Originally posted by zopzop
To be fair the writers themselves don't know what to do with Eternity and the whole "Cosmic Compass" of Death/Oblivion/Eternity/Infinity.Eternity is not the whole universe or the representation of all life in the universe. Eternity is the manifestation of time. The SUPREME manifestation of time, greater than other such beings like Eon/Epoch, Kronos, etc..
Infinity is the manifestation of space. The SUPREME manifestation of space. Together with Eternity they represent SPACE/TIME.
Death is the manifestation of mortality. The SUPREME manifestation of mortality. Greater than other beings like Hela, Pluto, Walker, etc...
Oblivion is the manifestation of nothingness (that's why he opposed Infinity who represents infinite space). Greater than cosmics like Unbeing, etc...
In one issue he's the sum total of the whole universe and in another he's the supreme "time being". I gave up trying to figure it out.
Eternity is rarely portrayed correctly. But making him omnipotent isn't necessarily a "good" portrayal. Hell, my favorite use of Eternity was the Dr. Strange arc where Nightmare possesses him! One of his worst showings but at the same time, it felt like he was getting proper respect because there was a sense of transcendence with him.
What he represents is messed up.
In the first Dr. Strange comics he appeared in, Eternity was a universe... but NOT the 616 universe. He just appeared to be some powerful mystic entity that was a universe unto itself.
The next time he appeared, he was for some random reason changed into being the embodiment of time in 616. I have no idea why they decided to do this. Just so Strange would feel he had a need to rescue him?
The next time he appeared, he was the embodiment of life, and for some reason had a closer tie to life on Earth than the rest of the universe. He was also directly opposed to Death, and their struggle would decide the fate of the universe.
That was the portrayal used, more or less, up until the writers for Quasar started to explore him more. He was switched back to being the embodiment of time, with Infinity being space. He was still considered the opposite of Death, but the reason for this was no longer apparent.
Writers since then have used whatever they felt like, it seems. Some comics still have him at war with Death, some feature him as greater than a single universe, some only equal to one. He's never been a well-defined character.