History WesternAnimation / ThePrinceOfEgypt

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: By presenting Tzipporah to Rameses, Hotep and Huy inadvertently end up [[ForWantOfANail beginning a chain of events that results in the conflict of the third act of the film]].

* AdaptationalWimp: The Egyptian High Priests in the Book of Exodus were genuinely able to recreate both the snake summoning and bloody river miracles. In this movie they're charlatans who make use of trickery to woo the King.

** The Egyptian Captivity and the Exodus are thought by nearly all historians to be myths. There is no material evidence of Israelites living in Egypt at this time, which would have been extremely obvious even if only a few hundred lived in Egypt for a few decades - it is impossible for hundreds of thousands of people to live in an area for four hundred years and leave no archaeological evidence.

* DeadpanSnarker: Hotep and Huy, the Egyptian high priests, have their moments – often mumbled in the background:

* PyrrhicVictory: As an adaptation of the Exodus, it ends with the implication that the hebrews end up in Canaan, the land promised to Abraham. There's a bit of [[PlotHole problem with that]]. [[spoiler: Canaan was actually part of the Egyptian empire during the time of Rameses II, having been actually conquered by '''Seti I''', his father. To make matters even worse, Rameses II would eventually lead several military expeditions into the Levant and the tribe of Israel would eventually be wiped out by Rameses' thirteeneth son and successor Merneptah.]]

** Additionally, in 2010, it was discovered that slaves in Egypt did NOT build any pyramids or monuments of Egypt. They were built by paid laborers with their own unions. This means that EVERY scene where slaves are seen in hard labor is dated.

* AlternateLandmarkHistory: Rameses and Moses race their chariots through the monument construction grounds, causing a pile of bricks to knock off the nose of a statue, in allusion to the Art/TheSphinx.

** We have a three-fer in Moses and Rameses being shown knocking off the nose of Art/TheSphinx[[note]]It's actually a colossus of Seti[[/note]] while it's still under construction. First, the ancient monuments for which Egypt is so famous were built by paid laborers, not slaves. Second, the Sphinx itself was already ancient by the time of Rameses ''or'' the Hebrew Slaves, at least by this film's time placement of them. Third, the nose of the structure would not come off until several thousands of years after the events of this film (a 14th century Muslim fanatic is thought to be responsible). And finally, the Sphinx is located on the Giza Plateau; the temple complex through which Moses and Rameses race is, by appearances, located in Memphis (the legislative capital of Egypt during the 19th dynasty), about 10 miles away.

The movie also spawned a DirectToVideo follow-up/prequel WesternAnimation/JosephKingOfDreams

*** For that matter, there are a couple of shots ([[https://leidenislamblog.nl/images/uploads/15_phot.png one during "All I Ever Wanted"]], and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20221002235400/https://i1.wp.com/caps.pictures/199/8-prince-egypt/full/prince-of-egypt-disneyscreencaps.com-2909.jpg?strip=alll the other during Moses' nightmare]]) that show images of Akhenaten's favored god, Aten (the solar disc, with rays ending in hands) in the murals in the palace.

*** For that matter, there are a couple of shots ([[https://leidenislamblog.nl/images/uploads/15_phot.png one during "All I Ever Wanted"]], and [[https://i1.wp.com/caps.pictures/199/8-prince-egypt/full/prince-of-egypt-disneyscreencaps.com-2909.jpg?strip=all the other during Moses' nightmare]]) that show images of Akhenaten's favored god, Aten (the solar disc, with rays ending in hands) in the murals in the palace.

--->'''Rameses's son:''' Isn't that the man who did all this?\\

'''Rameses:''' I will not be ''dictated'' to, I will not be ''threatened.''

* PetTheDog: Subverted. Seti clearly cares about his sons. When he finds Moses reeling at the fate of the Hebrew children, Seti hugs him, speaks in the soothing tones of Creator/PatrickStewart...and tells Moses it was justified because they were just slave children. The worst part of this is that Seti thought this would make Moses feel ''better''.

