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 an enchanted necklace that appears in the Disney Junior series Sofia the First, that bestows upon its wearer a power that can be a blessing or curse depending on either a good or bad deed.

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 daughter, Sofia, though he briefly thought about giving her a ruby necklace, because he remembered that it was rumored to guide and watch over it's wearer, 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 and understand animals. 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 transform into a mermaid and then back to a human again. Sofia gains her first will-driven ability after helping sprites, the action giving her the power to shrink whenever she wishes. However, it also taught her that with great power comes great responsibility, as the misuse of the power led to it briefly becoming a curse. After that, she has not been blessed by the Amulet since, even though she has done good deeds.

The Amulet's curses reflect the bad deeds performed. Such as when Sofia bragged about being chosen to sing the Enchancian Anthem for the year, 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 three powers have the potential of being used to great ends, though.

Thankfully, however, Sofia promised her new father 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.

King Roland II then revealed that, according to tales that his mother told him, the Amulet is supposed to protect the one wearing it and that the Amulet chooses it's 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 an autonomous, sentient object that is alive and can act and think freely for itself.

Amber steals it from Sofia in The Curse of Princess Ivy, causing the amulet to curse her as punishment for betraying Sofia, making it summon the vengeful and bitter Princess Ivy to punish Amber, and the curse is only removed when Amber puts her own needs aside to protect Sofia.

Abilities
So far, the Amulet of Avalor has shown three abilities that have helped Sofia out and taught her very important life lessons.


 * Power Granting: When the one wearing the Amulet does a very good deed, the Amulet will bless it's wearer with a magical power or ability as a reward. After the power is unlocked, the wearer can use it anytime they want as long as they wear the Amulet. So far, Sofia has unlocked three of the powers it can grant it's wearer:
 * Amimal Communication: The first power the Amulet has given Sofia is the power to talk to animals. She gained this ability in Once Upon a Princess when she helped a baby bird reunite with its mother. This is Sofia's most used ability.
 * Mermaid Transformation: The second power the Amulet has given Sofia is the ability to transform into a mermaid and back. She gained this ability in The Floating Palace after she helped Oona out of a net. Sofia can use this whenever she puts her bare feet in a body of water and she stops using it after she pulls herself completely out of the water. Presumably, this power is only activated around deep and ocean water. So far, Sofia has used this ability twice.
 * Shrinking Ability: The third power the Amulet has given Sofia is the ability to shrink to sprite size and back. Sofia gained this ability in "The Littlest Princess" after she helped three wee sprites. This is Sofia's first will-driven ability. So far, she has only used it once.
 * Princess Summoning: When the one wearing the Amulet really needs help, the Amulet summons Disney Princesses to help them out. So far, nine Disney Princesses have appeared to help Sofia and have helped her learn very Important life lessons:
 * Cinderella: She appears in Once Upon a Princess. She taught Sofia the importance of forgiveness and giving second chances.
 * Jasmine: She appears in "Two to Tangu". She helps Sofia and Amber to learn the importance of being able to try new things.
 * Belle: She appears in "The Amulet and the Anthem".  She taught Sofia that actions speak louder than words, especially when it comes to setting things right.
 * Ariel: She appears in The Floating Palace. She teaches Sofia that the love of family is held by all walks of life and how it joins people together.
 * Aurora: She appears in "Holiday in Enchancia". She teaches Sofia that she can always turn to her friends for help.
 * Snow White: She appears in "The Enchanted Feast". She taught Sofia to trust her instincts.
 * Mulan: She appears in "Princesses to the Rescue!" She teaches Sofia, Amber, and Jun the importance of being able to commit.
 * Rapunzel: She appears in The Curse of Princess Ivy. She tells Amber what she must do to stop Princess Ivy.
 * Tiana: She appears in "Winter's Gift". She teaches Sofia that true gifts come from the heart.
 * Curse Unleashing: When the one wearing the Amulet does a very bad deed, the Amulet will place a curse on it's wearer as punishment. The curses the Amulet unleashes are so strong that they can only be lifted when the person it has cursed breaks it. The Amulet's curses can only be broken when the one it has cursed aplogizes for the misdeed and does a good deed that is the exact opposite of the bad deed that angered the Amulet. So far, the Amulet has unleashed three curses that have helped Sofia learn important life lessons:
 * Croaking Curse: This curse was unleashed in The "Amulet and the Anthem". It makes the victim croak like a frog. It placed this curse on Sofia to punish her for rudely rubbing the fact she was chosen to be the Anthem Singer in Ruby and Jade's faces. She broke this curse with Belle's help by apologizing to Ruby and Jade and letting them be the Anthem Singers. It was a very minor curse that was meant to help Sofia learn a very important life lesson: That actions speak louder than words especially when it comes to setting things right.
 * The Curse of Princess Ivy: This curse was unleashed in The Curse of Princess Ivy. As the names implies, this curse summons the evil enchantress Princess Ivy to the victim's homeland. The Amulet put this curse on Amber because after learning the Amulet's secrets, Amber betrayed Sofia and stole it from her to get a Princess to appear for her. Amber broke this curse with Rapunzel's help by apologizing to Sofia and letting herself get hit by one of Ivy's dragonflies to protect Sofia. Unlike the croaking curse, this curse was really powerful and dangerous because Amber's act of thievery was both a bad deed and activated the Amulet's safeguard against thievery.
 * Mini Curse: This curse was unleashed in "The Littlest Princess". This curse leaves the victim at wee sprite size. The Amulet placed this curse on Sofia when she disobeyed her mother and brought her wee sprite friends into the castle. Sofia broke this curse by apologizing to her mother and obeying her when Miranda told her how to get the sprites out of the castle. Like the croaking curse, this curse was a very minor curse that was meant to help Sofia learn a very important life lesson: To have faith in those who love her and to listen to them when they're trying to help her.

