What creature devoured the hearts of the unworthy dead?

The story behind the answer

Ammit is correct. In the Hall of Ma’at, the deceased’s heart was weighed against the feather of Truth. Anubis oversaw the scales and Thoth recorded the result; if the heart was heavy with sin, Ammit—“Devourer of the Dead”—ate it, condemning the person to a final death with no afterlife.

To picture Ammit, remember Egypt’s three most dangerous animals: crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus. Ammit combined them, embodying ultimate peril. By contrast, Anubis guided and embalmed the dead, Bastet protected homes as a cat goddess, and Sekhmet was a fierce lioness of war and plague. Memory tip: Ammit “ate” the unworthy—Amm-it—while Anubis “weighed” the way.