History Main / NephariousPharaoh

''Land of the Pharaohs'': The pharaoh's determination to have the ultimate tomb becomes oppressive.

* ''Film/{{Land of the Pharaohs'}}': The pharaoh's determination to have the ultimate tomb becomes oppressive.

* ComicBook/BlackAdam in the Shazam (Captain Marvel) comics. After learning how to use the word "Shazam!" to gain superpowers, he overthrew the pharaoh of Egypt and assumed the throne.

* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'': The Arch-Hierophant dresses himself like a pharaoh and is the leader of the archaeologist faction, whom all resemble Egyptian mummies.

* ''ComicBook/MarvelTheEnd'': Akhenaten, taken from Ancient Egypt by the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Celestial Order]] and powered by the Heart of the Universe, returns to Earth in 2003 as a tyrannical HumanoidAbomination and RealityWarper.

* ''Land of the Pharaohs'': The pharaoh's determination to have the ultimate tomb becomes oppressive.

* King Tut, one of the supervillains from the 1960s ''Series/Batman1966'', wore clothing appropriate for a pharaoh and liked to use Egyptian-themed dialogue. He was actually Professor William [=McElroy=], an Egyptologist at Yale University. Every time he was hit on the head he developed a split personality that thought he was a reincarnation of the original King Tut (i.e. UsefulNotes/{{Tutankhamun}}). Hitting him on the head again restored his original personality.

* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'' has the Arch-Hierophant, who dresses himself like a pharaoh and is the leader of the archaeologist faction, whom all resemble Egyptian mummies.

* Akhenaten from ''ComicBook/MarvelTheEnd'', taken from Ancient Egypt by the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Celestial Order]] and powered by the Heart of the Universe, returns to Earth in 2003 as a tyrannical HumanoidAbomination and RealityWarper.

* The movie ''Land of the Pharaohs'', in which the Pharaoh's determination to have the ultimate tomb becomes oppressive.
* In ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', En Sabah Nur is revealed to be an ancient, [[GodEmperor allegedly divine]] pharaoh who ruled for millennia through {{Body Surf}}ing into powerful mutant hosts and [[PowerParasite assimilating their abilities]]. Upon awakening in the present day, he promptly tries to destroy modern civilization to recreate a regime in which "[[TheSocialDarwinist only the strong survive]]".

** One of the many forms of Nyarlathotep, the most actively evil EldritchAbomination, is the Black Pharaoh, a haughty Egyptian pharaoh with black skin (not brown or tan: ''jet, beetle-shell black'') wearing a brightly colored robe. He also used to be worshipped in AncientEgypt. Notably appears as such to the protagonist in ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath''.
** Lovecraft also mentions a [[TheCaligula mad pharaoh]] Nephen-Ka in his short story ''The Haunter of The Dark'', as well as DistaffCounterpart Queen Nitocris (who [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitocris may have actually existed,]] but if she did, [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade probably didn't rule over]] "[[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]] and other horrors").
* ''Literature/CurseOfTheMummy'' has Akharis the tyrannical Pharaoh, who worships the Goddess of Chaos, Slithera and attempting to unleash her powers into the world of living, serving as the main antagonist of the picture.
* Amenophis from the ''Literature/DarkReflectionsTrilogy'' [[spoiler: who despite technically just being a PuppetKing, first of the Horus Priests who reserrected him, then of the Sphinx conspiracy, is still a deranged [[TheCaligula Caligula]].]]
* The Armenian national epic ''Literature/DavidOfSasun'' has Melik, the evil Egyptian king. He was probably based on the pharaoh from Exodus, and given the fact that Egypt has never actually conquered Armenia, is also probably a sort of NoCelebritiesWereHarmed {{Expy}} of the Arab caliphs or Turkish sultans.
* The main villain of the first novel in the ''Literature/IslandRus'' series by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko is an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who pursues the {{Time Travel}}ing heroes throughout history.
* Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' offers a subversion of this idea, with Dios the High Priest -- effectively the ruler of an Ancient Egypt-like country -- manipulating a succession of essentially benign but hopelessly confused Pharaohs [[spoiler:for seven thousand years]].

