#you can see isis' weariness with all the nonsense

[fallloverfic]

Thinking about how Osiris in ENNEAD is not written as a mastermind and, like a lot of historical monsters and powerful men, relies on the trust, affection, and goodwill of others, and a lot of luck, to accomplish anything, so assuming he's playing 4D chess with everyone else is basically always wrong. It's more like he kind of accidentally Xanatos Gambits his way into typically brief almost-success.

Spoilers below through Season 2, Episode 105 of ENNEAD

For starters, Osiris, like a lot of powerful men, is seemingly not that smart and also lacks creativity. He abjectly refused to believe - even when told directly by both Ra and Seth - that Seth could just like/love someone for who they are, and assumes instead that Seth must love Nephthys/any female god because she can make babies. Osiris' obsession clouds everything, even his ability to listen to reason or consider alternatives. His beliefs are the only ones that matter. He cannot fathom that Seth just doesn't like him that way. Osiris is so obsessed with himself and his own wants and is so used to people's adoration that he's unable to think outside of them.

Osiris says, "I tried everything to seize your unapologetic and ever-fleeting spirit" (S01E49), key word being seize. Did he try talking or explaining things without drugged wine being involved? Flirting? We don't know, but Seth seems oblivious enough about the concept that Osiris seemingly never did (at least not in a way Seth noticed). At some point Osiris made the "I can make babies so Seth will love me" plan, which fails (S02E78). He seemingly creates/uses this giant place to experiment in order to chase a reason he made up based on a guy he doesn't at all know or care to understand, and he fails. And he also tries the brainwashing mirror plan, to force Seth to love him, which fails. It is possible there was a point in their relationship when he was trying, without force, to be with Seth, but everything we see - ignoring what people tell him, attempting to "seize" Seth, the brainwash mirror, and the sexual assault - indicates he can only think through forcefully taking.

He lacks the intelligence to imagine Seth as a person who has wants of his own that Osiris would have to work to match - and could possibly never attain - rather than just force to go his own way. He can't imagine a world outside his own head.

He's intelligent enough to marry Isis, maybe, securing his power and throne (S01E01). Without the Nile doing well, Egypt would suffer. He's literally relying on her, Seth, and Nephthys to maintain his power, though.

He comes up with the mirror plan: use the mirror to brainwash Seth. How? Divvy out the loot to his siblings so no one catches him acting directly (we can see Isis' feelings on the mirror once she learns what she is, he definitely had to tread carefully, so I imagine she was a big reason for the subterfuge) . Which means... first Isis might keep the mirror apparently (S02E99). She decides not to keep it, by apparent luck. Maybe Osiris knew her well enough that he reasoned she wouldn't keep it out of lack of interest. But it just feels like luck, particularly given the rest of it.

The mirror fortunately ends up with Seth's share. But Seth's not vain (Osiris cannot fathom other people not being vain like him), so why would he care about a hand mirror? There's also an increased risk Nephthys would look at it. Seth and Nephthys are married, the mirror seems more like her thing. The chances of success were next to nil and the chances of failure were high. Osiris seemingly went with Nephthys' idea of giving her his seed because he might as well, plus, it got him the power of creation, and meant Seth maybe wouldn't try as hard to have kids of his own with Nephthys, especially when Nephthys demonstrated she wanted Osiris' child, not Seth's, and it's her choice when babies happen. Osiris was lucky he still got something out of it and the mirror didn't end up moldering away in a corner somewhere, useless. I kind of doubt he actually planned for Nephthys looking into it as a back-up.

[As a side note, Seth has notably disliked being humiliated, such as being dangled like a toy, having his clothes switched out or removed without his permission, or having his abilities or manhood mocked, which is all very different than being specifically vain (I think most people dislike being disrobed without their consent, or being mocked, especially when people they care about have already targeted things about them to insult, like Seth in his power and Osiris).

His annoyance with the fake sha mask when he faced Sebek's priest was because it got in his way while he was moving]

The night of usurpation wasn't planned, outside seemingly Osiris taking Anubis' soul (but we'll never know what Osiris originally planned to do after that, or if he did it while he was chatting with Seth; it's unclear when he took Anubis' soul, particularly given Anubis was still alive when Isis found him). Sekhmet acted, and Seth acted on that. Osiris did drug Seth, so there was planning there, but Seth knocked the cup over first (S01E40). Even in little ways, Osiris' plans are random, badly thought out, and somewhat easily thwarted by accident. Who knows when he planned to reveal himself, maybe he needed longer to work with Anubis' soul, who knows? Maybe he planned for Anubis to appear dead so he could make the child from scratch elsewhere; I think Sekhmet interrupted him; maybe she acted because Osiris went after Anubis, but who knows? Osiris didn't find Seth first, Seth came to him after talking to Sekhmet and Nephthys.

