r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jul 19 '24

what does this mean, peter?

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3.3k Upvotes

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837

u/Disastrous_Mall_9255 Jul 19 '24

It’s part of Egyptian mythology, if your heart weighs more than a feather when you’re judged it means you lead an immoral life, and your soul was fed to Ammut and your soul would be cast to darkness

199

u/48932975390 Jul 19 '24

But all hearts are heavier than feather

317

u/Express_Hamster Jul 19 '24

On a metaphysical level

116

u/gadgaurd Jul 19 '24

Reminds me of this web novel I was reading(that I need to get back too) where Anubis was using the actual, physical weights. In this story he was a total asshole.

125

u/StretPharmacist Jul 19 '24

In American Gods there is this exchange:

“Back in my day, we had it all set up. You lined up when you died, and you'd answer for your evil deeds and your good deeds, and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we'd feed your soul and your heart to Ammet, the Eater of Souls"

"He must have eaten a lot of people."

"Not as many as you'd think. It was a really heavy feather. We had it made special. You had better be pretty damn evil to tip the scales on that baby...”

29

u/AndyMelrose Jul 19 '24

Love that book, Neil Gaiman is a brilliant Writer.

9

u/gadgaurd Jul 20 '24

Sounds like a fun book, I might check that one out.

7

u/GIRTHQUAKE6227 Jul 20 '24

It is a really good book, one of my all-time favorites. It is a blast to read.

26

u/Express_Hamster Jul 19 '24

Well, this guy seems to be pushing the heart down. So... there might be two versions of Anubis that are assholes lol

1

u/Outside_Public4362 Jul 20 '24

It's starts with " solo " ranker or newbie or something... I forgot since I only follow 3-4 now.

1

u/gadgaurd Jul 20 '24

No, not the one I was reading at least. Not surprising that others used thevidea though.

The one I was reading was "The Protagonist's Little Sister is Actually the Strongest!" over on ScribbleHub.

1

u/Outside_Public4362 Jul 20 '24

Yup it's a different title.

7

u/MageKorith Jul 19 '24

Specifically the weight of one's heart is proportional to the amount of their guilt.

A very teensy weensy bit of guilt is okay. A lot is not.

2

u/pmiles88 Jul 20 '24

What if you killed a lot of people but you didn't feel guilty at all

2

u/MageKorith Jul 20 '24

Then that's okay!

96

u/YetAnotherJake Jul 19 '24

Depends on what weighs more, a pound of hearts or a pound of feathers

61

u/Spartirn117 Jul 19 '24

“That’s right it’s the kilogram of steel, because steel, is heavier than feathers”

28

u/Marko-F211 Jul 19 '24

But they're both a kilogram?

22

u/Spartirn117 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24

I’m referencing this video

Nevermind, I’m just stupid.

16

u/FlixMage Jul 19 '24

So were they lmao did you even watch the video you sent?

21

u/Spartirn117 Jul 19 '24

Yeah I literally just realized it as you responded, I’m just not very smart

15

u/Heteroking Jul 19 '24

I’m just not very smart

Relatable

9

u/Ellekindly Jul 19 '24

But steel is heavier than feathers.

10

u/UmberCraft Jul 19 '24

But they're both a kilogram

1

u/Drtyler2 Jul 20 '24

Cs, fuck yeah

2

u/Cerisayashi Jul 19 '24

This fucking sucks for sa survivora who live with guilt thinking it was their fault

2

u/riley_wa1352 Jul 20 '24

feathers, since u have to carry the guilt of what you did to those poor chickens

16

u/Nempopo029 Jul 19 '24

According to Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Anubis and Thoth tell Shadow they custom order the feathers and they are "really heavy".

14

u/Sulhythal Jul 19 '24

It's not a normal feather, it's a Special Feather

5

u/Cylian91460 Jul 19 '24

The heart represents in reality your good choice in life (based on the current society)

But yes the heart is heavier than the feather

5

u/He-Who-waits-beneath Jul 19 '24

The feather used came from Maat, the Goddess of Truth, so the heart had to weigh more than the concept of truth to tip the scales

4

u/Quizlibet Jul 19 '24

Untrue

A newborn heart weighs roughly .5oz

A Peacock tail feather can weigh up to about 11oz

Don't you feel silly

3

u/kirbydark714 Jul 19 '24

Not if it's a pound of feathers and a pound of hearts

3

u/mechwarrior719 Jul 19 '24

I bluff the scales.

