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Description
Here she is, the devourer of hearts herself! Following the successful design session I had with the Set animal, I thought it would be fun to work on other mythical creatures or beasts that will appear in the comic. While going through the list of creatures I knew would be featured in the storyline, I suddenly realized I hadn't drawn a reference for Ammit in over FOUR YEARS! This is a pretty glaring issue, as Ammit is actually one of the very first mythical creatures we'll be running into!

Seeing as Ammit is a pretty popular lesser deity/demoness/mythical beast when it comes to mainstream ancient Egyptian mythology, I'm sure she needs little introduction. Ammit is a familiar of Anubis and appears alongside him in the Hall of Judgement when a soul prepares to enter the afterlife; she is said to have the head of a crocodile, the torso of a lion, and the backside of a hippopotamus -- she is a composite of the three most dangerous "man-eating" (yes, hippos are maneaters, and they are freaking vicious creatures) animals that the ancient Egyptians knew of. Her role in the Hall of Judgement was to punish the evil and make them suffer for all eternity; as I'm sure most mythology buffs know, Anubis weighs the heart of the deceased against the feather of Ma'at to see if it is pure. If your heart is light enough -- that is, if you were a good person and lived a good life -- then everything is kosher and you're free to enter the paradise of Aaru, the Field of Reeds. On the flipside, if your heart fails the test and is too heavy -- that is, filled with evil --, then Anubis tosses it to Ammit for her to devour. Those who have their hearts devoured are said to experience a "second death," and their souls are made restless for eternity. In TCotC, this causes the shade of the deceased to be sent into the Pits of the Damned: a cold, lonely prison where they will be forced to live in isolation with only their regretful memories for all of time.

So, Ammit is pretty scary. The Egyptians didn't actually worship her -- they worshiped against her in hopes that she would be kept at bay when it came time for their own hearts to be weighed. All things considered, though, Ammit's kind of doing everyone a favor -- she only eats your heart if Anubis judges you to be bad, after all. Seeing as the Scales of Truth are supposed to be infallible, someone probably had it coming if their heart ends up in Ammit's teeth. But if she eats your heart if you're bad... What does she do if you're good?

One thing that's been consistent in Ammit's TCotC design from the very beginning is that she has two different forms. Like Anubis, she can actually "sense" whether or not someone has a good heart before it's even touched the Scales of Truth; in the presence of someone who has an "impure" or "evil" heart, Ammit takes the big, scary, reddish form you see above... But in the presence of someone who has a good heart, she shrinks down into the dog-sized, brighter form you see in the bottom left! She won't eat your heart like that, and -- when she's being nice -- she's actually a pretty good girl! She is a legendary chewer of squeaky toys, lover of treats, and deserver of many headpats!

In terms of Ammit's design, it was pretty straightforward -- unlike my design for the Set animal, Ammit's appearance is outright stated and depicted many times in ancient Egyptian writings. I gave her an overall bodytype resembling a hippopotamus, but she actually came out looking like a bear! This is probably because of the lion paws and "hump" I stuck on her front half, but I'm not complaining. I think the bear-like look suits her and brings together the three different animals together in a nice little package; plus, bears are freaking scary. Bears tread a fine line between "cute and cuddly" and "oh my fuck it's going to break my spine with a single swat." It's just too perfect for a demoness that appears as either a tiny cub or a big hulking wall of muscle. Her colors were easy, too, though I darkened and reddened them in her big form to make sure she looked "demonic" and like she's seen her fair share of bloodshed. Her little form is supposed to look like a "baby" version of her bigger form -- that's why she has lion cub spots instead of a full mane.

For reference, Ammit's big form is like the size of a fucking pickup truck -- she's huge. She could snap up a person with a single bite and crush them in her jaws like a T. rex. Her little form, meanwhile, is like the size of a large dog (think in the range of a Labrador or a golden retriever).

Hope you like her!

Description
Here she is, the devourer of hearts herself! Following the successful design session I had with the Set animal, I thought it would be fun to work on other mythical creatures or beasts that will appear in the comic. While going through the list of creatures I knew would be featured in the storyline, I suddenly realized I hadn't drawn a reference for Ammit in over FOUR YEARS! This is a pretty glaring issue, as Ammit is actually one of the very first mythical creatures we'll be running into!

Seeing as Ammit is a pretty popular lesser deity/demoness/mythical beast when it comes to mainstream ancient Egyptian mythology, I'm sure she needs little introduction. Ammit is a familiar of Anubis and appears alongside him in the Hall of Judgement when a soul prepares to enter the afterlife; she is said to have the head of a crocodile, the torso of a lion, and the backside of a hippopotamus -- she is a composite of the three most dangerous "man-eating" (yes, hippos are maneaters, and they are freaking vicious creatures) animals that the ancient Egyptians knew of. Her role in the Hall of Judgement was to punish the evil and make them suffer for all eternity; as I'm sure most mythology buffs know, Anubis weighs the heart of the deceased against the feather of Ma'at to see if it is pure. If your heart is light enough -- that is, if you were a good person and lived a good life -- then everything is kosher and you're free to enter the paradise of Aaru, the Field of Reeds. On the flipside, if your heart fails the test and is too heavy -- that is, filled with evil --, then Anubis tosses it to Ammit for her to devour. Those who have their hearts devoured are said to experience a "second death," and their souls are made restless for eternity. In TCotC, this causes the shade of the deceased to be sent into the Pits of the Damned: a cold, lonely prison where they will be forced to live in isolation with only their regretful memories for all of time.

So, Ammit is pretty scary. The Egyptians didn't actually worship her -- they worshiped against her in hopes that she would be kept at bay when it came time for their own hearts to be weighed. All things considered, though, Ammit's kind of doing everyone a favor -- she only eats your heart if Anubis judges you to be bad, after all. Seeing as the Scales of Truth are supposed to be infallible, someone probably had it coming if their heart ends up in Ammit's teeth. But if she eats your heart if you're bad... What does she do if you're good?

One thing that's been consistent in Ammit's TCotC design from the very beginning is that she has two different forms. Like Anubis, she can actually "sense" whether or not someone has a good heart before it's even touched the Scales of Truth; in the presence of someone who has an "impure" or "evil" heart, Ammit takes the big, scary, reddish form you see above... But in the presence of someone who has a good heart, she shrinks down into the dog-sized, brighter form you see in the bottom left! She won't eat your heart like that, and -- when she's being nice -- she's actually a pretty good girl! She is a legendary chewer of squeaky toys, lover of treats, and deserver of many headpats!

In terms of Ammit's design, it was pretty straightforward -- unlike my design for the Set animal, Ammit's appearance is outright stated and depicted many times in ancient Egyptian writings. I gave her an overall bodytype resembling a hippopotamus, but she actually came out looking like a bear! This is probably because of the lion paws and "hump" I stuck on her front half, but I'm not complaining. I think the bear-like look suits her and brings together the three different animals together in a nice little package; plus, bears are freaking scary. Bears tread a fine line between "cute and cuddly" and "oh my fuck it's going to break my spine with a single swat." It's just too perfect for a demoness that appears as either a tiny cub or a big hulking wall of muscle. Her colors were easy, too, though I darkened and reddened them in her big form to make sure she looked "demonic" and like she's seen her fair share of bloodshed. Her little form is supposed to look like a "baby" version of her bigger form -- that's why she has lion cub spots instead of a full mane.

For reference, Ammit's big form is like the size of a fucking pickup truck -- she's huge. She could snap up a person with a single bite and crush them in her jaws like a T. rex. Her little form, meanwhile, is like the size of a large dog (think in the range of a Labrador or a golden retriever).

Hope you like her!