The Devourer Ammit

In the shadows of the Hall of Two Truths, where the souls of the departed face their final judgment, sits a creature of terrifying aspect. Ammit, the 'Devourer of the Dead,' waits patiently at the foot of the Great Scales. She possesses the head of a crocodile, the forequarters of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippopotamus—the three most dangerous man-eaters known to the Nile. Beside her, the jackal-headed Anubis readies the scales, while Thoth stands poised with a stylus to record the divine verdict. The deceased presents their heart, the vessel of their earthly deeds and conscience. If the heart balances perfectly against the Feather of Ma’at—the symbol of truth, justice, and cosmic order—the soul is welcomed into the eternal bliss of the Field of Reeds. However, if the heart is heavy with sin and outweighs the feather, Ammit leaps. She consumes the heart in a single, terrible gulp, condemning the soul to a second death: total annihilation. In the Egyptian afterlife, there is no eternal suffering in fire; there is only the cold, permanent silence of non-existence for those found wanting.