Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Manifest’ follows the story of a group of people whose lives are changed when they board a flight that is to take them back home to New York but disappears for five and half years. Its mysterious disappearance and reappearance drive the lives of the passengers, whose start getting Callings and discover that their fates are connected. As they dive deeper into it, several other symbols and motifs show up, out of which the Omega sapphire emerges as the thing that will decide what happens to them. If you want to know more about the Omega Sapphire and its significance in the mythology of ‘Manifest,’ we’ve got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD
Sapphire’s Significance
The importance of sapphire in the events related to Flight 828’s disappearance first surfaces in the third season. Olive tries to find out the meaning behind the repeated appearance of things like a peacock and twin sisters and discovers that it all leads back to sapphires. Further investigation reveals that the substance has been present in various things. Traces of it were found in the tail fin of the plane. It transferred to his hand when Ben touched it, which would sometimes glow.
When Saanvi got her hands on the fragment of Noah’s Ark, she found sapphire in it. Later, when Cal gets the dragon tattoo from Henry, sapphire is found on his skin. Olive’s research suggests that sapphire has been present on various important occasions, like when Noah received the Ten Commandments and in the stories surrounding the Oracle of Delphi. It has been connected to prophecies and other things with a divine connection.
Saanvi discovers that Kathryn Fitz knew about the sapphire and tried to use it to induce more Callings in the passengers. Her experiments led to a few passengers falling into a state of coma which they never came out of. But that wasn’t the end. Fitz had something else in mind. While sapphire, in general, has been present in different things, there is a purer form of the stone that holds much more power. It is called the Omega Sapphire. The passengers realize that the Omega Sapphire might be the key to dodging the Death Date and saving the world.
What makes it unique and powerful is that the Omega Sapphire can be used to tap into the infinite Callings in the Divine Consciousness. To save the Lifeboat, they have to ensure the balance of scales. While Ben and the others have tried to do good with their Callings, others like Angelina and Eagan have used it for their selfish purpose, threatening the balance of the Lifeboat. With the Omega Sapphire in their hands, the Stones could have access to more Callings, do more good things, and keep the scales from tipping toward the bad stuff.
Angelina’s Quest for Power: Clinging to the Sapphire
Ben and his friends want to use the Omega Sapphire to do good, but it can lead to terrible things in the wrong hands. This is proven when Angelina gets her hands on the Sapphire and uses it to create false Callings. She uses it to manipulate Ben into giving her Eden and Cal into surrendering to cancer and dying. She fails on both counts but does enough damage to create fissures throughout the city.
In the midseason finale of the fourth season, Cal pulls Angelina into a Calling, and in the struggle, the Omega Sapphire is destroyed. It breaks apart into shards as a fissure opens up. While the people around her get to safety, Angelina can’t let go of the Sapphire. This is the only thing that has given her some semblance of power and control, which she has sought her entire life. She is so desperate to keep the Sapphire that she tries to get a shard of it even when it falls into the lava.
While Angelina tries to take the shard out, her hand falls into the lava, and the shard is embedded into her hand. In a normal situation, her hand would have melted, and she would have been in incredible pain. However, with the sapphire in her hand, power flows into her body that keeps her hand from falling apart and gives her the strength to fight the pain and walk out of place with newfound power, with which to cause further chaos in the world.
Read More: What is the Glow in Manifest, Explained
