I promise I will get back to the Cars villains eventually. I’ll just need to rewatch the sequels, but I also wanted to branch out, and I think this is the risk DreamWorks villain I’m covering. Admittedly, I am not a religious person by any means. I’m not an atheist either, as I’m more agnostic, and I started questioning my beliefs and if there is truly a higher being when I had so many seizures during my high school days. That’s also when I got tired of people saying “God only sends us challenges he knows we can handle.” To me, that sounds like a load of bullshit.
Anyways, we are looking at the main villain of The Prince of Egypt, Rameses. This’ll be a case where I’ll ignore historical facts and only look at the character as presented in the film’s retelling of Exodus. Honestly, this is in the higher tier of favorite DreamWorks movies right behind Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Wild Robot. I guess I prefer when DreamWorks does more dramatic stories over comedic stories. I know that’s a weird tangent, but it’s something that’s been on my mind.
Anyways, Rameses here is played by an iconic villain actor. Being Ralph Fiennes, who unfortunately for my generation is best known for playing a villain created by an IRL transphobic villain. He was also the head chef in The Menu and will be playing President Snow in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel about Haymitch.
With this long-winded introduction out of the way, let’s move on to the categories.
First Appearance
We first see Rameses as a young child when Moses’s basket is picked up by the queen, Tuya. (FYI, I didn’t know that her name until looking it up for this blog.) As a child, he’s just there, but fast forward to many years later, and we see that Rameses and Moses are close brothers. In many ways, that is what Rameses is about from my perspective when looking at his arc; it is a fractured brotherhood.
This is something hat is seen when Moses return after reuniting with his people as at first, it seems the brothers will remain on good terms but it is clear the relationship that they once had is now fractured. This is something I’ll cover more in the section but part of his personality deals with his being in the shadow of his father, Seti. Seti placed a quite a bit of pressure on Rameses and even in the death of his father, his shadow still looms.
Personality
When looking at his personality, I think of the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. As once he becomes pharaoh, he becomes much more like his father before him. Gone is the caring brother that Moses once knew as he has hardened. There were signs early of this when we saw Rameses as a teen as he seemed nervous about what was to become of him.
Yet, at the same time, I do believe that his family’s beliefs were so ingrained n him that he could never see past his status such as what happens when Moses accidentally kills a guard who was abusing an older slave. Rameses basically promises his brother that this can be washed away. Compare this to how Seti brushed aside the genocide of the Hebrew people by saying they were only slaves.
Moses comes from those people and is one of them but to people like Seti and Rameses later in the film, slaves aren’t people. They are just labor and nothing more than that. This again is part of the major rift between the brothers and I think the only moment where Rameses comes close to understating the pain these people feel is when his son dies during The Plagues.
Now, we do not know what kind of father he was to his son but at the same time, he could have been a great father to his son but still be a terrible leader as felt by he Hebrew people.
Grand Desire/Most Evil Deed
Honestly, pinning down Rameses’ grand desire is a bit tricky imo but in many ways I believe it ties into both what we discussed with his personality and the fact thst even when he is pharaoh, the shadow of his father looms large. He wants to keep the Hebrew people enslaved as that is what we grew up knowing and in his twisted mind, it’s justified. This is something we’ve discussed at length as Rameses sits on not just a throne of power but also a throne of privilege that allows him to see the Hebrews as lesser. Which in turn imo also shapes his evilest action.
Song
The Plagues
This song is a banger. But honestly, all of the songs in this movie rock. It really gets to the point of how fraught the relationship between these brothers has become. There’s a sense of loving still there but they have spent on separate paths and Moses will do whatever it takes to protect his people.
Listening to it from Rameses’s pov, there is also another sense of hurt as again these brothers once truly loved each other but Rameses cannot understand why Moses has come to detest him so much. This again goes back to my comment about throne of privilege as that is where he sits..
Demise
It’s a small and effective one as Rameses is too late to stop Moses and his people are able to escape ad Moses parts the Red Sea. It’s too late and in that moment, Rameses has lost one of his last remaining family members and Moses is able to cut off his brother and do what is right.
Is Rameses a Good Villain?
Absolutely. I am not a religious person by any means but I enjoy a good story and that’s what the Prince of Egypt is. It’s a top tier DreamWorks movie and I’d love to see more. I love watching this movie every year around Easter and usually pair it with Jesus Christ Superstar. I might cover Judas next year. I hope you enjoyed this different villains profile form me.
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