Anubis' Scales

Anubis weighs the hearts of the dead against a feather.

Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead, appears in American Gods as Mr. Jacquel, who runs a funeral parlor in Cairo, Illinois, with Mr. Ibis. In the first season of the TV series he comes for the soul of an elderly Muslim woman in Queens, New York, removes her heart and weighs it against a feather to decide whether she was a good or bad person; she is found worthy and he sends her to the afterlife.

Quick Facts

Character: Anubis

Lore & Background

When Laura Moon dies, she wakes in the desert with Anubis, but she is pulled back to her body before he can send her to the afterlife; Jacquel later vows to reclaim her soul when her mission is done. In Neil Gaiman's novel, Shadow dies during his vigil on the World Tree and is judged by Anubis in the land of the dead.