Ancestral Plane

The Ancestral Plane is an astral dimension that serves as the Wakandan afterlife.
==Overview==
 
The Ancestral Plane is an astral dimension and one of several parallel afterlife planes in existence, alongside Valhalla and the Duat.
For Black Panthers, after consuming the Heart-Shaped Herb, they are put into a slumber and buried, reawakening in the Ancestral Plane by rising from the earth. The experience is shown to be extremely jarring, as both T'Challa, Erik Killmonger and Shuri awoke from their visit visibly shaken and disoriented.
Time spent in the Ancestral Plane does not correlate with time passed on the Earthly Plane, as T'Challa and Killmonger were able to have lengthy conversations with their fathers when visiting the Ancestral Plane but awaken mere moments after their initial burial.
==History==
===Wakandan Afterlife===
According to Wakandan lore, the Astral Dimension is where the soul settles after death. For Black Panthers, it is where they can go to commune with their ancestors after ingesting the Heart-Shaped Herb.
===King T'Chaka's Guidance===
In 2016, T'Chaka, the King of Wakanda, was killed in Vienna during a terrorist attack orchestrated by Helmut Zemo. T'Chaka's soul was later transported to the Ancestral Plane, where he reunited with his ancestors and took the form of a panther. In the aftermath of Zemo's attack, Natasha Romanoff went to console his son, T'Challa, who explained that, to Wakandans, death was not the end of a person's journey. Instead, they were brought by Bast and Sekhmet to a green veld where they would roam forever. Romanoff stated that it sounded like a peaceful end, but T'Challa stated that it was a belief held by his father, but not him.
In the week following T'Chaka's death, T'Challa was incoronated as King and, following tradition, was buried in the City of the Dead after ingesting the Heart-Shaped Herb. He awoke in the Ancestral Plane, rising from the earth before the tree where his father and other ancestors rested. T'Chaka went to greet his son, and they embraced as T'Challa mournfully remembered the events of his father's death in Vienna, exclaiming his sorrow for being unable to save him.
T'Chaka, however, exclaimed his pride in his son. As T'Challa confessed that he was unprepared to rule without his father, T'Chaka wistfully replied that a man who hadn't prepared his children for his death has failed them as a father.
===Reunion with N'Jobu===
Following his success in the fight for control over Wakanda, Erik Killmonger was taken to the City of the Dead, where he consumed the Heart-Shaped Herb and entered the Ancestral Plane. Instead of appearing in the wilds of Africa, however, Killmonger’s travel into the Astral Plane returned him to his home in Oakland.
There, Killmonger retrieved his father's ring from a book hidden in the apartment when N'Jobu appeared beside him, scolding him for going through his belongings. However, N'Jobu smiled, asking his son what he'd found, and N'Jadaka cheerfully replied that he'd arrived in Wakanda, his father's home. N'Jobu revealed that he'd given Erik a key, in the form of a War Dog tattoo, in hopes that his son would see it someday, but explained that he was afraid that Erik wouldn't be welcomed, due to the Wakandans seeing him as an outsider.
===End of Tradition===
Following his rescue by Jabari fishermen, T'Challa was given the last of the Heart-Shaped Herb by Nakia and Ramonda, who quickly buried him in the snow he'd been placed in. Once again seeing his father, T'Challa questioned him why he'd left behind a Wakandan child to fend for himself after T'Chaka murdered his own brother, Prince N'Jobu. T'Chaka, ashamed, explained that it had been the actions of a king who wanted to bury his actions in the past. When T'Chaka told his son to stay in the Ancestral Plane with their ancestors, T'Challa adamantly refused, calling out his predecessors for the flaws they've led Wakanda through. As a result of being unable to allow Erik Killmonger to rule the country and provoke a war with the rest of the world, T'Challa denied his place among his ancestors.
===Reuniting with Killmonger===
 
In 2025, following the death of her mother, Shuri consumed a synthetic Heart-Shaped Herb to become the new Black Panther. Her travel to the Ancestral Plane took her to the ruined Citadel, where she found Killmonger sitting on the throne, much to her confusion, to which Killmonger responded that Shuri had never truly believed that the Ancestral Plane even existed, which is why he was visiting her.
He told Shuri that they are no different from each other as they were both motivated by revenge after the death of their loved ones. Despite Shuri's protests, Killmonger claimed that her father killed his father without hesitation, while her brother fought with honor for an old system. Shuri continued to argue that she was nothing like him.
===Seeing Ramonda===
Later, Shuri glimpsed Ramonda within the Ancestral Plane. Ramonda was happy and gave her words of encouragement.
===Alternate Universes===
====Family Reunion====
In an alternate reality, T'Challa was murdered by Erik Killmonger and sent to the Astral Plane. When Killmonger became the new Black Panther, he visited the Plane and was berated by T'Challa for his unethical ways of getting power, saying how justice will come for Killmonger, whether in his plane or theirs.
==Trivia==
*In the comics, the Djalia, or Great Veldt, is a place where the consciousness still exists after death in Wakandan lore.
*The location experienced when visiting an inhabitant of the Ancestral Plane seems to be dependent on where they are buried. T'Chaka was said to be buried with his ancestors in Wakanda, while N'Jobu's body was still in Oakland. Erik Killmonger and Ramonda were seen in Wakanda as well.
**N'Jobu's comment of being 'abandoned' in his apartment seems to reflect this fact.
==Behind the Scenes==
*The VFX group for Black Panther referred to the Ancestral Plane as an Astral Plane.BLACK PANTHER: BRYAN GRILL – VFX SUPERVISOR – SCANLINE VFX 
==Appearances==
*Captain America: Civil War (mentioned)
*Black Panther
*Moon Knight
**Season One
***Asylum (mentioned)
*Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
==References==
==External Links==
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Category:Locations
Category:Dimensions
Category:Black Panther (film) Locations
Category:Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Locations
Category:What If...? Locations
Category:Comics Locations
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