History Headscratchers / ThePrinceOfEgypt

** Yep, she's from Midean (which is where Moses wanders to after leaving Egypt).

** Given the dangerous trip that Moses takes down the Nile and the fact that he floated up to the Queen's little dock/pier, she likely took it as a sign from the gods. They had sent them a Hebrew boy as their own, which was probably interpreted as a sign that the gods approved of the massacre and Moses was a symbol of the Egyptians having been giving the Hebrews as their own.
*** The queen specifically says this, that she takes Moses as a gift given to her by the gods and deliberately chooses not to question anything about his appearing before her. She simply loves him when she sees him, and that's enough for her. Even if Seti didn't believe that himself, he knew that it made his wife happy, so why not? The fact that Moses eventually appeared to be much more responsible and mature than his own son (and thus be a good influence on him) probably settled it in his mind that Moses was meant to be his son.

* So Moses is the first "Egyptian" person to show empathy for the slaves by calling out and killing (accidentally, but still) a slave driver that was nearly whipping an old man to death, yet when he returns they're mad at him?
** Are you referring to after he returns to Egypt? It's because Pharaoh responded to Moses's first demand to let the Israelites go by refusing to provide straw for the slaves' bricks anymore, forcing them to use their own straw. In their eyes, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Moses' protests are just making things worse]].
** Add in some resentment from him being raised as a prince, then suddenly showing up, spending five minutes with his people, and claiming to be on a mission from God.
** Think about it. Dude spends most of his life living in splendor as an Egyptian prince, having to lift objects no heavier than a wine glass and being pampered and spoiled; no one ever subjecting him to verbal or physical abuse. A decade later, after a random PetTheDog moment that likely never happened again, this former prince turned shepherd has the ''audacity'' to come back and tell them that he's heard their god from a cave, and their god is telling him to lead them to freedom? From their perspective, [[DudeNotFunny Moses was pulling an unbelievably cruel joke on them.]] It wasn't until Miriam saved him from a potential NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, and they saw proof that he really meant what he said, that they followed him. As for the saving the old man? That was ''years'' ago, and Moses immediately ran away after that incident, so they likely forgot all about it. And if they remembered? Well, as they say, one good act doesn't erase a lifetime of wickedness. As far as they were concerned, Moses randomly playing a hero all those years ago to save one man isn't going to help them ease off their resentment that one of their own once lived the life of their oppressors.
** Dips into fridge horror if you think about the murder; Ramses just lost a brother and a guard was murdered because of a ''slave''. That poor man probably received retribution as he is technically at fault for both incidents, despite doing nothing wrong. Especially since Seti viewed slaves as disposable, it's not out of the question that the slave was unjustly punished (or possibly killed) to quell the royal family's anger. It would definitely make the hebrews fearful of any "help" Moses would give them.

* Why did Moses take off his sandals when God was speaking to him?
** Because he was standing on holy ground. As a sign of respect. And God told him to, so he better listen.

* Why did the creators scrap the idea of having a man, woman and child simultaneously be the voice of God? That would have been way epic! Instead they have the same guy voicing Moses voicing God as well, in every language. Even though it works okay it still seemed like a weird replacement idea for such a kickass one they had at first.
** According to WordOfGod it was because the result sounded too demonic no matter how they mixed it, and when God is depicted as [[GodIsGood warm, protective, and loving]] the last thing you'd want is a creepy VoiceOfTheLegion. While it was a good idea in theory, it didn't work in practice.
** Oh I watched the extras on the DVD once upon a time but I don't recall if I saw the part where they explained that, but it makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
** Actually, I'm going to have to retract that. I found [[http://filmsound.org/studiosound/postpro.html this]], which explains that while it produced a nice sound, it crossed too many lines theologically and they didn't want that. Sorry. Next time I'll do the research before posting.

* OK, so I know that Moses was in the middle of a panic attack and wasn't thinking clearly after he killed the overseer, but Ramses was spot on. Moses ''was'' innocent. If anyone questioned why Moses randomly killed the Egyptian overseer, all Ramses would have to do is say something like, "Father, Moses gave that man clear instructions to cease his actions, and he refused to obey a royal order. When Moses attempted to restrain him, he misjudged his distance, the two toppled over the scaffold and it is through Ra's mercy Moses caught his footing in time. The death was a horrific accident, and would surely have been avoided had that man simply listened and done what he was told." Not even a lie, it was ''exactly'' what happened. Surely Seti would've believed that, no?
** The issue wasn't that Moses didn't believe Ramses could clear his name, but that Moses didn't ''care''. Soon or later it would happen again, and Moses would feel the need to defend the slaves he knows he's actually descended from. He couldn't stand being there and doing nothing to aid them, so he opted to run away rather than feel ashamed for daily looking the other way.

