Anubis

Anubis is the god of death and funerals. His parents are Nephthys and Set, but he was raised by Osiris and Isis. As of The Serpent's Shadow, he is the only remaining Egyptian God left on Earth, having taken on the host of Walt Stone to live a mortal life.

Background
Anubis was born to Nephthys and Set, but was immediately given to Osiris and Isis by Nephthys; he claimed that she did not want him to know his father. Anubis himself is skeptical of this knowing that he is a "different" child, and is not a warrior.

The Red Pyramid

 * When Sadie Kane's ba visits Osiris' birthday, Anubis appears to her though she has no idea who he is. Sadie finds him incredibly hot while he is confused by her presence there. However, he leaves her alone and disappears. Later, when Sadie's ba travels to meet Nut, Anubis again appears, confused by her presence, but lets her go on as Nut wants to see her.


 * Anubis meets Carter and Sadie (in person this time) when they come into the Land of The Dead to find the Feather of Truth to help defeat Set, who had kidnapped their father Julius. When Bast, who is with them insults him by calling him a dog, Anubis attacks her in response. Sadie is stunned to see that the boy she encountered twice and is attracted to is actually the god Anubis. While he allows Sadie to see him in his teenage boy form, he appears to have a jackal head to Carter. He at first refuses to help, and shows dislike towards Carter (mostly because Carter was hosting Horus at that time). He shows Sadie the Hall of Ma'at's New Orleans background, and lets it slip that Set is his father and that the Hall of Ma'at is weakening. Anubis eventually gives Sadie the feather of truth, but asks Sadie three questions before doing so: was she ready, would she give her life to save her brother, and would she save the world if it meant giving up their father?


 * Sadie passed the test and Anubis gave her the feather, hinting that he might like to see her again. He then transported her and the others to the New Orleans graveyard to continue their journey.


 * When Sadie touched Julius Kane/Osiris' tomb inside of the Red Pyramid, Anubis appeared to her and warned her against what she was doing though she chose to ignore the warning.


 * After The Battle of the Red Pyramid, Anubis takes Carter and Sadie to the newly repaired Hall of Ma'at, where Julius Kane rules as Osiris. He later calls his time with Sadie "stimulating" and Sadie is annoyed as he'd commented to her mother that she has a "sharp tongue."

The Throne of Fire

 * Anubis appears in a London graveyard south of the Canary Wharf station and talks to Sadie while Babi and Nekhbet are trying to find (kill) Sadie and her friends. He gives Sadie information about the second piece of the Book of Ra and a Netjeri blade. At the end of the conversation, Anubis kisses Sadie and wishes her a happy birthday. He then summons Bes for Sadie early and sends him to help as with no human host, Anubis is unable to leave the graveyard and help directly. Anubis later appears to Sadie's ba, as he's talking to Walt, who doesn't seem to notice her. Anubis explains to Sadie, "You and Carter are on the doorstep of death, itself." He then ferries Sadie into the room Jaz is sleeping in with Jaz's ren is there. They discuss Carter and the final piece to the Book of Ra. Near the end of the book Sadie, who is angry at him for not helping her in the Duat while she was gambling her soul, asks him where he was and he replies "a side project", though does not give any more information. Near the end, while talking with Sadie about his upcoming death, Walt glances at a picture Sadie has made of Anubis, indicating that the two are planning something together.

The Serpent's Shadow

 * Anubis first appears in Sadie's vision, right after she speaks with her mother and Isis. He hints that the box they saved could help and that she should look at what isn't there (which she later finds out is King Tut's shadow). He promises that he would visit her briefly to explain other things.


 * He later appears at the BAG dance as Sadie is being harassed by popular girls. He dances with Sadie (making the other girls extremely jealous) and gives some hints and advice that might help in destroying Apophis, which involves capturing his shadow and casting an execration spell on it despite the magic being so forbidden that he is not even allowed to talk about it.


 * He also tells her what is happening to the spirits of the dead; how they are disappearing, including Sadie's mom, Ruby Kane. He was about to explain to Sadie what he and Walt have been planning and discussing for the past few months, but gets interrupted by the god of the air Shu (his great-grandfather). Shu tells Anubis that he is forbidden from seeing Sadie, stating that Anubis has become entirely too close to this mortal. ("The Serpent's Shadow", page.94) Before being taken away, Anubis explains that gods are only allowed to have romantic relationships with mortals while in a human host, but he never uses one.


