the illegitimate son of their father and his mistress, who had been their mother's best friend. He spent his childhood hating Emerson for having the recognition and childhood he craved, not knowing that Emerson spent his own childhood loathing his situation and searching for a way to remove Walter and himself from their mother's grasp. Sethos eventually takes a wife, Margaret Minton, a female reporter (who bears a striking resemblance to Amelia). His other family includes a grown daughter, Maryam, from a previous relationship with partner-in-crime Bertha, and eventually a grandchild, Maryam's son from her first marriage. Names In Children of the Storm, he reveals to Evelyn Emerson that Seth is in fact his real name. His pseudonym is thought to be a pun on the mythological Set, a god of Egypt who attempted to kill his brother Osiris. The rivalry of Sethos and Radcliffe is probably a parody of Set's feud with Osiris, and Sethos' redemption a parody of Set's transformation into a god of storm by Ra. Abilities Sethos possesses a superior intellect, exceptional strength and agility, and a great deal of charisma. He is an extremely capable fighter, but always prefers to anticipate and outthink his adversaries. In Lord of the Silent, his own nephew Ramses Emerson reflects with frustration that, whether he is on the Emersons' side or against them, it is nearly impossible to catch him in a situation where he's not one or two steps ahead of them. His most prominent talent is that he is a master of disguise and an amazingly talented mimic. Even Amelia, who claims that she would know him anywhere, sometimes has trouble recognizing him. In Lion in the Valley he admits to appearing to the Emersons in three vastly different roles: a young, vacuous English nobleman, a middle-aged private investigator, and an elderly and obnoxious American female tourist. More impressively, in the course of The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog he spends several months by Amelia's side in the guise of the Emersons' close friend, Cyrus Vandergelt, with Amelia none the wiser. In Lion, Ramses acquires part of his collection and becomes quite adept at the art of disguise himself. Characters in the Amelia Peabody novel series