Anubis

Full name: Anubis

Also Known As: Soulcatcher, God of the Dead

Pronunciation: Ah-noo-biss

Species: God (Egyptian pantheon)

Physical Features:
Charcoal skin
Hazel eyes
Long, black hair
Jackal’s ears, legs and tail (black furred)
Can also transform his head from a human to a jackal’s

Scent: Unknown

Of Note: Son of Osiris and Nephthys, half brother to Horus

Author’s Note:
Anubis is one of the best known Ancient Egyptian gods, and there are a lot of stories about him, and his parentage is sometimes debated, but I chose to go with the theory that he was the illegitimate child of Osiris and Nephthys. He was the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs and the underworld. He’s usually depicted as a man with a canine head, but for this series I decided to take a bit of creative license with his skin tone and physical appearance.

(It’s worth mentioning here that originally it was thought the head of Anubis was that of a jackal, but the animal that was originally known as an African golden jackal has in fact been discovered to be a wolf. So, whilst I decided to use the term ‘jackal’ as that is how he is most commonly referred to, technically he is a god with the head of an African wolf.)

In Egyptian mythology, one of Anubis’ primary roles was to usher souls into the afterlife and it is that duty which inspired me to give him the title of Soulcatcher. Despite being one of the most seen and certainly one of the oldest of the Egyptian gods, he didn’t appear as often in Egyptian myths, which gave me a lot of room to play when I was giving him a personality of his own. At first, I expected him to be quite serious and brooding, but he surprised me!

First Appearance: The Heart of a Shadow

“It was our pleasure, Pharoah.” Words sibilant and seductive preceded a man with charcoal grey skin and sparkling hazel eyes to the foot of the bed. Long, straight black hair framed an elegantly pointed face and hung over the chest of the formal black and gold robes he wore, beneath which Raiden glimpsed a well-muscled chest. Black-furred jackal’s ears swept up from his hair, and Raiden didn’t need to look down to know he walked on a jackal’s hind legs, and had a jackal’s tail poking out from the hem of his robes.

“Soulcatcher,” Raiden said, blinking up at Anubis in surprise. “Am I to die?”