Setne

Prince Khaemwaset, better known as Setne, is a deceased magician who was quite evil and appears in The Serpent's Shadow.

Biography
Setne was the son of Ramesses the Great, so he is related to Carter and Sadie. He is a pathological liar, according to the god Thoth, a scoundrel, a traitor, a thief and a brilliant magician. He is "Kind of like Ancient Egypt's Robin Hood, Merlin, and Attila the Hun rolled into one." According to Thoth, he battled monsters, adventured in the Duat, conquered gods, and broke into sacred tombs. He created curses that couldn't be lifted and unearthed secrets that should have stayed buried. He, under the shadow of his father's, had made a name of his own by stealing the Book of Thoth and creating complicated spells including a shadow execration, and by making a version of the Book of Overcoming Apophis, which includes spells for capturing shadows for execration,spells to make the gods reveal their true form and their secret names and "all sorts of embarrassing details" according to Thoth. Fortunately he died before he tried this (as he wanted to blackmail Apophis to destroying Egypt and the gods to become immortal), and had tried escaping the Underworld numerous times, in hopes of doing this spell. Setne was accused of heinous crimes, he blasphemed the gods four thousand and ninety two times (though Setne claimed it was just four thousand ninety one because "that crack about Lord Horus was just a misunderstanding"), used magic for evil purposes, including twenty three murders (which Setne claimed was actually self defense) including one incident where he was paid to kill with magic (which Setne claimed was self defense for his employer), plotted against three separate pharaohs, tried to overthrow the House of Life on six occasions, and robbed the tombs of the dead to steal books of magic.

The Serpent's Shadow
Setne first appears as a talking face in the Dallas Museum, warning Sadie that she wouldn't be able to save the Book of Overcoming Apophis and that she should instead retrieve the golden cabinet, though at the time it is not known who he is. He also said that she needs his help, but this offer expires after sunset, when his trial takes place with her father. Later, in the throne room of Osiris, he offers to help find Apophis' shadow, or sheut, to excrecate the Serpent for good. Osiris seems to think, all he wants to do is escape. Zia and Carter accompanied him to find the Book of Thoth, which had the information about the god's favourite hiding places, secerets, etc and a spell Setne created for shadow execration. They travel to the Land of Demons in the Egyptian Queen, where Carter foolishly grants Setne permission to give Bloodstained Blade orders. Setne gives Bloodstained Blade an order to kill Carter and Zia, but Bloodstained Blade is killed and Setne is bound again with pink ribbons. ("Tas" is the word they use.)  Later, after Zia saves Carter, and he saves her they have to come up with an idea to get to the Land of Demons without being seen. They let Setne cast a spell on them, that on appearance, turns them into a monster. They take Setne along with them to find the shadow, which is located in the Sea of Chaos, but Setne betrays them, reversing their spell and binding them, intending to blackmail Apophis with his sheut, explaning that he needed them as he wasn't able to cast the spell to summon the sheut. After Walt Stone realizes that Setne lied to them and that binding a sheut and execrating it is actually very easy (they didn't need the book), he, after letting Anubis take him as a host (he was dying), sends Sadie to help Carter and Zia, opening a portal to their location. Sadie arrives on time to stop Setne (falling from the sky), freeing Carter and Zia and recapturing him, but Setne disappears with the Book of Thoth after an army of demons arrives to attack. He appears again at the end, telling Carter that he did a good job for slaying Apophis, disappearing before Carter can bind him again, saying "We are done playing that game." His escape is reported to Julius Kane/Osiris who isn't worried as he knew Setne's escape was likely and was just glad that he was able to help them do what they needed to do though he will likely be a threat again in the future despite not being able to fully make use of the Book of Thoth as a ghost as some spells won't work.

Personality
He has an ambituous personality, as said by Rick Riordan in his blog. His name, Setne, is said to be an evil name. Setne is never seen without the Seven Ribbons of Hathor, the only items that keeps him in check, and numerous magical precautions. He is rather persuasive, as he evaded oblivion for eons, either by getting a lighter sentence, a plea bargain, or getting away. When he was alive, he'd stop at nothing to possess the secrets of the universe. He wanted to a be a god, not the eye of a god, but a full-fledged immortal which Thoth admitted is actually possible. Despite having a way to destroy a god or even Apophis, Setne never planned to actually use it to destroy one, instead planning to blackmail them instead. Even when given the chance to destroy Apophis, he simply planned to blackmail the being instead. However, while Setne loves Chaos and causing it, he does not want the world destroyed, or at least not the whole world because he wants some for himself and is thus willing to work against Apophis to a point. Despite trying to kill Carter a few times, Setne showed some fondness for the boy, though he thought Carter was too trusting. After binding him up, Setne actually saved Carter's life by stopping him from rolling into the Sea of Chaos and promised to come back and spare Carter in his new world because of how funny and naive he found him.

Appearance
Setne is a rather dimunitive man, with scrawny arms and legs, and his ribs show through his chest. He has a hawkish nose, heavy-lidded eyes, and dark, thick hair, slicked back with oil. He is bound by the Seven Ribbons of Hathor and glowing anti-magic hieroglyphs spiraled around him like the rings of Saturn such as Suppress, Dampen, Shut up, Powerless and even Don't even think about it.

Powers and Abilities
In life, Setne was a powerful and skilled magician, refered to by Thoth as "crafty" and an "evil genius." He is able to design traps that only he can get through to protect the Book of Thoth which have many unpleasant side-effects and which there are many of and using the Book was able to come up with a way to actually destroy a god and not just banish them by execrating their sheut. According to Anubis this sort of magic is extremly forbidden and even Thoth admitted that before Setne came up with the spell he didn't know how to do it even as the God of Knowledge. Even though Setne made it sound extremly complex, its just a minor variation on a normal execration spell with it being used on the sheut rather than the being itself. He also came up with a way to bind a sheut to a shabti, but it was also rather simple despite his claims. This shows that Setne is able to make powerful spells just by slightly modifying other ones that are simple. Setne has also shown the ability to lie while holding the Feather of Truth which is supposed to be impossible: most of what he said was basicaly the truth, but while holding the Feather he was able to claim that the magic needed to bind a sheut and execrate it was extremly complex when it wasn't. (although the spell was difficult for him, being a ghost)

Despite being a ghost, Setne has shown the ability to use some magic. He is able to cast some spells, disable all of his traps on the Book of Thoth and bind up Carter and Zia. He is also able to cast a glamour on Carter and Zia to make them look like demons, a glamour good enough to fool everyone in the Land of Demons. He can transport himself from place to place when not bound up and showed the ability to communicate with Sadie through an image of himself in a wall even while being held captive in the Underworld. He also has some ability to use Divine Words to affect a person as he made Sadie tell Julius/Osiris what he was talking about and tried to use it to make Carter relax, but was foiled by Horus. However, there are some things he can't do as he acknowledges. He is unable to summon Hapi and has to have Carter do it and he can't even cast a simple summoning spell to summon Apophis and he can't cast a spell to execrate a sheut though he can cast one to capture one. Even though he has the Book of Thoth, he is limited from using most of the spells in it due to his nature as a ghost, but can cast at least some spells from it.