What is nine feet tall, gray, and has the best manicure this side of the Nile? The best new minor character in the MCU would be Taweret, the Egyptian goddess of fertility and childbirth.
After nearly four full episodes of slightly ponderous mythology and a thrilling tomb-raiding mission right out of 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy, Moon Knight takes a turn at the end of episode 4. The tortured ex-mercenary and museum gift shop assistant have been on a globe-hopping mission. The adventure into the depths of a hidden tomb ends badly when the hero is shot dead, and he wakes up in a mental health facility. So far, Legion. It's already difficult to see reality when the two alters meet an animal in an ornate ceremonial getup and then in an empty white hallway.
This is Taweret, as Steven eventually notes when he pulls himself together at the beginning of episode 5.
After the giddy whiplash of the episode, and an imposing entrance for the goddess, to have her twinkle her hippo-fingers, and chirp like Elle Woods on her first day at Harvard Law. Taweret is revealed to be a warm, humane, and pragmatic guide to the particular afterlife Steven and Marc have found themselves in, delivering basic exposition about the Duat in between breaking the news of their own deaths to the guys and gushing over the beauty of the Ancestral Plane. Her chirpy, subtly posh English accent gives her a guileless, endearing quality similar to that of a best friend in a romcom.
It is hard to believe that Antonia Salib has never been credited for a role before, as she plays Taweret both for the voice and motion-capture performance. It was a smart choice by the show's creative team to have Salib on set and in costume for filming, as she is both quietly funny and also wonderfully in sync with her line readings, and there is a sense of rapport with both of them. The very tone of her voice adds light to the murky scenes.
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She has gravitas in these scenes as she guides them through their memories and weighs their hearts. The goddess shrieks like a drunk girl when she learns that the wife of a fellow adventurer is going to summon her to help stop him. Taweret speaks through both her Hippo form and her other forms, including her dead mooks. Every time, Salib adds electricity and humor to scenes that threaten to get lost in sandstorms of exposition and doom.
The deity we spend the most time with is the one voiced by F. Murray Abraham, who is all gravel and indifference to his own suffering. The voice performance of Ammit, the goddess worshiped by Harrow, is disappointing.
Taweret is a boatman on the seas of the afterlife, but she is also a goddess of new life and fertility, and her bright, feminine presence is a strong creative choice against all the gloomy pronouncements of her cohort. Taweret feels more grounded in modernity than the others, and she designs the absolute heck out of the Scarlet Scarab costume. It's seriously. Those sword-wings.
You believe her when she says she was rooting for the boys. The way she checks in with Stephen about whether or not he really wants to go back to Khonshu evokes the kindness and insight of a girl you meet in the club bathroom. I would choose her in a heartbeat if I could get a pep talk from anyone in the MCU. Moon Knight Season 2 is currently up in the air, but if the ever-expanding chaos of MCU continuity has taught us anything, it is that you never know who will show up where. I will be hoping for more sand cruises with Taweret because I think they will turn up in the next phase.
Moon Knight Season 1 is now available on Disney+.
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