Problematic

I agree with incest part and all but every time I feel uncomfortable during the incěst scenes I kinda remind myself that this isn't a story about humans this is a story about Greek gods and all of them are related some way or another. And for the r@pe scenes I don't think they're written as the way u said it cuz every time I read it I feel disgusted afterwards and maybe that's the way the author written it that's why I think I'm uncomfortable reading it. EXCEPT for the scene with the bearded god. I thought that was the only normal s.x scene since he kinda tricked the MC to consent

I find the depictions of rape and SA in ENNEAD problematic for similar reasons. 1. Horus was literally sexually assaulted and that was never brought up again. 2. Seth’s rape scenes are sometimes weirdly sexualized and even presented as funny in certain instances. I’m also not a fan of the author making anubis go the love interest route bc they are the literal definition of father and son. Id say stick to the story especially if you like it a lot but skip the rape and SA scenes if they make you uncomfortable

The incest is a non factor to me. They aren't humans, they don't impart birth defects and aren't nurtured to have that siblings are taboo mentality. The taboo of it just isn't a thing in their culture. All the gods that are together in this are related. They do have brotherly/sisterly relationships in some cases, but it seems like that isn't based on blood. They're a family if that is how everyone involved feels, if they don't view each other as siblings then they're not.

Ra says that the way it used to work is that there was no monogamy or marriage, it was just gods being with and sleeping with whichever god they fancied and leaving whenever they wanted. They'd get each other pregnant and the gods would all take care of the children whenever. They've only recently started to take on more modern human concepts like marriage.

The rape, I get what you mean. It's definitely sexualized for the reader. It's not like it's just rape, it isn't depicted just to make you feel disgusted, it's also made aesthetically pleasing in the positions and there is some fetishization as well. Like in the rape scene with Osiris when a lot of Osiris's dialogue to Set as he rapes him is how he's going to impregnate him, telling him to become his "fertile soil". The point of those scenes in the story is to show Set suffering, things he's subjected to, but that isn't all that's reflected in the scenes themselves. You're supposed to think it's hot, clearly. I wouldn't put it down, the story is a masterpiece in my opinion and I can separate fiction from reality so I have no problem indulging in fictional rape porn, but people do have differing feelings towards this stuff online

Idc abt the incest as many have pointed out/- they’re gods, not humans. They are not ruled w the same moral compass.
As for the rape, I’m conflicted on it. I do agree there is a level of romanticizing depending on who it is. Like with the bearded god, it seemed more sexual. But the scenes w the caravan ppl and osirius, idk abt u but I felt pretty disgusted w both. Pretty sure set did as well, he is extremely ashamed of what his brother did to him and so fearful he committed mass murderer. The caravan ppl also triggered his montage of other ppl’s experiences during his reign.
I don’t think, and hope not, that Anubis x set thing will go v far. Set likes Anubis as a son, while anu doesn’t have his memories rn.
I also agree that I hate that set is so weak rn even tho it makes sense in the story. He’s still mentally strong at least, but still. Hopefully he will regain his power eventually.
Imo if it’s triggering, you should drop it. You shouldn’t force urself to read it. The story is good but there’s a lot of other amazing stories out there that don’t have triggering content.

So, what's problematic here, are the rape scenes? But Seth is a God who killed thousands of human beings (this is not problematic ?), and realise slowly the consequences of his actions. He's on a redemption path and he certainly accepts the suffering on the way as punishment. But he's a fierce God and his horrible personality pops up from time to time. His not a poor little victim, he never let the others god take the lead if he's not under drugs or curse. What I find really interesting, is the fact that this terrifying God of war is the most attractive in the eyes of every one around, and every one wants to possess him and dominate him. we could say he's death in desguise. Ones again, it's an Eros and Tanatos story, the best as always!

I mean, we see he's not in his right mind because of Osiris. He even did the things he did to Iris, someone he actually cares about, while he was "being a tyrant". He was brutally raped and almost lost his son, his mind was shattered by that experience. In pretty much every sex scene he's in he's triggered by what happened to him. Not that it makes it okay, but the real villain here is Osiris. It's not like Set would've killed any of those people if his mind hasn't been fucked with

The whole point of his redemption arc is that deep down he didn't want to do any of the bad things he did, in some cases like Isis he is even appalled with himself because of who the person was to him. He's got a lot of duality going on when it comes to people he cares about that he's wronged. Like Nephtys and Anubis. He loves them, but he hates them so much he wants them dead. He killed children because he couldn't bear the truth about Nephtys and Osiris betraying him followed by Osiris's even worse betrayal

I won't go on with the incest side as it has been discussed forever. But you bring a good point about the romanticism in the r*pe scenes.