 * He and Walt are said to have lots of conversations behind Sadie's back, which Sadie finds irritating. When Walt displays his ability to turn things to dust with a touch and he is called "child of Set," along with his friendship with Anubis, she realizes that he is actually following the Path of Anubis which has never been done before. When Walt is near death, Anubis appears to him and Sadie, explaining that he is not allowed near Sadie as he has no mortal form and tells Walt that this is their last chance to accomplish what they have planned and asks if Walt is willing to which Walt tells him that he is and that he can't leave Sadie. Anubis admits he can't leave her either and holds Sadie as Walt works to restore Bes, comforting her and telling her to watch so that she will know what to do to bind Apophis' sheut. He also explains that he is banned from seeing her due to his having no mortal form to interact with her in and doesn't answer when she asks why he's there despite the ban causing her to believe he's there to help Walt move on. Walt succeeds and dies and Anubis disappears. After Walt returns to life and gives Sadie instructions to return to Carter to help him, he has Sadie look closer and she realizes what he and Anubis had been planning: after Walt died, Anubis took him as his host and is now keeping Walt alive. The two open a portal to Carter's location and tell Sadie they will meet her at sunrise at the First Nome as they are too weak to help now.


 * Anubis/Walt reunites with Sadie at the First Nome and takes part in the battle there at the Hall of Ages. They protect her from harm and promise to always do so, something that comes from both Walt and Anubis. The two dispatch Kwai and Sarah Jacobi, calling in some of Anubis' jackal warriors to help. Anubis/Walt takes part in the battle against Apophis, helping to hold him off until Sadie and Carter destroy him. He then disappears with the other gods, leaving Sadie worried that she'll never see him again.


 * As Anubis is now in a human host, when the gods leave the Earth, he is allowed to remain in Walt and live a mortal life as the other gods did as god-kings with the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. According to Ruby Kane, this allows them both to experience a real life, something neither of them ever truly had as Anubis never had a host before and Walt lived under threat from his curse. Anubis' presence is what's keeping Walt alive and Anubis can never leave him without him dying again unlike other gods who can leave their hosts at any time. The two essentially become one being, wearing a combination of Walt and Anubis' outfits and start a relationship with Sadie, allowing her to be with the two people she loves at the same time without Anubis' godhood or Walt's curse getting in the way.

Personality
Anubis is described as being in a good mood once every eon or so and in accordance with that is somewhat moody. The exception to this is when he is in the presence of Sadie Kane, with whom he falls in love. He occasionally becomes mildly flustered if he speaks without thinking, such as when he let slip to Sadie that he knew her mother, Ruby Kane.

Despite being about two thousand years old, Anubis claims he feels young and is referred to by both Shu and Ruby Kane as being young, with Shu saying that he's actually a child in god standards. As a result, he has the appearance and personality of a teenager (presumably the age he actually is in god standards).

He has a tendency to tilt his head when curious or confused, seeming rather dog-like. He also is out of touch with modern rituals, so when he asks Sadie if she is married, he appears to be quite confused by her reaction. When he is merged with Walt, the new being that results is shown to keep this trait.

Anubis grows to love Sadie Kane deeply to the point that he and Walt shared jealousy at first and then worked together to find a way for them to be together with her. His affection for Sadie is such that he dances with her at her school dance but is taken away by Shu and forbidden from seeing her again as he's growing too close to her. Before Shu appears, he admits that this will likely cause trouble and he won't get to see her again, but finds it worth it. At that time he informs her of the nature of the sheut, a forbidden topic between gods and mortals to give her the best chance of destroying Apophis as he doesn't want her to die.

However, this doesn't stop his plans to take Walt as a host to be with her, defying the rules again to give Walt the chance to enact their plan and comforting Sadie as he sacrifices himself to save Bes. When Anubis appears and the two put their plan into action, Anubis makes his motivation clear when he tells Walt that he can't leave Sadie anymore than Walt could. Once he merges with Walt, he shows a fierce protectiveness over her, swearing with Walt to always protect her and showing this during the battle in the Hall of Ages to the point that he kills Sarah Jacobi just because she tried to harm Sadie.

