Execration Figure in Amenemhab’s Tomb

The Execration Figure in Amenemhab’s Tomb is a small wax-and-clay magical figure that Theodosia uses as an improvised weapon when three men corner her in the tomb. Its significance lies in the precision of its magic: the figure must be marked with the right symbols and the target’s name, then physically damaged to inflict corresponding harm. In a desperate escape attempt, Theodosia turns an object on an altar into the means to disable Tetley.

Form and Magical Context

The figure is among several small wax and clay figures collected on an altar. When Theodosia searches for something with which to defend herself, she notices that bits of hair protrude from the wax and that a piece of ancient papyrus bearing writing is attached to it. Recognizing it as an execration figure, she understands it as an Egyptian magical object that can be directed against an enemy. The hair and written fragment distinguish it from an ordinary figurine, while its placement among other figures makes the altar a store of possible magical tools at the moment she needs one.

The tomb figure belongs to a broader magical practice in which wax can serve as a workable medium for spells, but it should not be confused with the separate small wax figurine Theodosia makes during her earlier attempt to remove the curse from the Bastet statuette. For that ritual, she shapes collected wax bits into a small replica, carves hieroglyphs into its base, and intends for the curse to leave the statuette and enter the wax before the figure is burned. That transfer goes wrong: the freed hieroglyphs stream toward Isis instead. The episode establishes both the intended role of wax as a magical receptacle and the danger of a ritual failing through loss of control; the later execration figure uses the same malleable material for a different, deliberate purpose.

Preparation Under Threat

The figure’s use in the tomb begins under immediate pressure. Von Braggenschnott tells Theodosia that three men outnumber her and warns that resistance will make them angry. With no weapon available, she looks to the altar and chooses the wax figure, hoping its magic will at least slow her pursuers. The threat is not abstract: shadows loom on the walls as the men silently close in, and Von Braggenschnott threatens to have her sealed in a sarcophagus.

Theodosia scratches new symbols into the wax with a jagged fingernail. One symbol invokes power; another is intended to smite her enemies. The magic also depends on identifying the targets by name. She is nearly certain that the man doing the talking is Von Braggenschnott and suspects that another is Tetley, but knows that a mistaken name would make the spell useless. When she sees Tetley leaning over an Anubis statue, she gains certainty about one target. She then buys time by moving around the statue and toward a funerary chariot, carving Tetley’s name into the figure while whispering the execration rites. As she finishes the final hieroglyph, Tetley reappears close by, leaving her little room to delay further.

The Spell’s Physical Effect

With Tetley approaching and escape routes narrowing, Theodosia grips the figure and waits until he has taken two more steps. Chanting the ancient words of power, she snaps off its left leg. Tetley screams and clutches his own left leg as it folds beneath him. She immediately breaks the figure’s right leg as well; Tetley howls and crumples to the floor. The correspondence between the damaged wax limbs and the injuries inflicted on Tetley demonstrates the figure’s operative magic in direct, visible terms.

The action is a marked contrast with the earlier curse-removal attempt. There, Theodosia’s plan depends on controlling the transfer of a curse into a wax recipient, but the hieroglyphs escape her intended path and seize upon Isis. In the tomb, she has no time for a prepared potion or careful procedure. Instead, she uses recognition, naming, carved signs, whispered rites, and the act of breaking the figure’s limbs. The magic remains dependent on specific ritual steps, but those steps are compressed into a physical act of resistance.

Consequences and Significance

Tetley’s fall interrupts the attackers’ advance. Another man starts toward Theodosia, but Von Braggenschnott waves him back and responds to the fact that she has used the magic. The evidence establishes the immediate consequence—Tetley is disabled and on the floor—but does not show the full outcome of the confrontation at this point. The figure gives Theodosia a moment of leverage, not a guaranteed escape.

As an object in the scene, the execration figure converts the tomb’s stored materials into an urgent means of self-defense. Its power depends not simply on being present, but on Theodosia recognizing what it is, identifying a target, carving the appropriate signs, and completing the rite. The scene also recalls the peril of her earlier wax-working: the same general medium can receive a curse or transmit harm, yet ritual intention alone cannot ensure safety. In the tomb, however, the figure’s magic answers her actions with startling precision, turning a small object from the altar into a direct counterstroke against the men closing around her.