* BittersweetEnding: Moses successfully leads the Hebrews out of their lives as slaves, [[spoiler:but his brotherly relationship with Rameses is destroyed forever and he'll never see him again]]. [[HappilyEverBefore And if you have read the Bible]], [[ForegoneConclusion you will know that things for the Hebrews will be going downhill.]]
* BlessedWithSuck: Moses comes to view being chosen by God as this, as he is forced to be the instrument of destruction, pain and death, and he has to go against the man he sees as a brother.

* CainAndAbel: Moses and Rameses are a deconstruction of this trope, as their history and affection lead to great turmoil and angst as they conflict with one another. Neither ''wants'' to kill the other (and it takes a spectacular VillainousBreakdown on Rameses' part before it gets to that point), but are thrust into their roles by a higher power.

** When Tzipporah is offered to Rameses by the priests she tries to bite his hand and Moses teases him: "Not much of a snake charmer, are you?" When Moses shows up at the palace for the first time and tells Rameses to "let his people go" and then transforms his staff into a snake, Rameses smirks and says "Hotep, Huy, show this snake charmer our answer". Moses had brought Tzipporah to the palace as his wife.

* DamselInDistress: Tzipporah is introduced this way, captured by Hotep and Huy and intended as a concubine of sorts for Rameses. [[DamselOutOfDistress She later escapes by herself.]] Later in the film this is also how Moses meets her three sisters, as they are being harassed by bandits trying to make off with their sheep.

* DatedHistory: In 1994, Rameses was discovered to be a redhead and in 2016 he was discovered to be fair-skinned meaning the black-haired, brown-skinned depiction in this film has actually become dated. Given how genetics work, the appearance of Seti and Tuya also fall under this trope as do all the Egyptians as they were historically quite diverse due to Egypt having always been a melting pot and crossroads meaning there has always been Egyptians of every hair and skin color.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Some of the Egyptians guards are seen joining and aiding the Hebrews on their journey to the Promised Land.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Moses confronting Rameses after [[spoiler:the latter's son has been killed]] in the final plague of Egypt.

** Definitely applies to Nefretiri, Rameses' wife and mother of Amun, who only is briefly seen standing by Rameses' throne at the beginning of the scene where Moses first demands for the release of his people, but does not appear again.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Moses thinks that if he talks to Rameses like old times, that he can try to release the Hebrew people peacefully. Thing is that he barges in on his brother who is now a Pharaoh, and claims that he is following a new god that wants the slaves to be free because it's the right thing to do. Rameses in public plays it off as Moses being mischievous, but in private has to go by TheChainsOfCommanding and point out the obvious: there is no benefit to the Egyptians by freeing the slaves, and he knows that his brother returned home expecting followers. If Rameses just frees the slaves like that, it will cause huge economic disruption and potential political chaos. He also is betrayed that Moses chose the slaves over him, and that starts their vendetta which leads to the Ten Plagues. It's likely that if Moses had come to him in private and tried to suggest a plan where everyone is saved, it might have led to more negotiations.

* DisappointingHeritageReveal: Moses is initially horrified when he discovers he is of Jewish heritage, since the Jews are enslaved under his adoptive family (and he has grown up believing that the Jews are lesser because of this). This leads to his BSODSong "All I Ever Wanted", where he tries to deny this and say he's still a prince of Egypt. This is subverted when he discovers that the only reason he was given away was because his adoptive father was murdering Jewish infants, leading to a HeritageFaceTurn.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: It seems like Seti I will be the pharaoh Moses must step up against to free the Hebrews, but he dies offscreen halfway through the film and his son Rameses steps up.

* DontYouDarePityMe: Rameses [[spoiler:telling Moses to leave him after his son's death as a result of the final plague]]. This moment even provides the trope image.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For Seti and later Rameses. Seti has his queen, as well as Rameses and Moses until Moses learns of his true heritage. Rameses has his queen (though we barely see her) as well as his son in the latter half of the film [[spoiler:until he's killed in the final plague]].