* A female example is Nitocris in [[Magazine/WeirdTales “The Vengeance of Nitocris”]] by Creator/TennesseeWilliams. After her brother (the previous pharaoh) is killed by the high priests, Nitocris becomes pharaoh. She decides to get revenge for her brother’s death by killing the high priests in an elaborate death trap that consists of [[spoiler:a great underground chamber that can be sealed shut and has behind one of the walls a sluice gate that opens onto the Nile; raising the sluice gate floods the chamber, drowning everyone inside.]]

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'', Egyptian players who have access to the worshipping of Osiris gain the Mummy myth unit, undead Pharaohs who attack with [[TheSwarm swarms of insects]] and have a OneHitKill ability turning the victim into a servile undead. Counts even more if they are enemies.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins:'' The DLC "Curse of the Pharaohs" deals with ghosts of pharaohs rampaging around Thebes, murdering everyone in sight before disappearing, because of someone misusing an Apple of Eden. [[spoiler:''Maybe''. The game hints the ghosts are those who previously held the Apple before the current owner stole it for their own purposes, but then Bayek takes a trip into the afterlife and meets them.]]

* ''VideoGame/DuckTales 2'' has the boss of Egypt's stage, a duck pharaoh who's guarding the ancient treasure of Egypt.
* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' has a rare female example with Serpci, the boss ghost of the Tomb Suites. She wears the typical pharaoh outfit, she sleeps in a sarcophagus in a pyramid, and she sends Luigi to die in a sand pit at the bottom of her pyramid before later attacking him with SandBlaster powers when he escapes.
* Pharaoh Man is one of the Robot Masters fought in ''VideoGame/MegaMan4''. He's not an actual pharaoh, though he was originally built to explore pyramids. His stage begins as a ShiftingSandLand and progresses into a TempleOfDoom.

* Tutankoopa in ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario|64}}'' is the boss of Dry Dry Ruins and keeper of one of the kidnapped Star Spirits. He attempts to frighten Mario away from the ruins, even calling himself the "remorseless king of the desert" in his first warning.
* For the most part, averted in, well, ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}''. With one or two exceptions, the current ruler of Egypt isn't too bad, but piss him off too much and he considers it a rebellion and sends his army against you. Once you achieve the title you can't do anything worse than refuse to answer requests, which quickly gets you a GameOver.

* ''VideoGame/VampiresDawn'' has Pharaoh Ustrah. While he isn't really important in the first game, he becomes one of the main villains of the second game.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "King Ramses' Curse", the ghost of the titular pharaoh arrives to haunt anyone who possesses his stolen tomb slab even if it was stolen by someone else, casting three deadly curses on them if they refuse to return the slab; and he doesn't care about collateral casualties...

* ''Toys/MonsterHigh'': Ramses de Nile (Cleo and Nefera's father) is shown to be like this, especially in the AristocratsAreEvil part.

* In Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'', we meet Queen Ima, a [[GenderInvertedTrope female]] Pharaoh, and she is a sadistic, cruel woman who has [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaved]] the daughter of Kamau, a man from an African tribe, and has massacred thousands of people.

* This trope is theorized to be the main reason [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaonism Pharaonism]] as an ideology never really took off in Egypt. Pharaonism was based on emphasizing AncientEgypt as the cornerstone of Egyptian national identity and downplaying Arabic influence, and became prominent in the early twentieth century during the British occupation and the media frenzy over the discovery of UsefulNotes/{{Tutankhamun}}'s tomb. However, it was controversial from the start and declined because, as archeologist Michael Wood put it, the only surviving remnants of ancient Egyptian civilization are "tombs, palaces and temples, the relics of a death-obsessed, aristocratic, pagan society", contributing to the popular perception of ancient Egypt as a slave state, and "more sophisticated models of Egyptian history, developed mainly by foreign scholars, remain ignored." (To put it simply, in large part because of Literature/TheBible's depiction of Egypt and the nameless oppressive Pharaohs of the Exodus, AncientEgypt is stereotyped as a pagan slave state ruled by tyrannical GodEmperor pharaohs, even though this is a gross oversimplification of a highly complex civilization that evolved and changed in many ways over thousands of years.)

