| “ | What is it with you and curses? He ain't happy without a good curse. |
” |
–Spivey and Red mocking Jacques., The Mummy Returns | ||
Jacques Clemons was one of three thieves that were under the employ of a cult leader by the name of Baltus Hafez, and who would later be killed by an ancient curse.
Biography[]
Jacques was a thief alongside two others named Spivey and Red, and was well versed in ancient Egyptian lore, to the point of being overtly superstitious of Egyptian antiquities and claiming that there were curses on certain places and items he and his fellow thieves came across.
Searching for the Bracelet[]
Jacques, along with Spivey and Red, made it to a temple along the Nile where Rick O'Connell, his wife Evelyn and their son Alex were on an expedition. The O'Connell couple was exploring the catacombs and tunnels of the ruins while young Alex was told to stay in the main chamber of the temple and wait for his parents as he built mousetraps which he used on the mice of the temple. As Alex was building one of his mousetraps, the three thieves, led by Red, entered the temple in search of an ancient Bracelet.
Alex saw these men meant business when he saw their leader tote a gun, and separate from the other two in search of the O'Connells. The other thieves, Spivey and Jacques, searched the heaps of ancient Egyptian pottery and sculptures as Spivey complained about how it was all cheap pottery. Alex hid at the top of a scaffold inside the chamber and, just for the fun of it, took his slingshot and fired a pebble at Spivey's head, as Spivey was too occupied by the antiques to notice. Spivey screamed in pain as Jacques told him to stop, as that place was cursed. A moment later Alex shot Spivey with another pebble, this one in the hindquarters; Spivey again screamed out while Jacques drew his pistol, knowing that while he could not see it, something was amiss. Alex pushed his luck too far when he was about to fire another pebble at Spivey, but as he did and the pebble almost hit Spivey a third time, Jacques caught it in midair with his hand and with little effort, crushed the pebble like a dirt clod.
Jacques climbs the scaffolds with a scimitar.
Alex was stuck in the scaffold, about to be killed by Jacques, who was wielding a scimitar, when Red ran out of the corridors ordering the two others to leave. Jacques obliged, sliding down the scaffold, but not before he broke the base of the scaffold, leaving Alex to an almost certain fate, and ran off.
A Different Chore[]
Some time later, Jacques and his fellow thieves visited a dig site at Hamanaptra, the City of the Dead, where they would consort with members of a cult led by their employer, Baltus Hafez. Hafez asked the thieves if they had acquired the artifact that they had gone into the temple that they had visited for. Red replied that the opportunity had passed them by, Hafez curtly replying that they needed the Bracelet, as Lock-Nah, Hafez's enforcer, punctuated that statement by stating that they needed it before it opened and almost drawing his sabre. At this, Jacques and the other two thieves drew out their pistols, Spivey pointing his in in the wrong direction, which Jacques corrected. Only Meela Nais, another cultist and millionaire accompanying the dig, ceased the gunpoint debate by reminding Hafez that she should have handled the situation, with Hafez telling her that her past history would have clouded the issue. Red told Hafez that the Bracelet was on its way to London; after this, Red and his two fellows would be given a different "chore" by Hafez.
More Money[]
The next "chore" that needed to be completed was that Spivey, Red, and Jacques must retrieve a certain chest. As they presented the chest to Hafez and Meela Nais on a train that Hafez and his fellow cultists had employed in their attempt to reach Karnak, where the next clue on their quest lay, Red informed Hafez of the circumstances that he and his accomplices had to face: the trio of thieves succeeded in obtaining the chest, but to get it they needed to kill two of the guards at the mausoleum where it was being held to obtain it. Jacques was the sole member of the trio to recognise the chest for what it was: cursed. Reading aloud the ancient Egyptian text upon it, Jacques stated that one, the undead, would kill all those that opened the chest, Hafez dismissing the statement as nothing more than a fairy tale, that they had all heard it before. Red, however, had something else in mind: Red knew what had happened to the men that found it nine years ago, that they all died horrible deaths, and so the thieves stated that with that information in mind, they would want ten thousand. Jacques was still not pleased with the situation, as he hissed in Arabic that the chest must never be opened. Hafez curtly made it clear that the agreement made was for five thousand, but Meela responded by saying that ten would be fine as she subsequently led the three thieves into another compartment in the train.
Demise[]
Meela led the three men into a compartment of the train which was fashioned with Egyptian artifacts and antiquities, saying that they would receive their just rewards. Red made it clear that they would not give up the chest until they were satisfied, Meela responding to that by saying that there was much satisfaction to be had as she swiftly slid out the door and closed it, locking the thieves in. The thieves were now made uneasy at their being locked in a room that had an air about it as though something were wrong. Jacques knew at once, that place was cursed, but Red and Spivey dismissed his statement as he was always saying that everything was cursed. At that moment, Jacques proved right as a decaying mummy jumped out of the shadows roaring. The three men screamed in horror and shot at the corpse, but the bullets had no effect, actually seeing the mummy, Imhotep, laughing at their efforts. As they shot at the mummy, a frightened Spivey tried to force the locked door open, as Meela shouted from the other side of the eye-hole on the door that Imhotep wanted them to open the chest. In his panic, Spivey opened the chest, Jacques shouting against it, but it was too late as a cloud of white dust burst from the chest; the damage had been done.
As soon as the chest was opened, Imhotep was gone, leaving in his wake an eerie silence, which left Spivey mortified, but the three thieves drew out their pistols again, granting some small comfort that they might be able to fight their way out. In a moment the mummy revealed that he was hanging upside-down from the ceiling and appeared to a frightened Spivey, who could only stand and scream as he was held from running by Imhotep, who performed the consummation, sucking Spivey's flesh, fluids and organs away, leaving him a dried-out corpse and bringing the mummy from gray rotting flesh to partially decomposed. Red screamed in horror at the loss of his friend, and he and Jacques continued shooting Imhotep, who stepped in for the kill, and took Jacques' life before proceeding on to kill Red as well.
Later, when the train reached Karnak, the three corpses of Spivey, Red and Jacques lay dried and rotting while Imhotep was brought back to his full form.
Personality and Traits[]
Of the three thieves, Jacques was the most prudent, knowing of the curses and spells that bound certain artifacts and believing them with intent. Jacques planned not to defile that which might render he and his friends cursed, but despite his attempts to convince his friends the same, his partners-in-crime remained ignorant of his warnings. Jacques was curt and brusque most of the time, particularly when it came to dealing with Spivey, who seemed to deride his ideals the most, and seemed to have some relish for fighting. One of his languages was Arabic, which he could speak fluently, and French was likely his primary tongue, as both his name and accent were French-based. While Jacques, at first glance, appeared to be able to read hieratic, Red denied his abilities at this, tributing his knowledge of hieratic markings as nothing more than reading museum guidebook.
Jacques wore a multicoloured agal, which was worn alongside a grey shirt with the sleeves rolled back, a patterned vest, bandolier, knotted waist-sash, and brown trousers. Jacques had a goatee and earring, and wore two wristbands and a necklace.
Appearances[]
- The Mummy Returns (First appearance)
Behind the Scenes[]
Jacques was portrayed by actor Joe Dixon. In the novelisation of The Mummy Returns, Jacques' surname was revealed to be Clemons and he was portrayed as wearing a wide-brimmed hat rather than an agal.
In the novelisation of the film, Jacques' skill at reading hieratic is said to come not from his own knowledge but from a museum guidebook.