Wepwawet
Profile
Ancient Egypt's lone wolf is top dog. Not only does he scout out Pharaoh's enemies, he also has keys to every door in the universe as the Opener of Ways. Wepwawet's the original jackal god in Egypt—even older than Anubis, though sometimes they're considered brothers or even the same god. We guess when you can be everywhere, you can also be everything?
Basic Information
Name Wepwawet (Apuat, Ophois)
Nickname Opener of the Ways, Who Separates Earth and Sky, Master Chief, More Powerful than the Gods, First Responder
Sex Male
Current city Lycopolis (modern Assiut)
Work & Education
Occupation Trickster, Army scout
Education I learn on the road.
Beliefs
Political views Ra is king
Family & Friends (& Enemies)
Parents Maybe Ra and Nut, but we're not sure. I do know I was born at the temple of Wadjet. Some think I'm a son of Isis, but I'm a lot older than she is.
Siblings None
Children None
Friends Enemies I try to see the good in everybody.
Relationships
Relationship status Single
Interested in Nobody
Favorites
TV Shows Revolution
(You can still live without electricity. We did fine for thousands of years.)
The A-Team
(If you have a problem and no one else can help…)
Pushing Daisies
(I can't decide if this is a great gift or a terrible one. Ned can't either.)
Cold Case
(Someone has to find the truth, so the dead can rest.)Quotations "The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on."
– Ulysses S. Grant
"If you have the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment."
– Kanye West
"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."
– Helen Keller
"The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and the unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed."
– Gordon Parks
"… it's showtime."
– BeetlejuiceBooks Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
(Adventure into an unknown place that's weird and funny is the best kind of adventure.)
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
(I love gambling! Wait a minute… this game isn't any fun at all.)
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
(Buck's one of my boys.)
I'm fond of James Thurber. I love his drawings, and enjoyed reading The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Weird road trip stories, like Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, are all kinds of fun. You know, I sent Sharon that fortune cookie? She needed a little inspiration.
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
(I can't condone running away, but at least Claudia and Jamie had some adventure.)
U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper Training Manual by the USMC Development Education Command Staff
(Every scout needs to know what he's doing before he gets out on the battlefield.)
Living Wild: The Ultimate Guide to Scouting and Fieldcraft by Bear Grylls
(This guy is nuts, but I bet he'd be fun to share campfire stories with.)
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
(Want the odds in your favor? I might be able to help there…)Music Papa's Got a Brand New Bag by James Brown
(I'm the hardest-working god in Egypt. And James Brown is the best.)
Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin
(She had a great voice, especially for road trip stories.)
You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon
(Streets in strange worlds are the most interesting streets.)
Hoochie Coochie Man by Muddy Waters
(I got all kinds of magic in my bag. And this is a great song. I also really like the Buddy Guy version.)
Dancing in the Street by Martha and the Vandellas
(Is it fun, or is it revolution? Revolutions can be fun…)
Primo Victoria by Sabaton
(The story of D-Day told in heavy metal? Oh yeah.)
You Got to Move by Mississippi Fred McDowell
(I dig the blues. Bet you've heard the Rolling Stones version of this song, but not the original!)Movies The NeverEnding Story
(In ancient Egypt, we believed words had magic. This movie proves it.)
I've seen every one of the James Bond movies. Skyfall was good, too!
The Hunger Games
(I prefer adventures that aren't to the death, but so be it.)
Life of Pi
The Pirates of the Caribbean Series was fun. Pirates, adventure, pretty women, and lots of rum… when it wasn't gone, anyhow.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
("There and Back Again": as good a name for an adventure as any.)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(I don't take any coconuts with me when I travel, but it's a fun idea.)
