Elsa Schneider

Dr. Elsa Schneider was an Austrian archaeologist and secret Nazi agent.

Biography
In 1938, Schneider, a rising star in the Nazi party, was assigned the task of retrieving the Holy Grail for Hitler. With the help of American industrialist Walter Donovan, she enlisted the unwitting assistance of Grail scholar Dr. Henry Jones, Sr., becoming his lover as well. In Venice, Henry became aware of her true motives, and Schneider had him taken to the Castle of Brunwald on the German-Austrian border for interrogation. Schneider and Donovan then attempted the same ruse on Jones' son Indiana, himself an archaeologist of some repute.

Indy helped Schneider locate the Knight's Tomb in the catacombs beneath Venice before learning of his father's captivity at the Castle of Brunwald. Schneider also was able to entice Indy, gain his trust, and became his lover as well. As the castle, Indy's rescue attempt was foiled by Schneider, thus revealing her allegiance to the Third Reich. She then has Indiana and his father tied up, telling Donovan to keep both the Joneses alive in case they couldn't get Marcus Brody, who made off with map pages of Henry's grail diary. Minutes later she mockingly kisses Indy, much to the annoyance of Henry. The Joneses eventually managed to escape, but without the elder Jones' famed Grail Diary, vital to the continuing search for the Grail. Indy, disguised as a Nazi soldier, confronted Elsa in Berlin and recovered the diary, but the Germans had already extracted the location of the Grail Temple from it.

Schneider and Donovan led a team of Nazis to the Grail Temple in the Republic of Hatay, resulting in one final confrontation with the Joneses. Henry was shot by Donovan, forcing Indiana to pass the three trials in order to reach the Grail Chamber. Indiana was followed by Elsa and Donovan, and presented with the challenge of choosing the one true Grail among many false grails. Elsa purposely chose a false grail for Donovan, resulting in his rapid death. Indiana chose the correct grail and used it to heal his father's bullet wound; however, Elsa picked up the grail and ignoring the warnings of both the Grail Knight and Indiana, tried to remove the Grail from the temple. As she stepped across the seal, the temple began to quake. Elsa lost her footing, causing the grail to roll away from her grasp as she hit the ground. Elsa lunged forward to try to recover the chalice, but in doing so, she knocked it into the splitting floor. Elsa could not maintain her hold on the rising earth, and fell on to tilted ground, sliding towards the chasm. Indiana dove to grab her hands just in time. Elsa held on for her life, but before Indy could pull her up, she wrenched one of her hands free to reach the Grail after realizing it was right below her. Elsa's hand was just inches short of reaching the cup, and Indiana pleaded for her to save herself. Elsa ignored Indiana's warnings, greedily insisting she could reach it. All the while, the glove on her other hand was slipping off. Elsa continued to stretch her arm out, but before she could manage to touch the grail, her hand slipped from its glove. Elsa lost her life when Indiana was unable to catch her as she fell.

Memorable Quotes
"That's how Austrians say goodbye." - Her flirtatious comment after kissing Indiana while he is tied up with his father.

"All I have to do is scream." - In response to Indiana's assertion that all he has to do is squeeze her throat when they meet at the Berlin rally.

"I can reach it... I can reach it..." The final words Elsa whispers right before she falls to her death while desperately reaching for the Grail.

Behind the scenes

 * In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Elsa Schneider was portrayed by actress Alison Doody.
 * The character's claim of competing in the 50 meter freestyle at the 1932 Summer Olympics for the Austrian swim team may be considered an anachronism; the event wasn't introduced until the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
 * In the LucasArts graphic adventure game adaptation, Elsa can live after the end of the game, if the player catches the Grail with the whip.