Amulet of Avalor

"With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse."

- Cedric's spellbook about the Amulet of Avalor

The Amulet of Avalor is a mystical and magical amulet that bestows upon its wearer magical abilities of her own.

Background
It can be assumed that the wearer's good deeds bestows magical abilities; whereas misdeeds cause the wearer to be cursed. Also, according to Cinderella, the Amulet connects all of the princesses that ever existed.

The Amulet was a welcoming gift from King Roland II to his new stepdaughter, Sofia, though he briefly thought about giving her a ruby necklace, because he remembered that it was rumored to guide and watch over its princess, therefore something a new princess would need.

When Sofia helped a baby bird back into its nest, reuniting it with its mother, the Amulet blessed her with the ability to talk to and understand animals. After that, she has not been blessed by the Amulet since, likely because her other deeds have a tint of personal gain in some way or were rigged.

Another ability is granted to Sofia in Sofia the First: The Floating Palace. When Sofia helps a mermaid named Oona out of a fish net, the amulet grants her the power to turn into a mermaid and then back to human again.

The Amulet curses reflect the bad deeds performed. Such as when Sofia bragged about singing, she started croaking, making her unable to do so. Only by apologizing and making things right can the curses be lifted.

The Amulet also earns Sofia two enemies: Cedric the Sorcerer, who wants the amulet so he can use its great magical power to take over the kingdom as King Cedric the Great, and Miss Nettle, who wants to use its power to become the most powerful fairy. Though this rumored great power has not been seen yet, it may emerge as Sofia gains more experience with the Amulet's workings. Sofia has gotten used to it being able to summon, so she may find out about its great power soon. Sofia's current two powers have the potential of being used to great ends, though.

Thankfully, however, Sofia promised her new stepfather she would never take it off. The one time she broke her promise, a baby griffin stole it, resulting in her being unable to talk to her closest animal friends until the Amulet was retrieved. Later, when she offered the Amulet to Amber to help remove her butterfly wings, Wormwood stole it until it was retrieved by Amber. By the time Nettle tried to steal it, Sofia had begun to be personally attached to the Amulet due to knowing of its value, half-lying to her by saying that she would not remove it simply out of keeping her promise.

The Amulet's design may be symbolic in that regard as well as gemstones telling of the Amulet's beauty, there are chainlinks on the strand, warning of the responsibility that the bearer must have and their bondage to it when gaining abilities. King Roland II then revealed that, according to tales that his mother told him, the Amulet is supposed to protect the princess wearing it and that the Amulet chooses its wearer. In Sofia's case, the Amulet must have recognized her perseverance and kind and caring spirit, traits necessary for wearing such a magical item. The time the Amulet flashed also happened to be the time Sofia was lost and anxious in the castle. Since the Amulet helps princesses in need, it may have sensed her worry and flashed in concern. The Amulet has also become more and more lenient around summoning princesses, going from needing Sofia to cry on it to just needing Sofia to want reassurance of her worries. This points to it being a sentient object.