Yojimbo was one of Kurosawa's greatest films, but I liked them all.Activities & Interests
Likes Surprise parties
Twenty-sided dice
First-person shooters (How about some Call of Duty? I might let you win)
Maps
The unknownInterests Game design
Military hardware
Security systems
Cartography
Quantum physicsGroups Ancient Egyptian Gods
Egyptian Mythology
Google Maps
Battle for Veterans
GamblingSpotter's Guide
If you're looking for Wepwawet, you might want to check out the local military re-enactment scene; he's really into those. If you get in the right vicinity, it's hard to miss him, since he has the head of a jackal or a wolf. Sometimes he's actually completely in jackal or wolf form. Bet you're not used to that.
Sex: Male
Age: Adult
Build: Well-built male with a canine head (jackal or wolf)
Complexion: Reddish-brown (like all ancient Egyptian paintings of men)
Hair Color: A black wig
Facial Hair: Black, brown, or (rarely) grey fur
Scars/marks/tattoos: None
Jewelry and accessories: A gold collar and bracelets. Sometimes he carries a was scepter (a staff with Seth's head on top, the hieroglyph for "strength"). In full jackal or wolf form, he sometimes carries a battle standard or a flywhisk flail.
Clothing: A white linen or brown leather kilt
Armor: Sometimes, a shirt made of golden scale mail
Type of Weapon: Spears, a curved sword called a khopesh, or maces, if he carries any weapons at all. Sometimes he also carries a long shield.Typical Companions
Anubis
Osiris
Other jackal spirits
The deadKnown Hangouts
Roads
Deserts
Casinos
Military re-enactmentsSightings
Jan 1, 1970 - Dec 20, 2019
City of the Wolf: Lycopolis
Around 3100 BCE, Wepwawet's city was created, almost in the exact center of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians called it Zawty, "Two Protectors," and it belonged to Wepwawet and Anubis. When the Greeks came to Egypt, they renamed it Lycopolis, or "wolf city." It kept this name until the Arabic-speaking Muslims renamed it Assiut, the Arabic version of Zawty. Today, it's a huge industrial city, but it's still the crossroads of Egypt.
Jan 1, 1970
Setting Standards
Wepwawet's jackal standard, carried as a war banner by the king's army, appears on the very famous Narmer palette, as well as some ceremonial maces (big, stone war hammers) from Narmer's reign. Since this king united Egypt for the first time, we know he saw some gnarly battles. Good thing he had Wepwawet to guide him.
Jan 1, 1970
Royal Hammer-time
The sixth pharaoh of Egypt was buried with lots of bling out at Wepwawet's hangout in the Abydos cemetery. Among the treasures was a pair of royal sandals, complete with an ivory tag with Den's name on it, as well as a nifty drawing of Den swatting an Asiatic chief upside the head with his stone hammer while Wepwawet watches.
Jan 1, 1970
Leading the Forces
An inscription in the Sinai desert (between Egypt and modern Israel) asks Wepwawet to open the way to victory for Sekhmet's army. During the New Kingdom a thousand years later, the Egyptian army's scout division was named Sabu or "the jackals," in Wepwawet's honor.
Dec 21, 2019
Opening Heaven
In the Pyramid Texts, old funeral rituals carved inside pharaohs' pyramids, Wepwawet helps the kings prepare to rise from death. At first, he is helpful with the Opening of the Mouth ritual, a job that later ends up Anubis's duty. Then, Wepwawet leads the risen pharaohs to Ra, the sun himself.
Dec 21, 2019 - Jan 1, 1970
Guarding the Sacred Land
Wepwawet is chief guardian of the giant cemeteries at the sacred city of Abydos (Abdju in ancient Egyptian). He's sort of the second-shift god there. Wepwawet took over for an older jackal god named Khentyamentiu, and once the New Kingdom came, watching over Abydos became Osiris's job.
Dec 20, 2019
John of Lycopolis, a "son of the wolf"
One of the Egyptian Desert Fathers, early Christian monks who lived in desert caves and were said to have magical powers, was named John. He was from Lycopolis, and like Wepwawet (the god of Lycopolis before Christianity came), John could supposedly see the future, predict who would win battles, and appear to people in dreams.