Avengers: Age of Ultron: What Are the Waters of Sight?

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Duh.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, out in theaters this week, Thor has a vision, brought on by the Scarlet Witch's attempts to tamper with his brain.

While other Avengers had essentially paranoid delusions, bringing on their greatest fears or spinning their anxieties out of control, Thor's otherworldly physiology made it a bit harder to manipulate him...and instead he had visions of a world which seems, from some of the elements he saw in it, to hold the key to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

With Thor's next film tackling Ragnorok, fans caught a glimpse at what may be coming for Asgard. Featuring Heimdall blaming Thor for the impending events, there's a good amount of doom and gloom for all involved.

The vision faded fast, though, and Thor excused himself to visit the Waters of Sight, what looks like a natural pool in a cavern which allowed him to see the same vision again, but with more clarity. Ultimately, this was key to helping The Avengers beat Ultron when he emerged from the Waters with the intent to help send The Vision into combat.

But...what the hell are the Waters of Sight?

As far as we can tell, there's no direct reference to such a location in any of Thor's comics.

That doesn't mean that we haven't already speculated a bit, that this might be the MCU version of the Well of Wyrd, a construct used once upon a time in Marvel Comics (in Thor Annual #11, to be exact). It allowed Asgardians to peer into time and space, to reveal secrets or show the future. 

There's also a "real" Norse mythological equivalent: 

Urðarbrunnr is a well in Norse mythology, cited as one of three wells existing beneath three roots of Yggdrasil that reach into three distant, different lands; the other two wells being Hvergelmir, located beneath a root in Niflheim, and Mímisbrunnr, located beneath a root near the home of the frost jötnar. In chapter 15 of Gylfaginning, the site is said to be very holy, and it's said that the gods travel the Bifrost to meet there every morning. In later writings, the well became associated with Christ.

Here, we see what appears to be a look into the future of the Marvel Universe, including some revelry in Asgard with a hat tip to Hel. It seems that Urðarbrunnr, if that's truly what this is, also gives a peek into Ragnarok...