The character who would eventually become the Ancient One was born in Kamar-Taj, "a hidden land high in the Himalayans", more than 500 years ago. He spent his youth as a peaceful farmer, until his friend Kaluu discovered the power of magic.When Kaluu shared this knowledge of the mystic arts with the Ancient One, the two disagreed on how they would use the powers. The Ancient One wished to turn their village into a utopia, while Kaluu desired power and conquest over nearby villages.
The Ancient One and Kaluu agreed to cast a spell, eliminating sickness, disease, and age from Kamar-Taj. Subsequently the villagers, under Kaluu's mind-control spell, crown him king of the village. The Ancient One attempts to stop Kaluu, but the village of Kamar-Taj is wiped out as a result of their conflict. As a result, Kaluu is banished to an alternate dimension and the Ancient One is stripped of his immortality. Nonetheless, the Ancient One ages far more slowly than any regular human.
Sometime later, the Black Rider investigates a crime in Texas that eventually leads him to New York City's Chinatown. While there, he receives help from a mysterious Chinese man, who is later revealed to be a younger version of the Ancient One.
Over the next few centuries, the Ancient One travels the Earth, battling demons and evil spirits, banishing many from Earth. He increases his own knowledge, gathering and guarding books that contain dangerous knowledge. He encounters the being, Eternity, through his meditations and the latter gives him the Amulet of Agamotto, a powerful mystical artifact. Then in Babylonia, the Ancient One defeats a griffin while guarding the Book of the Vishanti, a tome of mystical knowledge, that eventually ends up in his possession.
The Ancient One finally settles in the Himalaya Mountains and builds a palace as his home, together with an order of monks that he forms for his own protection and support. In a tournament organized by the sorcerer Aged Genghis, the Ancient One wins the title of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme and subsequently takes on responsibility for a student, who later becomes Mister Jip. The student is then banished from the Ancient One's home when the student is discovered by his master to have been studying forbidden books of black magic to increase his own power.