Books - The Mummy

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The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned, is a stand-alone historical-horror novel by Anne Rice, first published in 1989. Taking place during the early twentieth century, it follows the collision between a British archeologist's family and a resurrected mummy.

Overview

During the Edwardian Age, a wealthy shipping-magnate-turned-archeologist, Lawrence Stratford, discovers an unusual tomb. The "mummy" inside, in its left-behind notes, claims to be the famed pharaoh Ramses II, despite the tomb's dating only to the first century B.C. (the historical Ramses II died in 1224 B.C.).

Before he can fully investigate this claim, Lawrence unexpectedly falls dead, and those around him fear he was the victim of a curse placed on the tomb. Nonetheless, the mummy and other belongings are shipped off to London, placed on temporary display in Lawrence's house before they are taken by the British Museum.

Lawrence's daughter, Julie Stratford, is the designated heir to her father's shipping company, as well as the dysfunctional family that surrounds it. Her cousin, Henry, is an alcoholic and gambling addict who has been draining the family fortune with the aid of her uncle.

Additionally, Julie is engaged to marry Alex Savarell, a viscount and son of the current Earl of Rutherford, Elliott. Although the marriage is a standard alliance between the wealthy Stratfords and an impoverished family of nobles, Alex truly loves Julie, but she is unable to return these feelings, being unusually independent for this era.

However, into this unstable situation comes the mummy, which is indeed still alive, and awakes shortly after its sarcophagus is placed in Julie's house.

Plotline

Henry was responsible for his uncle Lawrence's death, having poisoned his coffee while they were alone in the tomb. However, there was a witness to the murder - Ramses, the mummy. When Henry tries to poison Julie in the same manner as her father, Ramses comes back to life to scare Henry away.

Ramses is who he claims to be. During his reign as pharaoh, he learned from a Hittite priestess the formula for an "elixir" that grants eternal life. The potion not only made him immortal, but also allows his body to regenerate from damage that would kill a normal human, such as multiple bullet wounds. He requires neither food nor drink nor sleep, only the sun's rays to maintain his life (to "sleep", he had his body moved underground, away from the sun).

After his awakening, Julie and Ramses are instantly attracted to each other. Ramses quickly adopts a pseudonym, "Reginald Ramsey", and claims to be an Egyptologist to throw off the accusation made by the frightened Henry. With superhuman intelligence and the ability to learn quickly, Ramses quickly learns the English language and, with the help of an eager Julie, is given a tour of modern London and new technology that arose during the past two thousand years.

While Henry's accusations are passed off as the rantings of a drunkard, the elderly and ailing Elliott Savarell suspects that it may be the truth. He trails Ramses and comes to believe that he is who he claims to be.

While Ramses takes in the modern world with an almost childlike wonder, and is likewise attracted to Julie, he nurses a deep secret. Prior to the Roman conquest of Egypt, he served as a type of immortal advisors to its kings and queens, and the last person to awake him for consultation was Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt. Although he served as Cleopatra's consul (and encouraged her to romance Julius Caesar in a bid to keep the country independent), he also fell in love with her, and revealed to her the secrets of the elixir. However, Cleopatra later fell in love with Marc Antony in defiance of Ramses' advice. Upon Antony's death, Cleopatra refused the elixir and committed suicide. In his depression, Ramses gave himself the nickname "Ramses the Damned", and had Egyptian priests seal him away underground.

With Julie's encouragement, Ramses begins to recover. However, her family - mindful of the era's customs - constantly insist on chaperoning her, especially since Ramses is both a stranger and a foreigner. Henry is convinced Ramses is an evil monster ready to kill the entire family. Elliott, in contrast, reads Lawrence's notes and chases after Ramses to learn the secret of the elixir of immortality.

Eventually, Ramses and Julie decide to visit Egypt one last time, so that Ramses can say good-bye to his past (Julie's entire family insists on coming along as well). Although Ramses appears to be coming to terms with his past, upon visiting the Cairo Museum, he unexpectedly recognizes an unidentified mummy as being that of Cleopatra. Impulsively, he pours some of the elixir onto Cleopatra's dead body.

While the elixir proves effective at reviving the dead as well as causing immortality, the revived Cleopatra is a raging monster. As Ramses did not use enough of the potion as he needed to, Cleopatra is a half-formed monstrosity, awake and conscious, yet not fully formed - parts of her face, hands, and torso are still gone. Although Ramses later repairs her body with more of the potion, she appears to be insane and kills a number of people, including Henry Stratford. It is implied that the resurrected Cleopatra has no soul - she can remember her past, but perceives it as something separate from herself.

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Books - The Mummy

Overview

Plotline

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