I am Egypt! The Morning and the Evening Star! If I say "Day is Night", it will be written, and you will be what I say you are! I say you are innocent.
- Rameses to Moses.
Rameses II is the main antagonist and the son of Queen Tuya and Pharaoh Seti. He is Moses's foster brother. He becomes Pharaoh in May 1279 BCE.
Early Life[]
Rameses was born in Egypt while the Hebrews and Jews were made slaves. As a toddler, his father Seti I believed that the Hebrews would become too powerful and overthrow the Egyptians. Out of fear, Seti ordered every newborn Jewish and Hebrew baby boy born to the Hebrews to be thrown into the Nile River. While Seti's soldiers did this horrible deed, a Hebrew mother saved her baby by placing him in a basket and setting him adrift on the Nile so he would be safe. The baby was discovered by Queen Tuya, Seti's wife, who adopted the baby and named him Moses. Rameses and Moses grew up best friends and brothers. He would often get in trouble for something Moses did. He was named Prince Regent by his father, and then he in turn named Moses "Royal Chief Architect." Soon after Moses fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian, Seti died and Rameses became Pharaoh.
Exodus[]
Some 23 years after becoming Pharaoh, Ramses and his wife had a son named Amun-her-khepeshef. When his son was 8, his adopted brother Moses returned to Egypt. At first, Rameses was excited to see his brother again and even pardoned Moses of his crimes, but after Moses revealed why he was there (to convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go), Rameses became angry with him. He then doubled the Hebrews' work, which didn't go over too well with the slaves. Later on that day, he and his son were on a boat on the Nile when Moses demanded that the slaves should be let go. Rameses then ordered his guards to arrest Moses, but Moses turned the entire River Nile into Blood. Egypt was later plagued by Frogs, Lice, Wild Animals (Possibly Gnats), Death of Livestock, Boils, Flaming Hail, Locusts, and Darkness, but Pharaoh would still not let the Hebrews go. While in darkness, Moses came to Rameses and asked him one last time to let the Hebrews go. Rameses, at first, was very hostile, but then remembered the times when he and Moses grew up together, At one point, he even asked Moses why things couldn't be how they were. However, when he saw his frightened son his heart was hardened, and he claimed he was going to kill the firstborn sons of the Hebrews. Ironically, that night the Angel of Death passed Egypt and took the lives of every Egyptian firstborn son, even Ramses' own. This plague forced Pharaoh to let the Hebrews and Jews go. After the Hebrews and Jews left, his heart was hardened again, and he took his army, trapping the Hebrews at the Red Sea. God then blocked the Egyptian army with a pillar of fire and parted the Sea, allowing the Hebrews and Jews to escape. Once the pillar vanished, Rameses tried to follow the Hebrews, but he was thrown from his chariot and his entire army drowned in the Sea, which returned to its normal state after the Hebrews made it through.
Actors[]
Ralph Fiennes voices Rameses in the English Version.
Garcia Jr voices Rameses in the Brazilian Portuguese Version
Georgi Georgiev Gogo voices Rameses in the Bulgarian Version
Sven Medvesek voices Rameses in the Croatian Version
Ales Prochazka voices Rameses in the Czech Version
Park Joho voices Rameses in the Korean Version
Roberto Colucci voices Rameses in the Latin Spanish Version
Min Xu voices Rameses in the Mandarin Version
Svein Tindberg voices Rameses in the Norwegian Version
Jacek Borkowski voices Rameses in the Polish Version
Stefan Sauk voices Rameses in the Swedish Version
Kritsana Saringkharanon voices Rameses in the Thai version
Trivia[]
- In real life and in the movie, Rameses is shown to be a great architect.
- Originally, he was going to have an evil pet cat, but in 2021, Rameses II has 2 cheetahs, a reference to Pharaoh's Cheetahs that are expected for the new Prince of Egypt (2021).
- In real life, he had 200 wives and 162 children.
- In real life, he ruled Egypt for 70 years, from the time he was 25 all the way until he was 95, which was really old for an Ancient Egyptian. He actually outlived 12 of his eldest sons. He was preceded by his 13th eldest son, Merneptah.
- In the Bible, the Pharaoh drowned with his army.
- In the Bible, God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
- In the Bible, Pharaoh's name is never given as Rameses, but Rameses the Great still became associated with the Exodus due to one of the cities the Israelites built being called ra'amses.
- Rather then being really evil, he is more or less broken in mind and spirit by his father, striving to be little more than a continuation of Seti. This was caused by Seti shouting that "one weak link can break the chain of a mighty dynasty". Throughout his life, Ramses sought to not be the weak link, though this would be his downfall.