Anubis
Anubis is a Child of Oberon. He was worshipped in ancient Egypt as a god of the dead.
History
In 1995, Xanatos sent the Emir and the Pack (by this time Jackal, Hyena, Wolf, and Coyote 3.0) to Egypt, to summon up Anubis in a secret underground chamber below the Sphinx and somehow force him to make Xanatos immortal. The Emir summoned Anubis and magically held him prisoner, but for his own purposes rather than Xanatos's; he wanted the jackal-god to restore his son to life. When Anubis refused, the Emir decided to use the Scroll of Thoth to make himself an avatar of the death-god, so that he could use Anubis's powers to resurrect his son himself. However, Jackal, who had become intrigued by Anubis, deliberately stepped in the way of the spell so that he himself could become an avatar of Anubis. Drunk with his new-found powers, he planned to use them to wipe out all life on the planet, but the Emir (with some prodding by Goliath) came to his senses in time, and used the Scroll of Thoth again to make himself Anubis's avatar. Undoing what damage caused by Jackal that he could, the Emir then sealed off the underground chamber so that nobody could ever summon Anubis again ("Grief"). Anubis was somehow released from his bonds with the Emir afterwards, to eventually attend the Gathering on Avalon ("The Gathering" Part One).
Characteristics
Anubis is a "death-god", but a responsible one. He takes his powers seriously, viewing them as part of the natural balance and not to be used lightly. In particular, he refuses to bring people back to life (such as the Emir's son), because he feels that it would be favoritism. (It is noteworthy that when the Emir was serving as Anubis's avatar, he could undo Jackal's artificial aging of Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx, and rejuvenation of Hyena and Wolf, but could not or would not restore what Jackal had actually destroyed.) He is so strongly connected with death, in fact, that while he was magically imprisoned by the Emir, nobody was able to die.
Anubis generally appears in the form of a man in Egyptian garb with a jackal's head.
Real-World Background
Anubis is the Greek rendering of the Egyptian name Inpw, which may have been pronounced something like Anupu or Ienpu.
In Egyptian mythology, Anubis was a guardian of the dead and god of embalming. In the early days of ancient Egypt, he truly was a god of the dead, as per Gargoyles. Later on, as the worship of Osiris became increasingly prominent in Egypt, he was reduced in stature, while Osiris replaced him as the Egyptian death-god. Also as per Gargoyles, he was portrayed as a man with a jackal's head. Anubis also had the role of helping to judge souls brought before Osiris after their deaths; he would balance each soul's heart on a pair of scales with a feather. If the heart was lighter than the feather, that soul would be admitted to the paradise ruled over by Osiris, but if it was heavier, the soul would be devoured by the monstrous half-hippopotamus half-crocodile Ammut. The ancient Greeks identified Anubis with Hermes, who was one of their own "death-gods."
Production Background
Voice Actor: Tony Jay
See also
- Anubis at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
