Osiris in Folklore | The Faeries and Folklore Podcast

Episode 214: Irascible Immortals: Osiris

The folklore of Osiris in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing.

Transcript

You’re listening to the Faeries and Folklore podcast by Ronel.

I’m dark fantasy author Ronel Janse van Vuuren. With nearly a decade of digging around in dusty folklore books, researching creatures of imagination that ignited my curiosity, I’m here to share the folklore in a nutshell and how I reimagined it for my writing in an origin of the fae.

This is the Faeries and Folklore podcast.

Hi, I’m your host Ronel Janse van Vuuren. You can just call me Ronel. In today’s episode, we’re continuing our exploration of the fae realm.

This episode is brought to you by my Irascible Immortals series, available in ebook, paperback, hardback and audiobook. They’ve been alive forever. They’ve been bored for some time. And now they’re showing it. Go to ronelthemythmaker.com/my-books/the-irascible-immortals-series for more.

We’re continuing our exploration of the Immortals.

Today’s faery: Osiris

Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel

Osiris was the king of the gods, pharaoh of Egypt, husband of Isis, and all-round good guy. He taught humans about agriculture and ruled them justly. For the most part, everyone liked him. But his brother Set was jealous. He wanted to be king. So he held a lavish party with a chest carved of wood. He said whoever fit into the chest, could have it. The only one who fit perfectly, was Osiris. Set closed the chest, sealed it with lead and threw it into the Nile. It drifted out to sea, finally found land, and a tree grew around the chest. This was then cut down and placed as a pillar in the castle of the land he was in as this was seen as a magical pillar from a magical tree – because Osiris was still trapped within. Isis found him, released him from the tree and returned with his corpse to Egypt. While trying to figure out how to bring him back to life, Set stole Osiris and chopped up his body and spread the pieces over Egypt. Isis, relentless in her pursuit of her one true love, found all the pieces – except for his schlong – and put him back together again. With the help of her sister Nephthys (also Set’s wife) and Anubis, she mummified him and brought him temporarily back to life to conceive Horus – no idea how with the important bit missing, but hey – magic! Osiris then went to the underworld, the Duat, and ruled the dead.

Because of all this, ancient pharaohs believed they were one with Horus in life and became Osiris in death so they could continue ruling in the afterlife. As Osiris was still represented in art with a crook and flail – the symbols of the pharaoh – this was seen as a sign that he was king into perpetuity.

Osiris was typically portrayed with green or blue skin. He was the god of fertility – flooding the Nile so crops could grow – and of the afterlife, underworld and judge of the dead. His followers found reassurance in the myth of his life and death and afterlife that justice would always be dealt.

Origin of the fae: Osiris

He had hidden in the Duat for millennia, not ready to face his wife after everything that had happened – the murder, the desecration, the mummification, the temporary resurrection, and him becoming king of the dead. It’s not clear, even to him, why he didn’t want to see the woman he’d loved since before birth, but the other males of the pantheon helped him and kept his secret. Though he loves Isis and never wanted another woman, though he enjoys his job, he just wants to be alone.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of the faeries and folklore podcast and that you’ve learned something new about faeries.

Remember that you can get a transcript of this episode in the description. If you’re new to the podcast, why not go and grab your free copy of Unseen, the second book in the Faery Tales series, on my website ronelthemythmaker.com? Loads of folklore, magic and danger await! Take care!

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