* This trope is theorized to be the main reason [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaonism Pharaonism]] as an ideology never really took off in Egypt. Pharaonism was based on emphasizing AncientEgypt as the cornerstone of Egyptian national identity and downplaying Arabic influence, and became prominent in the early twentieth century during the British occupation and the media frenzy over the discovery of UsefulNotes/{{Tutankhamun}}'s tomb. However, it was controversial from the start and declined because, as archeologist Michael Wood put it, the only surviving remnants of ancient Egyptian civilization are "tombs, palaces and temples, the relics of a death-obsessed, aristocratic, pagan society", contributing to the popular perception of ancient Egypt as a slave state, and "more sophisticated models of Egyptian history, developed mainly by foreign scholars, remain ignored." (To put it simply, in large part because of Literature/TheBible's depiction of Egypt and the nameless oppressive Pharaohs of the Exodus, AncientEgypt is stereotyped as a pagan slave state ruled by {{Nepharious Pharaoh}}s, even though this is a gross oversimplification of a highly complex civilization that evolved and changed in many ways over thousands of years.)

* Literature/TheBible:
** The two Pharaohs from Literature/BookOfExodus are notorious for enslaving and torturing Israelites, from ordering his subordinates to [[WouldHurtAChild commit infanticide]], to [[NayTheist denying the existence of God despite acknowledging him]].
** The Pharaoh is even worse in Islam. Besides what he does in the Exodus, he had his magicians cut their hands and feet on opposite sides and crucify them on the trunks of palm trees because they acknowledged Allah. He also had his own wife tortured to death for embracing Moses' faith as well.
** One pharaoh in the Literature/BookOfGenesis is furious at Abraham (then known as Abram) for lying about the relationship between him and Sarah (then known as Sarai) as the patriarch had presented her as his sister when she was in fact his wife, fearing that if the truth was known he'd be murdered and an Egyptian would marry his widow. Apparently hosting them and showering them with gifts under this misconception was enough for YHWH to send a plague to Egypt, so he orders his men to deport the couple.

[[folder:Mythology]]

** The two Pharaohs from Literature/BookOfExodus are notorious for torturing Israelites, from ordering his subordinates to [[WouldHurtAChild commit infanticide]], to [[NayTheist denying the existence of God despite acknowledging him]].

The TropeMaker, TropeCodifier, and UrExample is probably found in the Literature/BookOfExodus in Literature/TheBible, with that nasty pharaoh as one of the villains of the Old Testament, making this OlderThanFeudalism. In fact, before UsefulNotes/WorldWarII made ThoseWackyNazis the most popular shorthand for evil, comparisons to the pharaohs, along with other {{Biblical bad guy}}s like Pontius Pilate and Judas Iscariot, were among the [[http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/explainer/2011/10/hank_williams_jr_firing_who_was_the_rhetorical_worst_person_in_h.html strongest insults]] thrown at politicians, in a predecessor to GodwinsLaw (with comparisons to UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun also popular).

* ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'': A first-season OVA sets the Occult Research Club against a pharaoh who had been sealed away in his coffin after insulting a devil he had summoned. When Rias accidentally opens the coffin, the Pharaoh promptly possesses Issei and blackmails the Club into performing three [[RuleOfSexy (degrading)]] tasks that end up breaking the curse on him and reviving him properly... right into a room of the very annoyed, very powerful devils he tried to take advantage of, whereupon [[DidntThinkThisThrough his brand-spankin'-new physical form is promptly vaporized by Rias]]. Not as 'nefarious' as far as some of the other entries on the page, but most certainly a perverted douchebag.

* Akhenaten from ''ComicBook/MarvelTheEnd'', taken by the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Celestial Order]] from Ancient Egypt and powered by the Heart of the Universe, returns to Earth in 2003 as a tyrannical HumanoidAbomination and RealityWarper.

* Akhenaten from ''ComicBook/MarvelTheEnd'', taken by the [[SufficentlyAdvancedAliens Celestial Order]] and powered by the Heart of the Universe, returns to Earth as a tyrannical HumanoidAbomination and RealityWarper.

* In Myth/ClassicalMythology, the Egyptian king Busiris was heavily into HumanSacrifice - until he tried to sacrifice Herakles, that is.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': Irwin's grandfather was one and during his appearance he convinced his grandson to follow his example with promises that being a pharaoh would win him points with the ladies. Under his tutelage Irwin brainwashes almost everyone into Endsville into becoming his slaves who will do nothing but chant "Long live the Nerd King" and build him a pyramid of his own. [[BuriedAlive But unfortunately for him its not just chicks that dig pharaohs but also archaeologists, after they have been interred that is.]]

