Miller: The Evolution of a Knight

Michael D. Miller

Raiders Blog

The Evolution of a Knight

Indiana Jones moves from the mercenary knight to the indentured knight when he saves her from the Well of Souls. They are about to be overrun by a room full of snakes until Indiana discovers holes in an adjacent wall where it appears that the snakes are using to enter the room. By his reasoning, if the snakes can get in they can get out. Indiana then scales an ancient statue in the room and crashes it into the wall. Before doing so, he tells Marian, “no matter what happens just run!” Indiana saves Marian by escaping through a loose block in the exterior wall. 

Indiana realizes how important Marian Ravenwood is to him after he discovers that she is still alive. The last time Indiana saw Marian was in the town while they were shopping. She was chased by Nazi henchmen and kidnapped. Indiana tried to fight off the henchmen, but they were separated. Indiana saw that she was being carried away in a basket. In his chaotic search for Marian, he overcomes a variety of obstacles and threats to find her being loaded into the back of a cargo truck. He tries to stop the truck but it suddenly explodes and Marian is feared dead. Indiana is visibly upset and distraught. In the next scene, the hero is found sitting in an outside patio bar drowning his feelings for the loss of Marian in a bottle of alcohol. Indiana realizes how important she it to him and that he wants possess her as much as he wants to possess the Ark. 

Indiana continues his pursuit of the Ark of the Covenant into the desert. During the course of his evasion of Nazi guards, he ducks into a tent and to his surprise discovers Marian bound and gagged, being held captive by Belloq. Indiana starts to untie her but quickly realizes that if she is discovered to be missing, Belloq will know that he is there. Indiana decides to leave her there so he can continue to search for and excavate the Ark. Indiana betrays Marian by leaving her behind to secure the Ark from Belloq and the Nazis. Indiana returns to his previous ways of selfishness and pursuit of glory.  

An early drawing of Indiana Jones during the creation phase of the character.

Indiana, with the help of Sallah’s diggers, locates the Ark and removes it from the Holy of Holies. He is again met by Belloq and the Nazis and the Ark is taken from him. The Nazis then throw Marian into the pit with Indiana and the entrance is resealed. Indiana later rescues Marian. However, Indiana pursues the Ark after and catches up to the Nazis on a desert trail. He confronts the Nazis and Belloq and demands that he release Marian, who was apparently captured again. Indiana is standing on a mountain bluff with a rocket launcher threatening to blow up the Ark if Marian isn’t released. Belloq challenges Indiana to blow it knowing full well that he will do no such thing. Belloq claims that both he and Indiana are similar in their desire to discover history and they are merely passing through history; whereas the Ark is history. Meaning, the Ark has sparked an entire civilization of believers and has a power bigger the either of them can control or comprehend. Indiana realizing that he has a new found respect for the Ark and a blossoming faith in a higher power. 

"The plot centers on Jones being commissioned by the Allies to prevent Adolf Hitler from  
  gaining access to the Ark of the Covenant, purported to be the vessel in which the Ten
  Commandments were placed by Moses" (Pfeiffer 117).

During the climactic scene, Belloq and the Nazis open the Ark of the Covenant as a test to see what is inside before presenting it to the Fuhrer. Indiana and Marian are tied to a pole to bear witness to the event. By opening the Ark, they release the fire from within the Ark, which destroys all of the non-believers. Indiana possesses the knowledge of a world class archeologist and realizes that opening the Ark could release the “fire and brimstone” he described earlier in the film when he was educating the Army intelligence officers. Indiana tells Marian to close her eyes and not to open them no matter what keep them closed, in the end Indiana and Marian escape unharmed by the spiritual event, because of their growing faith.  

Indiana’s character changes from the selfish pursuit of the Ark for fame and glory to the indentured servant by vowing to protect the daughter of his mentor. The scenes that lead up to his acceptance of an acceptable authority begin with Indiana’s role as a government agent set out to recovery the Ark before the Nazis claim it. He is later betrayed by the government when the Ark is hidden away from any form of research. Indiana turns from his selfish desire to obtain the Ark to saving Marian from the clutches of evil.