Necronomicon Ex-Mortis

The "Necronomicon Ex-Mortis" ("Naturon Demonto") is a fictional Sumerian book in the "Evil Dead" series. It made its first appearance in "The Evil Dead", and continued its film career in "Evil Dead II" and "Army of Darkness", as well as various spin-off media. It likely takes its name, but has no other connection to, the Necronomicon of H.P. Lovecraft's stories.

Origins

Not much is known about the creation of the book. It was written by a mysterious group known as "The Dark Ones," who constructed the cover of the book from the flesh of the tortured and the damned. The pages of the book were inked with human blood, gathered from the seas. In the comics, many copies of the book exist, but all seem to be a group mind, in that all are inhabited by the same entity. An introduction by Professor Raymond Knowby in "Evil Dead II" tells that the book disappeared around 1300 A.D., sometime after it was used to concoct a potion to return the series' protagonist, Ash Williams to his own time following the events of "Army of Darkness".

Appearance in film

"The Evil Dead"

Prior to the events of "The Evil Dead", Professor Raymond Knowby took the book to his cabin in the woods for study, and recorded his findings and translations of some parts of the book onto a tape recorder. When the recorder is later found by Ash Williams, and the translations are played, an evil force possesses various inanimate objects and some of Ash's friends, setting the scene for this and subsequent films. At the end of the film, the book is thrown into a fire, and is apparently destroyed.

"Evil Dead II"

The "Necronomicon Ex-Mortis" makes a brief appearance in the recap at the beginning of "Evil Dead II", and it is revealed that several pages of the book were lost, and later recollected. These pages contain passages which could be used to open a vortex and send the evil back to its own dimension. As the passages are read out, the evil manifests itself again and attacks. As the final passages are spoken, the evil is sucked into the vortex, along with Ash Williams, sending him back in time.

"Army of Darkness"

In "Army of Darkness" (the only film in the series in which the "Necronomicon" was not designed by Tom Sullivan), the book sported a less deformed look, as the film is set closer to the book's creation. The book is found resting in an ancient graveyard when Ash arrives to send himself back to his own time. When Ash removes the book from the cradle without speaking a sequence of magic words correctly, the evil force assembles an army of Deadites, under the control of Evil Ash. At the end of the film, the Necronomicon is returned to the wisemen for safekeeping. They give Ash a potion containing ingredients from the book, which returns him to his own time.

A possible predestination paradox exists within the series. It is possible that Professor Knowby could have never found the Necronomicon in the first place, had Ash not taken it to Arthur's castle while in the past.

pin-off appearances

"Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes"

Set directly after the events of "Army of Darkness", it is revealed that when Ash returned from the past back to the present, he arrived too early, on the exact same day he and his girlfriend first traveled to Knowby's cabin and found the book. With help from the wise man, who had traveled through time, Ash manages to send his present self back in time to recover the book from the cabin and travels to Egypt, the place of the book's creation and the only place it can be destroyed. After the wise man is killed and Evil Ash reappears, Ash, with help from the armies of Henry the Red and Arthur (who had traveled to the future with the aid of the "Necronomicon" of their time) manages to destroy the book by encircling it, along with Evil Ash and his minions, in a ring of fire. Unfortunately, Ash forgets to send the "Necronomicon" of the past back to its own time, leaving it in the Egyptian desert.

"Army of Darkness: Shop Till You Drop Dead"

The "Necronomicon" manages to make its way from Egypt to the supermarket where Ash works, by possessing Mr. Smart, Ash's boss, who had been on vacation in Egypt. The book sends Ash to the distant future, where it lives on in the form of a computer program. Ash finally manages to destroy it after a battle in cyberspace, and returns to his own time.

"Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator"

After the events "Army of Darkness: Shop Till You Drop Dead", Ash is blamed for the destruction of the S-Mart and everyone in it and is placed in Arkham Asylum, which is run by a psychotic doppelganger of Herbert West. Both Ash and West's double are being used as pawns by Professor Whately, the son of Old One Yog-Sothoth, who plans to use Ash and the "Necronomicon" to shatter the barriers between the Old Ones' realm and Earth, a feat which can only be accomplished by having all life wiped from the planet, which Whateley plans on having the Deadites and West's reanimated creations do. Ultimately, Whateley fails to open the gateway to the Old Ones' realm, the "Necronomicon's" spell being disrupted, causing all of Arkham Asylum to collapse.

"Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness"

The book is featured in this limited series comic book, which focuses on Ash fighting super-powered flesh-hungry zombie versions of popular Marvel comicbook superheros. Ash and the book work together to survive being torn apart and eaten; the book believing that it is in danger because it is made of human skin. Ash ultimately betrays the book, leading it to suffer an unexpected fate when picked up by the zombie Hulk. It is not going to be eaten, it is going to be used for toilet paper.

"Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash"

In the six issue crossover, Ash finds the Necronomicon in the basement of the Voorhees home. After a battle with Jason Voorhees, Jason retrieves the book and uses it to revive Freddy Krueger. When Ash finds the book once again, he engages in a short fight with Freddy, who has read the Necronomicon, giving him reality warping abilities. When Ash escapes with the book, and rejoins with his new partner "Caroline",it is revealed that Pamela Voorhees had revived her son with incantations from the Necronomicon.

A final battle begins on the icy waters of Camp Crystal Lake. Using a spell from the book, they send Freddy into the dimension of the Deadites. With Jason assumed dead after Ash's Oldsmobile fell on him, Ash and Caroline drive into the distance to a possible happy ending. But underneath the frozen waters, Jason's eyes open, and the Necronomicon opens its pages to reveal a picture of Ash and several other people staring at Freddy Krueger.