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The villain Kang the Conqueror first appeared as the pharaoh Rama Tut; he had gone back in time to ancient Egypt to conquer from there. Ramat Tut's general level of nefariousness can vary. Sometimes he's an older version of Kang who got bored of conquering and went back to Ancient Egypt to live a relatively simpler life.

* ''Manga/SoulEater'': Witch {{necromancer}} Samantha tries to summon Wrath of the Pharaoh, a malevolent spirit residing in the Pyramid of Anubis. The sarcophagus of the Pharaoh is perfectly symmetrical, making it impossible for the SuperOCD Kid to destroy it. Then the Pharaoh steps out of the sarcophagus to give the final strike, and he is revealed to be horribly asymmetrical. Cue Kid's BerserkButton [[CurbStompBattle hitting the floor]].

** One of the many forms of Nyarlathotep, the most actively evil EldritchAbomination, is the Black Pharaoh, a haughty Egyptian pharaoh with black skin (not brown or tan: ''[[UncannyValley jet, beetle-shell black]]'') wearing a brightly colored robe. He also used to be worshipped in AncientEgypt. Notably appears as such to the protagonist in ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath''.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': The villain Kang the Conqueror first appeared as the pharaoh Rama Tut; he had gone back in time to ancient Egypt to conquer from there.

* Poobah the Pharaoh in ''VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'' starved his subjects in exchange for a wish from the demon Terrormisu, only for her to double-cross him. 5000 years later, his undead self is LaughingMad from waiting so long, and fights Wario to prove his worthiness.
* ''VideoGame/VampiresDawn'' has Pharaoh Ustrah. While he isn't really important in the first game, he becomes one of the main villains of the second game.
* {{Dark|IsEvil}} Pharaoh Tekahn in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is the leader of a faction of very sphinx-like creatures who allied themselves with Deathwing, the BigBad of the ''Cataclysm'' expansion.

* ''VideoGame/DeStrega'': Raone's outfit is meant to invoke the effect, what with the nemes he wears.
* ''VideoGame/DuckTales 2'' has the boss of Egypt's stage, a duck pharaoh who's guarding the ancient treasure of Egypt.
* In ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'', you may very well end up viewing the head of the Egyptian faction as this; it's the strongest non-Roman faction in the entire game.
* The Pharaoh Zombie from ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'' starts out armored in a sarcophagus ([[StoneWall which has a TON of health but makes him walk slow]]), but once it's destroyed, it reveals the mummy underneath who is [[ShedArmorGainSpeed extremely fast without the heavy sarcophagus]].
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins:'' The DLC "Curse of the Pharaohs" deals with ghosts of pharaohs rampaging around Thebes, murdering everyone in sight before disappearing, because of someone misusing an Apple of Eden. [[spoiler:''Maybe''. The game hints the ghosts are those who previously held the Apple before the current owner stole it for their own purposes, but then Bayek takes a trip into the afterlife and meets them.]]
* ''VideoGame/PharaohRebirth'' is titled after its villain, pharaoh Sehur I, who curses the game's protagonist to die in a week. He was also the BigBad of the freeware game ''Return of Egypt'', made by the same developer under another moniker more than a decade earlier; in fact ''Pharaoh Rebirth'' is a StealthSequel of the latter.
* ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' has a rare female example with Serpci, the boss ghost of the Tomb Suites. She wears the typical pharaoh outfit, she sleeps in a sarcophagus in a pyramid, and she sends Luigi to die in a sand pit at the bottom of her pyramid before later attacking him with SandBlaster powers when he escapes.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' episode "King Ramses' Curse", the ghost of the titular pharaoh arrives to haunt anyone who possesses his stolen tomb slab even if it was stolen by someone else, casting three deadly curses on them if they refuse to return the slab; and he doesn't care about collateral casualties...
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': Irwin's grandfather was one and during his appearance he convinced his grandson to follow his example with promises that being a pharaoh would win him points with the ladies. Under his tutelage Irwin brainwashes almost everyone into Endsville into becoming his slaves who will do nothing but chant "Long live the Nerd King" and build him a pyramid of his own. [[BuriedAlive But unfortunately for him its not just chicks that dig pharaohs but also archaeologists, after they have been interred that is.]]
* ''Toys/MonsterHigh'': Ramses de Nile (Cleo and Nefera's father) is shown to be like this, especially in the AristocratsAreEvil part.
* Toth-Ra, the antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra", is a [[{{Mummy}} mummified undead]] pharaoh that enslaves his people, giving them sunlight only for brief periods of time. [[spoiler: However, the mummy is just a puppet controlled by a guard - except it actually comes to life once crossing a sigil.]]
* A Pharaoh features as a MonsterOfTheWeek in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. He has a myriad of powers, wants to bring his wife back from the dead, and his civilian identity is a museum curator.