This causes Sadie to realize that anyone trying to harm her will suffer his full wrath and Walt isn't going to hold him back from doing it either. After merging with Walt, he and Walt take on traits of each other as they become one being though his love for Sadie is only increased by this.

As a result of never having taken on a host before and never having lived a mortal life, Anubis doesn't know or understand much about human customs, though his relationship with Sadie helps him with that. Taking Walt as a host and living a mortal life allows Anubis to broaden his personality and fully embrace his love for Sadie without consequences or interference from the other gods.

Despite not being a warrior as he told Sadie when they first met in person, he is a competent fighter when need be. During the battle in the Hall of Ages, he and Walt were able to take down many enemy magicians and Anubis didn't hesitate to kill Sarah Jacobi for trying to harm Sadie showing that he can be ruthless if need be.

Appearance
In his jackal form, Anubis is sleek, black, and graceful and wears a golden collar. Sadie describes this form as 'cute'. In his "natural" human form, Anubis is about sixteen and possesses a pale complexion, tousled black hair, and warm, melting brown eyes. He is described as being very good-looking and tall. He wears black jeans, combat boots, a ripped t-shirt, a gold chain, and a black leather jacket. His ears stick up a bit, exactly like a jackal(which Sadie finds cute).

In the Throne of Fire, Sadie sees Anubis talking to Walt. He was wearing a black kilt, with a ruby collar. She says she expected him to look skinny shirtless ("not that I imagined that a lot, mind you"), but finds he has quite a lot of muscle and looks good; she wonders if there is a good gym in the Land of the Dead.

Anubis also possesses a jackal-headed form and initially appeared this way to Bast and Carter. Like all gods, his true, divine form is too intense for humans to see.

Powers and Abilities
Anubis may inhabit any graveyard or place of death or mourning without using a host. As a result he has never taken on a host before Walt Stone or lived a mortal life unlike the other gods. Apparently he can appear in temples dedicated to him as well as Sadie commented on that while questioning his appearance. He was also able to appear at a temple in Sais while Walt was dying to see about taking him as a host, but never answered Sadie how he did that as it wasn't a place of death or his own temple and he didn't yet have Walt as a host. He may also summon mummy wrappings and shape them into objects, such as a bench to sit upon. He is also able to change his shape from jackal to human and any other form he wishes. He can use this to sometimes project illusions into the minds of others.

He also appears to be able to create portals in-and-out of the Duat and anywhere he wants. Like Isis and Thoth he is apparently not bound by the Demon Days as he was able to transport Sadie, Carter and Bast to New Orleans during them. He may be able to manipulate darkness and he is able to communicate with the dead, appear invisible to mortals, control the souls of others, summon jackal warriors and many other possible powers, as stated by Sadie.

As Walt was able to reduce things to a pile of dust by touching them, it can be assumed that Anubis has this power as well as he was following the Path of Anubis. During the battle in the Hall of Ages, Walt/Anubis showed the ability to shrink and contain his enemies in jars and open a crack in the Earth to summon spirits to pull his enemies to the Underworld. Presumably these powers came from Anubis too as Walt was merged with the god.

Sadie
Throughout The Red Pyramid, Anubis and Sadie encounter one another. Sadie openly admits her attraction to Anubis throughout her narrations (often calling him 'hot' or 'cute'), and Anubis seems to return her affections, often making flirtatious gestures. He often refers to the fact he finds her annoying and talkative (even goes so far as saying he would invent a ceremony called the closing of the mouth to shut her up) and tells her that maybe she could bring him up to speed on modern courtship rituals before he disappears. He also talked with Sadie before she faced Set.

