Spelunky is © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC, and is used under the [Spelunky User License v1.1b](https://spelunky.ai/LICENSE.txt). spelunky.ai is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Mossmouth. The game and its assets may not be sold. Music by George Buzinkai and Jonathan Perry; sound effects made in SFXR. From Spelunky Classic 1.1, © 2008, 2009 Derek Yu and Mossmouth, LLC. # Ankh From the spelunky.ai wiki: . Verified against the spelunky.ai port [v0.1.10](https://github.com/851-labs/spelunky/releases/tag/v0.1.10) on 27 October 2026. *For the Black Market shop that sells it, see The Black Market's Ankh.* The Ankh is an equipment item in Spelunky Classic that brings the player back to life once, with 4 hearts; only the Black Market sells it, for $50,000. ![A golden ankh, a cross with a loop for its top arm](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/a05103153f8d82b4/sprites/sAnkh/frames/0%404x.png) | Ankh | | | -------- | ------------------------------------------ | | Kind | Equipment | | Effect | Revives the player once, with 4 hearts[^1] | | Price | $50,000[^2] | | Object | `oAnkh` | | Sold in | The Black Market's Ankh | | Found in | The Jungle, Black Market | Wearing it, the player has a second life: the first time his hearts run out, the Ankh shatters and he's put back on his feet with 4 hearts, at the level's entrance. Only the Black Market's Ankh shop sells it. It's worn from the moment it's paid for (or stolen) until it saves him, or until the game ends. ## Effect **Clip: Ankh revival.** The player picks up the Black Market's ankh and jumps out of the shop with it, which puts it on and angers the shopkeeper. Dropping back into the shop, he is shot until his hearts run out; the ankh shatters and he comes back to life at the level's entrance with 4 hearts. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/a05103153f8d82b4/clips/ankh/revive/clip.mp4)) Paying for it or carrying it out of the shop puts it on: the message "YOU GOT THE ANKH! YOU FEEL PROTECTED." shows, the Ankh disappears, and an icon of it joins the row under the hearts[^3][^4]. A new game takes it away if it's still unused[^5][^6]. When the player's hearts drop below 1 on a level, the Ankh takes the death's place. His hearts are set to 4 hearts, whatever he had before, and he's moved: to the inside of the Moai if the level has one and it's active (things far outside the view are switched off[^7]), to a set place near the left wall in Olmec's Lair, and otherwise to the level's entrance. A [ball and chain](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/ball-and-chain), if Kali has given him one, come with him. He stops moving and blinks, invincible, for 2 seconds, while the message "THE ANKH SHATTERS! YOU HAVE BEEN REVIVED!" shows with a teleporter's sound. The Ankh is gone[^8]. However the last heart is lost, this comes before the game ends, which only happens without the Ankh[^9]. The clip shows the player stealing the Ankh by jumping out of the Ankh shop, then dropping back in, where the angry Shopkeeper's shots take his hearts; the Ankh shatters and he's back at the level's entrance with 4 hearts[^10]. On a level with the Moai, the same death near it puts him inside the Moai instead, a chamber nothing else opens (see [Hedjet](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/hedjet))[^11]. ## Obtaining | Source | Chance | | | ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------- | | The Black Market's Ankh shop | One in every Black Market, for $50,000 | [^12][^13] | The Black Market comes once a game, as the level after the one in the Jungle whose hidden entrance the player finds (the [Udjat Eye](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/udjat-eye) helps); so it's level 6, 7 or 8[^14][^15]. One of its shops is the Ankh shop, a room with the Ankh on display and a Shopkeeper who greets the player with "I HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL..."