Trivia

 * The Amulet of Avalor likely gets its name from a portmanteau of "Avalon" and "Lore" ; Avalon is the mythical isle of Arthurian legend ruled by fairies, and is Welsh for apple. 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.
 * Avalor also splits into "a valor," marking how the deeds that Sofia performed to gain abilities involved pure bravery.
 * Princess Ivy believes that if the Amulet is destroyed, any princesses summoned cannot return to their original locations and times. However, since she showed no knowledge of the amulet prior to meeting Amber and overhearing Sofia, this is likely just an assumption she made.
 * The Amulet transforms 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.
 * Sofia's family and human friends don't know that Sofia's Amulet is a mystical item or about her magical abilities because Sofia refuses to tell them because, for some reason, she feels she's not supposed to tell anyone about the Amulet of Avalor's magic. They think it's just a family heirloom because Roland once asked her if she thanked the gryffin after seeing her talking to it and Amber said she thinks Sofia's always pretending to talk to "that bunny of hers" when trying to disprove Sofia's claims about Oona's abduction by a sea monster and Queen Emmaline's threat to sink the Floating Palace. The only ones who know the magical secrets of Sofia's Amulet and about her magical abilities are her animal friends and the merpeople of Merroway Cove.
 * 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 magical ability. 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.
 * It can summon Princesses from the past, according to Cinderella, "all princesses that ever lived."
 * Interestingly, it seems to be implied by Tiana's appearance that princesses from the future can also be summoned.
 * The Amulet's been removed three times, all because of Amber. The first was 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." The third time was so that Amber could summon Princess Rapunzel. In all three cases, the Amulet was captured, first by a baby griffin, the second time by Wormwood, the third time by Princess Ivy, until Sofia retrieved it.
 * 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 large spellbook 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 spellbook.
 * 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.
 * 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, temperature, and the smoothness of the stone, is by looking into it. Cedric's even tone and speaking pace showed that he was telling the truth. The existence of fake Amulets is also supported by Sofia duplicating herself.
 * 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, but may be because rubies are sometimes considered the most valuable gemstones.
 * Rubies are also commonly linked to femininity and love, and a ruby was seen as a impure gemstone in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
 * The Amulet may have the potential to be used as a weapon, since the other enchanted object wielded by a princesses on the show, the Mermaid Comb, can be used as a weapon in experienced hands.
 * Once the Amulet is transferred, any powers given to the previous bearer do not apply to the new one, though if the previous bearer retrieves the Amulet, they regain the powers they earned.
 * The Amulet, despite it being unable to be destroyed by common means, has a weakness as shown in The Curse of Princess Ivy. According to Cedric, the Amulet of Avalor can only be destroyed by the bright flame of Everburn the Elder Dragon in the Blazing Palisades. Fortunately, Everburn's cold prevents him from breathing fire often.
 * The Amulet can trap people within its stone, as revealed when its magic imprisoned Princess Elena of Avalor.
 * The Amulet is very old, and looking at its ability to stay intact for centuries, may have gotten its power through divine means.
 * The Amulet is named after its kingdom of origin, like Oona's Comb and the Emerald Key. Unlike them, it has traveled all over, going from Avalor to Enchancia.