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Huy: It's not your fault your sons learned nothing!
Hotep: Well, they learned blasphemy.
~ Hotep and Huy to Pharaoh Seti I.

Hotep and Huy are the secondary antagonists in DreamWorks' second full-length animated feature film The Prince of Egypt, which is based on the biblical epic of Moses and the Book of Exodus.

They are the two trusted advisors of Pharaoh Seti I and later his son Rameses, and are high priests of the ancient Egyptian gods. They are also very contemptuous of Ramses's adoptive brother Moses and his claims, using their own "magic" (in reality, simple stage trickery) to discredit his miracles and trying to show Egypt's superiority over Moses and the enslaved Hebrews.

Hotep is voiced by Steve Martin (who later played Smek in Home, Orin Scrivello in Little Shop of Horrors, and Mr. Chairman in Looney Tunes: Back in Action), while Huy is voiced by Martin Short (who also played Jack Frost in Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Ooblar in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Preminger in Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper, Sebastian Ballentine in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and both Jester and The Appraiser in Legends Of Oz: Dorothy's Return.).

Biography[]

Besides their obvious antagonism towards Moses due to his adoptive status into the royal family, they are shown to already be corrupt by the beginning of the film when they kidnap a Midian girl named Tzipporah to either become the Prince-Regent Rameses's wife, personal servant, or (most likely) concubine. However, Rameses rejects her after witnessing her fiery temper and offers her to Moses instead. Moses eventually helps the girl escape, and later in the story comes to love and marry her.

Hotep and Huy are also symbolic figures in the story, and they can be seen to represent the gods of ancient Egypt and their struggle against Moses and the God of the Hebrews (which is considered the "true god" in Abrahamic religion), and more broadly the struggle between institutions of organized religion and one's own personal faith respectively. This dichotomy is especially prominent during the song "Playing With The Big Boys Now", in which the two magicians appear to transform their staffs into snakes with a flash of light and smoke (which is implied to merely be stage trickery) and state to Moses "by the might of Horus, you will kneel before us!", unaware that Moses's snake had led their snakes into a hidden area and devoured them whole, thus symbolizing his God's triumph over the rival pantheon and his own faith trouncing that of the oppressive state.

Hotep and Huy also show antagonism when they try to convince the now-Pharaoh Rameses to enforce a death penalty put upon Moses after he returns to Egypt years after accidentally killing a guard for cruelly beating a slave. Rameses dismisses their suggestion, however (knowing fully that the killing was accidental).

Ironically, they seem to have a certain way with kids when they do approve of them. This is shown when they are seen entertaining Rameses' young son, although this is most likely so they could achieve Rameses' favor.

During the first plague, when Moses turns the water of the Nile into blood with his staff, Hotep and Huy attempt to show him up by doing the same with a puff of red dye in a bowl of water, which Rameses finds very amusing. However, as the other plagues continue, Hotep and Huy prove to be of no help, as they, too, are afflicted by the plagues and cannot pretend to go at the level of the Hebrew God's power. Outraged by their lack of regard over the plagues bringing Egypt to ruin and possibly for tricking him earlier, Rameses angrily overturns their potions table and orders them to leave the palace immediately, to which they reluctantly do so.

Hotep and Huy are not seen in the film again and it is unknown what becomes of them afterwards. However, it is assumed they were banished to unknown parts of Egypt for failing to match God's power or one of the plagues might have killed them.

Personality[]

Hotep and Huy are cunning, ruthless, diabolical, manipulative, and deceitful magicians, both sycophantically dedicated to the Pharaoh and ensuring his subjects' loyalty. They are also a source of amusement for young Moses because they are easily irritated by his continual antics with his brother. They serve as comic relief to balance the many serious themes of the film. However, in the end, the two are indeed nothing more than arrogant and manipulative con men who weasel their way into power but ultimately fail to deliver in the end truthfully.

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Trivia[]

  • Hotep and Huy are based on the characters of Jannes and Jambres, the names given to two of the Pharaoh's sorcerer-priests who duel with Moses in the Book of Exodus much the same as in the movie. Unlike in the film's retelling, however, Jannes and Jambres are depicted in the original story as wielding some degree of genuine mystical power against Moses (even if they still fail in the end as in the film). The theological explanations given range from them making a pact with demons disguised as the Egyptian deities to them being practitioners of a peculiar form of Kabbalah depending on the tradition.
  • In the Quran, the Pharaoh gets so angry with Moses that he constantly abuses his high priests into performing pointless rituals, and the priests eventually in turn get angry with the Pharaoh and actually repent, openly siding with Moses, and declare their own task a futile mission, because they grow to see that Allah is the real God. Unfortunately, this angers the Pharaoh because he is now mad that someone dared challenge him, so he orders the priests crucified alive. However, the priests are now prepared to face God in Heaven, thus they accept their impending doom.

Navigation[]

           Book of Exodus logo Villains

Movies
The Ten Commandments (1956): Rameses II | Nefretiri | Rameses I † | Sethi † | Dathan † | Baka
The Prince of Egypt (film): Rameses II | Seti I | Hotep and Huy | Baka
The Ten Commandments (2007): Ramses II | Dathan † | Seti I
Exodus: Gods and Kings: Rameses II

Musicals
The Prince of Egypt (musical): Hotep † | Rameses II | Nefertari | Baka † | Seti I

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