Abhiroop Das
‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy’ reimagines the ‘The Mummy‘ franchise by bringing the supernatural home, where the haunting does not stem from the return of ancient kings or queens, but from the fear of losing one’s family. When Katie is miraculously rescued after a full 8 years of disappearance, her family believes that they have become whole again. However, their attempts to navigate her trauma and rebuild their lives quickly fail when they notice that something supernatural is at play. Soon, they learn their daughter is possessed by a fearsome spirit, which has been contained for centuries by an elusive cult. At present, the leader of that unit is a woman who is only called the Magician, and while she doesn’t perform any tricks on-screen, her actions become a vessel for horrors beyond imagination, horrors that eventually return to haunt her. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Magician’s Fate Implies That the Cycle of Sacrifices Will Have to Be Continued
At the end of ‘Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,’ the Magician gets a taste of her own medicine as Nasmaranian nestles itself into her body, leaving Charlie behind. While most of the scene takes place out of sight, the Magician’s screams, accompanied by Dalia‘s chants, are perhaps enough of an indicator of the ritual being a success. However, this doesn’t mean that Nasmaranian is dead or permanently in containment. On the contrary, things are about to get a lot worse for this world, in supernatural terms, as there is very little chance that the Magician, already in a weakened state, is a sustainable vessel for an entity this powerful. We know that the death of the host frees Nasmaranian to be as malevolent as it pleases, and no one, certainly not the Cannons, is ready for such a calamity.
Early on, we learn that the only way to contain Nasmaranian is to keep it trapped inside a host, and to then keep that host trapped inside a coffin, under several layers of ritual scriptures and seals. However, the ritual generally calls for younger people, as they can technically become hosts for much longer, thus reducing the risk. The Magician, however, has been in recovery from a gunshot wound and is already facing health complications of her own. In such a scenario, the Cannons, along with Dalia and the Egyptian police, will eventually have to make a complex decision about who to sacrifice next, or whether they can do it at all. We know exactly what the demon is capable of if let loose, which means that time is running frighteningly low.
While the risk of the Nasmaranian being freed remains, for the Magician, this is as fittingly cruel an ending as there can be. Though she may have been in the service of a cult this entire time, the fact still remains that she sacrificed numerous children in order to keep the demon under control. In the end, what she has done to many others is simply come back to her. Moreover, it is important to note that everything we have learned about the demon so far has come from the Magician’s own words and may as well be a fabrication by an unreliable narrator. Under such circumstances, her cult takes on an even more ruthless meaning, making the karmic implications of her conclusion that much more prominent.
Charlie is Likely to Get His Mind and Body Back For Good
As the Magician awaits the worst fate of them all, things seem to finally be looking up for Charlie, who is most likely to return to his usual self. We see proof of that in the form of Katie herself, who returns to her actual consciousness after being cruelly possessed and trapped for 8 whole years. While there is undeniably an element of trauma that needs to be carefully approached and handled, it still shows that one can survive Nasmaranian’s wrath and return to something resembling a regular life. In Charlie’s case, not only is the duration of possession a lot shorter, but it is also a lot more controlled. From the moment he is possessed to the moment he is brought forth to the Magician, it is unlikely that the coffin is opened even once, and we know that because of how he communicates with his family.
The fact that Charlie, while mummified, is capable of communicating via Morse code suggests that some parts of his consciousness still remain. While this also brings along the grim implication that he is experiencing a hellish reality in real-time, it also makes his sacrifice that much more heroic. Given his twisted grin at the sight of the Magician, we can also conclude that he still retains his consciousness to an extent in the final scene, which makes the final act that much more satisfying, as the revenge of a parent. Though it may be too great a challenge for Charlie and Katie to return to their former selves, the one thing that seems to have grown even stronger is their love for each other.
Read More: Who Plays Officer Dalia Zaki in Lee Cronin’s The Mummy?
You must be logged in to post a comment.