I think everything comes from how Seth reacts after the act. The only one who scarred him to his core was Osiris. He still has a trauma every time Osiris appears or he is reminded of him.

There are two versions of Ennead. The mature one with the explicit scenes and the non-mature one.

If you read the non-mature version of Ennead you will see that When Horus was r-ping Seth for, in his mind he was trapped by thorny vines. And we know who those vines are supposed to represent. Also Every thrust was unbearable for him. Same thing with the caravan gang scene. For me, the non-mature version is even more gruesome because we don't see the sex scenes but what Seth thinks and is feeling at the moment.

What I find somewhat irking is the aftermath because the author doesn't dwell on that. Maybe because Seth doesn't see that as hindering as the reader or he is able to quickly adapt to the situation.

For the damsel in distress part, he really depends how you want to categorise it.

The author wants to present that until now he has made the shittiest choices possible for him. Every single time he is shoving Horus aside, he is faced with the worst shortcomings. I think his brazen side won't lead him anywhere and he has to change to be able to lift his curse. If you want to take into account how he behaves when it comes to Anubis, he was always like that.

I am going to elaborate, to make my views on the story clearer, as I actually had written a much, MUCH longer post, but thought to myself that no one would want to read it, but I will for the sake of how much more attention this got than I expected. How do I write this much for a kind of simple topic? God knows how, I can write a fucking essay out of anything as I have been told. Personally, I call it an extreme ramble, but I digress.

For those who don't want to read the entire thing though, a kinda long TLDR:

The incest isn't per-say what I take issue with, its specifically the father son dynamic being sexualized.

The rape scenes to me, a self proclaimed artist, are drawn as rape porn would be drawn. That is just from my personal perspective. I have seen rape in visual works depicted as it should. A psychological, horrifying thing, but that also comes from the fact that I do read morbid works, so I have my own standards on how those scenes ought to be properly shown, that of representing this type of trauma with the full weight of how horrible and life changing / ruining it often is, but also not insulting the character by making the visuals or story indulge in the "positions" and "moans" of their raping.

Then, for the damsel in distress issue, that is perhaps not as problematic, but more so an eyeroll for me I suppose. Femininity is perfectly fine and I take no issue with it, but often I see characters which are for lack of a better word "bottom coded" in these works with gay themes, are made to be more like a typical female interest would be in, as I mentioned, a male gaze romance novel. I see the powerless female interest as an issue in those works itself, but that is a different matter which is obvious to most, and is not my concern here, as there is no actual woman being depicted like such. The issue is heterosexualization of homosexual dynamics. The "bottom character" is "the woman of the relationship". Again, that is a personal gripe, which I am just a little tired of. I won't be upset with anyone who thinks otherwise. I guess it is not as relevant in the topic, apologies.


Now for all of that in detail.

As I mentioned, I don't see the incest as a huge factor which makes me want to drop the work. Yes, it is still uncomfortable, because we as humans naturally have a instinct to be disturbed by incest, as it prevents mutations in offspring that result from inbreeding. Incest morals become complex in this case though, because we can talk about cases of siblings who are infertile or of the same sex, or same sex in general. When we speak of a parental role and a child role (that of a mature adult however, child in dynamic, not age) there is then a power dynamic.
Sure, this may not apply as well here because Seth does not have a fatherly power dynamic over Anubis in their unique case. Though, if we want to get really nitpicky, the power dynamic does come in where Anubis is very animal like, understanding certain things, doing what Seth asks of him to the degree which he understands, and therefore not having a full human understanding of anything. He just does what he feels like in the moment. In a way that could also be seen as a child like behaviour, which then falls into mental maturity- a big mess.