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* The OVA for ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove'' has King Tut trying to take over New York City. During TheRoaringTwenties. And the only people capable of stopping him are a MagiTek {{Steampunk}} spec-ops team who masquerade as a theatre troupe.
* In ''WebAnimation/InfernoCop'', Inferno Cop finds a villainous pharaoh after he travels to Egypt and takes a nap inside a sarcophagus.

* Creator/MarvelComics:
** The villain Kang the Conqueror first appeared as the pharaoh Rama Tut; he had gone back in time to ancient Egypt to conquer from there.
** The Living Pharaoh, an ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain (also in [[VideoGame/XMen the arcade game]]) who was later upgraded to The Living Monolith when he learned how to grow to colossal size.
** There is also the ComicBook/{{Nova}} villain, the Sphinx, who physically resembles the Living Monolith, and has some of the same motivations: restoring Egypt to its former glory.

* Pharaoh Rehk'Set from ''FanFic/EgyptOnAnurKhufos'', who uses drones and video monitors to spy on the population and [[spoiler: kidnaps humans to use as slaves.]] Played with as he controls an Egypt-themed alien planet, rather than Egypt itself, and subverted by the time the story takes place, where almost everyone is ignoring his reign.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Close enough in ''Film/{{The Mummy|2017}}'' (2017) with the nefarious ''daughter'' of a pharaoh. She slaughtered her own father and baby brother to gain power from Set.

* In the ''Literature/SecretSeries'', Lord Pharaoh is a prime example of this: evil, single-minded dedication to living forever and quite possibly taking over the world someday.
* Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' offers a subversion of this idea, with Dios the High Priest -- effectively the ruler of an Ancient Egypt-like country -- manipulating a succession of essentially benign but hopelessly confused Pharaohs [[spoiler:for seven thousand years]].
* The Armenian national epic ''Literature/DavidOfSasun'' has Melik, the evil Egyptian king. He was probably based on the pharaoh from Exodus, and given the fact that Egypt has never actually conquered Armenia, is also probably a sort of NoCelebritiesWereHarmed {{Expy}} of the Arab caliphs or Turkish sultans.

* The main villain of the first novel in the ''Literature/IslandRus'' series by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko is an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who pursues the {{Time Travel}}ing heroes throughout history.

* In Myth/ClassicalMythology, the Egyptian king Busiris was heavily into HumanSacrifice - until he tried to sacrifice Herakles, that is.

* A female example is Nitocris in [[Magazine/WeirdTales “The Vengeance of Nitocris”]] by Creator/TennesseeWilliams. After her brother (the previous pharaoh) is killed by the high priests, Nitocris becomes pharaoh. She decides to get revenge for her brother’s death by killing the high priests in an elaborate death trap that consists of [[spoiler:a great underground chamber that can be sealed shut and has behind one of the walls a sluice gate that opens onto the Nile; raising the sluice gate floods the chamber, drowning everyone inside.]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' had Sutekh, a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien with an Egyptian theme and robot {{Mooks}} disguised as {{Mumm|y}}ies, in the [[TheNthDoctor Fourth Doctor]] story, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars Pyramids of Mars]]."
* ''Series/ElectraWomanAndDynaGirl'' featured a villain known only as The Pharaoh. It was implied by the narrator that he was somehow an actual pharaoh, despite being played by the very American Peter Mark Richman. And despite it being nearly two thousand years after the last pharaoh had ruled Egypt.

