| “ | I try to keep several projects going at once. For instance, did you know this university does not offer majors in astrology or leechcraft? Shocking! I intend to change that. I'm renovating new headquarters right now down by the river. Soon Memphis will be a true center of learning! | ” |
–Thoth to Carter and Sadie Kane, in The Red Pyramid | ||
Thoth, also known as Djehuti, is the Egyptian god of wisdom, magic, and writing and is the loyal scribe of Ma'at and a protector of baboons. In addition, Thoth is the founder of the House of Life and is the only god allowed there. He is the oldest son of Ra.
History
His animal is the baboon. When Set imprisoned Osiris, Thoth attempted to mediate an agreement, but Isis convinced him that he should join sides with her and Horus. This resulted in Horus losing an eye to Set, which Thoth replaced with moonlight, creating the Eye of Horus. He also had to heal Isis when Horus inadvertently cut off her head when she attempted to stop him from fighting Set while weakened.
Thoth was also the grand vizier when Ra, Shu, Geb, Osiris, and Horus ruled as pharaohs. When Horus chose to leave this world, he made Thoth pharaoh and he ruled peacefully for over 3,000 years.
Mythology
As mentioned in The Red Pyramid, Thoth plays an important role in the birth of Nut's children. In the myth, Nut goes to him for advice after Ra forbids her from giving birth on any day of the year. He comes up with the idea of gambling with Khonsu and helps Nut create the five new days with moonlight. However, in the original myth, it was Thoth himself who did the gambling, and Thoth bet his secret knowledge, which Khonsu desired out of jealousy. After winning, he became a moon god (there were multiple).
Thoth is also credited by the Ancient Egyptians for revealing hieroglyphics, medicine, and astronomy (as part of his association as a moon god).
Thoth is also associated with justice, and the phrase "straight and true like Thoth" was used to show impartiality when judging a situation and/or crime.
He was also known for being persuasive, as seen in the books when he convinces the House of Life to abandon Path of the Gods.
Thoth also generally played a large role in mythology, and was believed to have been the one to civilize human kind. At one point, he was even considered one of the creators of the world.
Seshat was sometimes said to be either his daughter or wife, and Ma'at was also said to be his wife at times.
The Kane Chronicles
The Red Pyramid
Thoth helps Sadie and Carter defeat Set by telling them the contents of his book, which contains the spell that can send Set deep into the Duat. He also tells the siblings that there are two ingredients needed for the spell; the Feather of Truth and Set's Secret Name. Thoth, however, gives them a test in exchange for the information, using shabti to record their battles and leaving them a picture of Bast and Apophis to give them a clue about who Bast really is and what their mother died for. He, however, refuses to explain the picture as it is not on their deal. Thoth is later seen in the Hall of Gods, his image flickering between his human form and a grassy green sphere.
The Throne of Fire
Thoth is seen when Carter and Sadie return Ra to the throne, and unlike everyone else, chooses to dress casually.
The Serpent's Shadow
After learning about sheuts from Anubis and how they could be used to destroy Apophis, Carter and Walt Stone travel to meet Thoth to try to learn the needed spell from him. Thoth is found by them on top of his new pyramid, throwing hieroglyphic grenades at demons attacking his pyramid every six hours. Carter and Walt arrive and help him fight off the demons. When Apophis possesses a winged version of Face of Horror and taunts Carter, Thoth saves him and kills the demon. He then makes Carter sleep for a while and discusses Walt and Anubis' plan with Walt, but refuses to tell Carter what they were talking about though he pushes Walt to do so.
Thoth reveals that Apophis has trapped him in the pyramid and he can't escape through the Duat and that he believes that Apophis is doing the attacks to distract him from helping them. Thoth confirms what they learned from Anubis about shadows and that what he calls a shadow execration can be used to destroy Apophis. However, Thoth is unwilling to help them learn the needed spell and find Apophis' sheut as its forbidden knowledge among mortals and he could get into serious trouble for telling them, more than he already has for what he's done for humanity. When Carter points out the only other choice is to let Apophis destroy the world, Thoth admits that that's why he's even still talking to them about it. While he won't tell them himself, he directs them to The Book of Thoth, a field guide of sorts he wrote in his youth that contains a lot of information about the gods including the location of their sheuts. The location of Apophis' sheut is in that book. He informs them how an evil magician named Setne stole the book and used it to create a shadow execration before he died.
