the same name with the god of the Marvel universe, in the comics. However, they are two completely separate entities.
Arishem's face in the MCU more closely resembles that of Eson the Searcher than that of Arishem's comic counterpart.
Eternals (flashbacks)
Eternals: The 500 Year War, Issue 1 (depiction and mentioned)
The Untold Tales of the Eternals | Episode 1.01: The Celestials, the Eternals and the Deviants
Guardians of the Galaxy: The Junior Novel (mentioned)
I Am Groot | Episode 2.04: Groot's Sweet Treat (depiction)