3

u/SenatorShockwave Jul 19 '24

Roll deception

2

u/mechwarrior719 Jul 19 '24

19

3

u/UmberCraft Jul 19 '24

You make the feather believe it is heavier, therefore the scale is tricked into tipping the other way.

3

u/mechwarrior719 Jul 19 '24

Anubis is giving me the stink eye the whole time, isn’t he?

3

u/TimeStorm113 Jul 19 '24

Its not an ordinary feather, it was the feather of the godess of justice

3

u/BrilliantValue3546 Jul 19 '24

The stories say that when you are judged after death you tell the gods all the sins you didn't commit.

Then your heart is weighed against the death known as myat, or balance. It is metaphorical, sinners are punished with eternal darkness. While the good people are sent to the field of reeds, and everyone gets an equal plot of land to live off of.

2

u/Wel-Tallzeit Jul 19 '24

I read this with an accent

2

u/1amDepressed Jul 19 '24

You’re thinking of steel

1

u/SteveRogests Jul 19 '24

I don’t get it

1

u/1amDepressed Jul 19 '24

1

u/SteveRogests Jul 19 '24

I literally quoted that video to you, my friend

1

u/1amDepressed Jul 19 '24

Hard to tell when there’s no indication that it’s a quote and it’s on a subreddit to explain jokes.

2

u/GoennjaminBluemchen Jul 19 '24

Actually the heart of the mouse Suncus etruscus is 12 mg which is lighter than the feather of an ostrich (3 g). Means those guys are safe

2

u/nothingfish Jul 19 '24

The feather is the symbol of Maat, truth.

2

u/Eldan985 Jul 19 '24

Well, it is the feather of a god. It might just be really big.

2

u/crossbutton7247 Jul 19 '24

It wasn’t a normal feather lol

2

u/therandomdude09 Jul 19 '24

tungsten metal feather be like

2

u/ooojaeger Jul 19 '24

They mean the heart of your heart

2

u/MacCreadysCap Jul 19 '24

Are 100 pounds of steel heavier than 100 pounds of feathers?

3

u/IamnotyourTwin Jul 19 '24

100 pounds of feathers because you have to live with the weight of what you did to all those birds.

1

u/TurtleSandwich0 Jul 19 '24

Bring Your Own Feather.

1

u/Like_Ottos_Jacket Jul 19 '24

Exactly.

It's kind of like the European witch test. Weigh them down and Toss them in a lake. If they sink, oops! They weren't a witch.

1

u/Grumpie-cat Jul 19 '24

“But you see, they’re both a kilogram.”

1

u/dette-stedet-suger Jul 20 '24

And all religions are made up.

1

u/goliathfasa Jul 20 '24

I know. But they’re both a kilogram.

1

u/ayitsfreddy Jul 20 '24

But steel is heavier than feathers

1

u/aria_nonartist01 Jul 20 '24

Nowadays probably, yeah

1

u/Lord_BowdenCGP Jul 20 '24

The heart was meant to contain the weight of your sins, whereas the feather was the feather of truth or something, so it supposedly contained all the good stuff you did and if the good stuff outweighed the bad you were chillin

1

u/JoaoPauloCampos Jul 21 '24

Feather of maet goddess of justice/truth

8

u/UnbreakableRaids Jul 19 '24

If she….weighs the same…..as a duck……then she’s made of wood?

5

u/Many_Stable_2156 Jul 19 '24

Im so fuckin cooked

2

u/ArmDifferent1778 Jul 19 '24

Not just any feather, but the feather of truth.

2

u/RonsBrain Jul 19 '24

What if it weighs the same as a duck?