Thoth doesn't know where the book is as Setne hid it well even from him and he tells them that while he couldn't endorse giving mortals knowledge of how to destroy a god, even Apophis, hypothetically Setne could give them what they needed if they could convince him to help. Thoth then informs them that there is a deadline as Setne will have a trial before Osiris at sunset and will likely be obliterated for all of his crimes. Thoth sends them off before sunrise and the next attack but warns Walt that he likely won't survive long enough to do this and that what he has planned is dangerous and has never been done before. While Thoth doesn't tell Carter what he's talking about, Walt promises to explain to him and Sadie. Thoth also informs them that he will only be able to hold on until sunrise the next day, the time of Apophis' rising which he believes is designed to prevent him from interfering.
When Carter summons the gods to help fight Apophis after succeeding in getting his sheut and Ra being reborn, Thoth is not one of the gods that show up. Carter is disappointed as he wishes that Thoth and more of the gods that were friendly to him showed up, but he knows that Thoth and the other gods have their own problems fighting off attacks from Apophis' forces. After Carter and Sadie destroy Apophis, Thoth leaves Earth for the Duat with all of the other gods.
Personality
Thoth is a rather comical god when he first meets Carter and Sadie. He seems to be a bit absent-minded and took some time to realize that he was not in Memphis, Egypt, but actually Memphis, Tennessee. He has also taken a liking to barbecue and music (claiming to have discovered Blues music), which he refers to as forms of magic and, as he is the god of wisdom, a passion for education and books. He seems to marvel at computers and technology, wishes he had a bigger laboratory and has multiple ibises working on computer essays.
Thoth is mostly a benevolent deity and arguably one of the least egocentrics of the major gods. He always does what is necessary to help others and aside from a little recognition, never asks for anything in return. He was willing to stand up to Horus and Isis when Carter and Sadie met with him and treated Carter and Sadie well. In The Throne of Fire, when Carter and Sadie are shown the Hall of the Gods as the senile Ra prepares to leave, Sadie remarks when Thoth looks at her that she gets the feeling that he is the only one who pities her discomfort.
There is also a darker side to Thoth's personality. He is a very calculating god and gave tests to Carter and Sadie to see if they are worth the information he was going to give them. Thoth also seems to hold grudges, admonishing Horus and Isis for coming to him for help after the last time Set and Horus fought. He convinced Iskandar, the Chief Lector, to adopt the House of Life's anti-god policies while maintaining his good standing and freedom.
Appearance
Thoth appears as a young man in his twenties with wild blond hair, wire-rimmed glasses, jeans and a lab coat. The sleeves of his lab coat seem to contain letters and words in all languages which he could use to conjure anything he wanted. While the other gods wore elaborate and special clothing or armor for large events, like Ra's first voyage back into the Duat, Thoth prefers to wear his jeans and lab coat most of the time. Thoth's eyes are many shifting colors, like a kaleidoscope, which Sadie finds somewhat disturbing. However, in the picture above, he is shown having brown curly hair.
Abilities
As a son of Ra, Thoth is an extremely powerful god.
- Divine Knowledge: As the God of Knowledge, Thoth is extremely intelligent. He has several ibises working on dissertations, such as A Short Treatise on the Evolution of Yaks.
- Mystiokinesis: As the God of Magic, Thoth has absolute control and divine authority over magic. Examples of other abilities he derived from this province are:
- Divine Words: It was highly likely that Thoth is able to speak every known Divine Word, and as an immortal, he is knowledgeable in spells that were lost long ago.
- Linguistic Magic: Thoth is able to cast hieroglyph spells and Divine Words in the form of grenades through English instead of Ancient Egyptian.
