Set was the Egyptian god of chaos, storms, and the desert, and he was a brother of Osiris.
In Egyptian religion, Set was associated with deserts, violence, disorder, foreigners, and storms. His domain, the “Red Land,” contrasted with the fertile “Black Land” along the Nile. This did not make him purely evil: Set also protected the sun god Ra by helping repel Apep, the serpent embodying cosmic chaos.
Set is best known for the Osiris myth. He murdered and dismembered his brother Osiris, prompting Isis to recover and restore Osiris’s body. Their son Horus later challenged Set for the throne of Egypt. Egyptian traditions variously describe Horus as Set’s nephew or brother, but Osiris and Set are consistently presented as siblings.
A common mix-up is treating Set as simply an Egyptian version of Satan. His character changed over time, and his destructive associations became stronger in some periods, but he also represented necessary forces such as storms, arid wilderness, and defense against greater chaos.