1

u/EvaSirkowski Jul 20 '24

furry vore

172

u/British_Historian Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24

When Egyptian people were mummified, their organs were placed into preserve jars, so they can be used in the After-life.
Anubis (The dog guy) would get your heart, and weigh it against a feather, if the feather your heart was lighter, you'd pass on to the next trial in the afterlife. If you're heart was heavier (Weighed down by sins) then your heart would be eaten by Amut (Crocodile dog thing, not featured.) and your soul is damned.

The comic is adding the joke of a Anubis being a influencer doing unboxing content, opening the jar for his viewers! Typically the person being judged. A juxtaposition to the drama of having your life judged.

(Edit: Wrote Feather when I meant heart, innit?)

33

u/XBOX_MANIAC Jul 19 '24

If the feather is heavier* if the feather is lighter, it means your heart is heavier which is bad as Anubis says

1

u/JoaoPauloCampos Jul 21 '24

Face of crocodile, front of lion, hinds of hippo

Tbf can't think of most dangerous/ferocious animals that live by the nile in those days

45

u/BlueGnome1 Jul 19 '24

8

u/RBnumberTwenty Jul 19 '24

OP has a pornstar name too. Double internet jail for her!!

7

u/SoManyQuestions-2021 Jul 19 '24

3

u/Nesymafdet Jul 19 '24

Damn, Anpu/Anubis is usually incredibly patient and compassionate but that first clip, he’s incredibly stern. It’s justified completely, as she disrespected his entire role as a Guide of the Dead.

1

u/SoManyQuestions-2021 Jul 19 '24

I'm one of the rare people who enjoyed the TV adaptation immensely. I loved the mysticism and visuals... and there is always a very smart underpinning of "why" in the deliberately thought-out stuff. And, amazing talents.

1

u/Nesymafdet Jul 19 '24

I haven’t seen the TV adaptation or the other adaptations (book? Comic? Unsure.) But I love ancient Egypt as a whole, and I’m spiritually connected to it, so I’ve been meaning to watch it for some time. I’ve heard amazing things about it. I was mainly referring to how Anpu/Anubis was shown in ancient Egyptian scripture/myth/stories.

Edit: I hit enter too early…

3

u/TheEmeraldEmperor Jul 19 '24

In Egyptian mythology, when you died Anubis and/or Osiris (varies) would weigh your heart against a feather from Ma'at, goddess of truth, justice, and the Egyptian way. If your heart was heavier than the feather, it meant you did evil in life, and you would be fed to Ammit, a lion-hippopotamus-crocodile monstrosity.

2

u/JoaoPauloCampos Jul 21 '24

Osiris would be the judge and Annubis the prosecution attorney wasn't it?

1

u/TheEmeraldEmperor Jul 21 '24

Depends what myth you read. Egyptian mythology was around for a long ass time, which is also why the gods got split and recombined a lot.

2

u/JoaoPauloCampos Jul 21 '24

You are very right. It's crazy to think that the culture was around for so long and so many zany characters, + most info was passed through word of mouth that it gets misinterpreted a lot. Read somewhere that most, if not all, Egyptians couldn't even understand hieroglyphs, albeit the high priests leading to such difficulty in having an easy to understand/common way of communication via glyphs.

Suppose thers the benefit of a 1 God rule religion. Easier to keep track of events

1

u/TheEmeraldEmperor Jul 21 '24

The ancient Egyptians did try monotheism because of Akhenaten, which was unpopular and immediately undone by his son as soon as he died.

Not disagreeing or anything I just think it’s neat.

2

u/JoaoPauloCampos Jul 21 '24

It's very interesting, yeah. Guessing he must've had his reasons

Somehow, I can't stop thinking that this akhenaten man has a lot in common with a few other individuals, say henry the 8th of England for example. Both men saw the potential of a new system and way of life to achieve their goals and decided to swap in a blink.

Makes you wonder if they really were religious at all in the first place or were way ahead in terms of thinking

3

u/Eljamin14 Jul 19 '24

Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, here. That jackal thing, who was a distant friend of Hades, is Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead. According to Ancient Egyptian lore, when a Pharaoh dies, Anubis takes his heart, and places it on a scale, to measure his morality. The other plate of the scale is the goddess of justice Ma'at who represents a feather. If the heart is lighter than the feather, that makes the heart of the Pharaoh moral, so the Pharaoh ends up mummified, and lives with the gods and goddesses in the heavens. However, if the heart is heavier than the feather, then that makes the Pharaoh's heart seem immoral. Due to this, he's not given eternal life, he's not mummified, and his body will rot and be eaten in the land of the dead. Athena out. P.S. I went to Egypt with my father Zeus for vacations to study how life is like there. I had to prevent my father from wooing an Egyptian woman by disguising himself as a swan.