He does not show any true feelings until The Throne of Fire where he goes out of his way to help her by giving her a ceremonial knife and informing her that the 2nd piece of the book of Ra is in the 18th Nome (Russia). In fact, in The Throne of Fire, Anubis goes as far as to wish her a happy birthday, then kisses her. Throne of Fire, page 113/ref>

In The Serpent's Shadow, Anubis assists Sadie by giving her advice, clues and helping. He even shows up at BAG's dance and dances with her, though after this he is banned from having contact with her, though he later explains that this is simply because he has no mortal form and is interacting with her as a god. Walt and Anubis had been planning for some time that when Walt died, Walt would host Anubis. After Walt dies for a few seconds, Sadie is not sure what she thinks about having both guys she likes in the same body. However, Sadie starts to like the idea when Anubis and Walt protect her in battle and both swear to always protect her. With the help of her mother, Sadie realizes that this gives her the chance to be with both boys she loves at once and starts a relationship with Walt/Anubis who have merged together like Sadie and Carter were able to do with their gods to essentially become one being.

Relationships
Isis: Anubis mentions that he rather likes Isis, as she treats him like a son. This seems to play a role in prompting Anubis to talk with Sadie alone. However, Isis along with Horus are the ones that are responsible for his ban on seeing Sadie and it is unknown how this affects their relationship.

Horus: Anubis does not like his cousin Horus. He considers him to be loud and arrogant. When he first sees Carter he scowls at him and glowers when Carter asks if he will help them. It is unknown if this dislike extends to Carter himself, or just Horus who was being hosted by Carter at the time. Horus is later responsible for his ban on seeing Sadie, at least without a mortal form.

Osiris/Julius Kane: Anubis' adopted father. Despite the fact that he was given to Osiris and Isis to raise, Anubis is aware of his true parentage and says that he's "different" and not a warrior like a child of Osiris and Isis would be. When Osiris is bound, Anubis takes over his duties as best as he can, but even so it gets extremely chaotic without Osiris until he returns in the body of Julius Kane. Julius/Osiris takes back over his duties, but Anubis continues to aid him and transports Sadie and Carter to him when he wants to see them. As he is hosted by Sadie's father, Osiris mostly seems to support Anubis' relationship with Sadie, or at least doesn't directly intervene to stop it. He seems to be aware of Anubis' plans with Walt as when asked where Anubis is while they are trying to help Ra be reborn, Julius/Osiris tells them that he's working on a "side project" which turns out to be taking Walt as a host. Both are furious however when they learn that Anubis revealed the true nature of the sheut to Sadie as that is completly forbidden to even talk about. However, after Sadie and Carter reveal that it wasn't just Anubis and that they only plan to use that information to destroy Apophis, the enemy to all, they calm down and support the plan as best they can.

Shu: Shu is Anubis' chaperon and great-grandfather and treats him like a child and is extremely disdainful of his relationship with Sadie. When Sadie tells him off for treating Anubis like a child as he's 5,000 years old, Shu brushes it off as, according to him, that is a child in god standards. Shu separates Anubis from Sadie, informing him of the ban on him seeing Sadie again and drags him away. Despite this, Shu doesn't intervene when Anubis enters Sadie's presence to see about taking Walt as a host and doesn't stop him even though he is in her presence for several minutes with no host. This may be because Anubis was about to take a host at which time it would be acceptable for Anubis to be with her despite any dislike Shu had. After Anubis merges with Walt and wants to dance with Sadie again, she asks him if Shu will interfere like last time. Anubis explains that as he is now mortal, Shu won't, but believes Shu will still keep an eye on him which he and Sadie joke about.

Ra: Despite his order for the gods to exile themselves from Earth for a long time, Ra allowed Anubis to remain on Earth in Walt's body. In doing so, he is the only god besides Osiris (who is hosted by Julius) that at least somewhat supports Anubis' relationship with Sadie. Its possible he did this out of compassion to Sadie and Walt as he owed Sadie and Walt would die without Anubis. Ra's allowing of this also allows Anubis to explore something he never has before along with his relationship with Sadie: a mortal life. Never having taken a host before, Anubis has never lived a mortal life unlike the other gods and Ra allowing him to stay gives him that chance which Ruby Kane says is a good thing as he's never gotten the chance to live any sort of a normal life.

