Lock-Nah

"Not bad... for a Medjai."

- Lock-Nah impressed by Ardeth Bay's fighting skills.

Lock-Nah is a secondary antagonist in the 2001 film The Mummy Returns. He is the sadistic bodyguard of Meela Nais and he is the chief enforcer of the Cult of Imhotep whom he is also part of like his two fellow cult members, Meela and Baltus Hafez.

He was portrayed by actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

Serving the Cult of Imhotep
A cruel and sadistic man that believed in resorting to violence at any given chance in order to obtain what he wanted, Lock-Nah was the primary source of muscle amongst the cultist group which had worked with, directing the cultists' hired guns into their battles.

At Hamunaptra
A digging expedition took place in the ruins of what was once Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, and was undertaken by many diggers and workers, all searching for the remains of the mummy Imhotep. Among the items recovered in the ruins were the Book of the Dead, which was kept secure by the cultists and the tome's golden twin, Book of Amun-Ra, which was promptly discarded.

The Fellahin diggers continued to dig until they had found a swarm of scarabs that killed and ate a number of both diggers and gunmen, until they had managed to keep the swarms away using flame-throwers. At that moment, a digger called out to inform the cultists that they had found the mummy that they were looking for; as the cultists and diggers ran to find the mummy, they saw that he had been encased in a large mass of amber-like mineral.

Lock-Nah, along with Baltus Hafez, the cultist leader, and several others, confirmed that the amber contained the remains of Imhotep. One of the cultists, a man named Shafek, handed Lock-Nah a blue-and-gold urn, which prompted Lock-Nah to proclaim that they must raise those that served the High Priest. As the crowd stood around the chunk of mineral, the three thieves hired by Hafez to retrieve the Bracelet of Anubis, Spivey, Red, and Jacques, stepped forward. Hafez demanded the Bracelet, which Red replied that they had not been able to obtain. As Hafez insisted that he and his cultists needed the Bracelet, Lock-Nah added that they needed it before it opened, pulling out his sabre. In response, the thieves drew out their guns at the cultists, which only Meela Nais, another cultist, was able to stop, reminding Hafez that she should have handled the taking of the Bracelet. Hafez quietly remarked that her past history would have caused trouble. Upon learning that the Bracelet was being taken to London, Hafez, along with the other cultists, headed out for England.

In London
Lock-Nah and a number of cultist troops had made it to the home of the O'Connell family one night in search of the chest which contained the Bracelet of Anubis. The cultists came by car and waited in the O'Connell household, until Lock-Nah stepped out towards Evelyn O'Connell, asking where the chest was; Evelyn, angry at the intruder in her home, drew out a sword from her wall and demanded that Lock-Nah leave. As Evelyn demanded that Lock-Nah must leave, a number of thugs stepped out from behind him, outnumbering Evelyn.

As Lock-Nah declared that he would kill her and take it anyway, a man clad in black stepped out: Ardeth Bay, a rival of Lock-Nah. A fight ensued with several cultists brought down; Lock-Nah himself took the moment to approve of Ardeth's dueling skills before removing his cloak and joining in the fight. Ardeth himself had almost brought down Lock-Nah, but Lock-Nah overpowered the Medjai, slashing him in his shoulder and nearly killing Ardeth with a dagger before kidnapping Evelyn. With that, the chest was taken, but Lock-Nah did not know about the chest's contents and how they had been altered by Alexander O'Connell, the O'Connell family's son.

Lock-Nah, along with the other cultist followers, participated in the ritual that would bring Imhotep back to life, performed in the storage facility of the British Museum. While witnessing the rite, Lock-Nah himself was slightly alarmed at the sight of the mummy breaking free from the amber mass. Once Imhotep was free of the amber, Hafez and Lock-Nah used a syringe filled with acid to open the chest, expecting to find the Bracelet of Anubis inside; what they had found instead was a statue of a baseball player, which had been placed inside of the chest by Alex when he inadvertently put on the Bracelet. Hafez asked Lock-Nah where the Bracelet had gone, Soon after, the cultists engaged in a fight with Richard O'Connell and Ardeth Bay, who had infiltrated the museum in the hopes of both rescuing Evelyn and stopping the cultists before they could perform the rite. Lock-Nah began firing along with the others, and threw a machine gun to Meela, who joined in.

After O'Connell and Ardeth Bay had escaped with Evelyn, Lock-Nah and the other cultists had found them and kidnapped their son Alex, taking him into their limousine and driving off.

Journey to Ahm Shere
Not long after the cultists had taken Alex, they headed for Cairo, travelling by train to Karnak, the next destination that would take them to the residing place of the Scorpion King, the Oasis of Ahm Shere. Lock-Nah was then entrusted by the cultists to keep an eye on Alex, and, lifting the boy physically, Lock-Nah took him to Baltus Hafez and Meela Nais, who warned him to cooperate with them, or be killed. Hafez then informed Lock-Nah that Imhotep wished to speak with Alex personally, and so Lock-Nah again lifted Alex up by the midriff and took him to a car in the train decorated with ancient Egyptian relics, where Imhotep was housed. Quickly leaving the room, Lock-Nah shut the door behind him, leaving Alex to speak with Imhotep.

Some time after, Imhotep had regenerated, having taken his organs from the three thieves commissioned to take the Bracelet of Anubis; the thieves were duped into stealing the cursed chest that bound whoever opened it to be killed by Imhotep. Lock-Nah and Alex, while in another car on the train, waited as they made their way to Karnak, with Alex intentionally nagging Lock-Nah, until Lock-Nah, livid at the boy trying him, pulled out his dagger and almost impaled Alex's hand; while Alex complimented Lock-Nah on his skills with the knife, Lock-Nah bitterly remarked that he had missed. As Alex drummed his fingers annoyingly, Lock-Nah almost ended up hurting the boy until Alex quickly said that he had to use the restroom.

