Major Themes
Like the vampires of Rice's Vampire Chronicles, those who take the elixir become immortal, inhumanly strong, and unable to die from normal means. These individuals could even be said to be "reverse vampires" since they derive their strength from the sun, and cannot live without it. Unlike vampires, they are able to eat, drink, and function as normal humans.
However, this immortality comes with a strange price. Those who drink the potion are constantly driven to sate their senses. They constantly crave food and drink, although they need neither to survive. They have an extremely heightened libido. Moreover, their bodies continually blunt drugs that give humans pleasure. For example, Ramses constantly drinks and smokes because the "buzz" the alcohol or nicotine would normally give him fades after a few moments.
But perhaps most importantly is that the elixir causes any organic substance to become invulnerable and self-sustaining. Having once tested it upon livestock and crops in his own time, he was horrified to find that such things made this way by the elixir cannot be digested and continually regenerate even inside one's intestines after having ingested them, and cause bloody and gruesome results. And once this elixir is used, it cannot be undone and should one pour it into the fire to be rid of it, it would become dust, awaiting a fresh rain to wash it into the rivers or the oceans, creating immortal fish and sea creatures, or watering plants to become invulnerable. Therefore, the elixir, once brewed, cannot be disposed of by any other means than deliberate consumption.
For this reason, the elixir's formula is strictly hidden by Ramses; although the ingredients are common and easily-obtained, he does not want to create too many ravenous creatures. His feud with Cleopatra began when he refused to create an "immortal army" for Mark Antony's use.
As with many Rice novels, sexuality tends to be fluid. Both Elliott and Lawrence are described as bisexual - when younger, they were lovers, but both eventually married and had children (Elliott even has sex with Cleopatra at one point). In the past, Henry had an affair with Elliott as well, but his only reason may have been a failed blackmail attempt (at the time of the novel, Henry has at least two mistresses).
As always, Rice employs considerable irony. For example, after his death, Henry's corpse ends up in a "mummy factory" (during the Egyptian craze of the early 1900s, natives often took modern corpses and made them into mummies for sale to gullible tourists). Elliott, his nemesis, gets the last laugh when a merchant tries to sell him Henry's mummy.
Read more about this topic: The Mummy (novel)
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