To make clear what I mean here, Seth sees Anubis as his son. The blood does not matter, and that in this case of gods does not matter either, let alone the fact they are two biological men, so there is no way there could be any child who either suffers mutational defects, or is even able to be conceived. There isn't a clear father grooming son dynamic either. Yes, the waters for this is a bit muddied, but the issue more so is how despite Seth's own want to only see Anubis as his son and nothing more or less, he is being put into "humorous" situations where Anubis is essentially lusting for him, like an animal, or generally wanting affection which is a bit more intimate than what an adult man would seek from his father.
Plainly, he wants something that isn't in that context, because he does not understand it, or even consider it. Anubis just wants Seth's affection, and discernably more. This is not an issue of him or Seth's actions, this is an issue of how the author is depicting them. You can write this very odd yet morbidly interesting dynamic still, and make it "properly work", but the way the author has done it seems to be a casual one, where the reader is meant to actually be into it, or at least a select audience of the entire readerbase. I suppose it really is just meant to appeal to those, in my point of view, problematic themes, which is yes, a fetishization of son and father dynamics.

The rape scenes, which most of us seem to agree, are atrocious, however, some see as not being depicted fetishized, which to me is a good thing. If you see these scenes as being plainly horrible and gruesome as they should be, then that is a good sign for your own interpretations of things like this. You can not see the appeal which is unfortunately integrated into how these scenes are done. As another stated, it is meant to be aesthetically pleasing. It shows the positions, it shows the "sounds" or SFX and makes comments which are simply put, to be "kinky" or porn-like.
I'm going to also touch here on how one of them differ, while all of them are still problematic.
Also to note, I have not read the non-mature version, so perhaps this version better represents what I mean. However, I think the story / art can still be "mature" and show certain explicit details, while not falling into fetishizing rape itself.
First off, why has all of the explicit scenes been rape? Is Seth unable to have a consensual experience? I mean at this point, realistically, a person who has been assaulted as much as he has may never wish to have sex in their entire life as the act would remind them of all the times they were assaulted. An absolutely unrealistic amount of times in this specific scenario, seeming to be done in this amount simply for the readers gratification. Of course, a certain "type" of reader.
The only time one of the explicit scenes seemed consensual may have been with the foreign god, I forget his name, but I still argue that scene was extremely dubious in consent. Seth was drugged, and while he may have not said for him to "stop", and the scene felt much more light hearted than others, I still see it as something I can not entirely indulge in without feeling a bit disturbed. Which is disappointing, because I myself, a gay man, came to read a good ass story, with good art, and some men loving men mature action here and there. None of it is love, in a mutual manner, and that itself is fine, it can also be more so just sex, but it isn't even that. It's rape, or at best, very questionable in terms of consent "intercourse".
Honestly, it just makes it feel like all the queer dominant men of the story are rapists. While Horus wasn't fully in control in the beginning I suppose, it still had him do as he did, and it was supposed to be for our enjoyment. That is what I believe, and I find it very disheartening.
Just overall, the way the scenes are done feel extremely distasteful, and personally, if I were a writer depicting my character like this, I feel it could only be done in some immoral insult to the character. To depict all of their traumatic moments like it some kinky porn to be enjoyed, furthering his suffering from his fictional world, into others enjoying his suffering in the real world.

As for the damsel in distress, I think I said all I had to in the TLDR, so I will save myself the hassle of re-explaining it.

This overall is just common place in these spaces I suppose. I really hate to say it for this work though. This is one of my favourite in terms of the writing itself, excluding the explicit scenes and problematic dynamics, and the art is absolutely stunning, dynamic, and has amazing scale and movement when in action and such. The Egyptian mythology themes too are something I have yet to find a work on which is appealing to me, until I read Ennead. Again, excluding the other factors, it is a masterpiece work.
I think I would struggle to stop reading the next chapters unless something just absolutely crosses the line, but it also makes me feel quite guilty because I am a very self aware and morally critical person. It is a spiral of conflicted thoughts. I am also not triggered by any of the themes, or I would not believe myself to be, though some may relate to my own traumatic experiences here and there, it is mostly just disgust, confliction, and shameful indulgence in continuing to read, because Hell yeah the story is good.

All of that being said, if you read this far, be it you agree or disagree, I applaud you greatly. If you didn't, completely understandable. I am just generally interested in others takes on this, as it helps to not feel alone in my turmoil with this one, but also to see how others handle their own conflictions or feelings on the matter. Of course, those who just say "Nah, ignore the bad stuff, just enjoy it. Rape and Incest isn't bad" will to me, contribute nothing. I already know some are here FOR that type of content. I'd rather just not give them any of my attention. For those who either relate to my topic, or think "hey, I agree that stuff is bad, but here's why I think in this work it is not AS bad", I am interested in that as well, though I may not be able to agree, I value those points.
Lastly, I am someone who does have a strong opinion on "fiction vs reality", as I mentioned in the original post, that I think it does, and not just because I feel like it does, but because I know, and have experienced how it does, I will choose not to debate that either, just ignore those points so I can respect other peoples views and such, who do not know my own perspective into the matter, though I wish they would acknowledge its danger. Regardless, I think it would result in nothing but nasty arguing, and I wish for the discussion to be more constructive.