* There will probably be a really stupidly simple answer to this, but were ALL the Hebrew slaves in Egypt living in just that one little village? Or were they all across Egypt, as the line, "All through the land of Egypt" (The Plagues) seems to imply? Because if they were scattered along the Nile, and thus Egypt, then it would take days at least for any message of the Hebrews' freedom to get from one side of the country to the other. I'm assuming all the Hebrew slaves were in just the one city (I'm assuming something like Memphis, because of the pyramids), or that any other Hebrews outside Memphis knew what was happening when the plagues came along.
** That is an excellent point, and while it all seems to come together absurdly quickly, it is not explicitly mentioned how much time passed between Rameses giving Moses the news and the actual Exodus. I would imagine it was a few days, if not a fortnight. Given the other timeskips (Moses' time in Midian and the plagues,) likely the emotional implications outweighed the need for temporal extrapolation to the staff.
*** Actually, no. What ''is'' skipped over in the movie was about half the instructions given to the Hebrews for the Passover, including what they were to eat for dinner, how to prepare it, and what manner to eat it in. In short, it was a hastily-prepared meal that they ate with all their belongings packed and their travel clothes on, ready to leave at a moment's notice. They did indeed leave Egypt the day (or night, as the case may be) that Pharaoh gave the word for them to leave. With good reason, as the [[Fridge/ThePrinceOfEgypt Fridge]] page for this movie notes that Pharaoh could have changed his mind at any time - and he did.
** Most foreigners in ancient Egypt lived in the Delta (the exception being the rare Nubian coming from south), and the Bible states the Hebrews lived there three times: ''Genesis'' states the Hebrews that came to Egypt settled in the Land of Goshen (or Gesem, depending on the translation), with the 20th Nome (province) of Egypt in the Eastern Delta being known as Gesem during the 26th Dinasty (around the time Exodus was written); ''Exodus'' states again that the Hebrews still lived in Goshem; and ''Exodus'' again states that the Exodus started at the city of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi-Ramesses Ramesses]], the ''capital'' under Ramesses II, that the Hebrews had just built, placed at the northern border of Goshen. So yes, all the Hebrews lived in that one city and the region around it, only it was in the middle of the Delta and not at its mouth. Scores of them were probably moved around as needed (hence why at the start some were in Memphis, Seti's capital), but the vast majority stayed in Goshem, and when Moses came they were ''all'' there because they had just finished building the city, were building statues ''and'' were repairing the damage from the Seventh Plague.

* Why did the Hebrew slaves have their own livestock? I get having to make and grow their own food, but why would they be allowed to have animals, especially if they would probably be using them as sacrifices to their god?
** You answered your own question: because they need food too. The Egyptians aren't going to want to devote a bunch of their own citizens into raising livestock for all those slaves. Since the Hebrews had lived in Egypt for some time before becoming enslaved, it's likely they already had their own farms around. That's why Pharaoh's order that the Egyptians would no longer provide straw for brickmaking made the Hebrews so angry, because it meant now they'd have to pull from their own straw farms.
*** But why didn't they just make the slaves eat from their private crops? They have their own straw, they must also have food plants.
*** We have a bad habit these days of viewing all 'slavery' as being exactly like the slavery of African-descent people in the Southern US; specifically, the big cotton plantations. Through most of history (and even in some cases of Southern slavery in places like Virginia), slaves may have their own homes, their own gardens/livestock, and their own possessions.

* Why did the wall of fire disappear before the Hebrews were safely across the Red Sea? Just so the soldiers could be lured in and then drowned? That seems pretty harsh considering that they were just following of Ramesses, whom they believe to be an avatar of the gods -- they were following their Faith as much as the Hebrews were. And unlike the killing of Egypt's firstborns, this doesn't even accomplish anything. It just comes off as a petty "fuck you" from God to Ramesses, in lieu of just punishing the man himself -- who, per history, ends up living to be about ninety years old, have countless children to replace the one he lost, and be ''the'' most celebrated Pharaoh Egypt ever had.
** [[ArtisticLicense It's unlikely]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_II that his real life counterpart was named Ramesses]].
*** Sure, but in the context of the movie, he's Ramesses. That's what I'm going by.
** My best guess is that losing his men and then sparing him ''was'' Rameses' punishment. The pillar of fire was a warning, Rameses refused to leave, so God decided to taunt him by letting them cross the Red Sea only to drown everyone but him. Letting him live could be a way of torturing him, as no matter how great Rameses' empire became afterward, [[CruelMercy he would still be forever haunted by his bitterness, loss, and guilt]].
** If God killed him... he wouldn't ''learn'' nothin'!
** Also, on the point of following Ramesses and their believing in his divinity... let's not forget this was AFTER Egypt had been hit with a litany of plagues Ramesses could do absolutely nothing about, including wildlife going out of control, the Nile filling up with blood, burning ice falling from the sky and a massacre of Egypt's firstborn children, all of which outweighed anything Ramesses could do even with his political power taken into account. And, as just mentioned, this was also ''immediately'' after a wall of fire that ''came down from the sky to block their path to the Hebrews'' went out, and they ''still'' thought it was a good idea to go after the people who clearly had divine protection... [[TooDumbToLive they weren't going to survive that encounter.]]
* Val Kilmer is a singer. Have they ever explained why he doesn't do his own singing in this movie?
** Val Kilmer can sing but he is not really a singer. There's a significant difference. For instance, Ralph Fiennes can get away with not having a fantastic singing voice because (a) Ramses doesn't sing an awful lot in this anyway, and (b) what he ''does'' sing is really not that difficult for a non-singer to manage - his part in "The Plagues", for example, consists of only about 8 different notes, all at relatively easy intervals. Moses, on the other hand, takes a main part in several songs, quite a few of which are vocally complicated. And while Val Kilmer is capable of singing, he appears to have a certain amount of difficulty with fusing singing with the emotion of the scene which is really a necessity in a musical like this.
* How is it that Moses spends approximately 18 years of his life in the same palace and not notice the painting of daddy dearest telling soldiers to feed the Hebrew babies to the crocodiles?
** He probably ''did'', he just didn't freak out until he realized he was very nearly one of those babies getting eaten.
** He knew it existed, which is why he went ''straight'' there. His reaction after the nightmare suggested he's aware of its existence and wanted to go verify it.
----

