WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Moon Knight Episode 1, “The Goldfish Problem,” streaming now on Disney+.

Moon Knight's first episode introduces plenty of the underpinnings of the show's central plot. These include different characters, like the hero, mild-mannered Steven Grant, and the villain, sinister religious leader Arthur Harrow. Steven's alternative identities that exist as a part of his Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) are alluded to, but in a way that draws in the audience with a need for further explanation. It's an introduction with plenty of foreshadowing but little substance. This isn't a bad thing (so long as that explanation is given later), but it does make the few details given stand out like diamonds in the rough.

Moon Knight's lore and mythos are grounded in a specific interpretation of ancient Egyptian mythology and mysticism. Harrow cultivates a group of dedicated religious followers in an isolated town amid the European Alps. The primary deity he devotes both his own worship and that of his followers to is Ammit, an Egyptian underworld deity associated with the judging of a soul before death. It's not just empty dedication, either. The elder statesman demonstrates a powerful act of ritual magic, in which he "weighs" the soul of a person, just as Ammit was said to do in myth. If their soul is worthy, nothing happens. But if they're judged as wicked, they start to rapidly blacken and decay.

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A close up on Arthur Harrow's hands as he clasps them with an older woman. His scales tattoo is glowing red.

Such a power wouldn't be too unusual to show up in a comic book property. It's barely even a step removed from the Ghost Rider's signature Penance Stare. What makes it so unusual is that when Harrow judges an older woman in the Alps, the scales come up red. Her heart and soul are too heavy for the burden of her sins. And yet when she protests she's done nothing wrong, Harrow agrees. He points out that Ammit sees both the past and the future and that she may be judged on something that's yet to come. And then she begins to decay as a result of the judgment.

This means that if Harrow hadn't judged her, she would have gone on to do something terrible. But instead, he kills her, meaning she won't have the chance to. Harrow even calls this out as Ammit's appeal in a monologue to Steven. "Had Ammit been free, she would've prevented Hitler and the destruction he wrought." That's a bold claim and brings up a bigger question — why doesn't Harrow try to help the people who haven't yet committed any wicked deeds? He uses the metaphor of weeding a garden before the flowers are destroyed, but are the weeds themselves not worth saving?

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And even that characterization as weeds is misguided. Any person is capable of good or evil. It's the choices they make that define them every day as they continue to learn and change. Even if Ammit sees that they will do something heinous, that's only a potential future. If Ammit can intervene by killing them, pruning off that potential outcome, she should also be able to enact positive change through Harrow. It's unclear if Moon Knight will deal with such a ramification of its villain's main power, but it's worth considering nonetheless.

If Harrow's philosophy is truly reflective of how Ammit would act if "freed" from whatever shackles restrain her, Steven has his work cut out for him. Harrow casually mentions that "millions" more will face judgment. Millions of binary, life-or-death judgments are a grim prospect, with only a single saving grace. Steven himself is subjected to Harrow's ritual toward the end of the episode, but the cult leader's tattoo simply swirls against his skin. He remarks that he's confused by the "chaos" within Steven, likely referring to the clerk's multiple identities. That kind of ambiguity and nuance seems far more appropriate when considering something complex as the weight of a person's soul — and more than welcome as the rest of Moon Knight releases in weeks to come.

The first episode of Moon Knight is currently available to stream on Disney+.

KEEP READING: CBR's Moon Knight Guide: News, Easter Eggs, Reviews, Theories and Rumors