Osiris

Osiris in Season 1, Episode 7 by Mojito

**Osiris** is the King of Duat, the husband of Isis, and father to Horus and Anubis. He is also the brother of Isis, Nephthys, and Seth, and the son of Geb and Nut. He is the primary antagonist of the series.

## Appearance

At least after his death, Osiris has green skin. He has blue and black marks around his eyes. He wears a a tall white Atef: a combination of the white hedjet of Upper Egypt, and red, white, blue, and gold ostrich feathers. He wears a thick golden usekh or wesekh around his neck, with rows of blue and white gems or beads. He also wears gold wristbands, and a white shendyt with a jeweled belt. His beard is bound in a cone, either around something golden or with golden stripes in it.

## Personality

In public, Osiris is charming, gracious, and wise. In private, when he has nothing to lose, he is devious, manipulative, patronizing, obsessive, jealous, and even vengeful when he does not get his way or thinks he's been crossed. He does not appear to understand what actual love is, or care for the opinions of those who disagree with him.

## Life

Osiris marries Isis and takes the throne of Egypt from Ra.

Osiris' obsession over Seth leads him to make Seth infertile, but he grants Nephthys' wish to give Seth a child by placing his seed in her womb, producing Anubis, without telling Seth. In exchange, Nephthys gives him the power of creation, which only goddesses have.

Isis fills the Nile River with Osiris' spirit while he is alive.

When Nephthys finally reveals to Seth that Anubis is her child with Osiris, Seth confronts Osiris about it. Osiris tricks Seth into drinking a drug that weakens him, and uses some of the power of creation on Seth to allow Seth to give birth to a child with Osiris. Seth fights back, and Osiris explains that he took parts of Anubis' soul to create their child. In order to protect Anubis, Seth allows Osiris to assault him repeatedly, and eventually knocks Osiris out. Seth later tricks Osiris into going into Duat, cutting him off from the land of the living. Seth then takes the throne.

Isis temporarily resurrects Osiris using the spirit-filled Nile to conceive their son Horus.

At some point, out of anger at his inability to become a god and pain over Seth's actions and Nephthys' torment, Anubis commits suicide, and is brought back to life by Osiris, with a flower of life to sustain him. Osiris comforts Anubis, and weeps over his story, convincing Anubis to serve him in unseating Seth from the throne.

During the trial of Seth and Horus, Osiris reappears to the Ennead for the first time since his death by possessing the body of Anubis and claims Horus as his son. He tells a barebones summary of the last night he was with Seth as testimony. In private, he repeatedly tells Seth to come with him to Duat.

Osiris approves of giving Seth a penalty during the third match. Osiris appears near the end of the match in the form of a giant corpse monster to try and kill Seth and drag him to Duat.

When the trial ends with Seth being sent away from Heliopolis but not to Duat, Osiris appears to force Anubis to ascend to godhood. Osiris later sends Anubis out to hunt Seth down to track Seth and drag him down to Duat. Osiris revives the body of a priest to act as his hand in the land of the living, and uses a kind of seed to possess the man's body, to heal Seth's injuries and attempt to kill Seth again, to bring him down to Duat. Horus interrupts, cutting Osiris' shell down.

Osiris sends Anubis to show himself to Seth, noting this will bring Seth to Duat. Anubis notes that Osiris is not fully recovered.

## Powers

In life, Osiris is the God of Life and has the power to make living things grow, age and de-age, and die.

In death, Osiris still has the power to control plants, and can make thorny black vines to use as weapons. He can also project himself into certain forms to control the bodies of demigods and certain humans in the land of the living. He is also still physically strong, depending on his form. He can resurrect humans, though the process is imprecise, and seems to largely only work well on bodies that were well-maintained. According to Anubis, his power is not fully returned.

## Relationships

#### Anubis

When Anubis kills himself, Osiris comforts him, and weeps over his story, and restores him to life, which makes Anubis determined to return Osiris to his role as king. Anubis works as a servant for Osiris throughout the story. Osiris is quick to use Anubis for his own ends, first to blackmail Seth, and then using Anubis as a host body to act in the land of the living, despite Anubis' growing terror. Osiris seems to forcibly make Anubis ascend, and uses Anubis as a servant in the land of the living. As a god, Anubis is even more loyal to Osiris, and obeys his commands.

