Imhotep

Imhotep is the main protagonist of the Hero of Egypt series. Born an Egyptian, Imhotep spent his whole life at the service of the Pharaoh and the Gods, before becoming a Pharaoh himself. Cursed while being still an infant, he was soon destined to become the one that would have saved Egypt, and the entire world.

Weapons and powers
Despite being a mortal, Imhotep possesses incredible superhuman strength and endurance beyond that of any mortal or beast, the exact limits of which are yet to be determined. His strength seems to fluctuate depending on the situation. He can subdue many large and powerful beasts and is capable of overpowering the Sphinx, and even toss it away when it tried to stomp him. Feats of durability include falling from great heights and walking away unharmed, getting crushed, stabbed, beaten, blasted, and burned by various enemies and traps. Imhotep also has useful skills that include climbing mountains and building, jumping great heights, and swinging on ropes to cross long gaps.

In his battle against the Forbidden, who is considered to be unrivaled in terms of sheer strength in all the Hero of Egypt series (up to the third chapter), Imhotep proved capable of stopping his charges, forcing him backwards and enduring even his godkiller stage without any ill effects, even breaking free from them and defeating him. Also, Imhotep has shown being able to rip off heads, limbs, legs or even hearts of various enemies in certain occasions with only his bare hands. It was presumed Imhotep was born with his god-like strength and abilities, until he is revealed to being cursed by Seth after being born, which gave him an enhanced strength that Horemheb's formation helped him control it. It is possible he had acquired a permanent level of power and ability beyond even that of demigod from his constant trials and contact with different powers and magic.

In addition to his vast physical strength, Imhotep also possesses superhuman agility, stamina, durability, endurance, reflexes and speed. He is capable of sensing danger and possesses great skills and accuracy with all forms of weapon and powerful magic. Imhotep can also keep up with opponents who possess vast speed. Due to these abilities, Imhotep is able to defeat monsters, magical beings, demons and even the Gods themselves. Imhotep also possesses powerful resistance to most forms of attack and magic (for example, time manipulation, illusion, and soul manipulation) that would easily kill most humans or magical beings; Imhotep is also immune to any mind control, hypnosis and brainwashing of any kind.

Before becoming a Pharaoh, he wielded the Egyptian Khopesh, a regular Egyptian sword similar to the standard military khopesh. After becoming the Pharaoh, Imhotep's main weapon became the Khopesh of the Pharaoh, which revealed a gift from Osiris as a sign of friendship. Also, Imhotep, before and after becoming a Pharaoh, gained many powers, weapons and items, some of them from the Gods.

Imhotep also has a wisdom almost matching Thoth the God of Wisdom as he managed to solve many puzzles throughout his journey, including a Labyrinth created by Setna, and another created by Thoth himself in his Trial. As such, he not only survived all the traps and creatures that attacked him, or even managed to hurt him with blows that were supposed to kill him, but he also became the only one to manage to surpass such challenges, even the Trials of Thoth, Seshat and Sokhar. Imhotep also was wise enough to use the environment against his enemies, notable examples including weakening the Hand of Duat by collapsing buildings on it, leading the Hittite army defense and destroying the Assyrian army minimizing the Hittite losses, exploiting Seth's mind control to attack his mind, his weak point, defeating a Babylonian army 400'000 soldiers while leading 43'000 Egyptian soldiers (a battle which only resulted in 150 Egyptian losses against the almost entirety of the Babylonian army), and greatly weakening a Babylonian elite general (by using the Axe of Kalash to shatter a stalagmite and provoking an earthquake that destroyed the general's whole equipment, and left him weakened).

Equipment
Over the course of the series, Imhotep obtained various weapons, often given to him from the Gods. His most notable examples are in the original Hero of Egypt, where, besides his traditional weapons, he also managed to obtain weapons from Anhur, Neith and Osiris. He also received magic powers from the Gods as well, such as Geb, Nut, Amun, Kuk, Heh, Nun, Ra, Thoth, Bastet, Tefnut, Shu, and Seth himself. Additionally, his curse received from Seth proved to be his first power-up, which makes him stronger and tougher.

Egyptian Khopesh
The Egyptian Khopesh is Imhotep's trademark weapon. Imhotep can use it as a sword, or a knife, and is capable to using it in any way possible, from slashing enemies with very wide slashes, to impaling enemies through most defenses.

Egyptian Shield
Imhotep's shield is inspired to the default Egyptian soldiers in real life. Tall and rectangular, round on the upper part, it is also quite heavy, although soldier trained enough can carry it with ease.

Since Hero of Egypt III, Imhotep possessed a new shield, smaller and round, but, thanks to the power of the Gods, able to absorb most magic and blows.

Curse of Seth
It is Imhotep's first power-up, although not really a transformation. Estetically, it envelops him with a reddish aura, and donnes him with enhanced strenght, endurance and agility.

