The Minions of Set are powerful beings who appear in Episode XXXI: Jack in Egypt.
Character outline
The Minions of Set are three dog-like demons with black skin, golden heads, and glowing blue eyes, a trait shared with several other beings of divine origin. Despite appearing in just one episode, the Minions of Set were shown to be some of the most powerful opponents Jack had ever faced. Their weapons resemble traditional weapons from ancient Egypt: one has a curved sickle-like sword called a khopesh, one has an Egyptian battle axe, and the third has two short clubs or rods, one in its right hand and one attached to its left bracer. The weapons glow with magical blue flames.
Their level of sentience is questionable. Although they are seemingly capable of understanding and comprehending the meaning of speech, they themselves do not speak; only growl, bark, and roar. They also appeared to be capable of understanding that Jack's only hope against them was to complete a magical scarab, and they attempted to thwart his efforts to do so, with one of them even attempting to ingest a part of the scarab. Additionally, when Jack retrieved all three pieces of the scarab, they seemed to realize the implications of what he had accomplished. They are also capable of feeling fear, as evidenced when the last of them fled before Horus' destructive gaze.
Biography
According to an ancient Egyptian prophecy read by Jack when he was a child, Set, the Egyptian god of disorder and violence, unleashed his three evil minions upon Egypt. The Pharaoh's armies were unable to stop their rampage. Eventually, the pharaoh called upon a great power and imprisoned the minions in a tomb, upon which the prophecy was inscribed. Many years later, Aku, who had heard the prophecy, managed to find the tomb and free the minions. In return for their freedom, Aku ordered them to destroy Jack, who was approaching the temple at the time. When night fell, Jack arrived and was ambushed by the minions of Set. The monsters soundly thrashed him, and proved to be invulnerable even to his sword. Outmatched, Jack remembered the prophecy he had read as a child, and proceeded to the tomb of the minions. Inscribed on it was the rest of the prophecy, which instructed Jack to collect and assemble three pieces of a scarab, the symbol of the god Khepri, and use it to summon the Protector God Horus. After a long, tiring chase with the minions throughout the temple, Jack finally managed to assemble the scarab. After appearing, Horus easily destroyed all three minions with his eye beams.
Abilities
Regeneration: Possibly their most useful ability, the minions of Set were capable of almost instantaneously regenerating from virtually any damage inflicted upon them. This ability extended even to the effects of Jack's holy sword, which was specifically forged by the Gods to destroy the evil of Aku. They were eventually destroyed by being completely disintegrated by Ra's eyebeams, which could mean that they are either vulnerable to the divine energy of Ra himself, or that they simply need to be destroyed in their entirety in order to negate their regeneration.
Heightened senses: The minions were shown to have very keen senses. Their senses of hearing, and particularly smell appeared to have been very enhanced, as they were able to track Jack, even while hiding, by smell, and in one instance were alerted to Jack's location when he accidentally tapped his sword lightly on a pillar.
Enhanced strength: The creatures were capable of cutting stone pillars to pieces and breaking temple walls just by slamming into them. Their punches were strong enough to throw Jack tens of feet through the air.
Enhanced speed: The minions of Set are also very fast as shown by the fact that they easily destroyed Aku's robot army before the robots even had time to react. Their running speed appeared to have been more or less equal to Jack's own most of the time, as he was able, with him and the minions running, to maintain his distance from them on several occasions on straight paths. However, on one occasion, one of the minions managed to run along a ceiling from a position significantly behind Jack to a position in front of him. They often alternated between running on two legs and running on four legs, though they tended to run on four legs when they needed to cover a significant distance.
Enhanced agility: During battle, they constantly jump at their opponent like animals, and are capable of performing flips while in the air as well as leaping great distances.
Limited gravity defying: The minions of Set are capable of running on walls and even upside down on a ceiling.
Martial Skill: The minions of Set were each very skilled in the use of their particular weapons. However, Jack was, with great effort, able to hold his own against all three after their initial ambush. Additionally, the minion who wielded the two rods threw one of them at Jack at one point, and it tracked him around a corner (though whether that was an intrinsic property of the weapon, or a skill of the minion itself, is unknown).
Trivia
- The shape of their heads is most likely based on the Set Animal or sha, a creature that represents their god.
- They are one of the few enemies that cannot be defeated by Jack 's holy sword, like the Elementals, forceing Jack to use others mean to defeat them.
- The reason why Jack's sword cannot vanquish them can explained by the fact that they were created by Set personally, not unlike how the Elementals were created by the Goddess of Water. Therefore, only Ra or possibly other Egyptian gods (or divine beings) can vanquish them for good.
Gallery