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', the Necrons have always had some Egyptian-ish design elements, but as of their 5th edition codex they have embraced this trope. The Necron leaders in the new codex are called "Phaerons" and their armour and headgear has some very obvious Egyptian influences. A lot of the Necron lords also have Egyptian-esque names, such as Imhotek (strangely enough, the ones that don't seem to have Polish names. Go figure).
* The Tomb Kings of Khemri in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' are this, as the priests who were supposed to grant them entry to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence a glorious afterlife as immortal god-kings]] instead [[UnwantedRevival brought them back]] as undead {{mumm|y}}ies. In an interesting variation, each of them still thinks himself the rightful ruler of Khemri, as he was in life... which [[RightHandVersusLeftHand doesn't go well]] with the many predecessors and successors who ''also'' believe themselves the rightful rulers of Khemri.
* In LEGO Games' ''[[http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3943158 Ramses' Pyramid,]]'' the Mummy King, who wears the stereotypical headdress, is both this and The {{Mummy}}.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' has the specter (Titan-corrupted ghost) of pharaoh UsefulNotes/{{Akhenaten}} as a powerful servant of Aten, the [[LightIsNotGood Titan of Light]] and designated enemy of the Egyptian pantheon.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'''s Golarion setting, the AncientEgypt-esque country of Osirion has suffered through several of these. A few notables include several Pharaohs who studied and worshiped various {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, two who became [[OurLichesAreDifferent liches]] and ruled for centuries as undead monstrosities, one whose decadent lifestyle caused his ancestors to rise as {{Mumm|y}}ies and tear him apart, two who joined the cult of Rovagug the Great Destroyer, the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Pharaoh of Forgotten Plagues]] who built a place called [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace the House of Oblivion]] as a material plane anchor for [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Ahriman]] and his [[TheLegionsOfHell Div minions]], and the four Pharaohs of Ascension whose golden age was sustained by a horrifically abused slave underclass. The ''Mummy's Mask'' adventure path is about one of them rising from the grave (as a {{mummy}}, of course), and having to be stopped from taking over Osirion again.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': The world of Amonkhet is entirely based on Ancient Egypt, so it's no surprise it would be ruled by a Pharaoh. Unfortunately, the "God-Pharaoh" whose return Amonkhet's inhabitants so eagerly await is [[EvilSorcerer Nicol]] [[BigBad Bolas]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' shortly after the beginning of the quest The New War, [[spoiler:the war ends, with the Sentient under the control of former [[AbusivePrecursors Orokin]] Ballas victorious. He proceeds to establish a new empire under the name of Narmer, the pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt into one nation. He even [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ballas_narmer.png dresses the part]].]]

* Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'' offers a subversion of this idea, with Dios the High Priest -- effectively the ruler of an [[UpToEleven Ancient Egypt]]-like country -- manipulating a succession of essentially benign but hopelessly confused Pharaohs [[spoiler:for seven thousand years]].

** PlayedWith for the Pharaohs in the Literature/BookOfGenesis:
*** One early pharaoh is furious at Abraham (then known as Abram) for lying about the relationship between him and Sarah (then known as Sarai) as the patriarch had presented her as his sister when she was in fact his wife, fearing that if the truth was known he'd be murdered and an Egyptian would marry his widow. Apparently hosting them and showering them with gifts under this misconception was enough for YHWH to send a plague to Egypt, so he orders his men to deport the couple.
*** A later pharoah is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who seems to appreciate Joseph a lot and is kind to his family when they arrive. He was willing to accommodate Joseph's relatives in Goshen, a particularly fertile area of Egypt where they would be able to graze their flocks (and also where they would be separate from the Egyptian populace, as Egyptians tended to look down on shepherds). This Pharaoh also promoted Joseph as his [[TheGoodChancellor Vizier]] for his deeds.

** PlayWith for the Pharaoh in the Literature/BookOfGenesis:

** Inverted for the Pharaoh in the Literature/BookOfGenesis, he is a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who seems to appreciate Joseph a lot and is kind to his family when they arrive. He was willing to accommodate Joseph's relatives in Goshen, a particularly fertile area of Egypt where they would be able to graze their flocks (and also where they would be separate from the Egyptian populace, as Egyptians tended to look down on shepherds). This Pharaoh also promoted Joseph as his [[TheGoodChancellor Vizier]] for his deeds.