| “ | The Book of the Dead gives life. | ” |
–Lock-Nah describing the Book's powers., The Mummy Returns | ||
The Book of the Dead was an Ancient Egyptian book made of pure obsidian. Known colloquially as "the Black Book”, the Book of the Dead contained ancient spells and incantations that could resurrect the dead and can summon the Warriors of the Book (Ghost Warriors). In the late 3000's B.C. King Ramusan protected the Book of the Dead in the Treasure Chamber in his palace to keep it safe form anyone taking it. Two thousand years later, to keep it safe from interference from unworthy men, the ancient Egyptians kept the Book inside a statue of Anubis at Hamunaptra, where it was declared forbidden to use. In the late 3000's the Book of the Dead's spells and incantations had been useless, unless the Eye of the Gods Medallion was used while reading it. A couple years later the Book of the Dead was fashioned so that only one with a "key" might open it: indeed, the Book had a small puzzle-box-like object that, when opened, acted as the key with which to open the Book.
History
Film Series
In the late 3000's, Talus, a ruthless warrior, and brother of Horus, the most powerful god/pharaoh in Egypt, leads a legion of soldiers to the Far East to get the Book of the Dead. With the Book, Talus would used the Book to defeat his brother Horus as well as in the conquering of empires. Talus marched to the palace of King Ramusan, who acted as guardian of the legendary Book of the Dead. Talus sent his army to attack Ramusan's palace so that he might take the Book of the Dead to raise its Warriors. Ramusan hid the Book in the Treasure Chamber, but Talus found the book: before Talus opens it, Ramusan informed him that the text would be useless without the Eye of Gods Medallion, then Talus takes out the Medallion which he took from Ramusan's daughter, Princess Silda. That night Talus takes the Book of the Dead and the Medallion and summons the Warriors of the Book. First warrior that raises is Zulu Kondo, lion spirit from the land of the burning sky. Next warrior that raises is Agromael, noble destroyer. Last warrior that raises is Tsukai, shadow warrior from the land of the rising sun.
The next day Talus orders Zulu Kondo and Tsukai to kill Cobra (Princess Silda) while Agromael protects Talus. When Zulu Kondo and Tsukai arrive to Silda's village, Silda tell Mathayus (The Scorpion King) that Talus has raised the Ghost Warriors, and also tells him if any person reads from the Book of the Dead it awakens the Warriors from the underworld, but Mathayus tells Silda that the Book of the Dead has been lost for thousands of years, then Silda tells him that the Book has been kept safe in her family for may generations. While Mathayus and Olaf are attacking Zulu Kondo, Silda is attacking Tsukai. Then Mathayus uses Zulu Kondo's weapon to kill him which leaves Tsukai and Agromael the only Ghost Warriors left. After Zulu Kondo's death, Tsukai went back to the palace to inform Talus that Zulo Kondo has been killed. Then Talus tells Tsukai to protect the Book. Talus puts the Book back at the Treasure Chamber under lock and key, and orders Agromael to protect the outside entrance to the Treasure Chamber. That night Mathayus and Olaf bring Princess Silda and a fake head of Cobra as a gift to Talus. The Next day Talus is preparing a wedding with Silda, but then Mathayus comes and takes the Eye of Gods Medallion and Talus yells for Tsukai to help him. When Tsukai arrives Mathayus takes the Medallion and tells Tsukai to obey him, but then Silda tells him that once the Warriors are ruled by a person, you can't control them unless you recite the incantation to switch their allegiance. Then Talus takes the Medallion and tells Tsukai to finish Mathayus and Silda.
Silda tells Mathayus to chase Talus and get the Medallion back while Silda fights Tsukai, Olaf gets in the Chamber so he can get the Book of the Dead, but then Agromael appears and attacks Olaf. Meanwhile Silda fights Tsukai, and Olaf fights Agromael, during their fight Tsukai tells Silda that she is a good fighter and she might think of bringing her to the underworld so she can become a Warrior of the Book, but Silda rejects the offer. Then during Olaf and Agromael fight, Olaf gets hurt really bad and drops the Book. Outside of the palace Talus gets on a horse and leaves the palace while Mathayus gets on a horse to chase him so he can get the Medallion, he succeeds in getting the Medallion and Mathayus orders his troops to kill Talus but Talus yells that he doesn't need the Medallion because he has become part of the Book and says he will come back to life again. Back at the palace Silda and Olaf are still fighting with Tsukai and Agromael and Mathayus and picks up the Book off the floor and grabs Ramusan (who was believed to be dead) and tells Ramusan to read the incantation just in time before Tsukai and Agromael are about to kill Silda and Olaf. Then Ramusan without strength to finish the incantation Mathayus takes the Book and the Medallion and finishes reading the incantation and the Ghost Warriors switch their allegiance to Mathayus. After that Ramusan guardian of the legendary Book of the Dead dies. Then Mathayus becomes King of Ramusan's kingdom and as Silda as his Queen. After this the Book was put back at the Treasure Chamber where it's safe and sound for the next thousand years.
