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General spoiler alert so I don't have to hide the whole question...

Towards the end of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos uses the time stone to rewind time and reassemble the shattered mind stone.

We know that Thanos only retrieved the time stone moments ago on Titan.

We also know that using the time stone is not easy, and requires significant training and ancient knowledge, as noted in this Doctor Strange scene:

Mordo (referring to the time stone):

How did you learn to do that? Where did you learn the litany of spells required to even understand it?

Dr. Strange:

I've got a photographic memory. It's how I got my M.D. and Ph.D. at the same time.

Mordo:

What you just did takes more than a good memory. You were born for the mystic arts.

Given the above, how does Thanos know how to use the time stone?

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    Thanos is thousands of years old and "cursed with knowledge". Why couldn't he have learned it in the ages he's been alive.
    – Paulie_D
    May 10, 2018 at 18:43

3 Answers 3

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To build on @MadDoctor5813's answer, While the powers of the stones don't change based on how they are being used, we've seen that the stones can be infused into other objects (Loki's staff, Ronan's Hammer, Tesseract powered weapons, Visions body, Eye of Agamotto) to make them more wieldy for the users or make it easer to tap into their powers.

Fact: Agamotto constructed the necklace to house the time stone, and while he was a powerful sorcerer (the first Sorcerer Supreme), he was still a mortal.

Speculation: He was simply out of his depth. He was able to build a construct capable of housing and tapping in to the power of the time-stone, but was unaware or unable to tap into the full power of the stone effortlessly. The necklace required rigorous study of very specific spell-casting because that is how it was designed.

Fact: Thanos had the gauntlet purpose-built to house all 6 stones and access their powers easily.

Speculation: He is able to access their powers so easily because he is aware of what each stone is capable of (hence why he is looking for them) and had Eitri the dwarf design the gauntlet to fully access those capabilities.

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How did he learn how to use any of the stones, or that collecting all six would give him his final desires?

He must have researched on the whole thing long before he started, and he said he was cursed with knowledge which probably meant he learns things easily (like dr strange with his photographic memory).

I'm sure he didn't wake up one day and just guess it all, he had to either research, or get others to for him (which is unlikely as they might steal his idea).

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Obviously Thanos could have learned how to use it, but I think it's also important to note that the container of the Stone also seems to influence how it can be used.

For example, we see in Guardians of the Galaxy that the Power Stone is nearly impossible to control with bare hands, while Ronan could use it to destroy planets in some way (we never see this) and to sort of sonic blast people. With the gauntlet in Infinity War, the Power Stone now seems to be capable of arbitrary telekinesis.

It's possible that putting the Time Stone in the Eye of Agamotto makes it much more difficult to control than placing in the gauntlet with the other stones in close proximity.

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    I don't understand the down vote on this answer, it's mostly correct. While the powers of the stones don't change, we've seen that the stones can be infused into other objects (Loki's staff, Ronan's Hammer, Tesseract powered weapons, Visions body, Eye of Agamotto) to make them more wieldy for the users or make it easer to tap into their powers. Thanks had the gauntlet purpose-built to house all 6 stones and access their powers easily, which is why he is able to access their powers so easily. The Eye required the litany of spells, simply because that container required spells to be activated.
    – AAlig
    May 14, 2018 at 15:57

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