Osiris ultimately failed to place the power of creation inside Seth (S01E42), and it's actually Osiris' own, single plan - drugging Seth with a cup full of life-energy wine - that is his undoing, because Seth uses that wine to survive being ripped in half (S01E49). Osiris fails to out-think Seth and throws himself into Duat (S01E48). Why? Because Seth has more real-world experience in strategy and winning wars. Osiris maybe won one war somehow we don't know (the humans describe it as Osiris shooting an arrow and striking the sun, which Isis seemingly describes as "horrific" (S02E97)).

Contrast this with Seth.

"Do you know how I remained undefeated despite fighting in all those wars? It's because wars are meant to be fought using your head." - Seth, Season 1, Episode 48

Seth doesn't rely on people loving him or trusting him to accomplish things (the one time was seemingly with the caravan, and he knew they were already trying to double-cross him), in fact he seems to have gone out of his way to avoid involving any of his family in his job as the god of war, out of a need to protect them. He fought hard and suffered - without support other than humans - and gained experience. He can't do magic. And yet, even drugged and weakened and fighting against a god who can control life and death (to some respect), he still triumphs. Meanwhile, Osiris has all this power and he relies exclusively on it and goodwill for most everything, and Osiris still fucks up.

It's pure luck (from Osiris' perspective) that Anubis ended up in Duat after committing suicide. Yeah, Seth was fucked up by Osiris (and Isis and Nephthys) and that's why Seth hurt Anubis so much that Anubis went to Duat, but it had nothing to do with Osiris directly. Osiris took advantage of Anubis' affection to turn Anubis into a servant. Without Anubis doing that, he'd have had to... what, try to get Kuentamen to sneak into Heliopolis? His single semi-successful experiment who was in Heliopolis long enough to see Seth sleeping but not do anything else (S02E21)?

To Anubis, Osiris was just this uncle he was maybe affectionate with, who "saved" him when he was suffering, particularly in Duat. He has no apparent idea why Seth "killed" Osiris, let alone is he aware that Osiris took his own life. And Osiris took advantage of that ignorance.

Osiris relies on goodwill and ignorance from the other gods at the trial opening to let his half-truths stand the test of Maat's scales. He says very little and is lucky Isis has her own reasons for keeping questioning brief. Ra almost forced more information out of him (S01E08).

Osiris cannot control his pawns, and they are not good at what they do in semi-accordance with his will. Seemingly of his own volition, Horus steps up to challenge Seth when Seth starts attacking the room in S01E09. Osiris goes along with it. Judging by Isis' reaction, unless they had a private conversation, I don't think Horus and Osiris planned this in advance. Most of the story, Horus appears very distant from Osiris, and although their relationship is something of a mystery, it seems like they had very little to no connection prior to the opening of the trial. Horus actively opposes Seth dying, which is the opposite of what Osiris wants.

According to Horus, Osiris never even planned to have kids (S02E38). That Horus exists at all is not something Osiris apparently calculated into his plans, and he's, again, just going along with it because it increases the chances of Seth being sent to Duat as punishment for his crimes/being killed in combat. He was in fact mad when he discovered Seth and Horus banged (S01E34) (though I don't think he knows it was Horus).

Osiris fails to take Seth to Duat in S01E37, because Seth and Isis are too strong. He fails to take Seth to Duat in S01E63 because Seth and Nephthys are too strong. Isis is the one who intervenes for her own reasons in S01E72 to avoid revealing Osiris' actions/plans. Osiris fails to take Seth to Duat in S02E22: he's already dissolving and Horus, a demigod, crushes him in one movement.

Kuentamen (Osiris' one semi-success) + co only take advantage of Seth because Seth is a demigod at the time and trying to distract them from what FG is doing destroying the caravan (S02E21). And Kuentamen rebels against Osiris in his own way because Osiris' magic is imperfect (S02E21).

Osiris repeatedly fails to control Anubis, with the kiss, with Anubis staying with Seth, and possibly with Anubis going to Heliopolis to talk to Nephthys. The instant Anubis starts being around other gods (Seth, but mostly Nephthys and Isis), they help him. Even Horus and FG are matches for Anubis, and Ra can seemingly make him run away with her sunlight (S02E32).

