In Moon Knight episode three, we met several of the MCU’s ancient Egyptian gods. Okay, well, in a sense. The only Egyptian god we’ve seen embody his true form thus far has been Khonshu. But Moon Knight‘s latest episode brought a surprise. In Moon Knight episodes four and five, Marvel’s version of the ancient Egyptian Goddess Taweret came to life on our screens. In mythology, Taweret often takes the form of a woman with the head of a hippo. And the MCU has now delivered the goddess in all her hippo goddess glory, even keeping the detail of Taweret’s human hair. But who is Taweret and how will she impact Moon Knight?
Who Is Moon Knight‘s Hippo God Taweret in Egyptian Mythology?
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Taweret was known as the goddess of pregnancy and motherhood. Taweret was a protector goddess of women and children. The myths about Taweret initially depicted her as a violent goddess, hence her association with animals such as the hippo. As mentioned, Taweret often gets depicted with the head of a hippo. Although in mythology, she also has associations with the lion and the crocodile. Interestingly, she keeps her human hair.
Eventually, though, Taweret came to be seen as possessing a different kind of fierceness. The later incarnations of this goddess focus more on her motherly ferociousness, the kind that comes from any mother protecting her young. In time, Egyptian myths even depicted Taweret as a nurturing force, as a kind of nurse who warded off evil spirits determined to harm mothers.
Moon Knight episode four manages to capture this duality of the goddess. Though Taweret’s MCU appearance initially seems fearsome, scaring both Marc Spector and Steven Grant, her high-pitched, even somewhat timid, “Hi!” belies that initial impression. Like her ancient Egyptian counterpart, Moon Knight‘s Taweret is more of a helper than an enemy.
Interestingly, according to the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, the ancient Egyptian hippo goddess was linked to the afterlife. “Taweret guarded the paths to the mountains of the west which led to the underworld and could also use magic to help the deceased pass safely through that dangerous and frightening land.” And indeed, Taweret’s presence in the Marvel show was used to introduce a new realm in Marvel’s multiverse, the Duat, or realm of the dead where souls go for judgment before getting destroyed or passing onto the Field of Reeds, or afterlife.
Getting Taweret into the MCU
Head Writer/Executive Producer Jeremy Slater shared a bit more about how we arrived at the Moon Knight‘s vision of the MCU Taweret.
He notes:
Right from the very first week, Marvel provided us with a ton of reference material on Egyptology, and on ancient Egyptian gods and deities. One of those pieces of material was a laminated poster that had like a little kid, cartoon drawings of all the different gods — one of those gods was Taweret. I spent that entire first week of our writers’ room, just staring at that. Then finally, at some point, I couldn’t take any more. I interrupted whatever we were talking about and I was like, ‘Guys, we have something much more important, which is, how do I get this hippo into the show?’”
I was like, no, stop laughing. I’m very serious. We’re putting her in the show. I think that was the first moment everyone realized, oh, we have permission to get weird, here. We have permission to do some things you wouldn’t necessarily get to do if you weren’t working at a place like Marvel Studios… This gave me my weird swing. And most importantly, it got my favorite hippo into the show.
We do love a hippo goddess and we love that Moon Knight gets a little weird. We also can’t help but recall the hippopotamus plush one we saw in episode one of Moon Knight. The clues to the MCU’s Taweret were there the whole time. In Moon Knight, Taweret is played by Antonia Salib.
What Does Taweret’s Presence Mean For Moon Knight‘s Marc Spector and Steven Grant?
But now that Tawaeret has made her grand appearance, in all her hippopotamus glory, what does that mean for Marvel’s universe and for Moon Knight? Well, as episode five of Moon Knight reveals, after Marc Spector was shot by Arthur Harrow, he falls through water and finds himself in the Duat. Harrow successfully killed Marc Spector and Steven Grant in the mix, and now their hearts must be judged. Taweret, a guardian of the realm, sees them through their journey to the afterlife.
Although, as the episode notes, Taweret is rather rusty at these aspects of her role. This makes sense because she’s not really one of the main deities associated with the ancient Egyptian lore surrounding death. Other gods such as Anubis and Osiris play much larger roles.
According to Marvel, “Taweret is the Egyptian goddess of childbirth. While she is the wife of Bes, the god of luck and probability, she becomes a cohort to Sobek, the god of rivers.” We wouldn’t be surprised if we met the crocodile god Sobek at some point in our MCU adventures. As for Taweret, although we did not see too much of this hippo goddess, she was willing to bend the rules to help Marc and Steven, but only to a point. She could make for a powerful ally in the future, depending on what happens to our Moon Knight in the Field of Reeds.
Given the prominent role the afterlife plays in ancient Egyptian mythology, its presence in the MCU makes a ton of sense to us. And Moon Knight’s introduction of the hippo goddess Taweret into Marvel’s world has officially brought us into a new space in the multiverse.
Originally published on April 20, 2022.
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