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"One vicious faction among the Kree genetically modified other creatures' DNA. These modifications can be activated with Terrigen Crystals."
Vin-Tak[src]

The Terrigen Crystals are crystals designed by the Kree and housed within Diviners. They produce Terrigen Mist, which activates the genetic mutation enabling Inhumans to attain their abilities.

History[]

Creating the Inhumans[]

"This faction had built a city. They brought with them the Diviners, which hold the Crystals."
Vin-Tak to Sif, Phil Coulson, and Melinda May[src]

Over five thousand years ago, a rogue faction of Kree launched a campaign of genetic experimentation on alien lifeforms throughout the universe, seeking to build an army to aid their empire in its many wars. These experiments involved the development of a special gene that would grant the host a unique physical ability. These genes would be latent in the host body until activation through Terrigenesis, a mutation achieved by exposing the host to Terrigen Mist, released from the crystals.

The Kree's experiments met with failure on every planet they visited before they finally came to Earth, where the human population proved the most receptive to the process of any other race. The Kree built a city beneath what is now Puerto Rico as a base for their operations.

As an added measure, the Kree developed special Diviners as containment devices for the crystals. These Diviners would open to the touch of their altered subjects, but would kill any unaltered human who touched them.

Five Diviners[]

"Fear drives us to do things we would otherwise never do. That's why I first started experimenting with Terrigen Crystals. We only had five Diviners in our possession. I knew if they were destroyed, we'd lose our ability to transform... an entire race gone forever. So we decided to make our own."
Jiaying to Robert Gonzales[src]

With only five Diviners remaining, Jiaying asked scientists among the Inhumans to melt one of the Diviners to create more Terrigen Crystals, so that if the other Diviners were lost or destroyed, the Inhuman race would not go extinct. Although the resulting crystals were fully functional in triggering Terrigenesis in Inhumans through Terrigen Mist, the scientists were unable to make them without Diviner metal mixed within, rendering the new crystals deadly to any standard human in the vicinity of their use.[1]

Theft of Terrigen Crystals[]

"There was a woman once. She didn't trust my judgment... so she stole a batch of Terrigen Crystals and fled... got caught up with some criminals in Bahrain."
Jiaying to Skye[src]

Years ago, Eva Belyakov stole Terrigen Crystals so that her daughter could go through Terrigenesis without Katya having the mental training that Inhumans are desired to receive.[2]

Kree City[]

"He thinks the Diviner is just a weapon. He has no idea of its true power, of what's inside."
Calvin Zabo[src]

Calvin Zabo told Phil Coulson that something was inside the Diviner; when Coulson asked if it was similar to the Tesseract, Zabo did not know what that was to compare.[3]

Skye pursued Raina into the temple of the Kree City. While Raina explained that it was their destiny to be together at that moment, in that place, the Diviner left Raina's hand and floated to a pedestal in the center of the room. As Antoine Triplett entered, the temple doors shut and the Diviner opened to reveal the Terrigen Crystals inside. A mist released from the crystals filled the room and Triplett saw the women become petrified. He kicked the crystals, causing them to shatter.[4]

Impure Crystals[]

Afterlife Terrigen Crystals

Terrigen Crystals made by the Inhumans

"We melted a Diviner down and grew new Crystals from it. Unfortunately, we could never quite separate the Diviner metal out. It's now laced within them. See? This wasn't a problem for Inhumans, of course. The Diviner's harmless to us. But for humans... well..."
Jiaying to Robert Gonzales[src]

Jiaying, leader of the Inhumans who lived in Afterlife, told her people to prepare for the arrival of humans from the organization S.H.I.E.L.D.; she had a Scientist pack crates with the impure Terrigen Crystals that she had commissioned them to make.

Jiaying, feigning that it was an offering of peace between the Inhumans and S.H.I.E.L.D., offered one of the Crystals to Robert Gonzales. However, before he could accept the "gift", she broke the Crystal on her desk, releasing the Terrigen Mist within. Gonzales was petrified with the Diviner metal mixed inside the synthetic Crystals.[1]

Jiaying later loaded the crystals on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrier Iliad, planning to release them to sort out the Inhumans, and exterminate the humans.[5] She used the manufactured crystals to show Anne Weaver what she could do if she did not cooperate. To prove her point, Jiaying locked defenseless S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Oliver, in a chamber with the stones, and watched as they were petrified. Weaver then complied.

Coulson-loses-arm-scream

Phil Coulson holding a crystal

While Gordon tried to kill Phil Coulson, Leo Fitz, and Alphonso Mackenzie, he purposefully dropped a crystal. Coulson dove to catch it before it hit the ground, and the stone began to petrify his arm. Mackenzie acted quickly and chopped off Coulson's arm with an axe before the effects could spread further.

