The Helmet of Fate is a magical artifact that houses inside it the Lord of OrderNabu and works as a symbiont of sorts, allowing a host body to be used by Nabu to become Doctor Fate. It is Nabu's only anchor on the mortal/physical plane.
The Helmet of Fate was forged around the second millennium BCE by the Lords of Order, who fused Nabu's spirit with his helmet after he perished in battle to create a new Lord of Order on Earth.[1] Having no body of his own, Nabu has made certain that the helmet is passed from person to person, allowing for him to continue his work of protecting the world from Chaos.
At some point, the helmet fell into the hands of Kent Nelson, who used its powers to become the hero Doctor Fate and eventually became a member of the Justice Society of America. After many years had passed however, Nelson's wife Inza had requested that Nelson retire as Doctor Fate. The helmet was then locked in the Tower of Fate for 65 years, where it waited for its master to return.[2]
Nelson, now a widower, was forced to take back the helmet when Klarion and Abra Kadabra kidnapped him. Nelson managed to escape his captors, but was severely injured by a blast from Klarion and died before he could put on the Helmet and become Doctor Fate.
Instead, Wally West put on the helmet, allowing Nabu to control his body and turn him into the new Doctor Fate. Nabu almost took complete control of Wally's body through the helmet, but Nelson (whose soul had entered the Helmet with Wally) convinced Nabu otherwise. The Helmet was kept on Wally's souvenir shelf.[2]
Aqualad brought the Helmet of Fate with the Team when they went to fight the Injustice League, to serve as "Plan B" if things went badly. He was forced to don the helmet, becoming Doctor Fate, in order to battle the Injustice League sorcerer, Wotan. Wally was horrified, believing that Nabu would never let Aqualad go, but to his surprise Aqualad was able to remove the helmet. He claimed that Kent Nelson had been very helpful and had interceded with Nabu on Aqualad's behalf.[3]
During the fight against Klarion on Roanoke Island, Zatanna summoned the Helmet of Fate and used it to fight Klarion. However, since the helmet was split between two dimensions at the time due to Klarion's and his accomplices' spell, Nabu could not keep a stable presence on the earthly plane. Zatanna, Nabu, and Zatara were able to work together to break the spell, capture the sorcerers, and force Klarion to retreat. With Klarion still a threat Nabu refused to relinquish Zatanna, going so far as to release the protesting Kent Nelson to the afterlife to prevent this. Zatara was able to successfully convince the Lord of Order to take him instead, and took over the helmet from his daughter.[4]
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Nabu made an agreement with Zatanna that he would remove the helmet for one hour each year, so that she and Zatara could spend time together.[5]
Zatanna proposed that she, Zatara, Thirteen and Khalid Nassour would act as rotating hosts for Doctor Fate, each donning the helmet for a week before passing it on to the next in line. After some discussion everyone agreed bar Zatara. Fate removed the helmet to allow Zatara to argue, but Zatanna convinced him to go along with it. Khalid volunteered to be first in the new arrangement and put on the helmet.[7]