Indiana Jones

Background

Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr., is a professor of archaeology and globe trotting adventurer. His nickname, Indiana, was taken from his family's dog of same name. He has seen many mythic objects in his time, such as the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail of Christ. He has encountered numerous historical figures as well as made contact with aliens (however briefly) and been deep into the heart of many a jungle. He once met Adolph Hitler (and got his autograph!) though Der Furher didn't recognize him as an American at the time.

Major Plots

Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981)

In 1936 Indy began a search for a few Golden Idols belonging to a tribe in Peru. Soon after a few started to appear at an antiquity market, the evidence pointed to a fellow archaeologist at Princeton University-Dr. Forrestal who had gone missing while looking for the idols six years earlier. recently Indy acquired part of a map that detailed the route to the temple. Indy traveled to Peru and got in touch with several of his contacts in Peru. The other part of the map was in the hands of Satipo and Barranca, Indy knew not to trust them but they were only two who knew the area well enough. Indy knew he couldn't trust but had to make a deal with them as he needed the other piece of the map.

Swapping the sand for the idol

As they got closer to the temple Barranca made an attempt to kill Indy. Jones heard the pistol cock and disarmed him by whipping the revolver out his hands. Barranca fled and Indy was now stuck Satipo who was just as untrustworthy. They entered the temple and realized The builders designed the temple so that anyone who entered would never leave. As they went in they found the entrance riddled with tarantulas and they discovered how Forrestal met his end, he was impaled by spikes in the wall.  

After navigating through the rest of the traps Indy arrived into the Idol room and knowing that the disk upon which the Idol laid was pressure sensitive so once Indy took the idol he had to place something on the pedestal that was exactly equal the weight. Indy placed a bag of sand on the pedestal and right after the pedestal sank to the ground and the temple started to fall apart. Indy ran and avoided poison darts as he was trying to escape the temple. Reaching a small chasm he handed Satipo the whip to swing over and in return Satipo asked for the idol and then he would give Indy the whip. Indy threw the idol but satipo left the whip on the ground and Indy had to jump across instead, he barely made it, grabbed his whip, and made under the stone door that was coming down.

The Boulder chase

Once he got out he found Satipo dead, impaled on the very same traps that killed Dr. Forrestal years earlier along withe the idol on his hands. Seconds after a huge boulder came down and Indy was forced to attempt to outrun it, which he did and when he made it outside he ran into none other than Rene Belloq himself, Indy's rival who always managed to catch up to Indy and steal his treasure on his adventures. Indy attempted to draw but the native Hovito warriors drew their bows and spears, Indy handed his pistol and Idol over to belloq. He turned and showed the idol to the warriors and they got down on their knees, seeing an opportunity to escape Jones ran. The Hovitos followed but Indy amde to the seaplane of his friend Jock Lindsey and escaped.

Indy lecturing

Returning to Marshall College for a lecture, Indy informed Marucs Brody that he almost had the Idol but Belloq got it. Brody informed him that two men from Army Intelligence were asking for him and were waiting for him. As soon as class ended Indy and Marcus approached the two men. They informed them that recently the US Military had intercepted cables from sent from Cairo to Berlin. The message stated that there was a dig going on at Tanis and that they were looking for a Headpiece to the Staff of Ra. The message also mentioned an Abner Ravenwood, Indy's old mentor. They asked Indy if he could make sense of the message. Indy explained that Professor ravenwood was an expert on the legend of The Lost Ark of the Covenant, he explained that the Ark was a golden chest that Moses used to carry the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai. he explained that the headpiece had to be placed on a staff in a certain spot in a map room at Tanis and that it would pinpoint the exact location of The Well of Souls where the Ark rested.

Reunited with Marion

Eaton and Musgrove explained that he had been placed on assignment by the secret service to locate and retrieve the ark before Hitler and Germany did. By using Professor Ravenwood's journal Indy found that in one of the last entries Abner speculated that Nepal contained clues to The Ark. Expecting to find Abner he went in and found Marion, his daughter and Indy's old flame. Marion appeared to be both pleased and disturbed by his return. Indy asked for Abner but Marion explained her father had been dead for years. Indy apologized and asked her about artifact he believed Abner had in his possession. He paid her 5000 dollars, enough for her to move back to the US to give him the medallion. Marion told him to come back the next day for it and she would have it for him then. shortly after he left another man came in, this time with a few others. He offered to pay more than Dr. Jones but she told that she didn't have it anymore, he didn't believe it and tired to torture the information out of her. Indy came back in and whipped the fireplace poker out of his hand, causing it to fall next to a curtain and starting a fire. Indy and Marion killed the Thugs but Toht escaped with the marks of the medallion burnt onto his hand because he tried to grab it out a fire. Because he burnt down her tavern she forced him to take her along on his journey and gave him the medallion.

