Set in Folklore | The Faeries and Folklore Podcast

Episode 220: Irascible Immortals: Set

The folklore of Set 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: Set

Folklore in a nutshell by Ronel

Set is the brother of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys – all who had shared the womb of Nut. It is said that Isis had loved Osiris since the womb, and that Set had loved Isis for just as long. Perhaps his dislike of Osiris came from the womb, too.

Set was considered by ancient Egyptians as a trickster god who brought storms, chaos and violence. They also revered him as the lord of the desert, warfare and magic (only second to Isis). They represented him in art as a composite figure with a canine body, tufted tail, square tipped ears, slanting eyes and a long, curved, pointed snout (something between an aardvark and jackal). This is also the depiction of the Set animal AKA the sha. As a chimeric beast, Set represented disorder itself.

Some of the pharaohs respected Set as a war god and used his name in theirs (e.g. Seti I, Seti II, and Setnakht). But by the time Egypt lost its power, Set became the enemy and his statues were defaced and he was cast as being as evil as the snake demon Apophis.

Though Set is the enemy of Osiris and Horus, Egyptians could be fine with their reconciliation and worship both sides. But as Set was the god of foreigners, they blamed him for their loss of power when Persians and others invaded. All his good attributes and roles (like protecting Ra on his sun barque) were stripped from him and only the bad was left so he could be vilified and hated properly.

Set could shapeshift into any animal, but the crocodile and panther were among his favourites.

As balance is important, Set was in opposition to Ma’at (Order) in his roles as disorder and confusion. He brought flash floods, thunderstorms, and sandstorms. As god of the red desert, he was always the counterpart of the dark, fertile land of the Nile.

The myth of Set killing and mutilating Osiris is probably the most well-known, though it’s really about Isis and then Horus. What should be remembered from that tale is that Set is the most powerful fighter and strategist of the gods.

Set doesn’t seem to mind what others think of him, as long as he keeps true to his nature as being a being of disorder.

Origin of the fae: Set

Though folklorists like to make him the father of Anubis, the death deity is much older than Set.

He did murder Osiris, but not out of jealousy or some great love for Isis: it was necessary for Osiris to become king of the dead and move to the Duat. Anubis was much easier to deal with than Ra who felt himself usurped by his grandson. Though Set loves disorder, a full-out war among the gods wasn’t his idea of a good time.

Too bad no-one told Isis what was going on… or allowed her to reunite with Osiris in the Duat. But then, Set knew his family consisted of a lot of myopic morons.

Being cast as the bad guy among gods and mortals hasn’t bothered him at all. In fact, it’s easier to live down to expectations.

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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