In 1290 B.C, the treacherous High Priest of Osiris, Imhotep, along with his disciple priests, stole the Book of the Dead from its resting place in Hamunaptra in order to resurrect his deceased lover Anck-Su-Namun. However, before he could complete the ritual that would bring his lover back, he was captured by the Medjai, who then declared the punishment of being mummified alive unto the High Priest and his disciples. Imhotep himself was condemned to endure the Hom-Dai, the most severe of all ancient curses, so powerful was the curse that it had never before been acted out.
The Book of the Dead was returned to its place beneath the statue of Anubis, along with five canopic jars, all placed inside of a wooden chest that carried a curse that condemned whoever dared to open the chest to death. If Imhotep were to arise he would be bound by sacred law to kill the unfortunates who did the deed by draining their organs and fluids: in so doing, Imhotep would be reverted back to his human form, and would have the power of invincibility.
Three thousand years after the Book of the Dead was last used, a number of treasure hunters found the city of Hamunaptra and had begun to probe around the ruins in the search of treasures. One group of treasure hunters, who had staked out the base of the statue of Anubis as their dig site, had found the wooden chest that contained the Book. As three treasure seekers had decided to pry open the chest, their Egyptologist, a man named Allen Chamberlin, had advised them all to not open the chest, as the chest carried a curse upon it. The chest had been pried open, regardless of any curse placed upon it, and with that the Book of the Dead was revealed. Chamberlin stood in reverent awe at the sight of the Book, as his three fellow treasure-seekers derided the Book as worthless. With the Book in his possession, Chamberlin then had obtained a canopic jar as well, as Henderson, one of the three treasure seekers, accidentally tapped his foot against the chest, revealing a secret compartment in the side where the canopic jars were kept. Each man present took a jar for himself, leaving the fifth canopic jar behind, as it was broken. Meanwhile, in the chamber above, another group of treasure seekers had found a mummy that was bound by the Hom-Dai curse.
That night, Dr. Chamberlin tried in vain to pry the Book of the Dead open with his hands, and was seen by Evelyn Carnahan, another scholar seeking the treasures of Hamunaptra, who informed the Egyptologist that he needed a key to open the Book. Chamberlin mused upon this idea and fell asleep with the Book in his grip. Evelyn sneaked into the sleeping Egyptologist's tent and took the Book from his grip, taking care not to awaken the professor, though Rick O'Connell, who had guided Evelyn and her brother, Jonathan Carnahan, to Hamunaptra, had criticised Evelyn's actions as theft. Evelyn, however, stated it was just reading from a book, a harmless action. At that, Evelyn used the key to open the Book, which released a long gust of wind from around the campsite of the treasure hunters, and proceeded to read the text inside. Evelyn did not know it at the time, but the incantations that she was reading were causing the mummy that she and her friends had previously found to return to life.
The mummy awoke roaring in the chambers below, and Dr. Chamberlin awoke as well, screaming that Evelyn must not read from the book. The curses that ensued, however, had already begun to take effect, as a great swarm of locusts descended upon the campsite, forcing all those that could run to escape the insects by running into the catacombs, with the exception of several native diggers and Dr. Chamberlin, who remained in the campsite, covered in locusts, clutching the Book and wondering what they had done. Later, when the Medjai returned to the campsite, they took Dr. Chamberlin as a prisoner, the Book of the Dead still in his grasp. Ardeth Bay, the leader of the Medjai, informed the expeditionaries that they had unleashed an ancient evil, and ordered them all to leave the city. Upon being ordered to leave, Dr. Chamberlin held the Book of the Dead tight and did not lose it.
Two days later, Dr. Chamberlin ran through the streets of Cairo with the Book in his grip, along with his canopic jar. Unbeknownst to the Egyptologist, he was being hunted by the mummy that had been brought back to life with the Book previously. The mummy, Imhotep, is hunting him so he can get the Book, and the canopic jar, and to suck the life out of him, later he found the Egyptologist and proceeded to suck the man dry of his organs and fluids, killing him and taking the Book and the canopic jar from Dr. Chamberlin's withered hands, Imhotep took back the Book of the Dead and the canopic jar. The Book now in Imhotep's possession, Imhotep proceeded to emit a great cloud of flies that swarmed through the streets of Cairo and engulfed the townspeople. As the townspeople frantically swept away the flies, the mummy calmly walked away with another canopic jar and the Book of the Dead in tow.
