If it was a one-finned goldfish ala Nemo - then it was deformed/small rather than missing entirely. Much harder to fake.
Hmm. I just watched episode 4. I assume the third personality is trapped in the third sarcophagus in the psychiatric unit. That makes me want to think of Marc Spector, Steven Grant, and the third personality (maybe named Jake Lockley?) as not just alternate personalities, but as the ba, ka, and akh components of his Egyptian soul. I have no idea if the show might intend to suggest this. Googling “Moon Knight” and +ba +ka +akh gets me nothing, so I presume the comics never went there.
So, my thinking now is that the third personality, the one still locked in the ominous sarcophagus, is the real, or original, personality. Marc was created to help him deal with the emotional fallout of the massacre at the dig site, and his own death/resurrection. The original personality goes dormant, and Marc drives the body for a couple years, meets and marries Layla, and serves as Khonshu’s avatar. Then Steven surfaces, and Marc realizes that he can’t keep his DID a secret if he’s not always in control, so he ghosts Layla. This is why Marc was willing to go away and let Steven have control once he was no longer the avatar - he knows he’s not a “real” person, and that sooner or later the original personality is going to reassert itself.
Another possibility: Marc mentions that it was his “partner” who got greedy and killed everyone at the dig site. Is Marc actually talking about another person, or is this how he processed the decision by his original personality to murder everyone? Is the “partner” locked up in the second sarcophagus?
Another personality is locked in the sarcophagus (and it’s stupid tv nonsense that they didn’t check it when they just pulled Steven from one), but so far there’s been no indication that Marc or Steven know there’s another alter, despite there being solid indication that there is.
I think there’s another actual person that was the killer, and the fact Marc didn’t name them like any normal person would indicates that the audience will know the name. The only sensible reason for Marc not to say who it was is if it was… Duh-dum-DAAAAH! Layla, who’s also got DID, committed patricide and blocked it out.
That or it was Hans Ramoray, Drake’s evil twin.
Hmm… In the comics, the mercenary who killed Marc Spector at the archaeological dig was some previously unknown guy named Bushman, which is a name I think most of the audience would not recognize. I certainly never heard of him until I Googled it. Rather than someone who is effectively a rando, would they use a mercenary we have seen in another Marvel vehicle? Killmonger or Klaw from Black Panther? Bushmaster from Luke Cage? That would be interesting, but also kind of copy the Kingpin reveal at the end of Hawkeye.
Also “Bushman” is a real hard name to make sound menacing.
Overall the last section of this ep channeled Legend too strongly for me. The ignoring the third sarcophagus shaking is either just off “stupid tv nonsense” or signifies that they both actually already at some level know of the third version and both share a desire to pretend they do not. Not sure which.
Love hippo god. She’s gonna be fun I think.
Indeed. apparently that’s
Taweret, goddess of protection of mothers and children but also purification and nourishmnent of just souls ascending to the afterlife. And an opposite of Ammit.
Taweret - Wikipedia
I didn’t mind them ignoring the second sarcophagus. It’s not a real sarcophagus, it’s a metaphor for Marc’s damaged psyche. He knows, at least unconsciously, what’s inside it, because it’s part of his mind, and refuses to open it because he’s not prepared to face what ever is inside it yet. This tracks with his characterization to this point as someone who tries to run from or ignore his mental health issues, rather than attempt to address them.
Is the goddess real or a manifestation of his psyche? (It’s quite possible it’s intentionally ambiguous.)
I’m guessing real - Marc’s either in some after-life adjacent realm that’s partially populated by his psyche, or is doing an “Encounter at Owl Creek Bridge” thing where this is a fantasy he experiences as he’s dying, but I’m pretty sure that’s the real Taweret intervening, either as part of her standard role as a goddess connected to the afterlife, or because she’s deliberately going behind Osiris’s back and helping Marc because she recognizes the threat posed by Ammit.
I don’t think she had an avatar present at Harrow’s inquisition, (the woman who was sympathetic to Marc was the avatar of Hathor, goddess of love and music) but what that says about her relationship to the other gods there isn’t clear yet.
In keeping with her place in Egyptian mythology as I understand it: she is more a household god, birth, rebirth, so on.
I didn’t get the impression that the gods who showed up for Harrow’s trial were there because of their status. Hathor is goddess of love and music, which doesn’t make any more sense for a judge than birth and rebirth.
She developed a role as a psychopomp in the Middle and New Kingdom eras. From the wiki page I linked earlier:
Note the contrast with Ammit. I suspect Taweret is being set up to ally with our heroes to oppose the victory of Ammit.
Hathor had a temple and cult. Home deities did not. Not that I expect the show to represent Egyptian religion well, but there were definitely tiers of status among the gods. (And the Egyptian religion underwent multiple revisions even in ancient times, so it’s all fair game anyway for reinterpretation.)
Also the version of Egyptian mythology being used is that the group “in charge” are the gods of the Ennead. Taweret is not of that group. I am no expert but would not assume that a household deity is a lesser status but it is a different status. Maybe one less pleased to be removed from participating in the lives of humanity.
In this MCU version she is.
Well, Distractify isn’t an authoritative source. That’s just a guy who watched the show explaining what he thinks is going on. I’ve seen them get stuff wrong in these sort of articles before.
That said, I went back to the first episode where Steven is complaining about the museum posters not having the full Ennead, and one of the names they do have is Hathor. So, yeah, she’s in the Ennead in the MCU.
I’m guessing Steve/Marc’s dream or vision is letting him tap into the imprisoned gods thanks to his Khonshu connection. And perhaps there’s been a coup of some sort in the Ennead, with the “New Firm” spreading the word so museums and such list them as the new bosses.
I really hope we get a second season. And I was hoping for a N’Kantu cameo or reference-how has Moon Knight never fought him?
Perhaps Layla will get an avatarship with another god to free her from being used as Khonshu’s threat over Marc?