Walt : Despite the fact that both Walt and Anubis like Sadie, and the slight rivalry between the two, Anubis gives Walt advice on how to deal with his illness, and also tells him not to despair and he will ease his pain as much as he could, much to Sadie's surprise. Mad Claude also mentions that he could feel the presence of Anubis around him, thinking he may be one of Anubis' chosen. Anubis is implied to be helping Walt out in The Throne of Fire. In The Serpent's Shadow, there are many signs that Anubis and Walt are interacting and planning things as Walt shows knowledge of the ways of the dead that he shouldn't have that he presumably got from Anubis and Walt is shown to be following the Path of Anubis, something that has never been done before. When Walt is near death, Anubis comes to him and Sadie to offer him the chance to carry out their plan, for Anubis to take Walt on as his first host which both god and human want as it allows them to be with Sadie which Anubis had been forbidden from doing as he has no mortal form and Walt can't do as he's dying. After Walt dies, Anubis takes him as his host and the two merge to become one being with traits of both Anubis and Walt. Walt is dependent on Anubis' presence to remain alive and using Walt as a host allows Anubis to remain on Earth even when the other gods leave. According to Ruby Kane, this is extremely beneficial to both as neither got to live a real life, but together they both finally get that chance.

In Mythology
In early Egyptian mythology, Anubis has different parentage. Rather than the son of Set, he is the son of Osiris and Nephthys, the result of the goddess tricking Osiris. Nephthys' betrayal played a role in Set's desire to kill Osiris. Later in mythology, however, does describe him as Set's son. Anubis was one of the most important of Egyptian gods. When a corpse was mummified the priests wore jackal headed masks and prayed to Anubis. At the tomb, the priest held the mummy during the Opening of the Mouth ceremony to give the dead person the power to eat, move and breathe. Anubis is also the only deity who is allowed to do the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.

Trivia

 * Despite his age, he is apparently very young compared to the rest of the gods. He acts like a teenager and Shu calls him a boy and when Sadie points out his age, Shu says that he is still a child. Ruby Kane also refers to him as a boy.
 * Anubis is fond of New Orleans, particularly its way of sending off the deceased. Because of this, while he is in charge of the Hall of Judgment, a New Orleans graveyard is linked to it.
 * In the picture, Anubis is wearing a grey t-shirt with a symbol on it. If you look closely, you'll notice that there is more than one symbol on his shirt. The shirt that he is wearing actually has his name (inpw ) in hieroglyphs.
 * Anubis's physical description (pale skin, dark hair, brown eyes, black clothes, and an aura of death) also fits Rick Riordan's description of Nico di Angelo of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
 * Coincidentally, Nico also hangs out in New Orleans.
 * Anubis and Nico Di Angelo both have the same nickname, Death Boy.
 * Anubis and Nico also are related in some way to each mythology's God of the Dead.
 * Hazel Levesque, a daughter of Pluto from the Heroes of Olympus series, was born and raised in New Orleans.
 * In Anubis's picture, he has on blue jeans, but in Sadie's description he wears black jeans.
 * Anubis is standing in front of his picture in Ancient Egypt.
 * His illustrator is John Rocco, who has illustrated for most of the Rick Riordan books.
 * In the Survival Guide. his parents are Nephthys and Osiris.
 * In Rick Riordan's The Serpent's Shadow Webcast, it is said, that Anubis 'can do amazing things with canopic jars.' This may be a reference to the battle outside the hall of ages near the end of The Serpent's Shadow, when he shrinks a group of Rebel Magician's and traps them in canopic jars.
 * He was Sadie's first love interest, as he appeared in the story before Walt.
 * While the other gods objected to his and Sadie's relationship, apparently they only objected to the fact that he was doing so as a god and not a god in a host as he later told Sadie that he was only banned as he had no mortal form. Once he took a host, there seemed to be no objections and he was even allowed to remain on Earth and be with Sadie when everyone else left.
 * Despite the ban on him seeing Sadie, at least as a god, for some reason the other gods never intervened when he once again entered Sadie's presence before taking Walt as a host. This is likely because they knew his intent was to see about taking Walt as his host and thus had no objections as soon after his arrival, Walt agreed.
 * Anubis, along with Walt, both start dating Sadie, considering that they are now the same person.
 * According to Ruby Kane, Anubis has never actually had a real life before as Walt is his first host. With Walt hosting him, he now gets to experience a mortal life which most if not all of the other gods have done in the past.
 * Anubis is now the only Egyptian God left on Earth after the other gods have all left for an unknown period of time. This was only allowed due to his use of Walt as a host.