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Is Khonshu Evil? Why He Really Chose Marc Spector To Be Moon Knight

Published

2 weeks ago

May 5, 2022

NIGERIAPEN ADMIN

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Moon Knight‘s season 1 finale.

Marvel’s Moon Knight episode 5 revealed the exact moment that Marc Spector became the titular hero, and the finale’s shocking post-credit twist offers further insight into Khonshu’s shadowy intentions – but is Khonshu evil? He’s certainly capable of evil acts. Moon Knight episode 5 sees Marc and Steven journey through their memories and attempt to reconcile their differences through mutual understanding. In doing so, the episode reveals much about Marc’s history within the MCU show, including how he came to be Khonshu’s avatar.

Moon Knight episode 5 explores significant events in Marc’s life, including the death of his young brother, for which he felt responsible. His Dissociative Identity Disorder is shown to stem from this trauma and the abusive behaviors of his mother in the years that followed, resulting in the alternate identity of Steven Grant. Marc becoming the avatar of the Egyptian god Khonshu comes much later, when a mission in the desert goes wrong and Marc finds himself dying in Khonshu’s temple.

Khonshu choosing Marc as his avatar may seem somewhat coincidental, but Moon Knight episode 5 makes it clear that the god weighed his choice carefully. It’s heavily implied that Khonshu saw Marc’s DID as something easily exploited, and manipulated him by using the nature of his childhood trauma to appeal to his moral code. What’s more, Marc’s skills as a mercenary overlap with the role of Khonshu’s avatar, making him a perfect fit for the Egyptian god.

Marc finding himself wounded in Khonshu’s temple may have been a coincidence, but Khonshu offered him the power of Moon Knight for a reason. It’s implied that Khonshu’s plan for Marc Spector begins with manipulation, with the god referencing the “pain inside [him]”. Khonshu also says that Marc’s mind is “fractured, broken” and that this makes him a “worthy candidate” for his avatar. Both Marc and Steven acknowledge this as manipulation, with Marc explaining that it was the only way he could stay alive.

The implication of Khonshu’s words is that he considers Marc’s DID something that will make his role as Moon Knight easier to compartmentalize. However, the added layer of manipulation is in Khonshu’s promise about protecting the “travelers of the night” and punishing “those who deserve it“, which feeds into Marc’s anger over the physical abuse he endured from his mother. This sense of personal injustice shaped Marc’s own personality, and that’s something that Moon Knight‘s Khonshu appears to use in order to manipulate Marc into becoming his avatar.

Marc Spector’s Dissociative Identity Disorder and his childhood trauma are both subtly referenced by Khonshu upon the pair’s first meeting, making them clearly significant to Marc’s role as the god’s avatar. Combined with Marc’s abilities as a mercenary – or a “warrior“, as Khonshu puts it – it becomes obvious that the god considers Marc a perfect candidate to become Moon Knight. The combination of Marc’s experiences, personality, and DID make him uniquely suited to Khonshu’s purpose. This makes the god appear a distinctly unpleasant and manipulative figure for his treatment of Marc, but the layers to Khonshu’s intentions make Moon Knight‘s story all the more enthralling and disturbing.

After Marc Spector became Moon Knight once more in Moon Knight episode 6, on the sole condition that he and Steven were free from servitude to the Egyptian god, Khonshu found a twisted way to keep using Marc’s body to fight his battles. Marc has a third, as-yet-unseen alter called Jake Lockley whose fits of violence during Marc and Steven’s blackouts have been a recurring theme throughout the season. And in the post-credits scene of the finale, he is seen for the first time – wielding a pistol at Ethan Hawke’s Arthur Harrow under Khonshu’s supervision.

Is Khonshu evil in Moon Knight? Khonshu must’ve known Spector had a third personality, and it’s one he can now tap into whenever he wants to subvert Spector’s will. It’s a horrifyingly manipulative tactic that means Marc and Steven will have no idea when they’re fighting crime or 70-foot crocodile goddesses, and probably marks Khonshu out as a theological Dr. Caligari – not necessarily evil, but willing to do deeply evil things to counter his own definition of “evil.” He’s one of Moon Knight‘s more complex elements, and the finale’s ending sets up intriguing threads if a season 2 ever graces Disney+.

Next: Moon Knight: Why Khonshu Hates Steven So Much

Season 1 of Moon Knight is available to watch in full on Disney+.