Queen Tuya is a minor character in the DreamWorks film, The Prince of Egypt. She was the foster mother of Moses and birth mother of Rameses II. She is voiced by Helen Mirren and her singing voice is done by Linda Dee Shayne.
Background[]
Personality[]
She is a very kind and loving woman. She cares a lot for both Rameses and Moses. She, unlike her husband, seems to be more merciful because when she found Moses as a baby, she knew he was a Hebrew, but instead of killing him like all of the other unfortunate baby boys, she took him in as her own son. She can be quite serious, especially if one of her sons gets in trouble, but she loves both of them dearly through it all.
Role in the film[]
Tuya is the queen of Egypt and Pharaoh Seti I's wife. She is also the mother of Ramesses II mother and Moses's foster mother. She discovers the basket that Moses was being held in and decides to adopt him.
She later appears years later after Rameses and Moses destroy a temple and later at the feast. When the feast ends in Tzipporah being pushed into a water fountain by Moses, she is the only person present that does not laugh, looking disappointed down instead. Seeing this, Moses regrets his actions.
The last time Tuya is seen is when she tells Moses that he is not truly her son, but the gods chose him to be part of their family. After that, she doesn't appear for the rest of the film, perhaps meaning that, like her husband, she died sometime after Moses fled from Egypt.
In the film's stage adaptation, Tuya is shown to still be alive after Moses returns to Egypt, where it is revealed that she had become reclusive following Seti's death. She summons Moses to her and urges him to repair his relationship with Rameses.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- She is played by Helen Mirren who also voiced Dean Hardscabble in Disney/Pixar's Monsters University.
- In the story of Exodus, it's Pharaoh's daughter that adopts Moses. Her name is often said to be Bithiah (בתיה) by the Jewish people, in Christianity, her name is Merris or Merrhoe. In Islam, she is the queen of Egypt and her name is Asiya (آسيا). However according to some Thermuthis the daughter of Seti I adopted Moses.
- In real life, Tuya and Seti I had a son (Ramses II) but also two daughters named Tia and Henutmire. Both Tia (however she was married to an official also named Tia but he died after the couple had two daughters) and Henutmire married their full brother Ramses II.