Anubis still gets away from Osiris and Anubis was getting answers from Nephthys and Isis and they're now working to fix him, while Osiris possibly wants to ensure Anubis doesn't have any memory of his past to possibly better control him (S02E87).

Again, Osiris cannot even control his own creations: Kuentamen (and Anubis, and again, to a degree, Horus).

Osiris' plans, such as they are, are a string of failures with some luck relying on the powers he was born with and a supportive network of family and followers, which has allowed him to destroy most of his family on the way to his goals, and still he fails at it all. He doesn't really make back-up plans. He just flails, screaming at Ra, other creator gods, Seth, and Anubis, in his rage at his own ineptitude, blaming everyone else for not going along with his masterful design and belief in how things should be.

(Lots of rich and powerful men do that)

He did manage to hide all of it for hundreds if not thousands of years, mostly relying on people trusting him and viewing his actions in the best light possible (and seemingly because gods don't forget things (S02E73), something Nephthys is surprised to experience in S02E97, so the idea of a god forgetting things is strange, so they fail to suspect there's a hole in their minds about him), and having people who know what's going on who have reasons to keep silent that have nothing to do with his orders: Seth and Isis are ashamed and furious, and Sekhmet has her own plans. He couldn't cover his bases even if he wanted to (though I kind of wonder if that's why he agreed to Horus' birth, to try to ensure Isis stayed on his side, since she's been a friend and ally to Seth in the past (S01E46, S02E69)).

Osiris is adaptable as the situation demands, to a degree anyway, but falls back on anger easily, which makes him fail.

He can also figure out how to talk to hit people where they hurt, and that requires some intelligence, but that's it, and he uses lies to do it, striking at Seth's insecurities (and Maat's too in the opening of the trial). A manipulator, yes. Master manipulator? Ehhhh... Going after someone like Seth who already has insecurities, or going after someone (Maat) during a public trial with a powerful god ready to explode (Seth) hanging out, and twisting things, doesn't really require mastery of anything, especially if you're a trusted ally and close family member with hundreds of years of relationship between you and your target. It just requires determination. Seth was already insecure when Osiris got to him (S01E41). And we have demonstrably seen Seth is powerful (e.g., the underwater match, building the stone boat, fighting Horus, hunting beasts, diplomacy with Sebek's priests, fighting off mobs of humans, sweet-talking kids, pretending to be a slave) and rather good at most things he tries, barring the limitations of being a demigod and when he's distracted by fear, insecurity, pain, sickness, and rage. He's needed help from other people like Isis and Horus, but he's capable; Osiris needed to convince Seth of his weakness for his own reasons, in part because Osiris is so conceited he probably genuinely believes Seth is only as strong as he is because of Osiris. Given Osiris seemingly had no idea Seth could hear the souls of those killed in war (S01E48), I kind of question just how much Osiris even knew of what Seth's duties entailed.

Conversely, every plan Osiris has had has failed: he has yet to make Seth want to be with him, he didn't place the power of creation within Seth, he hasn't made any babies without a goddess being directly involved, he has yet to bring Seth down to Duat, he has yet to properly come back from Duat, and he cannot control his wife, his sons, or even fully the court. To keep Ra, an enemy he allegedly defeated, from spreading the truth of his backstory, Isis had to intervene (along with Seth, Horus, and Maat). He couldn't even control Nephthys, whom he's brainwashed. The only times Osiris was successful at anything was destroying everything around him and seemingly, to some degree, defeating Ra once(?), maybe through archery. That's it.

Osiris is not a mastermind. He's lucky, and barely that, because of how often he fails, particularly in things that matter to him. He's most lucky in that the people around them, for all the terrible things they do, are more trusting and supportive of the people they care about than he is, or else have insecurities he can control, and he abuses it all.

I think this is very intentional on Mojito's part, particularly to highlight how much powerful men in patriarchal societies, whether in families and/or governments, can get away with, particularly with the weight of bureaucracy not moving fast enough to stop them (and how much damage can happen while waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to spin), what damage they can cause in the doing, and how they deal or fail to deal with the fallout of their own ineptitude, often turning around and blaming the more vulnerable people around them for the man in question's failings. And how even close-knit families in particular enable abuse.

We're probably going to see more of what he has planned, down the line. I think it's possible he was the one who messaged Bastet in S02E105. But up until whenever that manifests, well... man's screaming in his tree, surrounded by dead servants, where even Anubis can't hear him anymore.