Anubis Pattern

The original Bobby Badass, Anubis, is the Egyptian god of death. But not just death as we readily think—he rules over all aspects of death: the dead, the dying, the afterlife, etc. He’s often mis-portrayed in modern film and media as an evil leader of zombie-esque monsters, or a bringer of death. Anubis, traditionally, was essentially a shepherd. He ushered the worthy souls to Horus and fed the unworthy to Ammit, the Devourer of Hearts. So while he wasn’t evil, necessarily, you probably didn’t want to piss him off. He was often dubbed the Guardian of the Scales, as well (this is where the decisions of heaven-or-eaten comes in to play). In the Book of the Dead, Anubis places the heart of the dead individual on one side of a scale—on the other was typically an ostrich feather, also called the Feather of Maat. If the hearth of the deceased weighed heaver than the heart, they became a snack from Ammit. If it balanced, or if the feather outweighed the heart, they were admitted into the afterlife. It’s said the Feather of Maat symbolized harmony, law, truth, balance, order, etc—so it seemed apt that your heart’s pureness would be weighed against the balance of the world.

Anubis’ lineage is often changed and re-intepreted, thanks to his popularity. The only things that are for sure are they he was the son of Nephthys, often regarded as the Goddess of Darkness. His father, depending which version you read, is either Set, Osiris, or Ra.

He’s almost always, though, portrayed as an Egyptian Jackal—they were the keepers of tombs and protectors of the dead from both grave robbers and other animals, alike. There’s some debate that the ancient Egyptian jackal actual is more closely related to the common-day wolf instead of the common-day jackal, but either way, Anubis might not be a pup you want to snuggle with, necessarily. He often carried a crook and flail, as well as an ankh.
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First image is the offset style, for consistency. The second was a pattern-based background I was playing around with. Didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted—and I meant to include a scale, but forgot. Done is better than perfect, I guess.