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Tardis
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Tardis
Horus
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Horus was an Osiran related to Osiris and Sutekh. By one account, he was the hybrid formed when Osiris' biodata was merged with that of Cousin Eliza and modified by Lolita. (AUDIO: Body Politic) Horus was also called Harpocrates, god of Silence. (PROSE: Head of State)

Birth

After Osiris was killed by Sutekh, Justine il-Isis searched for the pieces of Osiris' body and, with the help of Anubis and Thoth, attempted to reconstitute him. However, since one vital piece of his biodata was missing, Cousin Eliza of Faction Paradox offered herself as an alternative donor and became the entity known as Horus. (AUDIO: Body Politic)

By another account, Horus was the psi-child produced when Sutekh stranded Osiris in space and Osiris projected part of his mind into the pilot of Isis' search ship. (PROSE: The Sands of Time)

One account related by a Sutekh-possessed Marcus Scarman said that Horus was Sutekh's "brother", just as Marcus was brother to Laurence. (TV: Pyramids of Mars) After Sutekh destroyed the Osirian homeworld Phaester Osiris, Horus swore to show himself better than his brother and sought justice, not revenge. (PROSE: The Enigma of Sisterhood)

Rise and leadership

A tribunal was convened to decide whether Horus or Sutekh should inherit the throne. It was judged by Geb, father of Sutekh and Osiris. The tribunal ended when Horus accepted Sutekh's challenge of ritual combat to decide the matter. (AUDIO: Ozymandias) Horus and Nephthys took their barge to a location underneath the Mediterranean Sea, where they prepared for battle against Sutekh and gathered an army of over seven-hundred Osirian warriors. However, when it became time to strike, Horus led his army to the Homeworld, where they "dealt with" Lolita. After attacking Lolita, Osiris deactivated his biodata from within Horus so that Justine could mortally wound Eliza's body; Eliza then pretended to be Horus in the Temple of Geb and goaded Sutekh into permanently killing her.

Horus and Justine told the official records that Horus and his warriors had vanished while defeating Sutekh; (AUDIO: The Judgment of Sutekh) the Fourth Doctor shared this legend with Sarah Jane Smith, saying, "The wars of the gods entered into mythology. The whole of Egyptian culture is founded upon the Osiran pattern." Sarah recognised the name from the 740 gods recorded in the tomb of Thutmose III. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)

By another account, Horus was a cruel dictator who conquered and oppressed more than a hundred inhabited worlds. Wherever he went, he brought plague and famine; he was known to nurture pacifist societies and then unleash vicious killers on them for his own amusement. Following the defeat of Sutekh, Horus placed himself in suspended animation in the Black Pyramid on Beta Osiris; however, the cryogenic systems failed in the 16th century. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah found his corpse in the 2650s. He resembled a cow. (PROSE: Scarab of Death) Contradicting this, Sutekh once claimed that Horus, like the Fourth Doctor, considered all sapient life to be his kith. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)

Worship

He was worshipped by many cultures. The Egyptians of Earth worshiped him amongst the pantheon of gods, many of whom were named after Osirans. (PROSE: GodEngine) The Cult of the Black Pyramid also worshipped Horus and dismissed Sutekh as a false god. (PROSE: Scarab of Death)

The native Martians also worshiped Horus. Forming the Holy Order of Oras, they followed the teachings of the Book of Oras. The Order's teachings were of a non-violent nature and asked its followers to abandon such means. The Ninth Book of Oras was the Rebirth of the Father. (PROSE: GodEngine)

When inducting his earlier self into the Faction, Richard Francis Burton made himself swear by "Horus, the reborn child from whose sacrifice our Faction owes its own rebirth". (PROSE: Head of State)

Behind the scenes

Horus is alternately portrayed as both Sutekh's nephew and brother in different sources. While Pyramids of Mars and The Enigma of Sisterhood state they are brothers, The Sands of Time depicts Horus as the son of Osiris, brother of Sutekh. Body Politic reconciled this contradiction by proposing that Horus was a separate entity from, but had the memories of, Sutekh's brother Osiris; in Going Once, Going Twice, Horus refers to Sutekh as his brother, but Sutekh refuses to acknowledge Horus as such.

The ambiguity of the Doctor Who universe characters' relationships reflects that of the real world Egyptian dieties they are based upon, who are alternately described as brothers or uncle and nephew in real world myth (to the extent that some scholars allege the existence of two separate gods by the name of "Horus").

External links

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