Apophis

Apophis is the serpentine manifestation of chaos or Isfet. He is associated with earthquakes, floods, tornados and other natural disasters. For the last two books, he is known as the series main antagonist.

Background
As the embodiment of chaos, Apophis was a great threat to Ma'at and even chaotic deities, such as Set fought against him. When the Creation started, he was Isfet, the first spirit in times, that is the manifestation of Isfet, Ra was born from the Creation, that was the devastation of the Serpent's chaotic plane. Prophecy had it that the world would end when Apophis ate the sun, Ra. Set fought as Ra's lieutenant, defending his sunboat. Sekhmet was originally Ra's champion, but when she proved to be too difficult to control, she was replaced by Bast. When Ra was forced to retreat to the heavens, Bast and Apophis were sealed within the Duat and destined to fight until they both died.

However, Bast began to weaken and Apophis's victory came closer. Before that could happen, however, Ruby and Julius Kane freed Bast from the Duat via Cleopatra's Needle so she would be able to heal, resulting in Ruby's death when the magician used her life force to seal the gate so Apophis would not escape as well.

The Red Pyramid
When Julius freed five gods from the Rosetta Stone, he set off a chain reaction that freed some gods from their prisons. Apophis, whose prison was weakened but not destroyed, managed to influence a demon known as Face of Horror with a whisper of his thought and was able to manipulate Set into planning to destroy the world. Set eventually came to realize the deception thanks to Sadie Kane and he was forced to vow that he would attempt to stop Apophis.

The Throne of Fire
Apophis is slowly getting out of his binding. If his minions find the last golden scarab that is alive, then they will kill the last part of Ra's soul so that rebirth will be impossible. Apophis does not succeed in breaking out. Ra was not reborn in full state and Apophis is still rising but the new chief lector Michel Desjardins has slowed him down by putting him in a temporary prison. Desjardins died to postpone the attack of Apophis. He also appears in the training hall while Carter is teaching Problem Solving 101 and is attacked by the class but as a snake like creature made of scarab shells. He also appears in the begginning as a bau one of Nephyrs`s fatalities and talks to Carter about Zia Rashid his crush from book one The Red Pyramid.

The Serpent's Shadow
Apophis is rising with the plan to consume Ra and destroy the world. He converts magicians Sarah Jacobi and Kwai to his side to create Chaos and to destroy the House of Life. At the begining, he destroys all copies of Setne's version of the Book of Overcoming Apophis as it contains a way to destroy him. He battles a team of magicians led by Sadie and Carter Kane and Walt Stone in Dallas over the last copy and destroys it and nearly a shadow box which contains King Tut's sheut and is a clue about his weakness. Sadie manages to banish him from the area by using Ma'at, but it nearly kills her and Apophis' minions destroy the Fifty-First Nome and all the magicians inside. Looking for a way to destroy him for good, Carter and Sadie Kane come upon the plan of destroying his sheut, his shadow with help from Anubis and Thoth. While Sadie and Walt Stone go on a seperate quest, Carter, Zia Rashid and the ghost of the evil magician Setne travel to the Land of Demons to get the sheut. Setne betrays the two, planning to use the sheut to blackmail Apophis into doing what he wants, but is defeated when Sadie Kane arrives. The sheut sends out a distress call as Sadie binds it into a shabti and an army of demons comes to its aid, but is defeated by an army of gods from the House of Rest. Apophis rises and battles an army of gods, including Ra, Bast, Bes and Sobek. Apophis proves to be too powerful for the gods and succeds in swallowing Ra. During the battle, drawing upon the power of Horus and Isis as well as their own power, Carter and Sadie perform an execration spell on Apophis' sheut while in his presence. The spell destroys his sheut and with that, Apophis is destroyed as well, warning the Kanes that with his death, the gods will leave too. As he dies, Ra explodes out of his head and Apophis' remains crumble into sand and goo.

Personality
Little is known of Apophis's personality, but his ability to manipulate Set shows he is intelligent and cunning. He also hates all Ma'at and wishes to destroy it.

Appearance
Apophis traditionally takes on the appearance of a giant serpent. He is almost 100 meters long. He has yellow serpentine eyes and dripping fangs.

Powers and Abilities
Little is known about Apophis's specific powers. His powers were seen during his battle with Carter and Sadie in the Duat. Apophis has immense strength much like Sobek except, he also has the power to basically paralyze his foe when they look at him. However this trick doesn't work on Ra because he is too "hot to handle". He can splinter reality to make mutiples of himself to fight and divide his enemies, similar to the Set avatar. When confronted with an army of gods and magicians after rising, Apophis proved to be too powerful for them all to beat, even Ra. He can also posses various beings including demons, baus and various monsters with even just a small amount of ba. He is able to do this even from his prison.