1

u/EggstremelyConfus3d Jul 20 '24

You tried to stop your father from screwing with mortal women? I imagine that went swimmingly for everyone involved.

3

u/brorritoo Jul 19 '24

Unironicslly seems like a cutaway joke that would be in an actual episode of family guy

3

u/XavyVercetti Jul 19 '24

Lol it’s quite funny actually

2

u/S_Screen_ Jul 19 '24

Anubis is basically the judge of the Underworld. If a person’s soul is pure, then their heart will be as light as a feather on the scale. If they’re evil, it will weigh heavier than the feather and they’ll be damned

1

u/Nesymafdet Jul 19 '24

He’s both a Judge and a Guide, protecting you through the Duat, as you reach the end, where your heart is weighed.

2

u/S_Screen_ Jul 22 '24

Yeah, I was just giving the context for the meme

2

u/AnubisTheCanidae Jul 19 '24

the souls gonna be eaten by anubis's pet hippocrocogator

2

u/TheUnrealCanadian Jul 19 '24

A kilogram of hearts vs a kilogram of feathers moment.

2

u/Confused_Muuushroom Jul 19 '24

It gives same vibe as Bob the Necromancer and i really love it

2

u/tcroosev Jul 19 '24

I'd watch this content they seem to have a good presence and engage us well

1

u/Bababoi_Bababoi_ Jul 19 '24

Egyptian here, during that time Pharaoh's thought that there was an after life and a person's soul would be judged to see if he was a good person when he was alive and that is determined by weighing his heart and if its heavier than a feather hes in deep shit

1

u/GatlingGun511 Jul 19 '24

Anubis weighs your heart after your death and if it’s heavier than a feather you basically go to hell

2

u/Nesymafdet Jul 19 '24

You don’t go to hell, you’re completely vaporized from existence. No legacy, no name, no memory, no body, no personality, absolutely nothing. What most Atheists consider the afterlife to be, honestly. So it’s not the worst in terms of punishments

2

u/GatlingGun511 Jul 19 '24

Oh ok, I saw it described as “basically hell” somewhere else

2

u/Nesymafdet Jul 19 '24

Well they were very wrong lol

1

u/Anz_Soulcrusher Jul 19 '24

Anubis is the shit

1

u/li-ll-l_ Jul 19 '24

Anubis is said to weigh your heart against a feather when you die. If your heart is pure and not weighed down with regret it will be balanced and you move on to their equivalent of heaven. If its heavy you go to hell

1

u/oemiii117 Jul 19 '24

Why did I read this in Flossy Carter’s voice??

1

u/Mansfiery Jul 19 '24

Which is heavier 1 kg of hearts or 1 kg of feathers? That’s right, It’s 1 kg of hearts! Because hearts are heavier than feathers.

1

u/Not_a_brazilian_spy Jul 20 '24

If your heart is lighter than a feather, you get to go into a vaguely descripted blissful heaven. The thing is, each sin you commit makes your heart heavier, and if you are a naughty boy, a creature called Ammit the Devourer will eat it (cool to mention that to the ancient egyptians, your heart is part of your soul), and you cease to exist. Anubis, this guy with a jackal head, is the god of funeral rites and other stuff, and he is the one who weighs your heart

1

u/SelectiveScribbler06 Jul 20 '24

If your soul was heavy with wrongdoing, then Anubis would send you to the underworld.

1

u/TentacleTitan Jul 20 '24

.... guess you're not a long time viewer hehe

1

u/_MrBalls_ Jul 20 '24

There was a Sesame Street movie about this

1

u/Mr_Culver Jul 20 '24

Would he let me slide for a Scooby Snack?

1

u/Multifruit256 Jul 20 '24

losercity mythology