Set

The tale of Set

Set is the god of the Red Land, the burning desert that surrounds the black, fertile soil of the Nile. He rules sandstorms and thunder, foreign lands, chaos and violence. He is shown with the head of a strange animal no one has ever named, with a long curved snout and tall square ears. Even his animal is a mystery.

He was the brother of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys, and the husband of Nephthys. While his brother Osiris ruled the green valley and was loved by everyone, Set ruled the sand and wanted more.

The murder of Osiris

Set took his brother's measurements in secret and had a magnificent chest made to fit him exactly. He held a great feast and promised the chest to whoever fitted it. One by one the guests lay down in it and were too tall or too short, until Osiris lay down and fitted perfectly. Set's men slammed the lid, sealed it with molten lead and threw it into the Nile.

When Isis found the body and brought it home, Set found it again while hunting by moonlight and tore his brother into fourteen pieces, scattered across Egypt. He took the throne, and for many years he fought Osiris's son Horus for it, in the long war that the gods judged for eighty years. In the end Horus was crowned king, and Set was sent back to the desert.

Defender of the sun

But the Egyptians never saw Set as simply evil. He was dangerous and necessary, the way a storm or a desert is. Every night the sun god Ra sails through the underworld, and every night the great chaos serpent Apep rises to swallow the sun. It is Set who stands at the prow of Ra's boat and drives his spear into the serpent. Only the strongest force of chaos can hold back an even greater chaos.

Some pharaohs were proud to carry his name. Seti I and Seti II were named after him. Set was even worshipped as a protector of soldiers and of travellers in the desert. As the game's Set says: chaos is not the opposite of order. It is what order is for.

Set in Battle of Myths

Set is a cost 4 Egyptian warrior and mage. His ability, Desert Storm, raises a sandstorm around him, dealing magic damage and chilling every nearby enemy, while Set's own attack damage rises. With every Egyptian hero he shares the Sun Cycle: by day the Egyptians strike faster, and at nightfall they are shielded.

Did you know?

• The Greeks linked Set with Typhon, the storm monster Zeus buried under Mount Etna.
• The pharaoh Peribsen used the Set animal instead of the Horus falcon on his royal name, which some historians take as a sign of an old rivalry between their followers.