[3] In depictions, Semar appears with a flat nose, a protruding lower jaw, a tired eye, and a bulging rear, belly, and chest.

[11] In one version of the Babad Tanah Jawi (the Javanese creation myth), Semar cultivated a small rice field near Mount Merbabu for ten thousand years before there were any men.

A powerful priest, unable to deviate from his king's orders to continue cultivating the island, provided Semar with a role that would allow his children and grandchildren to stay.

Semar's role was to be a spiritual advisor and magical supporter of the royalty, and those of his descendants who also protect the humans of Java can remain there.

[12] In either case, Semar, in his awkward, ugly human form, represents at the same time god and clown, the most spiritually refined and outwardly rough.

He is the only character who dares to protest the gods, including Batara Guru (Shiva) and Batari Durga, and even compel them to act or desist.

[15] It has also been suggested that Semar is a symbol of the peasantry, not otherwise incorporated in the palace hierarchies; that in some more popular forms of the drama, he and the other clowns dominate the royal heroes supporting this idea.

While an abbreviation of its official title ("Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret"), consensus among academic historians such as Claire Holt and David Bourchier is that Suharto deliberately associated his image with that of Semar to appeal to Indonesia's Javanese population.