Relationships
Ra : Ra and Apophis were sworn enemies and battled each night, and of course, Ra won every time. During The Serpent's Shadow, the two battle again once Ra has been reborn and Apophis has risen and Apophis succedes in swallowing him. However, when the Kanes destroyed him, though Apophis plans to take Ra with him, Ra manages to escape, causing his head to explode.

Bast : Apophis and Bast are natural enemies because Ra(the sun god) sent her to battle Apohis in the Duat for eternity before Apophis slowly began to overcome her. Ruby Kane set Bast free, but Ruby lost her life doing so. As a result of their battles, a telepathic connection of sorts was apparently formed between them though Apophis seemed unaware of it as when Bast investigated his prison in The Throne of Fire, she was able to sense his thoughts and learned his plans. During the final battle with Apophis, the two fought again, with Bast fighting longer than most of the other gods, right up until Apophis was destroyed.

Set : Before Ra retreated to the Duat and Set turned on the other gods, Set was Ra's lieutenant, protecting him every night from attacks by Apophis. When the gods were released, Apophis possesed Face of Horror, Set's lieutenant and manipulated him into destroying North America in order to create enough Chaos for Apophis to escape. He nearly succeded, but was stopped by the Kanes who revealed his form in the sky to Set, exposing the truth to him and later killing Face of Horror, stopping the manipulation. The threat of Apophis was enough for Set to stop trying to create Chaos and work with the Kanes to stop Apophis, even later allowing Amos Kane to use him in battle so he could fight Apophis. Set explains that between Apophis, the God of Chaos and Ra, he would choose Ra every time even though he's a Chaos god too.

Vladimir Menshikov : After Vlad tried and failed to wake Ra and was horribly burned for it, he teamed up with Apophis in order to get his revenge. Apophis is released thanks to Vlad's efforts and Apophis repays him by possesing his body. This horrifies Vlad who's eyes could be seen begging for death. Vlad is killed when Apophis is execrated, but all Apophis loses is a loyal servant.

Face of Horror : A demon possesed by Apophis to manipulate Set into doing his bidding. Through Face of Horror, Apophis succesfully manipulated Set until he was defeated by the Kanes. After Sadie Kane exposed Apophis, he tried to use Face of Horror to kill her in revenge, but Face of Horror was killed by Carter. Apophis later apparently resurrected the demon and gave him wings and used him during an attack against Thoth. Possesing the demon again, Apophis extended his offer to Carter, but the demon was killed a second time by Thoth.

Sarah Jacobi/Kwai : Evil magicians who led a rebellion against Amos Kane's leadership of the House of Life. The two claimed to be doing it stop Apophis but were really in league with him. Apophis planned an attack by them on the House of Life at the same time that he rose to distract the magicians. It nearly succeded until Carter (merged with Horus), Sadie (merged with Isis) and Walt (merged with Anubis) joined the battle led by Amos Kane (merged with Set). After Walt/Anubis killed Jacobi, Apophis possesed Kwai to fight the magicians himself. After Walt/Anubis and his jackal warriors brought Kwai down, Apophis had Kwai use up his remaning life force to cast a spell to bring down the Hall of Ages to kill the magicians inside, but Sadie Kane managed to stop it with Ma'at and Apophis' plan failed.

Sadie and Carter Kane : During The Red Pyramid, Apophis, possesing Face of Horror manipulated Set into creating enough Chaos so that he could escape. The two foiled his plans and revealed him so he tried to use Face of Horror to kill Sadie, but was the demon was killed by Carter. In The Throne of Fire, Apophis repeatedly taunted Carter about his feelings for Zia Rashid and worked to manipulate him into waking Ra so he could swallow him. The information from Apophis and later led Carter to Zia even though he knew it to likely be a trap. After rising and possesing Vladimir Menshikov, Apophis battled the Kanes until Michel Desjardins execrated him temporarily. In The Serpent's Shadow, Apophis attacked the Kanes directly in a musuem, trying to kill them and later offered a deal to Carter through a resurrected Face of Horror to spare him and his family if they gave him Ra. However, Carter didn't believe him and in the end, the Kanes destroyed Apophis forever.

In Mythology
Apophis was a water serpent and the enemy of Ra. Each night, the two would battle but Ra was usually victorious. When Apophis did win, there would be an eclipse or a Storm that blocked the sun which was seen as Apophis eating the sun and when the eclipse ended, it would mark Ra's escape. Often, Ra was depicted with other gods protecting him from Apophis. Early on, Set was his chief defender but was later replaced by Bast, Horus, and/or Sekhmet according to tradition.

Trivia

 * Apophis' original name is Apep; the name 'apophis' comes from the greek language.
 * Apophis is said to encircle the world, much like Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent of Norse Mythology; he is also an immensly powerful force of evil and Chaos.
 * His Greek equivelant is Typhon.
 * He also makes a cameo apperance in Sonic Unleashed as Dark Gaia.