- Object Manipulation: Thoth seemed to possess the ability to create, shape, and manipulate inanimate objects - words would form on his lab coat, and if they fell off, they would create whatever the word is. When Thoth threw his grocery list on the floor, it also turned into whatever was on the list (which in one case, it was milk, bread, and Mountain Dew).
- Portal Manipulation: Thoth had the ability to create portals, even during the Demon Days - something which even the most skilled magicians were unable to do.
- Shabti Creation: Thoth is skilled at creating shabti - in order to test how much control Carter and Sadie had over Horus and Isis, he sent two extremely lifelike magician shabti to face them.
Relationships
Sadie Kane: Sadie finds Thoth a bit annoying, as shown when Isis asks her to let her throw a fireball at him, and Sadie was tempted by the offer. However, when Carter and Sadie are shown the Hall of the Gods as the senile Ra prepares to leave, Sadie remarks when Thoth looks at her that she gets the feeling that he is the only one who pities her discomfort.
Carter Kane: Carter might be a bit annoyed with him as well since Horus wanted him to kill Thoth, which Carter refused, but Horus instead pleaded Carter to kill his guitar, which Thoth was playing quite badly. In The Serpent's Shadow, Thoth and Carter are much more friendly with each other, as they both need each other's help, and Carter even notices that Thoth's guitar playing has improved.
Isis: The two of them do not seem to get along very well. While talking to Thoth, Isis begs Sadie to throw a fireball at him, which Sadie was tempted to do. Thoth also calls Isis deceitful and manipulative and states that Isis never admits that she doesn't know something.
Horus: It seems as if he as well as his mother dislikes him as well. After the test given to them, Horus pleads Carter to kill Thoth, which Carter refused but ended up pleading to kill the guitar.
Bast: It is implied that they do not get along very well.
Other: When Thoth tells Carter about The Book of Thoth, he implies that many of the Gods do not like him for revealing secret knowledge to humans, and for writing their secrets in the book.
Trivia
- Thoth makes a vague reference to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series when he mentions Hermes, who he states is nothing like him. He appears to dislike Hermes; this is most evident when Thoth talks about Hermopolis. This hints that he has seen Hermes and that the Greco-Roman and Egyptian gods might interact (or have at least done so in the past).
- There are two Books of Thoth, one that teaches to defeat Set and another to learn of the gods' weaknesses.
- In The Serpent's Shadow, it is mentioned that he has blond hair, like Khufu's gold mane. However, in the picture above, he has dark curly hair.
- Thoth's jacket as stated in the books has colorful scribbles on it, but his jacket in his official picture doesn't have anything on it.
- His Greco-Roman equivalents (in terms of attributes) is Athena/Minerva, Artemis/Diana, and Hermes/Mercury.
- He and Isis are the two most powerful users of magic among the Egyptian Gods like their Norse counterparts: Freya along with Odin.
- He played a similar role to Raziel in The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare for the following reasons:
- They are famous for knowing everything as well as all secrets in the universe in their own pantheons alike, and can be viewed as the counterpart of each other.
- They both excel in Divine Words magic: hieroglyphs and runes; they possess the limited telepathy as well.
- There are two sets of namesake Tarot, Raziel Tarot and Thoth Tarot, sprung from them.
- Both of them are wired to keep the order; Thoth is an important part of defending Ma'at; Raziel is believed to hold the rank of archangel within the heavenly hierarchy.
- They are the creator and patron of the global devils-preventing organizations, the magicians of House of Life and Shadowhunters of The The Clave, both of them conferred the tome, Books of Thoth and Gray Book, respectively.
- They both have something to do with water; whereas the water blessed by Thoth is drinkable to magicians, the water in Lake Lyn endowed by Raziel, on the other hand, is noxious to Shadowhunters.
- Despite being the revered patrons, both of them showed impatience and annoyance towards the subject asking them a favor even for good reasons: Thoth wasn't willing to help Carter and Sadie defeat Set; Raziel intended to kill Simon after summoned.