** According to the Bible, when the policy was first put in place (killing all the male infants, not only the firstborn), the midwives were supposed to put it into effect and refused. They lied and claimed that the Hebrew women labored more vigorously and gave birth before they could arrive. It is likely that Aaron was one of the baby boys protected by an Egyptian midwife.

** The man wasn't killed. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zXHfmSGTqY&index=19&t=2m40s You can see him in the sequence as Moses crosses the desert with Tzipporah to Egypt]]. Moses' face is even transposed over a close up of his face near the end for effect. That said, he could have still been severely punished.

* How did Moses's adopted family seem to know Moses was Hebrew, and why did they not care that he probably was a baby boy they had meant to kill? Why also did Miriam think they would tell Moses of his true heritage, and how would the pharoah know who Moses's real siblings were? It just seems odd Moses's adopted mother could convince her husband to not kill Moses, if there was any convincing at all, especially if they knew he was a Hebrew boy.

----

** My best guess is that losing his men and then sparing him ''was'' Rameses' punishment. The pillar of fire was a warning, Rameses refused to leave, so God decided to taunt him by letting them cross the Red Sea only to drown everyone but him. Letting him live could be a way of torturing him, as no matter how great Rameses' empire became afterward, [[CruelMercy he would still be forever haunted by his bitterness, loss, and guilt]].

** [[ArtisticLicense It's unlikely]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_II that the real life counterpart was named Ramesses]].

*** Actually, no. What ''is'' skipped over in the movie was about half the instructions given to the Hebrews for the Passover, including what they were to eat for dinner, how to prepare it, and what manner to eat it in. In short, it was a hastily-prepared meal that they ate with all their belongings packed and their travel clothes on, ready to leave at a moment's notice. They did indeed leave Egypt the day (or night, as the case may be) that Pharaoh gave the word for them to leave. With good reason, as the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/ThePrinceOfEgypt Fridge]] page for this movie notes that Pharaoh could have changed his mind at any time - and he did.

** My best guess is that losing his men and then sparing him ''was'' Rameses' punishment. The pillar of fire was a warning, Rameses refused to leave, so God decided to taunt him by letting them cross the Red Sea only to drown everyone but him. Letting him live could actually be an act of CruelMercy in a way, as no matter how great Rameses' empire became afterward, [[SurvivorGuilt he would still be forever haunted by his bitterness, loss, and guilt]].

** My best guess is that losing his men and then sparing him ''was'' Rameses' punishment. The pillar of fire was a warning, Rameses refused to leave, so God decided to taunt him by letting them cross the Red Sea only to drown everyone but Rameses. Letting him live could actually be an act of CruelMercy in a way, as no matter how great his empire became afterward, [[SurvivorGuilt he would still be forever haunted by his loss and guilt]].

* Why did the wall of fire disappear before the Hebrews were safely across the Red Sea? Just so the soldiers could be lured in and then drowned? That seems pretty harsh considering that they were just following of Ramesses, whom they believe to be an avatar of the gods -- they were following their Faith as much as the Hebrews were. And unlike the killing of Egypt's firstborns, this doesn't even accomplish anything. It just comes off as a petty "fuck you" from God to Ramesses, in lieu of just punishing the man himself -- who, per history, ends up living to be about ninety years old, have countless children to replace the one he lost, and be ''the'' most celebrated Pharaoh Egypt ever had.