Imhotep (The Mummy)
Imhotep is a male movie undead villain that features in The Mummy movies.
Contents |
Biography
The Mummy
Imhotep was born in Ancient Egypt where he lived in Thebes where he rose to the position of High Priest to the Pharoah Setti the Third and became the Keeper of the Dead, a trusted adviser to his ruler. However, he embarked on an affair with his masters mistress Anacksanmun a woman which no man was allowed to touch under the penaly of death. Their affair continued for sometime until one day the Pharoah burst into the chambers and discovered marks on his mistresses arm with his advisers priests nearby. When he turned around he discovered Imhotep but the distraction allowed Anacksanamun to stab him with Imhotep joining her in the assassination of the Pharoah. The action alerted the Pharoah's bodyguards who attempted to break into the chamber but a defiant Imhotep wished to stay by his love's side. But she urged him to escape so that he could resurrect her and his priests rushed him away. He witnessed the guards break in and Anacksanamun take her own life. Sometime later he and his priests broke into the crypts and stole her body whereupon they took it to Hamanaputra, the City of the Dead. Imhotep had managed to procure the Black Book of the Dead for use in the ritual to claim his love's soul from the underworld and resurrect her. But before he could complete the magical ritual, he was stopped by the Pharoah's bodyguards. His priests were buried alive for their crimes with Imhotep himself suffering the worst curse possible; the Hom-Dai. He was wrapped up in bandages and placed in a sarcophagus whereupon a swarm of scarabs were deposited into the coffin which consumed his flesh. He was buried in the City of Dead under the statue of Anubis whereupon he was protected by the Pharoah's bodyguards called the Medjai in order to ensure he was never released as he would become a plague on Humanity, an unholy monster who consumed flesh and had the strength ages.
Imhotep remained imprisoned in Hamanaptra for three thousand years, sealed inside his sarcophagus, until in 1926, three treasure-seekers: Rick O'Connel, Jonathan Carnahan, and Evelyn Carnahan, came to Hamunaptra, hoping to find treasures. Imhotep's chamber was located at the base of the statue of Anubis. Meanwhile, another treasure-seeking party, including Dr. Allen Chamberlain, Bernard Burns, Isaac Henderson, David Daniels and their guide Beni Gabor came across a compartment above that contained the Book of the Dead. With the chest opened, these four men would be killed by Imhotep should he ever return from the dead. As Imhotep's sarcophagus was opened using the same key the Medjai had attempted to take from Evelyn on the boat during their journey there. With it finally pried open, Imhotep's body burst out of the coffin, being stuck popped outstanding, frightening all three of the treasure-seekers. They were surprised at what they saw; Imhotep's body was still "juicy" even after over three thousand years of decomposition. The group then examined the sarcophagus, finding markings made from fingernails, and among them was a message, which read, "death is only the beginning". On the night of Imhotep's discovery, Evelyn was taken over by her own curiosities about the Book of the Dead. She took the book from Dr. Chamberlain as he slept. Evelyn headed back to her campsite and examined the book before reading it. Reading aloud to O'Connell, he asked her what the hieroglyphs meant, and she began to read. Unbeknownst to either of them, the words she spoke from the book caused the mummy below to awaken, roaring. Dr. Chamberlain awoke at once and screamed out to Evelyn that she must not read from the Book.
Suddenly, a swarm of locusts came from the horizon and engulfed the campsites, forcing a number of the explorers and diggers to the underground tunnels. The first plague had arrived. In their haste in escaping the locusts, one of the Americans, Bernard Burns, tripped and fell in the tunnels with his glasses being knocked off and stomped on accidentally by his guide Beni Gabor. Not stopping to help Bernard back up, Beni ran after the others, leaving Bernard to stumble along the corridors essentially blind. Imhotep made his way around the underground chambers, despite his own eyes and tongue having rotted away over the centuries. Upon finding Bernard in the corridors, Imhotep used his powers to forcibly remove Bernard's eyes and tongue. The curses, meanwhile, continued in the form of frogs. On their way through the corridors, O'Connell, Jonathan, and Evelyn were running for their lives from a large number of scarabs that erupted from the floor. As they ran through the corridors, Evelyn had lost O'Connell and Jonathan, and fell through a secret entrance. The entrance had led Evelyn to Bernard, who had now lost his eyes and tongue and was reduced to pain and shock. Before she could make her way out, Imhotep stepped out of the shadows, causing Evelyn to shriek in horror at the sight of the reanimated mummy. Imhotep stepped closer, squinting at her, believing her to be his long-lost lover Anck-Su-Namun; Having stolen Bernard's eyes, Imhotep's eyesight was faulty. He then extended his hand to her, telling her to come with him.