* ExactWords: "And there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt, such as there never has been or ever will be again", said by Rameses when he decides that his father had the right idea of how to keep the Hebrews in line by killing their children and wants to finish the job. [[spoiler:There's a great cry in all of Egypt, all right, but it doesn't come from the Hebrews...]] Moses' reaction to Rameses' statement makes it clear he knows exactly how those words will play out.
* TheFaceless: Jethrodiadah, the youngest of Tzipporah's sisters. We get a brief glimpse of her face when she excitedly asks Moses to sit with her at Jethro's banquet table, but otherwise her eyes are the only part of her face not concealed by her oversized [[NeverBareheaded headscarf]].
* FacialProfiling: The Hebrews are depicted with curly mops of unruly dark hair and many of them have larger noses. They also have lighter skin compared to the darker Egyptians. The Egyptians themselves have round, smooth faces with high cheekbones, narrow eyes and smooth black hair. This was intentional, as explained in the promotional materials. The Egyptians in general are composed of angular, symmetric, geometric lines in contrast to the Hebrews' rounded, more natural and varied forms. [[https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/culture/ancient-hebrew-clothing.htm Authentic Egyptian art depicts Semites as bearded and lighter skinned in contrast to the clean-shaven, slightly darker Egyptians.]]

* JuxtaposedHalvesShot: Done during "The Plagues" between [[TheHero Moses]] and [[WellDoneSonGuy Rameses]]. It shows a closeup of Moses' face as he looks over the city, torn up over all the suffering brought by the plagues. Then the left side of his face (from the viewer's perspective) changes to that of Rameses, who by refusing to accede to Moses is allowing the plagues to continue. For added contrast, Moses' face is cast in yellow lighting while Rameses' is cast in blue.

* KarmicJackpot: While Moses mistreats Tzipporah at first, he distracts the guards when he notices her escaping, effectively freeing her from what would have been a life of slavery. After he has his HeelRealization, she ends up finding him and takes him back to her family's home in Midian where he is nursed back to health, treated as an honored guest and eventually made one of them.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Under Seti's order, Egypt slaughters all Hebrew newborn children to prevent any sort of future uprising. Karma strikes decades later [[spoiler:when God sends the Plagues upon Egypt, but especially the worst one of all: the Final Plague, which kill the firstborn children of Egypt, including Rameses's son. However, beforehand, He lets Moses try one last time to talk Rameses out of it before the final Plague is unleashed, and Rameses decides to try and imitate his father's actions, resulting in this trope being done to him as well.]]

** [[spoiler:Before the final plague is unleashed, Moses pleads with his brother to stop before God releases it. Rameses then states his intent to repeat his father's atrocity by committing another mass murder of Hebrew children, sealing his fate.]]
** Once the Hebrews are nearly to the other side of the Red Sea, God takes away the fire tornado that blocked Rameses' army without closing the path through the waters. Technically, Rameses ''could'' have turned back rather than pursue the people under the protection of a God that can part a huge body of water and create fire tornadoes. But he didn't.

* LightIsNotGood: The 10th plague plays this trope when the angel of death, in the form of a white cloud, comes down for the firstborn Egyptian sons. The played with element comes in in that the angel's nature -- good, evil, or simply an impassive agent of God -- is up for debate.

* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:The Egyptian soldiers, just before the Red Sea sweeps over them.]]

* MookHorrorShow: ''The Plagues'' is one where the "mooks" are ''the entire Egyptian people,'' with one nightmarish plague after another striking them. Unusually, in this case the hero is shown to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone himself be horrified by the pain he's inflicting,]] but of course he can't stop without condemning his own people to continued slavery.
* MortonsFork: Rameses, in his desire to avoid being the "weak link" his father dismissed him as. On one hand, if he frees the Hebrews, he'll go down in time as the king who willingly gave away the main source of labor on which Egypt's power and overall magnificence greatly depends. On the other hand, if he fights to keep the Hebrews as slaves, Egypt is destroyed by God and the plagues. Either way, he, his legacy, and his dynasty's legacy, are completely screwed. Although, given that history remembers him as "the great" and his reign marks the absolute pinnacle of Egypt's power, authority and glory, maybe he doesn't do ''too'' badly, though he doesn't know this at the time (though this is probably more to do with the fact that the real Rameses likely wasn't actually the Pharaoh ruling Egypt at the time the plagues took place).

** In the next scene, when the slaves hear of this, the are greatly displeased with Moses and one of them throws mud at him to show their frustration.

** Aaron, in the background, when Miriam tells Moses “You’re our brother." Also, Moses when he realizes that Miriam is right as she's singing him the river lullaby.

