| “ | I am Anck-Su-Namun reincarnated. | ” |
–Meela Nais describing herself to Imhotep, The Mummy Returns | ||
Meela was completely enthralled and kissed Imhotep deeply
Meela Nais was the reincarnation of Anck-Su-Namun, a concubine of the Pharaoh Seti I, that joined a cult whose intent it was to see that the High Priest of Osiris Imhotep be resurrected and conquer the Earth.
History[]
Anck-Su-Namun was reincarnated as a woman named Meela Nais, a matriarch millionaire and female crime lord with an unnatural memory that extended to things that no living person could have known. Using her past knowledge to her advantage, Meela aided a nefarious cult with the goal of resurrecting Imhotep in order to gain control of the powers said to result from killing a fabled figure known as the Scorpion King with an artifact known as the Spear of Osiris.
The cultists began probing around the ruins of Hamunaptra, where they would find the mummy and the texts that could bring him back to life, enlisting native Egyptian diggers and ordering the cultist group's hired guns to oversee work. After recovering the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra, the cultist group came across a swarm of scarabs, which were subdued by the cultist forces, and discovered Imhotep's preserved corpse, preserved in a large mass of an amber-like substance. Meela recognized the body inside the mineral as her beloved's right away, but her joy was cut short when three grave robbers named Spivey, Red, and Jacques whom the cultists had enlisted stepped forward to inform the cult leader, Baltus Hafez, that they had returned empty-handed. The thieves explained that the Bracelet was on its way to London.
The cultists traveled to London, bringing with them the Black Book of the Dead and the incased Imhotep, and then to the loading docks of the British Museum of Antiquities, where Hafez performed the rite that brought Imhotep out of the mineral and back to life, as a mummy. Imhotep inquired about the year and was informed by Hafez that it was 1933, the Year of the Scorpion. After saying this, Imhotep saw a familiar face coming toward him. Anck-Su-Namun had also come back to life, but in a different way. When Hafez told her not to be afraid, Meela explained in Ancient Egyptian that she was Anck-Su-Namun reincarnated, to which Imhotep replied that she was only Anck-Su-Namun in body, but after bringing her soul back from the Underworld, their love would be complete.
Meela then brought Imhotep a gift: Evelyn Carnahan, long since married to Rick O'Connell, the adventurer who had assisted in Imhotep's death several years before: Meela knew that seeing Evelyn die would please Imhotep, and Meela ordered the cultists to drop Evelyn into a flaming stone basin. Rick O'Connell stopped the killing and fought back against the cultists, escaping with Evelyn. However, the cultist group had achieved its own victory by kidnapping the O'Connell couple's son, Alex O'Connell, as Alex had put on the Bracelet of Anubis, rendering himself as a human map that would know the way to Ahm Shere. That night, Meela and Imhotep were on a balcony overlooking London when Hafez told Imhotep that the Spear of Osiris was in the hands of the O'Connell family. Imhotep said it didn't matter because by the time they got to the Scorpion King's home, Ahm Shere, the Scorpion King's powers would have grown enough that he wouldn't need the Spear. Imhotep then resurrected Meela's memories as Anck-Su-Namun, putting her into a trance that transformed the balcony into the one she remembered from her childhood, and London into Thebes. Meela was completely enthralled and kissed Imhotep deeply as she saw Imhotep whole again, rather than decayed.
Restored[]
After sometime had passed, the cultists boarded a train bound for Karnak, which also carried the three thieves hired to retrieve the Bracelet of Anubis. Imhotep had duped the thieves into becoming his sacrifices, from which he drew their organs and fluids. Imhotep regained his full form, kissed Meela passionately, and then stopped to apprehend Alex, who had attempted to flee. That night, Alex was chained by his ankle, and the cultists had camped in Karnak for the night; however, Imhotep took Meela to a sacred pool within the temple, where he cast the same trance as before on her, reconnecting her with her past life. Meela reincarnated herself as Anck-Su-Namun and relived her past memory of engaging in a duel with Nefertiri, the Pharaoh's daughter: Anck-Su-Namun won the duel, and the Pharaoh praised both women's efforts.
Meela Nais on the Train wearing a dress to the design of Anck-Su-Namun's body paint.
The memories continued in her trance until Meela reenacted her death as Anck-Su-Namun, stabbing herself in the stomach as she had done years before, and ending her life as Meela Nais. Imhotep, using the Book of the Dead, summoned Anck-Su-Namun's spirit from the Underworld and resurrected her as the woman she had been centuries ago within her reincarnated body.
Death of the Reincarnated Body[]
After destroying the Scorpion King, Anck-Su-Namun, in the body of Meela, left Imhotep behind and got lost in the pyramid, and when the one of the passageways collapsed, she fell into a pool of scorpions and died. Meela's body was never found when the Oasis of Ahm Shere was sucked into the earth.
Personality and Traits[]
Meela Nais was a duplicitous woman, as was her past self, Anck-Su-Namun, and Meela turned to trickery when dealing with those that were, in her views, dispensable. Meela would only turn to violence when in the most pressing situations, knowing well how to handle a gun in a fight. In her incarnation as Meela Nais, she was born a millionaire that had a penchant for obtaining power, and had a fondness for snakes, particularly Egyptian Asps.
Meela took on the same bodily appearance that she had back in 1290 B.C without her body paint, her hair trimmed exactly the same as it had been, with shortly-trimmed bangs. When in a setting such as the digs at Hamunaptra, Meela wore tight-fitting khaki trousers and a cream-coloured shirt with a belt and boots, while in London, Meela's clothing took on a much more formal approach: a tight, glittery, black evening dress with high heeled shoes, a golden necklace that bore the same insignia worn by the cultists and an exact replica of the necklace that she had worn as Anck-Su-Namun, long black gloves, along with a black feather boa and veiled fascinator. In her travels through the desert with the other cultists, Meela wore a matching purple coat, blouse, trousers, and shoes in the true native style, this outfit matching the body paint patterns that she had worn centuries back.
Behind the Scenes[]
Meela Nais was portrayed by actress and model Patricia Velasquez.
In the novelisation of the film, Meela's surname was Pasha, translating into "viceroy" in Turkish.
Appearances[]
- The Mummy Returns (First appearance)