This post contains detailed spoilers for Moon Knight episode 4.
Alright, you’ve been down the proverbial rabbit hole at this point. After getting shot, Marc Spector finds himself trapped in the trippiest of dreamlands. As Matt Fowler explained in his Moon Knight Episode 4 review, this moment is ripped right out of the comics. In Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood’s 2016 Moon Knight run, Marc Spector gets shot, wakes up in a mental hospital, and is forced to reconcile with the idea that maybe he really was crazy all this time.
Tackling a storyline like this is particularly tricky, especially given how seriously the Moon Knight cast and crew has taken the delicate subject of Marc Spector’s mental health. Thankfully, the directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead was well suited to handle the balance of sensitivity and absolute abject weirdness that is Episode 4’s final fifteen minutes. Those last few minutes could have us going on for days, but we’re actually here to discuss the hippo goddess that we’re introduced to in the very last moments of the episode. Her name is Taweret, and director Mohamed Diab has noted that she’s of great importance to the rest of the story.
“Taweret is leading the next episode,” Diab revealed. “Taweret is very essential, very important, but [the next episode] is going to challenge whatever you think of her.”
Who Is Taweret?
Alright, so Diab has confirmed that Taweret plays a very important role in the story, and we’ll be seeing a lot of her next week. But who is she?
The goddess was most commonly worshiped as one of birth and fertility. Growing in popularity in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2055–1650 BCE), Taweret’s visage started to appear on talismans, household food and drink vessels, and more in this time frame. But, she was also known as a funeral deity during this period, leading some Egyptologists to believe that the goddess symbolized the rebirth after death. Later on, during the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BCE), the goddess’ power in the perception of the people would only grow. As time went on, Taweret wasn’t just worshiped for the fertility she fostered, but for her regenerative powers as well.
Sure does sound like a friend that Marc Spector is gonna need around for the next episode or so.
Perhaps noteworthy to future episodes of the series is the legend of Osiris, Set, and Horus. When Set killed Osiris and sought to kill his son, Horus, after his rise to power, Taweret held Set down so Horus could slay him. Some ancient Egyptian texts suggest that Horus and Seth were in an eternal power struggle over a shared force, but that the cult of Horus grew and the odds shifted in his favor. Mythical speculation aside, it’s clear that Taweret played an integral role in Set’s downfall.
Moon Knight has kept many of the better-known Egyptian gods and pharaohs out of the conversation thus far, but we definitely know a dude with a cult who’s entrenched in a power struggle or two and could use a solid bop on the nose for bad behavior.
So, how can a goddess mostly known for her fertility and childbirth tip the proverbial scales of Moon Knight? A lot of ways, it turns out! Like all mothers, the goddess is well known for her fierce strength and perseverance when push comes to shove. She isn’t portrayed as one of the most fearsome animals in existence for nothin’. Marc’s sure to need her help in the war he’s found himself in the middle of, but for now the dude mostly needs the hole in his body plugged up.
We didn’t forget that integral part of Diab’s comment from above, either! “[The next episode] is going to challenge whatever you think of her…” could have endless interpretations. Does the director simply mean that we’ll be seeing her step beyond the common perception that ends at “maternity symbol”? Or perhaps we’ll see a whole new iteration of the goddess that only loosely ties to what ancient history tells us about the character.
Seems like now’s as good a time as any to speculate wildly! Will Taweret save Marc, or will Layla (May Calamawy) be taking on the mantle of Moon Knight sooner than Khonshu planned? Let us know all your theories in the comments! And, if you want to know more about Gods in the MCU, check out our story on the Khonshu Dilema.
Amelia is the Streaming Editor here at IGN. She's also a film and television critic who spends too much time talking about dinosaurs, superheroes, and folk horror. You can usually find her with her dog, Rogers. There may be cheeseburgers involved.
from IGN All https://ift.tt/Wt3i2pv
https://ift.tt/KYGLC5f
Share your thoughts here.