** Other heroic characters who wear some red are his mother who saved him from being killed by Seti I and his sister Miriam who supported him through the entire endeavor. His wife Tzipporah also wears a red ponytail holder and has a red cloth during “Through Heaven’s Eyes” and is just as devoted in supporting Moses and protecting him from harm.
* RedOniBlueOni: Moses and Rameses, respectively. As young men, Moses is rambunctious and flippant while Rameses is more introspective and prone to angsting. When they grow up, they retain their oni roles, but in a different way. Moses is passionate and warm while Rameses is cold and ruthless. Even their clothing reflects this. Rameses wears blue and white while Moses wears red and earth tones. They're also represented by their respective colors in one shot during "The Plagues."

** Also Miriam and Aaron: Miriam wears red and is warm and kind, passionately faithful in her beliefs and very direct and straightfoward, while Aaron wears blue and is more sensible and cautious, often trying to shield his sister from the consequences of her behaviour or keeping her out of trouble when she tries to intervene.

* RiversOfBlood: The scene from Exodus is played out when Moses uses his staff to turn the river Nile into blood, sending Rameses' soldiers into a panic.

* RuleOfSymbolism: In the opening sequence the Hebrew slaves look upon with awe at the statue of Ra that they just put up, which symbolized [[TheEmpire the power of the Egyptians over them]]. Toward the end of the plagues sequence, the statue crumbles. Some scholars believe that the plagues were meant to rebuke the various Egyptian religions and their gods (Ra, god of the Sun falls on the onset of the plague of darkness).
** When Moses first returns to Rameses, he shows God's power by turning his staff into a snake; in an effort to rebuke him, the priests apparently turn their staves into snakes, too, but in this version of the story Egyptian polytheism is shown to be a sham with all of the "miracles" performed by the priests being stage magic. Not only does this emphasize that, from the perspective of millions or billions of people, the Ancient Egyptian religion ''is'' all lies and deceit whereas the Abrahamic religion[[note]]in this case Judaism, since Christianity, Islam, and other derivatives don't exist yet[[/note]] is the one true faith but also that the singular Hebrew God is more powerful than the false Egyptian ones. Hammering this home, by the end of the scene Moses' staff-snake has devoured the two fake ones, symbolizing the power that God is shown to have over the false gods of Egypt throughout the rest of the story.

** Once the Angel of Death disappears into a vortex in the night sky the stars become visible, including one of the constellations: Orion, The Hunter. Very appropriate given how the Angel just finished hunting down all the firstborn of Egypt.

* SerpentStaff: As in the Bible, Moses turns his staff into a snake to show Rameses the power of {{God}}. The pharaoh's priests replicate his feat (though unlike the Bible this is implied to just be sleight of hand) while delivering a VillainSong [[YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith calling Moses out of his depths]], [[DramaticIrony oblivious that his snake is easily eating theirs]].
* SettingUpdate: A minor example. Rabbinical Judaism tells us that Moses' lifespan corresponds to 1391 -- 1271 BCE, telling us the Exodus happened in 1311 BCE and thus that the Pharaoh of the Exodus would have been Horemheb, the predecessor of Rameses I, the father of Seti. Jerome, on the other hand, gives Moses' year of birth as 1592 BCE, meaning the Exodus would have been in 1512 BCE with Thutmose I as the Pharaoh and Ussher gives Moses' year of birth as 1571 BCE, meaning the Exodus would have been in 1491 BCE, with the Pharaoh being Thutmose II.

** During "The Plagues", Rameses says 'then let my heart be hardened.' While many translations translate the scription as 'God hardened Pharaoh's heart,' an alternative translation is 'God suffered Pharaoh's heart be hardened,' exactly what happens here.
** There actually was an important priest during the reign of Rameses II named Huy, with his specific position being High Priest of Ptah. There was also another important figure named Huy during Rameses' reign, in this case the Viceroy of Kush.
** The production team behind the film consulted with Jewish, Biblical, Muslim and Arabic scholars for cultural accuracy.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NieC8KA0EvI When You Believe]]" has a segment where a children's chorus begins singing in Hebrew a verse praising God for His deliverance of the Isrealites. This is an example of the movie having {{shown their work}} as the Hebrews actually do sing a {{Song of Prayer}} after the Exodus in the Bible.

