Gobler

Haupt Gobler was Colonel Herman Dietrich's personal assistant and Nazi Major who helped oversee the dig site in Tanis in 1936 during the quest of the Ark of the Covenant.

Biography
In 1936, with the Nazis not making progress on finding the Ark of the Covenant's location, Gobler suggested they interrogate their prisoner Marion Ravenwood, against René Emile Belloq's wishes. He felt that since she had owned the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra for years, she would know additional information on locating the Ark.

Following the destruction of the Flying Wing caused by Indiana Jones, Gobler had the Ark moved onto a truck and drove up behind it in a Mercedes-Benz troop car along with another officer and a gunner. During the drive, Gobler saw Jones boarding the truck from a horse and commandeering it. Gobler drove up alongside the truck as his gunner tried to shoot the archaeologist.

In Jones's struggle for control of the truck, the driver stepped on the brake and Gobler rammed into the back of Jones's truck sending a Nazi off the back of the truck and into Gobler's windshield.



Gobler brought the vehicle next to Jones but the archaeologist swerved the truck into the car, sending it briefly off the road. When Gobler regained control, he continued his pursuit. Jones bumped into Gobler again and this time the car found itself going towards a cliff. With a scream of terror, Gobler and his fellow occupants went over the edge to their doom.

Behind the scenes
Gobler was played by English actor Anthony Higgins in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In the third draft of the film's original script, written by Lawrence Kasdan, Gobler's role is slightly the same than in the finished film. However, during The Desert Chase, apart that Arnold Ernst Toht was originally going to accompany Gobler instead the Lieutenant; it was originally planned to show Gobler's troop car exploding into the rocks and catching fire, effectively killing both Gobler and Toht. This was cut, and in the finished film, it's never show how Gobler's car crash.

Although Gobler's rank is never revealed in the film, his epaulettes indicate that he is a Major, which is above the rank of Captain and below the rank of Lieutenant. Despite this, some fans have incorrectly identified Gobler as a Second Lieutenant because of his epaulettes, although these indicate that indeed, he is a Major and not a 2nd Lieutenant.

The scene in which Gobler's troop car drives off a cliff was an ILM effects shot using a matte painting as the backdrop, and composite shots of a vehicle model and puppets. However, in recent airings of Raiders of the Lost Ark on USA and the Sci-Fi Channel appear to have redone the shot of Gobler's troop car falling down the chasm in CGI. This wasn't done for the 2008 DVD release of Raiders however, and there is no official comment from Lucasfilm Ltd. or Paramount Pictures on the matter as of the current moment.

The LEGO set Race for the Stolen Treasure includes both the truck (but carrying a gold chest with coins and diamonds instead the Ark of the Covenant), as well as the troop car, but, oddly, not Gobler. In his place is a nameless German soldier with a gray moustache. Similarly although Hasbro released a toy version of the troop car for its toyline, they didn't make a figure of Gobler available to drive it. Gobler has also been absent from both LEGO video games, becoming one of the few Indiana Jones characters that does not have any kind of official and physical merchandise.

Appearances

 * Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark comic