Trivia

 * The Amulet of Avalor likely gets its name from a portmanteau of "Avalon" and "Lore" without the e; Avalon is the mythical isle of Arthurian legend ruled by fairies. Lore is a synonym for myths, legends, fictional stories, fables, and fairytales. Cedric, Miss Nettle, and Sofia are the only ones so far who refer to the Amulet by that name. Roland just calls it "that Amulet," showing that he is unaware of its full power, though he knows it is special.
 * The Amulet of Avalor protects the wearer from any other magic, as seen in the episode "The Amulet of Avalor", where a baby griffin steals it and Cedric tries to get it by trapping him with a magical cage, but cannot. However, this can be disproven with the fact that Cedric's wand frequently has problems, such as in making rainclouds instead of rose petals, and that the Amulet did not stop Sofia from turning into a lizard after spilling a lizard potion on herself, and being turned into a cat by Amber. However, the Amulet does transform with Sofia to make it be worn more easily during animal transformations. When Sofia became a lizard, the Amulet became a marking on her scales. As a cat, the chain shortened to become a collar.
 * "The Amulet and the Anthem" is the first episode where the magical amulet curses Sofia for the first time. This helps show some truth in Cedric's rumors of its great power in the strength of the curse. Fortunately, the curse was more comical than dangerous, being quite similar to hexes cast by Lucinda or on Cedric's trick shoes, and was more meant to remind Sofia to know herself so she wouldn't hurt her friends than to harm her.
 * Roland's mother told him the stories of the Amulet's princess-protecting powers, which helped lead him to accept the Amulet's flash as a mark of Sofia being chosen as the next bearer. This likely means, judging by Roland's account, that his mother wore the Amulet before it wound up in the Royal Jewel Room, where it would be transferred to Sofia.
 * The Amulet can only be removed at consent of the bearer-a problem for Cedric, since Sofia will not remove it due to her promise to her stepfather, then because of her forming personal ties to it thanks to it giving her the power to talk to animals. Though attempted removal by force has not yet been seen, presuming that the rumors of its great power are true, if Cedric tried to yank it off, he would get some sort of magical blast in return. Judging by the protection spell of Oona's Comb and Cedric's methods to try to get the mystical amulet, the magical energy blast is likely incredibly strong, perhaps even fatal. No matter what, the Amulet is better protected than the comb. Wormwood tried to pull it off, and James as a baby tried to suck the Amulet, but they did not get blasted due to Sofia pulling the Amulet away.
 * The Amulet does different things according to the action. When choosing the next bearer, it flashes, and gives off a slight glow. When summoning, it gives off a brief, strong glow. Blessing, the light brightens with sparkles, and when it curses, there are sparkles, but with the light being darker than the Amulet's chief jewel. The Amulet also neutrally sparkles to mark power, when Sofia showed it to Ginger in "Blue Ribbon Bunny," greet its bearer, when it was shown to Sofia, warn her of trouble, as was the case in "The Amulet of Avalor," and awaken, when it sparkled the morning after Sofia got her first power. When it is removed to help Amber, it emits a pale glow. There may be other actions that it does, but they haven't been seen yet.
 * The Amulet only blesses deeds of pure good, and therefore only curses deeds of pure evil. However, there are a few catches to this rule. One is that a good deed that has already been or has a high chance of being rewarded on its own, such as Sofia helping Mrs. Higgins, cannot be blessed due to that reward. A second catch is that a bad deed that comes mainly from a personal source, such as Sofia's jealousy, cannot be cursed, since it comes from her loneliness.
 * Besides rewards tainting pure good, Sofia may not have any new powers due to age-perhaps some are meant for her to gain when she has aged a bit.
 * It can summon Princesses from the past, according to Cinderella, "all princesses that ever lived." The princesses summoned deliver lessons Sofia learns, either by telling of their experiences with the lesson, their regrets of not learning those lessons before their stories ended, or of experiences friends of theirs had when learning the lesson.
 * The Amulet's been removed two times, both because of Amber. The first so Sofia could swap jewels with Amber for a ball. The second was for a supposed potion from Cedric to remove Amber's butterfly "costume."
 * It is similar to Oona's magical comb in that both are best carried by the pure of heart, while those who gave the items were unaware of the powers the objects possess.
 * The spell book of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, as Miss Nettle reveals in her first appearance, has a section for it identical to Cedric's, which she made a copy of in her own spell book.
 * Avalor also splits into "a valor," marking how the deeds that Sofia performed to gain powers involved courage. Even smaller brave deeds that do not get rewarded with powers are often successful due to the Amulet's power of good luck. When Sofia does not take action, as in "Enchanted Science Fair" and "King For A Day," the Amulet does not give her good luck.
 * The stone is likely a mixture of a variety of jewels, classifying it as a chimera.
 * The Amulet of Avalor has similar properties to the Brisingamen, the necklace of the Norse goddess Freya. Both are very beautiful, luring all who see it into wanting to possess it, though they require a lot of commitment and protection from thieves. Both also are associated with female power.
 * The Amulet may, due to Sofia's unusual streaks of good fortune, have the natural power of luck which aids in it guarding her, though it may also mean that it can give Sofia bad luck if it feels a curse is too harsh a punishment for a bad deed, hence Sofia often having bad things happen to her when she is jealous or selfish. Good luck has included giving Sofia the boost to win the Flying Crown, while bad luck includes letting the pie tray slip and release its contents onto the FlyLight coach in "Four's A Crowd."
 * Like the Heart of Kandrakar from the W.I.T.C.H. series, the Amulet chooses and guards its bearer, as well as being a pendant.
 * The chain of the Amulet seems to have been built for better security of the magical jewel-it is fastened by screws and the Amulet itself can easily slide across the chain to the back of Sofia's neck, making it appear to temporarily vanish, though it was built at the same time as the Amulet-a portrait of Roland's mother proves this to be the case.
 * Like the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings, whoever wields the power of the Amulet is devoted to it, and all seek to possess it because of its beauty, and, for those aware of its abilities, its power. However, despite cursing and requiring a lot of responsibility, the Amulet is an object of good rather than evil.
 * It is similar to the Roman bulla in being an amulet given to protect a child from evil that may be removed in adulthood.
 * Since the Amulet is a family heirloom passed down from princess to princess, as long as the princess has a worthy heart "hence the materialistic Amber not being chosen," then perhaps Tilly, who knows that things are more than what they seem and enjoys wonders, may have gotten the Amulet from her mother and put it in the Royal Jewel Room after growing up.
 * According to Cedric, there are fake Amulets, likely created to trick the power-hungry, or those desiring the Amulet for its beauty, such as Amber. The only way to tell the real Amulet from fakes, besides looking at size, color and the smoothness of the stone, is by looking into it.
 * Since the Amulet has always belonged to princesses and it chooses its wearer, it could be the Amulet is not usable at all to princes or any male at that. However, the Amulet has also generally been passed down from eldest daughter to eldest daughter, as Amber seems to have revealed in her jealousy, making Sofia, who is common-born and the second child, be an anomaly. Cedric knowing about its magic, along with his parents, Miss Nettle, and likely Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, shows that the magical knowledge of the Amulet has been leaked from the princesses to those educated in sorcery. The Amulet also has gone around many royal families for many years, going from kingdom to kingdom.
 * The Amulet emits heat, as shown from how it is held.
 * The Amulet has been compared with a ruby necklace twice-the first time was in "The Amulet of Avalor," when Roland revealed he was going to give Sofia a ruby necklace if not for the Amulet flashing, an event which strangely coincided with Sofia singing "I'm Not Ready To Be A Princess," hinting that the Amulet may be able to choose its bearer when it hears of or senses distress. The second time was in "The Enchanted Feast," where Miss Nettle, disguised as Sascha the Sorceress, offered to trade a fancy Ancient Egyptian-style ruby necklace for the Amulet. Why this comparison is so has yet to be determined.