#### Horus

Osiris and Horus only interact twice: their first meeting, where Osiris acknowledges that Horus is his son, and the second, when Horus cuts Osiris down while Osiris is assaulting Seth, and Horus calls him a madman. Osiris never planned to have children with Isis.

#### Isis

Osiris and Isis have a complicated relationship: Isis wants to avenge herself on Osiris, for cheating on her with Seth, and deny Osiris his greatest desire (Seth being with him in Duat), whereas Osiris seems to view Isis as a means to an end: controlling the throne of Egypt.

#### Ra

Ra and Osiris seem wary of each other, and Ra seems quite happy to try and get others to publicly say what crimes Osiris committed against Seth. Despite how much Ra appears to know about Osiris' actions, Ra has not yet revealed them herself when Isis and Seth refused to do so.

#### Seth

Osiris is obsessed with Seth and owning him, particularly bodily, to the point Osiris made Seth infertile so that he could not have a child with someone else. Osiris wanted to have a child with Seth, to demonstrate his love, before repeatedly assaulting him. In self-defense and fury, Seth killed Osiris, and is terrified of and furious at him, and Osiris refuses to listen to his wishes at any point. Osiris has not stopped in his attempts to claim Seth, and drag him down to Duat so that they can be together.

## Trivia

* Osiris is one of the male gods who doesn't wear a mask, along with Shu, Thoth, and Geb.
* Osiris' typical outfit appears to be very similar to Shu's. They are the only two named male Egyptian gods with beards or beard ornaments. The only other "named" god with a beard is "Foreign God".
* The marks on Osiris' face are not make-up: Egyptian gods are born with these marks/their skin color changes in accordance with their divinity. Seth uses make-up to maintain them after being de-powered because he lacks the power to keep them.

## Mythology

Asir, Wsir, or Asar was known as "Osiris" by the Greeks. He "was the first son of Geb and Nut and the brother of Set, Horus (the elder), Isis, and Nephthys. He was one of the most prominent gods of the Heliopolitan Ennead, but his worship pre-dated the development of [the Ennead]. Although Atum was installed as the head of the Ennead by the priests of Heliopolis, [Asir] was considered to be the king of the underworld, and is the only deity who is referred to simply as “god”. . . . The oldest religious texts known to us refer to him as the great god of the dead, who once possessed human form and lived upon earth. After his murder by Set, [Asir] became the king of the underworld and presided over the judgment of dead souls. . . . [Asir] was also a god of agriculture. . . . Every harvest, the god was symbolically killed and his body broken on the threshing room floor, but after the inundation life would return to the land and the crops would grow again.

. . . [Asir] was usually depicted as a mummified king, complete with the ceremonial (curved) beard, crown, flail, and crozier. His skin is generally green or black, to represent the fact that he is dead. He usually wears the white crown of Upper Egypt (the south) or the Atef crown (the white crown with a plume of feathers on each side and a disc at the top). The feathers on the Atef crown are thought to represent Djedu (Busiris), the cult center of [Asir]."

"There are many separate hawk deities called Horus who are often confused. In the theology of Heliopolis, Horus the child was the child of Isis and [Asir]. However, in Hermopolis Horus the elder was the son or husband of Hathor . . . When the two theologies merged, Hathor and Isis became closely associated (both sometimes appear wearing a sun disk and bovine horns) and Horus the elder became the brother of Osiris and Set (making him the uncle of Horus son of Isis and Osiris). Thus Horus could be a solar deity (Horus the Elder or Haroeris) or an Osirian and hence stellar deity (often called Horus the child, Harpokrates or Harsiesis, horus son of Isis). This confused . . . Plutarch (the Greek writer), who made up the story that Horus the elder was conceived by Isis and Osiris while they were in Nut’s womb! The pyramid texts confirm their separate identities".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mojito. *ENNEAD,* Tappytoon, English. Season 1, Episode 7.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mojito. *ENNEAD,* Tappytoon, English. Season 1, Episode 6.
3. ↑ Mojito. *ENNEAD,* Tappytoon, English. Season 1, Episode 18.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Mojito. *ENNEAD,* Tappytoon, English. Season 1, Episode 19.
5. ↑ Mojito. *ENNEAD,* Tappytoon, English. Season 2, Episode 16.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Hill, Jenny. “Osiris.” *Ancient Egypt Online*, https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/osiris/.