* TheSwarm: Several of the plagues, including frogs, locusts and pestilence.

* ToothStrip: The human characters all have these, but the camels and sheep have lines between the teeth. The closest human aversion in the film can be seen in some close up shots, where the teeth are drawn with noticeable bumps along the lower edge to imply seperate teeth.
* ToppledStatue: The same statue shown being raised in the opening [[spoiler:is destroyed during the Plagues]].

* UnderestimatingBadassery: The Egyptian priests and, especially, Rameses have absolutely no idea what they're dealing with in the God of the Hebrews, and at first treat this new deity with sneering contempt. Then the Plagues hit...
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: People were so distracted by the priests' theatrics that they don't seem to notice Moses' snake eating the two that they produced.

* WeNeedADistraction: Moses helps Tzipporah escape from Egypt by quickly summoning two guards that otherwise would have caught her in the act to him, and send them to his room to investigate the man Tzipporah left tied up there.

** When he meets Tzipporah's younger sisters, he is tired and hungry, and saw the girls being harassed by water thieves. He could've just not butted in, but uses his strength to get the harassers away.

--->'''Rameses' son:''' Isn't that the man who did all this?\\

'''Moses:''' Because no kingdom should be built on the backs of slaves. Rameses, your stubborness is what brings this misery upon Egypt. It would cease if you only let the Hebrews go.\\

* WindsAreGhosts: The final plague of taking the first born is represented as a wind that takes the souls of children.

** Historically, Seti I's firstborn was a daughter named Tia, and some historians believe he had a second daughter named Henutmire (who was one of Rameses II's wives). Neither daughter exists in the film, and Rameses is his only biological child.

* AdaptationalHeroism:

** Moses' father Amram actually lived to see the slaves being freed from Egypt (as did Yocheved) but he does not appear here and Yocheved has died before Moses reaches adulthood.

** The historical Rameses II had ''seven wives'', three or four of whom were his own daughters, with whom he produced something like ''one hundred children''. In the film, this is pared down to just one wife and one son. And while not quite as prolific as his son, Seti I also produced several children that are not included in the movie. All seven of Rameses' wives were Great Royal Wife at some point, the film just seems to be depicting the then Great Royal Wife.

* GenreThrowback: To [[EpicMovie biblical and historical epics]] of the [[The50s 50’s]]/[[The60s early 60’s]], especially ''Film/{{The Ten Commandments|1956}}'' and ''Film/LawrenceofArabia''.

* GenreThrowback: To [[EpicMovie biblical and historical epics]] of the [[The50s 50’s]]/[[The60s early 60’s]], especially [[Film/TheTenCommandments1956 The Ten Commandments]] and [[Film/LawrenceofArabia Lawrence of Arabia]].

* AngryMobSong: The slaves' part of "Deliver Us", though in the way that "Look Down" from ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' is an AngryMobSong; a desperate, bitter, pleading sort of anger.

** In Exodus, Moses actually had Aaron speak to Pharaoh on his behalf and also perform most of the miracles, as Moses was a poor orator. This is the [[AdaptationalContextChange original context]] in which Moses objects to being chosen as God's spokesman which provokes God's heated response "Who made man's mouth?". In this film Moses speaks to Pharaoh himself, which is common in adaptations of Exodus.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Hotep and Huy's snake conjuration was done with such theatrics that it is hard to tell if they actually did magic or just managed some sleight of hand, although at some points in their song, the positions they're in could only be managed by {{Offscreen Teleportation}}, walking off in one direction and coming in from another, or disappearing in a puff of smoke (unless they had some ''very'' well-trained slaves acting as body doubles). They also do some unambiguous magic in the same song, summoning glowing sigils in the air and controlling flames; it makes the actual stick-to-snake trick seem kind of petty. Although this could just be musical convention rather than actually happening InUniverse. Their attempt at turning water to blood and other "magic", however, is demonstrably accomplished through showmanship and artificial tools.[[note]]While the stick-to-snake trick had a lot of unnecessary flash, it's rather hard to believe two cowards like them would handle live snakes - that haven't even been defanged! - barehanded unless they had ''something'' controlling the critters.[[/note]]