Taking him to a filthy, on-board lavatory, Lock-Nah stood at the doorway, until Alex had him turn around, then telling him to close the door and leave him, as he might look. Alex then pulled the emergency brake, halting the train as he ran out in an attempt to escape. Alex was soon caught by the cultists and by Imhotep. That night, the cultists camped in Karnak, leaving the train behind, and Alex, to prevent another escape, was chained by the ankle to a post. Lock-Nah stopped Alex from trying to escape by warning him not to, which Lock-Nah punctuated by stepping forward, about to do Alex harm. Before he could, however, Alex raised his arm, revealing the Bracelet of Anubis once more. Stopped from his violent choice, Lock-Nah whispered to Alex that he would enjoy killing him when the time came. Alex reminded the cultist that the time for killing was not close, demanding his drink of water from Lock-Nah. Lock-Nah forced a pitcher towards Alex and stormed off, cursing in Arabic as he endured another of Alex's ridicules.

The next morning, the cultist group continued their journey through Egypt, stopping at the temple island of Philae, followed by the statues of Abu Simbel, and finally, the Nile. As the cultists rode on camels through the desert, Lock-Nah took a moment to notice that at every location that the cultists had travelled to, a falcon appearing, flying in the sky. Suspecting that something was amiss as the cultists stopped by the Nile, Lock-Nah kept the sighting of the falcon to himself, and had then caught Alex in the act of making a sandcastle image of the next cultist destination, which Lock-Nah stomped out. Furious at the boy for leaving clues, Lock-Nah began to shout at Alex until he was stopped by Imhotep, who knew all along that they were being followed and unleashed a tidal wave with the waters of the Nile. The tidal wave surprised even Lock-Nah, as he stepped back and watched as the tidal wave flowed through canyon walls, finally bringing down the dirigible which the O'Connells had travelled in. Much later, not forgetting about the falcon that had been tracing the cult's movements, Lock-Nah eventually found the bird flying near them and smiled cruelly as he shot it down with a rifle, much to the horror of Ardeth, who was the faclon's owner.

Demise
That night, the cultists all reached the Oasis of Ahm Shere and journeyed through the oasis, which consisted of vast jungles. The cultists began to notice that scattered throughout the jungles were human skeletons and cages that contained the remains of Roman legionnaires and troops from Napoleon Bonaparte's armies. Lock-Nah began to wonder what had done such a thing, to kill off so many warriors over a period of centuries. As the cultists continued their walk through the Oasis, Lock-Nah, fed up with Alex's antics, asked Hafez if he could kill him, but Hafez spoke that he could not, as the cultists needed the Bracelet. Hafez then approached Imhotep, informing the High Priest that the boy was no longer of use, to which Imhotep replied that they needed the Bracelet. Hafez, astonished that the Bracelet and not the boy was the key to activate the powers of the Army of Anubis, then decided that Alex was to die, informing Lock-Nah silently to retrieve the Bracelet, a command which Lock-Nah quietly relished.

Shortly after, as the cultists moved further into the jungle, some of their troops began to disappear into the brush, pulled under by some unknown forces. Alex, in the confusion, snuck off from the cultists into the undergrowth, and Lock-Nah ordered his men to fan out and find the boy, but as the men spread, they were taken down into the ferns and leaves. As the cultists disappeared one by one, one cultist thug found a small, dried skeleton embedded into a tree, which he leaned closer to look at, when the skeleton awoke, screeching loudly and stabbing the man in the gut. More of the mummified pygmy-like figures appeared, killing off more men as they went along. Lock-Nah, in the commotion, had found Alex and cornered him against a tree, about to sliced off Alex's arm and take the Bracelet, but before he could land the blow, Rick O'Connell dashed into the scene, taking his son from Lock-Nah's aim, leaving Lock-Nah to hit a tree instead. Before Lock-Nah could pursue O'Connell, he was stopped by Ardeth Bay, who had quickly engaged the cultist enforcer in a duel. As both men fought and crossed blades, Lock-Nah was slashed deeply in the chest by Ardeth, who then sliced Lock-Nah across the neck. Astounded at his defeat, Lock-Nah, smirking slightly in disbelief, fell to the jungle floor and died.

Personality and Traits
A tall muscled African male that served as the enforcer of the Cult of Imhotep and protector of Meela Nais, Lock-Nah was a violent man that carried out the task of killing with glee. Sadistic and malevolent to say the least, Lock-Nah's cruelty knew no limits, as he was hesitant in no way to kill his foes with well-placed sabre blows. Lock-Nah, though tough and forbidding, was not above being taunted by anyone, enduring so many japes from Alex O'Connell when he was the cultists' prisoner. Lock-Nah had also had some dealings with Ardeth Bay in the past as the two men recognised one another in the O'Connell manor.

Lock-Nah wore sleeveless blood-red robes and a turban-like headdress with a black band on it. A golden ring was worn on one hand and Lock-Nah, like others in the cult, wore a pendant that bore the symbol of the cultist group. A sabre was constantly at Lock-Nah's waist and while Lock-Nah fought with blades rather than firearms, Lock-Nah still knew well enough how to fire guns, from pistols to long-range rifles.

Trivia

 * In the novelization of the film, Lock-Nah appears not as a black man but as an Arab.