Tzipporah is wife of Moses and the t deuteragonist of The Prince of Egypt. However she and Moses hated each other but later fell in love with him after he inadvertently helped her escape from the castle and helped him become more kind and noble. The couple fell in love and ended up marrying him. After receiving a vision and message from God, Moses and Tzipporah make their way to Egypt and free his family. She is the eldest daughter of Jethro, the older sister of Jethrodiahdah, Ephora and Ajolidoforah and the sister-in-law of Rameses II, Miriam and Aaron.
She is voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer and based on the character of the same name from the biblical story, "The Book of Exodus."
Role in The Prince of Egypt[]
She is first introduced to being captured by the soldiers and presented to Prince Ramses as a wife. However, he is disgusted by her when Tzipporah bites his hand. Instead, he passes her on to Moses. However, he allows her to escape back to her family by sending the guards off her track by sending them the other way to look for her. Tzipporah sees this and runs off, and is provided for a camel by Miriam and Aaron.
She later comes to her sisters who need help getting a man (Moses) out of a well. At first, Tzipporah thinks they are playing but she sees they are telling the truth when she sees there is s man really trapped down there. She goes to help him out but when Tzipporah sees that it is Moses, she quickly tosses him back in the well in a panic. Tzipporah is against Moses remaining in Midian but Jethro is willing to allow Moses to take refuge in Midian in gratitude for aiding Tzipporah in her escape from Egypt and rescuing his three younger daughters from two thieves.
Over the course of his time there, when Moses becomes a shephard, he and Tzipporah hardly get along but they grow close with one another. Eventually, falling in love, Tzipporah and Moses marry each other.
One day, after encountering God in the form of a fiery bush, Moses announces he is going to Egypt to free his people from slavery. Tzipporah accompanies him to the palace, where they find that Moses' adoptive brother, Rameses took over after their father's death. Moses begs his brother to let his people go but Rameses refuses. Tzipporah remains by Moses' side and becomes acquainted with her husband's biological family.
After the death of the firstborn children in Egypt apart from the Israelites, Rameses allows them to leave. However, he sends a legion of armies after the escaping slaves. Fortunately, God opens the Black Sea, allowing Tzipporah, her family and people to make it out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Tzipporah tells her husband to look at their people, as they are finally free.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Tzipporah is one of the few characters to have her singing voice be the same as her speaking voice.
- In the original story, Tzipporah was the oldest of seven daughters and yet, only three of her sisters are present.
- In the original story, Tzipporah has a negative relationship with both Aaron and Miriam, who both disapprove of their brother's marriage to her. God is displeased with their hypocrisy and curses Miriam with leprosy.
- Tzipporah is the first female lead to be done in 2D animation for DreamWorks, the second being Chel from The Road to El Dorado, the third being Rain from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and the fourth being Marina from Sinbad.
