Anck Su Namun: Who She Is, Who Plays Her and What Happens to Her

Anck-Su-Namun is the ancient Egyptian woman whose forbidden love for the high priest Imhotep sets the whole Mummy saga in motion. She is the pharaoh's mistress, and Patricia Velásquez plays her in the mummy 1999, directed by Stephen Sommers, where she is billed fifth and credited simply as Anck-Su-Namun. Imhotep is played by Arnold Vosloo.

In the mummy returns (2001), also directed by Stephen Sommers, Velásquez is billed sixth under the credit Meela / Anck-Su-Namun. That double name matters, because the sequel gives the character a second identity, and a viewer scanning a cast list might think two different women are involved. The film's own plot says Anck-Su-Namun has been reborn as the cultist Meela.

It helps to separate her from a few similar names. The mummy 1932 has a doomed Egyptian princess called Anck-es-en-Amon, played by Zita Johann, who is a different character in a different story. The mummy 2017 has Ahmanet, played by Sofia Boutella. For the full list of players, see the mummy characters and the mummy cast.

Anck-Su-Namun's key relationships are with Imhotep, the high priest who is mummified alive for loving her, and with Evelyn, the woman tied to her through reincarnation. Imhotep mummy is the reason her name matters at all, since his curse, his regeneration and his plan to sacrifice Evelyn all come back to her.

Her second great relationship is a rivalry with Evelyn. In the first film Evelyn is the intended sacrifice, the woman Imhotep needs to bring Anck-Su-Namun back. In the sequel, Evelyn, credited as Evelyn O'Connell / Nefertiri, learns she is the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess who was Anck-Su-Namun's old enemy. Both women have been reborn, and the old conflict plays out again. You can read more on evelyn the mummy.

The pharaoh is the third figure, the man she and Imhotep kill in the opening. Around Meela stands the cult led by Baltus Hafez, played by Alun Armstrong, which is the group that revives Imhotep. Against them stand rick oconnell, ardeth bay and alex o'connell the mummy. For the wider cast of antagonists, see the mummy villains.

In my opinion, the best Anck-Su-Namun moment is the prologue of The Mummy (1999), because it sets up the stakes in a handful of scenes: a murder, a suicide and a living burial. Everything the heroes face at Hamunaptra is a consequence of that choice, and it works as a scare because the rules are clear. The mummy wants one thing, and he needs a sacrifice to get it.

The second best is her return as Meela in The Mummy Returns (2001), the point where the saga stops treating her as a goal and gives her a face. It also lets Evelyn face a rival who shares her history, which is a neater idea than a second monster chasing the same family.

Was she evil? It could be argued that she was, since she helps kill the pharaoh and the films never ask her to feel sorry about it. Did Imhotep truly love her? The films treat his devotion as real, as he accepts a living death and spends millennia trying to reverse it, but they show his love through his actions rather than through any scene of the two simply being together. Perhaps the most telling comparison is the mummy 1932, where the lost love is a reincarnated princess and a victim; the 1999 and 2001 films give the woman real agency instead. Browse the rest of the saga at the mummy movies.