Well, I agree with most of what you say, and overall, the art is amazing. The colors are very peculiar and put this manhwa out of the ordinary. The journey of Seth who's as unfertile as his desert and wants to be a father keeps me going. On the incest part, I can imagine the author creating these scenes between Seth and Anubis in front of Horus only to provoque some reaction from Horus. Actually, I find the relation between Horus and Seth far more incestuel than the relation between Anubis and Seth. This one is not himself and have an excuse. Horus none. Maybe what I say is not very clear and I'm sorry, but english is not my mothertongue.

I understand what you mean, no worries.

I too love the art, and the overall style which immerses you into the setting. It has a historical flavour to it, with the heavy lines, texture, muted colors, bold accents, etc. Very very fitting to the Egyptian "aesthetic", not to mention some actual scenes done in an imitation of Egyptian art for backstory and lore purposes. It's extremely well done.

Personally I keep reading because I want to see the development of Horus and Seth. It is the obvious paring, or more so intended one which us readers are to guess is the main outcome. For all we know though, it could be a diversion, and the story may not end in their bond. I am just curious on how that will go, and I am interested in what events will unfold throughout that, which so far much of it has been extremely interesting, and inspiring to read, as a hobbyist writer and artist myself. Though, for the relationship Horus and Seth have, it in itself has problematic elements, such as how Horus pretended to be Seth's son when he was in a mentally deranged state, Seth killing multiple children, alongside being drugged by incense that child Horus would bring so Seth would continue treating him as his son.

This to me is lesser to the familial relationship Seth has with Anubis however, as he did actually raise Anubis. Horus was mainly raised by his mother, only to later seek affection from Seth, innocently at the time, but then it grew into the love he now has for him, though it could be interpreted as obsession. If they were not gods, this would be extremely problematic. Since they are though, it more so edges on heavily questionable, but again this factor to me personally is a little bit lesser compared to other aspects. As I said, my issue stems also from Seth seeing Anubis as his son and nothing like a lover, while Anubis wishes for more intimacy, though not in his right mind. We know not how he will feel if he ever regains his original memories. If he would entirely abandon these actions he is now preforming, or what. Hopefully the former.

I do see how Anubis's assertions are a good plot point to create a conflict for Horus, and I mentioned as well that this could be executed still, but my issues with it stem from the fact that is is so romanticized. When Seth and him first met after Anubis's change / maturity, they had a kiss that was felt very... odd. If I saw the art without context, I would think perhaps that this was some intimate unrequited love moment, or more so something of an assertive character kissing a more "tsundere" character or such, but knowing it is a man who was raised by the other in what is a father son relationship, though with the sons memories missing, it is extremely troubling. Though I understand how Horus and Seth may seem more "incestual" of a bond because we see more of their interactions, and Horus constantly calling him uncle... Less we see of Seth and Anubis's father and son bonding, though it is there. I still draw my conclusions to the type of interactions being had. That of Seth not really treating Horus as a nephew would be treated, and Horus, despite calling seth his uncle, not treating him by FAR as one would treat their uncle! More so Horus being the obsessive love struck one, and Seth being the uninterested moody asshat. In more wholesome context, it is amusing to see.

I hope that makes sense!

Yeah, totally. About Anubis strange behaviour with his father, may be the curse Osiris put on him makes him behave like Osiris himself. Maybe it's not even a curse but Anubis's body is possessed by Osiris The Vilain ... Dum dum dum!!!

That is very true... Good theory! It would definitely make sense in that context, and honestly would be a good plot point in general. I suppose we'll just have to see, but I almost hope that is the case so if Anubis regains himself, he won't have to grapple with the shame of having had that behaviour for his father, Seth, though he may still, but with the reasoning that it was influenced by Osiris's curse, he can better recover as there will be someone to blame other than himself for those actions.

As for the possession theory, even more interesting, and it would be very dreadful for Seth to find this out if true. Also an extremely good concept. I almost hope it is one of the two, as it would create a very interesting twist and follow up in the story, but also tie some things together in a more solid way. Your predictions are very good, and promising if true!