Ouroboros
Imhotep's first true transformation, Imhotep's look completely changes: he's now a antropomorph snake-like being. His agility and speed increase exponentially, and so does his strenght, although in a smaller bit.

Chaos Form
Imhotep's darkest part. He awakens it once Ashurbanipal tells him his wife, Tanit, is dead (although that is revealed to be a lie). Estetically, Imhotep becomes a mummy-like being. Imhotep becomes pratically immortal, and is donned with insanely high durability, strenght and agility. It is also an extremely dangerous transformation, as it can easily corrupt Imhotep, to the point he almost hit Khonsu when the latter tried to reason with him, thankfully succeding in making him revert in his human form. Aside from HoE II, it also appears in Hero of Egypt III, where Djau, despite almost killing him, unwillingly awakens his Chaos Form, which he uses to obliterate Djau's trump card (as in infinite strenght).

Order Form / Soul of Osiris
Imhotep's definitive transformation. He starts developing it in Hero of Egypt IV, when he touches Ashurbanipal's obelisk, and fully developes it during the final battle against Khufu, the Forbidden Pharaoh.

Personality
Throughout most of the series, Imhotep has shown himself to being a strong, agile and intelligent individual, ruthless against all who wish to destroy Egypt. Ever since the first and original Hero of Egypt, he would willingly face anyone who threatens the safety of his country, even when all odds seem against him.

Despite his cold appearance, Imhotep is actually a friendly and respectful individual, who respects practically every person regardless of their social ranks, be it a slave, a farmer, a priest, an artisan, or even the Pharaoh (whom himself respects Imhotep back), although there are various exceptions to his merciful character. He is also shown to be quite expert in almost every field he is in, such as the art of war, writing, arts and fighting. An example of his world-class intellect is shown when Imhotep reveals his friends and his step-brother, Khaemuaset, firstborn of the Pharaoh, that he surpassed every scribal test with a perfect score when he was younger.

Imhotep is shown to care deeply for his wife (Tanit) and son (Amenhotep), as he saved his soon-to-be wife once from her own parents and from Seth in the original Hero of Egypt. Also, when a revived Ashurbanipal reveals Imhotep about Tanit's death, Imhotep's anger evolves to pure rage and hatred, which bring him to the brink of madness (transforming him in his Chaos form). Throughout the entire series, Imhotep has also shown great friendships to the Gods, especially ever since he saved Osiris (besides Osorkon, Loto and Taharqa) from the grasp of Setna, the treacherous apprentice of Osiris himself.

However, his friendship with the Gods actually started when he and his friends descended into Duat (the Egyptian Hell) along with Setna (before they discovered the latter's true colors); soon, Osorkon, a friend of Imhotep, would be impaled by a blade of an henchman of Ankhu (Imhotep's treacherous master) and being corrupted by the blade's poison as a consequence. Responsible of everything bad that happened to his friends, Imhotep had asked the help of the Gods, whom promptly started helped him by contributing curing Osorkon from the poison after Ankhu's henchman was killed, with Imhotep himself contributing the cure as well. Deeming himself responsible, he would lead a last attack with all of his friends against the army of Setna, only to proceed and end his mission alone, demonstrating his actual care for his friends when he ordered them to gather together outside Duat, along everyone that came with Imhotep himself in Duat.

Quotes
Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat

Dialogues
Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat

Bonus costumes
Throughout the whole Hero of Egypt series, the player can also make Imhotep wear some costumes before starting a new game (or level). Basically, they are playable in all games, and more specifically in the Bonus Play modes. Some of them are hilarious, but all of them bring benefits to Imhotep in some way or another, by altering certain statistics and settings, such as the value of any orbs he collects, or his strength and defense.

Hero of Egypt: Chains of Duat
The first four of Imhotep's costumes in the game are actual armors depicting their respective animals. The fifth, however, completely covers Imhotep in a robotic armor, and every single equipment of his is "robotized", as if it were the equipment of a cyborg or a robot.

Hero of Egypt
The first costume in the game dresses Imhotep as a Sultan, and his khopesh becomes a scimitar. The second costume dresses Imhotep as a shinobi, the third into a mummy king, and the forth into a Roman centurion. The fifth and final costume gives Imhotep a special armor forged by the power of Seth himself.

Multiplayer only costumes

 * Ramses II:
 * Narmer:
 * Tutmose III:
 * Akhenaten:

Dubbing

 * Italian: Patrizio Prata
 * English: Qaurie Marshall
 * French:
 * German:
 * Spanish:
 * Portoguese:
 * Japanese: Daisuke Hirakawa
 * Russian:

Trivia

 * Imhotep is basically inspired (and named) after the same Egyptian polymath who served under the Third Dynasty king Djoser as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. He also is considered by some to be the earliest known architect, engineer, and physician in history, though two other Egyptian figures identified as physicians, Hesy-Ra and Merit-Ptah, lived around the same time.
 * He was one of only a few commoners ever to be accorded divine status after death.