[^16][^17]. The shop puts it up directly, not through the code that stocks other shops, so it costs $50,000 whatever the level[^18]. Nothing else makes an Ankh: no other shop, Crate, block or gift, and the level editor has no tile for it. Carrying it out of the shop without paying puts it on and angers the Shopkeeper[^19]. In the clip, the player jumps up out of the shop's room with it, and it goes on at once[^20]. Unlike other wares, it's never left free in his hands: the shop never marks it for sale, so the check that frees a stolen ware once it's outside the shop, angering the shopkeeper, passes it by, and only the check on the player himself takes it[^16][^21][^19]. Thrown up out of the shop through the hole in its ceiling, its only way out, it lies outside at its price and the shopkeeper stays calm, until the player picks it up there[^22]. ## Interactions - Only the first death is saved: the Ankh is used up, and the next time his hearts run out the game ends[^23][^9]. - The revival restores 4 hearts even to a player who had more before, as it sets his hearts rather than adding to them[^24]. ## Tips - On a level with the Moai, a death with the Ankh near it is a way inside it; see [Hedjet](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/hedjet). - Stealing the Ankh angers the Shopkeeper, but the death his shots may cause is the one the Ankh then saves, as in the clip. ## Trivia - Its `type` is "Ankh", and its shop message "AN ANKH FOR $50000."[^25]. - In Olmec's Lair, where there's no entrance to go back to, the revival puts the player at a fixed point, x 24 and y 552[^26]. ## FAQ ### What does the Ankh do in Spelunky Classic? It saves the player from one death. When his hearts run out, it shatters instead, and he comes back to life with 4 hearts, usually at the level's entrance. ### Where do you get the Ankh in Spelunky Classic? In the Black Market's Ankh shop, for $50,000 on whichever level the market is. Nothing else in the game makes one. ### Where does the Ankh revive you in Spelunky Classic? At the level's entrance, except on a level with a Moai near enough to the view to be active, where it's inside the Moai, and in Olmec's Lair, where it's a set place near its left wall. ### Can the Ankh be stolen in Spelunky Classic? Yes. Carrying it out of the Ankh shop without paying puts it on at once and angers the Shopkeeper, who shoots at the player. Thrown out of the shop on its own, it angers no one until the player picks it up outside. ## Gallery **Clip: Hedjet in the Moai.** On the level with the Moai, the player, wearing an ankh, drops a bomb at his feet. The blast takes his last hearts, and the ankh revives him inside the Moai's sealed chamber, where he falls onto the Hedjet, picks it up and leaves by the Moai's own exit. ([video](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/media/a05103153f8d82b4/clips/hedjet/moai/clip.mp4)) ## See also - **Related:** [Udjat Eye](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/udjat-eye), [Hedjet](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/hedjet), [Spikes](https://spelunky.ai/wiki/spikes) ## References [^1]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1853-1896` [^2]: `objects/oAnkh/create.gml:7` [^3]: `scripts/scrStealItem.gml:35-45` [^4]: `scripts/scrDrawHUD.gml:106-110` [^5]: `scripts/scrClearGlobals.gml:85` [^6]: `objects/oTransition/create.gml:20-24` [^7]: `objects/oLevel/step.gml:75-94` [^8]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1847-1896` [^9]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1897-1920` [^10]: Clip ankh/revive [^11]: Clip hedjet/moai [^12]: `scripts/scrLevelGen.gml:40-69` [^13]: `scripts/scrRoomGenMarket.gml:112-116` [^14]: `scripts/scrInitLevel.gml:186-192` [^15]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:879` [^16]: `scripts/scrRoomGenMarket.gml:361-364` [^17]: `objects/oShopkeeper/step.gml:133` [^18]: `objects/oAnkh/create.gml:7-8` [^19]: Quirk 1 (docs/quirks.md) [^20]: Replay `fidelity/replays/item-seed-9-ankh.txt` [^21]: `objects/oItem/step.gml:18-34` [^22]: Replay `fidelity/replays/item-seed-9-ankh-thrown-out.txt` [^23]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1891` [^24]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1855` [^25]: `objects/oAnkh/create.gml:3-8` [^26]: `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml:1862-1866` ### Source code - `objects/oAnkh/create.gml` - `objects/oPlayer1/step.gml` - `scripts/scrStealItem.gml` - `scripts/scrRoomGenMarket.gml`