The two traveled to Cairo and from there met up with Sallah, an Egyptian excavator and a close friend of Indy's. There he informed that the Nazis had already begun their excavation of Tanis but that they do not know that Indy and Marion are in the country. While they were on the streets they were ambushed, Marion was captured, and Indy had to pursue her kidnappers throughout the city. He saw the Nazis place a basket in a truck, he fired at the truck not knowing that it was full of explosives. The truck blew up and Indy in despair over her death he wandered to a local bar. There he confronted his old rival, Belloq and attempted to draw his gun and shoot Belloq but all the men in the bar were weapons and at the last minute sallah's children came to rescue him. he was quickly hurried out of the bar and the rest of the men laughed at him because he was a grown man being rescued by children.

He later went with Sallah to the local Imam to translate the inscriptions on the medallion. They realized that the Nazis only had one side of the headpiece and realized that they lacked the back side which detailed the height of the staff. The Nazis only had the front side and therefore did not know that the back side that the staff needed to be one kadam shorter than what the front side said.

Staring down the Cobra

Later Indy and Sallah went to the dig site, seeing how the Nazi's hadn't yet recovered they realized they were digging in the worn place. Entering the Map Room he placed the staff in the ground and when the sun rose to the correct position, a beam of light then passed through the crystal in the headpiece and continued to a spot on The Map pointing to where the Ark is located.Stumbling into one of the Nazi's tents Indy found Marion alive-but captured. So his presence at the dig site wouldn't be revealed he decided to leave her there for now. At sundown, Indy, Sallah, and a team of excavators began digging for the Well of Souls. By the time night came, they found the top of the structure. Lifting up the lid, Indy then descended down by rope and landed right in the middle of a humongous room filled with snakes. As he looked up, he found himself face to face with a Cobra.With Sallah, he lifted the Ark up on wooden poles and Sallah had it brought back up to the surface with him. After coming back up to the surface, Sallah was "greeted" by Col. Dietrich and the Nazis along with Belloq and Marion.

In the well, Indy and Marion escaped by breaking a wall down with a large statue of Anubis. After escaping, they found the Nazis were planning to put the Ark on a plane to Berlin. Indy planned to steal the plane and fly off with the ark back to the US. However, after being spotted by a Mechanic he was stuck fighting him as Marion climbed into the plane. Due to leaking Gasoline, the plane exploded. After the plane was destroyed, the Nazis were forced to get the Ark to Cairo by land. After chasing the truck, Indy captured it and thanks to Sallah having contacts all around Cairo, he was able to escape.Indy and Marion then boarded The Bantu Wind which carried the Ark but soon after the ship was stopped by the Nazis who took the Ark and Marion back. Indy was able to avoid capture by climbing onto the top of the German Submarine which held the Ark and Marion. The U-Boat sailed to an island in the Mediterranean where he followed the Nazis to an outdoor area where the Ark was to be opened. Indy tried to free Marion by threatening to blow the Ark and the Nazis with a Bazooka but Belloq called his bluff and he he was captured. 

Personality and Traits

Indiana Jones with his whip and fedora

Indiana (or Indy as some call him) rarely goes anywhere without a few key pieces of equipment. He constantly carries a bullwhip (which he learned to use to defend himself from a lion with as a teenager), a revolver, a satchel (for carrying his notes and assorted treasures), a leather jacket (even in the hot and humid jungles of Peru) and, perhaps most iconically, a brown fedora. Indy is among the calibre of hero that his hat (almost) never falls off.

A generally fearless individual, Dr. Jones is terrified of only one thing: snakes. During his youth, he fell into a large tub filled with glass snakes and has since developed an irrational hatred and fear of the things. He seems to have no problem with large spiders, insects or rats though.

Indiana Jones eventually married his long-time love Marion and has a son, Mutt.

Creation

Name

He was originally called "Indiana Smith," but the name was changed to Jones when Steven Spielberg complained that the name wasn't quite right.

Indiana was the name of George Lucas' Alaskan malamute and lent his name to the character. The idea later became the in-universe explanation for the character's name as well. This dog was also a prototype for Chewbacca, Han Solo's hairy co-pilot and friend, because the dog would frequently sit in Lucas' passenger seat while he drove his pick up truck.

Portrayal

Film

Harrison Ford was not originally considered for the role, as George Lucas had worked with him on three movies already ( American Graffiti, Star Wars IV: A New Hope and Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back) and he didn't want every movie he made to star Harrison Ford. Therefore, a lot of time was spent on casting, which the eventual selection landing on Tom Selleck, moustache and all. However, Selleck's TV series, Magnum, P.I. was green-lit during this time and he was unable to play the part. Harrison Ford then stepped in and made cinematic history.