The Return
Seeing his love abandon him whilst O'Connel had his wife, Imhotep decided to abandon his pursuits for domination of the world. He then let his grip and fell into the fires of the underworld which ended the threat he posed to all mortals.
Overview
Personality and attributes
As a High Priest of Osiris, he carried his position with great intent and was even a trust friend of the Pharaoh's. However, he was more focused in his romantic relationship with Setti the Third's concubine Anacksunamun; an affair that was reciprocated from her. This became his obsession and Imhotep was intent only upon getting that which he desired and would even break the laws and rules of his religion to get them. He broke the sacred laws regarding the black Book of the Dead to resurrect his love. He was easily capable of being duplicitous in order to achieve his goal such as promising to spare Evelyn Carnahan's friends if she went with him but once she went with him he immediately ordered his servants to kill them. His treachorous nature meant that his personality varied on the situation and when stripped of his power he attempted to blame Rick O'Connel of challenging the Scorpion King as well as claim to the undead creature that he was a loyal servant.
When he was resurrected, he grew even more arrogant and feared little as he worked to achieve his goals by trying to get an advantage in his problems. He was confident in his power and felt that when he reached his full power that nothing would stop him. His arrogant nature was apparent when he felt sure that he would be able to defeat the Scorpion King. When he was vanquished for the first time, Imhotep was stabbed with a sword into his stomach and showed genuine surprise and shock as he was so sure of his rise to power. He appeared as a tall muscled bald man who was considered somewhat handsome by many.
Imhotep did not speak English and instead spoke the Ancient Egyptian languages as well as understood the language of the slaves. Though he was powerful when compared to mortals, he often made use of servants from the modern era in order to achieve goals for him. To such pawns he had the promise of rewards for them if they served him well.
In his final moments before falling into the Underworld, he began to relent and decide to accept his fate into death.
Powers and abilities
As an ordinary Human, Imhotep had little power to call upon beyond his knowledge. But after being cursed with the Hondai, he gained a great deal of supernatural powers. He became immortal but his body was little more then a dessicated skeleton and required the flesh of those that disturbed the sacred artifacts. Upon meeting them, he would consume their bodies leaving behind nothing more then a skeleton. With each person devoured, his power grew and he gained a more Human appearance till the point that he resembled his original young form. His undead nature meant that h held a great deal of resilience against conventional means of harm with bullets and swords incapable of hurting him.
His unnatural abilities allowed him to control his environment to the point that he was capable of manipulating the sands to create gret storms that consumed the planes and other enemies. This power was not limited to sand as he was equally able to manipulate water to serve this role. The same ability allowed him to fly through the sky and carry others with him whilst they travelled from one location to another. Another noted abilty was the capacity to influence the minds of mortals and making hem his mindless servants as they were simple thralls to his will.
Imhotep gained even greater powers by making use of the Book of the Dead allowing him to command undead mummified warriors as well as summon the souls of the deceased in order to bring them back to life. He also had control over summoning undead Egyptian warriors called forth from urns and taking form from sand. These warriors were easily able to be controlled by Imhotep's power.
Though he was immune to conventional attacks, certain supernatural techniques were capable of defeating him. Certain spells from the Book of the Dead allowed others to strip him of immortality and make him Human once again. Furthermore, the intervention from the Egyptian gods allowed them to remove his supernatural nature in certain circumstances.
Upon his return as an undead being, there were a number of consequences to the mortal world. This included a plague of locusts descending over the lands, water turning into blood and fireballs falling from the sky.
Notes
- The concept of Imhotep was created by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer where he was portrayed by actor Arnold Vosloo in the setting of the Mummy universe.
In other media
Television
Appearances
- The Mummy:
External Link
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