The Book of the Dead was eventually taken back to Hamunaptra, where Imhotep intended to use it to perform the ritual that would bring his lover back to life. Summoning his mummified priests to kill O'Connell, Jonathan, and Ardeth Bay and to participate in the chanting of verses, Imhotep made his way into the ritual chamber with Evelyn chained to the sacrificial altar. As Imhotep read the verses aloud, his attention was disrupted as Jonathan announced to Evelyn that he had found the Book of Amun-Ra. The Book of the Dead ultimately ended up in the ritual chamber in Hamanaptra as the ruins came crashing down.
Nine years after the Book's previous use, a number of cultists had recovered the Book of the Dead as well as the Book of Amun-Ra, both of which they kept a close hold on. The Book of the Dead was subsequently used in London when the cultists, led by British Museum curator Baltus Hafez, used the Book's incantations to resurrect the mummy Imhotep. The cultists believed that by resurrecting the High Priest and having him duel against the legendary Scorpion King, they might be able to claim the rewards of the control of the Scorpion King's army, the Army of Anubis.
The Book of the Dead was soon after taken with the cultists on their journey to Karnak, where they stopped for a night so as to set up camp after the son of O'Connell and Evelyn, Alex O'Connell, who had been taken captive by the cultists, had tried to escape them. The Book of the Dead was once again used when Imhotep used his powers to entrance the cultist Meela Nais into recalling her past life as Anck-Su-Namun, at which point Anck-Su-Namun had acted out the events of the last night of her life, ending her actions with a stab to her stomach, killing herself. Imhotep used the Book of the Dead to call forth Anck-Su-Namun's soul from the Underworld, bringing her back to life.
The Book of the Dead was taken by the cultists to Ahm Shere, the next location on their journey, where it was taken by Shafek so as to keep it safe, and the Book eventually ended up in the hands of Anck-Su-Namun, who brandished it before a disbelieving Alex O'Connell, after Anck-Su-Namun killed the boy's mother. The Book of the Dead was taken by Imhotep into the Pyramid of Ahm Shere, and was given to Anck-Su-Namun, at which point where Alex stole it so as to resurrect his mother.
After the Pyramid had been taken back to the Underworld as a result of the Scorpion King's defeat, the Book of the Dead, which was within the Pyramid, was taken along back to the Underworld.
The Mummy: The Animated Series
In TV Series adaptation of first two films that run on separate continuities, the Book had been recovered by Evelyn and placed on display in the British Museum of Antiquities at one point before the series began, where it remained until it had been stolen by Colin Weasler, a rival colleague of Evelyn's, who utilised it to resurrect Imhotep, heading to Hamunaptra to find Imhotep's remains. Weasler first used the Book to knock out a guard that was guarding the ruins' entrance to Hamunaptra before reading the enclosed incantations; Imhotep had been brought back to his regenerated state and kidnapped Alex O'Connell, taking him to the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.
With the Book, Imhotep had intended to forcibly extract the Manacle of Osiris, an ancient bracelet with magical powers, from off of Alex's wrist, but O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan, and the Medjai chieftain, Ardeth Bay, intervened before Imhotep could harm Alex. The Manacle of Osiris responded to Alex's distress at seeing his father in danger as Imhotep was about to crush him with a statue piece, and summoned the Book of the Dead, which Evelyn used to attempt to send Imhotep back to his death. Before she could finish the incantations, however, Colin Weasler knocked her aside and sent the Book of the Dead sliding across the floor of the temple, where it fell in a crack in the floor that extended into a deep abyss: the Book lost, Evelyn could not finish the incantations to once more kill Imhotep, and he was left in a state between death and life.
The Mummy (2017)
Jenny Halsey takes the book from a shelf during a struggle with one of Jekyll's employed bodyguards and uses it to knock him out. The book then falls to the floor and is left in Jekyll's private library as Jenny and Nick escape from Jekyll's office.
Traits
| “ | I believe you need a key to open that Book. | ” |
–Evelyn Carnahan to Dr. Chamberlin on his discovery, The Mummy | ||
The Book of the Dead was an ancient volume that was held in such reverence for the ancient Egyptians that to speak of it was blasphemy, and so was kept stowed away from any interference in the necropolis Hamunaptra; the Book of the Dead contained the spells and incantations needed to bring the deceased back to life as well as to perform other rituals and summoning the Warriors of the Book (Ghost Warriors), such as the separation of Alex O'Connell and the Manacle of Osiris and the deterioration of the undead.
A heavy tome made of pure obsidian with golden hinges, the Book of the Dead could only be opened by the use of a puzzle-box-like object that would fit directly onto an emblem on the cover, in the late 3000's to read from the Book you needed the Eye of Gods Medallion and the Book of the Dead didn't need the puzzle box to open it. Its counterpart, the Book of Amun-Ra, known as the "Book of the Living", was opened using the same puzzle box and contained the reverse incantations to the Book of the Dead.
Appearances
- The Mummy (First appearance)
- The Mummy Returns
- The Mummy: The Animated Series
- The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption
- "The Mummy 2017