In order to save mankind, Skye caused the Quinjet loaded with Terrigen Crystals to fall into the ocean, instead of allowing Jiaying to keep them. The crystals began to deteriorate in the bottom of the ocean, contaminating the sea life with the Terrigen Mist while the deadly metallic elements sank to the bottom. Some of the affected fish were later caught and manufactured into fish oil tablets, which were distributed out to the world.[6]

Andrew Garner's Exposure[]

"Jiaying must have rigged it with a Terrigen Crystal to keep out anyone who couldn't survive the mist."
Andrew Garner[src]

Jiaying had placed a Terrigen Crystal in the ledger that she wrote keeping the genealogy of the Inhumans who lived in Afterlife, so no human could access the book and survive; after the War Against the Inhumans, Jiaying's property was turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D. for study. Andrew Garner was given the books in order to create a better profile for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files; he accidentally broke the Crystal, released the Terrigen Mist and, after experiencing Terrigenesis, became the monstrous Lash.[7]

Stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D.[]

The Team Terrigen Crystals 2

Daisy Johnson steals Terrigen Crystals

Lincoln Campbell visited JT James in order to get information on Hive. He offered the information in exchange for becoming an Inhuman, showing him a Terrigen Crystal. James agreed and he showed him a Kree Orb which Hive had stolen from the Kree during his rebellion against them. However, once James gave the orb to Campbell, he tricked him and Campbell went away with the Crystal and the orb.[8]

As Hive brainwashed Daisy Johnson during the Hijacking and Retaking of Zephyr One, she returned to the Playground and stole some of the Terrigen Crystals from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s stockpile for Hive.[9]

Hive wanted to control James, so he ordered Johnson to force him to go through the Terrigenesis. She used one of the stolen Crystals for that.[10]

Attilan[]

Declan Terrigen Crystal HITHL

Evan Declan discusses the Terrigen Crystals with Maximus

In Attilan, the secret city of the Inhumans on the Moon, a Terrigenesis ceremony for two members of society, Iridia and Bronaja, where they were exposed to Terrigen Mist to reveal their Inhuman powers, was attended by Black Bolt and other members of the Inhuman Royal Family. The candidates for Terrigenesis were put into Terrigen Chambers in which a Terrigen Crystal was shattered, releasing the Terrigen Mist.[11] During the Uprising in Attilan, as Auran reported multiple malfunctions across, Maximus ordered Evan Declan to come with him to the Terrigenesis Chambers so he could see what Terrigen Crystals were.[12]

Refined Pure Crystals[]

AIvanov-TCrystal

Anton Ivanov studies the Terrigen Crystals

"Pure Terrigen Crystals. I picked up some samples last year when I was working for a... previous benefactor. His goals were... well, the complete opposite of yours, so I've been working to refine the compound, grow it. The chemical in this pure form is harmless to humans."
Holden Radcliffe to Superior[src]

Following his encounter with Hive, Dr. Holden Radcliffe took some of Afterlife Terrigen Crystals from him and worked on refining them by removing the Diviner elements that made it harmful to humans. Succeeding in this endeavor, Radcliffe offered a supply to Anton Ivanov, the leader of the Watchdogs, in order to create an Inhuman they could weaponize. Ivanov ordered Tucker Shockley to use it on Senator Ellen Nadeer. In her office, Shockley broke the Crystal, but the Terrigen Mist did not affect Nadeer, with Shockley undergoing Terrigenesis instead.[13]

Alternate Universes[]

Framework[]

"Subject is Jason Rajan of Deanwood. We believe he's funneling Terrigen to subversives."
Melinda May[src]

Due to the Framework world being a global anti-Inhumans dictatorship harshly ruled by HYDRA, the Terrigen Crystals were illegal merchandise which HYDRA sought to confiscate. As such, Vijay Nadeer was arrested out of suspicion of smuggling Terrigen Crystals.[14]

The Terrigen Crystals taken by HYDRA were kept in the Triskelion. One crystal was stolen by Melinda May when she returned from a mission in which the Patriot, the leader of the S.H.I.E.L.D. resistance, had saved her by giving his own life. May sneaked the crystal into the cell of Daisy Johnson, who was imprisoned in the Triskelion. She then shattered the crystal, causing Johnson's Terrigenesis to manifest so that she could reclaim her powers and escape from the Triskelion.[15]

Like the rest of the Framework, the Terrigen Crystals were deleted when Aida initiated the shutdown of the whole program.[16]

Used by the Kree Watch[]

LighthouseKreeWithCrystals2

Vicar beginning their Terrigenesis ceremony

In an alternate timeline, in the year 2091 Earth had been destroyed and the human survivors lived in the Lighthouse. The Kree Kasius used the human population to expose them to the Terrigen Mist and sell those who became Inhumans to merchants. The crystals used by the Kree Watch are pure as to avoid losses in the human population. One of the humans was a young boy named Flint, who became an Inhuman after the Vicar broke a Terrigen Crystal and Flint was exposed to the mist.[17]

During the human uprising against Kasius' reign, Alphonso Mackenzie and Yo-Yo Rodriguez sneaked into level 35 and grabbed all the Terrigen Crystals and blood samples of the Inhumans. They sent Tess to Kasius with a Terrigen Crystal and a warning to destroy all of what they had taken. Kasius came to speak with them, unaware they were stalling time for the rest of the humans to detect all the bombs the Kree Watch had planted. Once Flint came to inform the two all the humans were safe, Mackenzie pulled the trigger and destroyed all the Terrigen Crystals.[18]

Appearances[]

Appearances for Terrigen Crystals

In chronological order:

In an alternative timeline:

References[]

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External Links[]

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