Walter Donovan

"He chose...poorly."

- The Grail Knight, upon Walter Donovan's demise

Walter Donovan was a wealthy American businessman and collector of antiquities who allied himself with the Nazis in order to get the Holy Grail, which he sought for its fabled gift of immortality.

In the years prior to 1938, he had made several generous contributions to the National Museum. His copper mine engineers discovered a stone tablet in Turkey. He and his wife lived in a fancy apartment in Manhattan where he kept the tablet, as well as the manuscript that contained the Friar's account of the story of the three knights who found the Grail.

He hired Henry Jones, Sr. to track down the location of the Grail and paired him with Dr. Elsa Schneider to find the location of a grail knight's tomb in Venice. When the senior Jones realized Schneider's Nazi affiliation, he was made to conveniently 'disappear'. Donovan used the disappearance of Indy's father to lure Indiana Jones into helping him finding the vital clues leading to the location of the Grail. After Indy detoured to rescue his father at Castle Brunwald, Donovan revealed himself as a Nazi ally. When reports of Marcus Brody's apprehension by Nazi agents in Iskenderun were given, Donovan traveled with Schneider to Hatay to find the Grail.

With Dr. Schneider, Donovan arrived at the Grail Temple and proceeded to send soldiers into the temple's traps. When Jones and his allies arrived and were captured, Donovan forced Indy to figure out how to get through the set of booby traps by shooting Henry. After Indy reached the inner sanctum where the last of the Grail knights kept watch over the sacred chalice - and several more false chalices - Donovan and Schneider followed in safety. Upon seeing the visitors looking at the grails, the knight guardian explained that drinking from the true Holy Grail would grant the drinker eternal life, but drinking from a false Grail would take away the life of the drinker. Faced with this dilemma, Donovan surveyed the potential Grails. Dr. Schneider volunteered to pick one for him. She gave Donovan a golden grail, with gemstones implanted on its sides. Donovan drank from that Grail, and to his horror found himself aging rapidly and eventually decomposing. Indiana Jones then kicked the near-skeleton form of the doomed Donovan against a wall where it shattered into dust.

Behind the scenes
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Donovan was played by Julian Glover who despite playing an American is a British actor.

Donovan is the final boss in the game Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures. Rather than perish upon drinking from the false Grail, Donovan turns into an undead monster which the player must defeat.

Appearances

 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade novel
 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade comic
 * Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
 * LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures