Indiana Jones

"It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."

- Indiana Jones

Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. was an American archaeologist most famously known as Indiana Jones or Indy. During World War I, he used the name Henri Defense, and went by a number of aliases throughout his life. He was married at least twice, conceived a son and daughter, and had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Throughout his career he found numerous famous mythological artifacts, including the Sankara Stones, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and the Crystal Skull of Akator, which placed him in conflict with different groups across the globe.

Born July 1, 1899 in Princeton, New Jersey, Jones' life was indelibly influenced when he accompanied his parents, Henry Sr. and Anna Jones on a world lecture tour from 1908 to 1910. Throughout his travels, Jones encountered many important figures in history who shaped his outlook on life. After the return home, his mother became ill and died. The death changed the family as father and son moved to Utah in 1912. Without her, their relationship became increasingly strained. As Henry Sr. withdrew into his studies, Indiana found himself in various locations as his father lectured once again.

In 1916, Indiana and his father moved back to Princeton. While on Spring Break that year, Indiana quit high school, briefly participated in the Mexican Revolution, and spent the next three years fighting in World War I. Afterwards, he attended the University of Chicago, where he studied under Professor Abner Ravenwood Jones transferred to France, where he earned an undergraduate degree in linquistics. In 1925, he began a brief relationship with Ravenwood's daughter Marion, which ended his friendship with Abner. Once a graduate, he briefly became an archaeology teacher in London where he met student Deirdre Campbell. Their romance led to marriage in 1926, but a plane crash took Deirdre's life.

In the years leading up to World War II, Jones secured a teaching position at Marshall College. In 1936, the US Government contracted him to find the Ark of the Covenant, which led him to be reunited with Marion Ravenwood. The relationship lasted until Jones left a week before their wedding. During the war, Jones joined the OSS along with girlfriend Sophia Hapgood. The Cold War brought the Soviets into competition as a new world power and Indy found himself the focal point of their quest for Akator. After Soviet agents kidnapped him he agreed to help his son Mutt Williams rescue his father figure and Indy's collegue Harold Oxley. Indy and Marion were reunited and their reconciliation finally led to marriage.

Jones' lifetime of adventures eventually took its toll, as he lost an eye in the process and was forced to walk with a cane during his later years. By the early 1990s, he was living in New York with his daughter and grandchildren.

Early life
"Henry was a... remarkable boy, who shows every sign of growing up to be a remarkable man."

- Helen Seymour

Indiana Jones was born Henry Walton Jones Jr. to a Scottish-born professor of medieval studies, Henry Jones, and his wife Anna on July 1, 1899, in Princeton, New Jersey. While still in the crib, his parents introduced him to a Malamute puppy named Indiana. The two quickly bonded and the dog was a friend and companion throughout the earliest decades of Jones' life. By 1905, young Henry had adopted the name of his beloved dog for himself (though his father would continue to refer to him as "Junior" well into his adult life ). As a boy, Henry Jr. befriended the future actor Paul Robeson.

Following the success of his books, Professor Jones was invited on a two year long lecture tour of schools and universities. From 1908 to 1910, "Indiana" and Anna were to accompany him on his travels around the globe. So "Junior" wouldn't be losing out on his studies, Professor Jones decided to hire his old Oxford tutor Miss Helen Seymour. As such, their first port of call was to her home in England. Still living in the city of Oxford, Miss Seymour was introduced to the boy then declined Professor Jones' offer. She believed him too young. Nor did Indiana want to see any more of her. But Henry Sr. was determined for his son to have the best tutor he could get. Seymour eventually relented and the family began the two year stretch. It would be nine days of study before Indiana saw his first adventure.

The Jackal's Curse
They crossed the Mediterranean and landed at Alexandria in Egypt before moving on to Cairo. While Professor Jones lectured at the university, Miss Seymour took Indiana to see the great pyramids but hadn't paid their guide enough. He stole their camels as they scaled one of the ancient structures and left them stranded. Alone and unsure what to do next, the appearance of a figure heading in their direction on a bicycle surprised Miss Seymour as she recognized he was an old acquaintance: T. E. Lawrence.

With Lawrence's supplies, the three camped at the base of the pyramid to see the night through. Indiana was fascinated by Lawrence's account of opening a tomb and suggested he'd like to be an archaeologist. Lawrence was happy to entertain the idea, but admonished the boy when Indiana brought up the possibility of becoming rich from the profession, encouraging him instead to see archaeology as something to be shared with the world. The conversation led to Lawrence inviting Indiana and Miss Seymour to join him on a trip near the Valley of the Kings where his friend Rasheed Sallam was working on a dig site alongside Howard Carter.

Having acquired Professor Jones' permission and a thick journal imparted to him to chronicle his journey, Indiana and his tutor accompanied Lawrence up the Nile river the following day to reach their destination. The stretch would earn him another lesson as Lawrence showed him the importance of learning the language of any country he visits.

Sallam greeted them on their arrival to the camp where they discovered work was stalling after word had spread that a curse had befallen the site following the recent excavation of a tomb belonging to the Ancient Egyptian architect/engineer known as Kha. Neither Sallam nor Carter entertained the notion of a curse, and Indiana was shown some of the artifacts that has been discovered in the area as part of Carter's desire to find the tomb of boy king Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. Treasures that attracted the attention of onsite photographer, Pierre Duclos, and Demetrios, demolitionist and chief proponent of the curse's threat.

"He that enters my tomb I shall burn with my fire."

- Inscription within Kha's tomb

Carter allowed Indiana to be the first to enter Kha's tomb. Inside, they found the entrance to the burial chamber inscribed with a curse but pressed on and, when instructed, Sallam pried the door open to reveal a room scorched black surrounding the stone coffin of Kha. Lawrence suspected the room had already been searched when the coffin revealed no artifacts had been placed with the preserved corpse of Kha, and Duclos considered grave robbers but Carter was sure the door seals hadn't been broken and so there had to be another room. He was right, within the wall was secreted another chamber but poison gas was released so Indiana and the group had to abandon the search to seek fresh air and safety.

To give the gas time to clear, Sallam was posted as a night watchman over the tomb's entrance and Indiana asked to help, but the man, while grateful, rejected the suggestion so Indiana retired for the evening. Sallam disappeared. Indiana joined the search the next day as the group re-entered the chambers and found that Kha was missing as well. Lawrence came across Sallam's charred body further on but deduced it was in fact a trauma to the head that killed the man. He was also covered in a unknown white powder. Collecting some, Lawrence couldn't see any motive so Indiana presented one person who might have an agenda: Kha.

Demetrios and the workers fled the site in panic while Indiana, Lawrence and Miss Seymour decided to investigate the tomb further which led them to the secret chamber containing a statue of Kha and more inscription that revealed the Egyptian had been rewarded a jewel encrusted Jackal headpiece by a Pharaoh for his services. Lawrence assumed that it was a part of the statue but Indiana told him it wasn't there. Closer inspection showed part had been broken off and Lawrence was sure they'd found the murderer's motive even if he couldn't understand where Kha himself went.

The three ruled out the workers when Lawrence remembered the powder. By putting a flame to it, the puff of smoke that followed implied it was Duclos' flash powder. Indiana was woken the next morning by a hand clamped over his mouth. It was Lawrence, and he needed him stand guard while he searched Duclos' tent. Indiana kept an eye on the photographer walking through the site and followed him as Duclos went inside Kha's tomb. The camera flashed within the chambers and seeing Duclos may be heading back in his direction, Indiana ducked back inside an alcove. The wall behind creaked and he fell backwards into the upright body of Kha. The skeleton collapsed on top of him and, pinned to the floor, Indiana screamed fearing Duclos was coming to kill him.

Lawrence and Miss Seymour rushed in. His tutor pushed the body off him as Lawrence held Duclos against the wall with his gun. Duclos proclaimed his innocence in the murder of Sallam and revealed he was taking pictures within the tomb for the newspaper story. Lawrence questioned the magnesium powder recovered from Sallam's corpse to which Duclos pointed out that he was not the only who used it. Indiana looked at Kha and found it clutching a detonator plunger, revealing Demetrios as having embellished the curse inscription so he could steal the Jackal. Inside the demolitionist's tent, the four found the box for the plunger and powder used in flares, evidence in proving Demetrios' guilt.

Duclos lamented that the murderer and thief must be at the docks by that time, which Lawrence refused to believe. He quickly set out on his bicycle to intercept Demetrios while asking Indiana not to forget him, and promised to write. Nevertheless, Indiana, Miss Seymour and Duclos followed and caught up to find Lawrence holding Demetrios. But Demetrios had hidden the artifact, and managed to flee the country soon after. Indiana and his tutor reunited with Professor and Anna Jones, departing Egypt for the next leg of the tour: Morocco.

Moroccan Thrall
"And what exactly do slaves do?"

- Indiana Jones

Arriving at Tangiers, the family was met by London Times journalist Walter Harris, an old school friend of Indiana's father staying in the country. Harris had arranged for the Joneses to meet with the Sharifa Emily Keene and while the adults conversed, Indiana was allowed to play outside with Keene assigning Omar, one of her slaves, to keep Jones company. During the game Indiana found he had to tell Omar not to let him win but complimented the boy on his English and discovered the boy didn't have to study like he. Jones considered the slave be lucky and Omar, like their game had been, accepted the point without argument.

It was soon time for the family to move on to Ouezzane, where Professor Jones was due to give a lecture for the Moroccan Sultan. Indiana was disappointed their game was being cut short and Anna was unable to tell him if he would have anyone to play with there too. Hearing this predicament, the Sharifa allowed Omar to be Jones' playmate for the rest of their stay in the country.

For the seventy-five mile trip between cities, the boys talked. When Jones noted Morocco shared a similarity to Egypt, Omar, having never left the country, had to ask what that was. Jones explained which led to Indiana showing the slave his hand-drawn map and pointed out the countries and their differences in weather. The conversation brought up Jones' desire to be an archaeologist one day, another concept foreign to Omar. Indiana educated him further and asked what Omar was going to be. The slave replied that he would be just that, and was unable to abandon the role. It was with that that Indiana began to fully understand the concept.

His growing concerns about the nature of slavery prompted a discussion on the subject when the travelers took a rest on the journey. Miss Seymour made it clear to him that Omar, with regards to the Sharifa, was for all intents and purposes property. It prompted Jones to decide to go and help his friend attend to the horses, and he let Omar know that as far he was concerned the boy wasn't a slave around him.

The Joneses arrived in Ouezzane as guests in Harris' home. While Indiana was fetching something to eat, he spied a shrouded figure making his inside the building. Mistaking the man for a thief, the boy tried to rout him before he discovered the 'intruder' was none other than Harris himself. The journalist explained the Arab disguise allowed for easier movement around the marketplace, the natives less willing to confide in a European. His plans to meet with a grand vizier had been canceled having discovered the minister's severed head was on display for displeasing the sultan.

Determined to see the head for himself, Indiana snuck out his Latin studies the moment his parents and teacher left the house. Ignoring the danger involved, he convinced Omar to join him and - Indy disguising himself like Harris had done - the pair headed for the busy marketplace. During their search, Indiana got distracted by a snake charming act and bumped into one of the spectators. The boys quickly returned to the search, unaware that the man had been alerted to the knowledge that they were traveling alone.

They found the place where the vizier should be but no head. The very man Indiana had bumped into offered to show them where it was and led them down a deserted alley when his one-eyed colleague leapt out of hiding. Omar managed to flee but Jones was abducted.

Bound and gagged within a small room, Indiana watched the slavers outside load camels with other children. He spied Omar sneaking to his rescue and managed to squeeze under the door to get his friend's attention. Omar undid the restraints but freedom, however, would be brief as the kidnappers caught the two as they made their escape. Indiana would get to experience the life of a slave first hand.

The boys were loaded onto camels and taken far from the city. When the slavers set up camp to see the night through, Jones planned their escape. While most of the camp slept, the two tried to crawl their way to freedom. Suddenly the camp was assaulted by bandits and the slavers killed. Indiana mistook the attack for their salvation when in reality they were being stolen. The pair were loaded back onto the camels and taken all the way to Marrakesh, for Indiana would fetch a high price on the slave market.

Herded with other slaves, the boys were paraded around the potential buyers. Separated from Omar, Indiana's turn came to be put on auction and his good health started a bidding war between a black robed stranger and a man in yellow turban. The black robe eventually won out and Indiana was carried away to meet his new owner. Once again the figure unveiled himself to be Walter Harris, who had managed to track him to the city. Indiana was grateful for his rescue but discovered the journalist had no intention of saving Omar.

Indiana refused to abandon his friend. Omar hadn't left him when he had the chance and Jones would do the same even if Omar would remain a slave regardless. Indiana and Harris returned to the auction just as bidding began on Omar. Harris was low on money — having spent most on Indiana — when he joined the bidding, and Harris' opponent from before saw it was the same man who had taken Jones from him. Another bidding war started but Jones quickly improvised, loudly protesting to his 'master' that Omar was mute. Since such an affliction would lower a slave's worth, Harris complained he did not want to pay so much for him. In response, the man in the yellow turban did not bid any further to force Omar onto his foe. As such, Harris won out and the three quickly left. The turban clad buyer followed and discovered he had been cheated. He sent men after them but the three escaped on horseback.

With the Moroccan leg of the lecture over, the family returned to the Sharifa. Omar was to go back into the service of Keene so it was time for Indiana and his friend to say goodbye. Omar wished him luck on his quest to be an archaeologist and Indiana hoped he could one day show Omar the places he'd asked about. He decided to give Omar his map and, stopping Omar from bowing, the boys shook hands before going their separate ways.

The World Tour Continues
Later that month, Indy and his family travelled to Florence, Italy where he and his mother met the famous composer Giacomo Puccini. Indy was tutored in basic physics (the laws of attraction as his mother and Puccini dealt with their own awkward romantic attraction.

In September of 1908, Indy visited Paris, France and met the up-and-coming American painter Norman Rockwell in the Louvre. They sneaked out to streetside cafes where they met several other artists, such as Pablo Picasso. In November, Indy met Princess Sophie, the daughter of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Sophie became Indy's first love but he was forbidden from seeing her again. Despite this, Indy sneaked into Belvedere Castle to see Sophie and exchanged gifts with her.

In September, 1909, Indy returned to Africa with his father to visit a plantation near Nairobi. While there, Indy met Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, who was on an expedition to collect specimens for the Smithsonian. Indy helped Roosevelt out when he and a local boy went looking for a rare gazelle, Burton's fringe-eared onyx. The safari taught Indy a great deal about the relation between man and nature, and Indy actually discouraged Roosevelt from shooting too many of the endangered gazelle.

The start of 1910 found Indy in Benares, India where he learned a great deal about the various religions of the world. He had a discussion with Krishnamurti, and Annie Besant, the leader of the Theosophist movement, about the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim faiths.

Continuing his travels eastward in March, 1910, Indy next found himself in Peking, China. Unfortunately, he became very sick just after visiting the Great Wall of China. A cold rainstorm and a carriage accident only worsened his condition. After much debate about the merits of Western medicine versus Eastern medicine, Indy was treated by a Chinese doctor. Somewhere around the same time, the family journeyed through the countryside of Russia where Indy ran away from his father and met the runaway, fabled Russian novelist and troglodyte Leo Tolstoy.

Adolescence
When Indy was twelve, he accompanied his father to New Orleans where he got to listen to the jazz greats of that era.

In April of 1912, Indy visited England and was invited to high tea with the famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Soon after, Indy travelled on the ill-fated ocean liner, the Titanic. He and his tutor, Helen, narrowly escaped the fate that claimed more than 1,517 lives.



Later the same year, Indy's mother Anna died of scarlet fever, an event which created a rift in the family that survived her. To allow himself time to recover, Henry Sr. moved with his son to Moab, Utah. Later Indy travelled a bit with his former tutor Helen Seymour along the New England coast and engaged in a treasure hunt after hearing tales of Captain Kidd's exploits.

In Utah, Indy kept busy as a member of the Boy Scouts, having achieved the rank of "Life Scout." It was here, while attempting to secure the Cross of Coronado from thieves, that Indy learned to use a bullwhip—his first crack of the whip left the scar on his chin—and also where he received his trademark fedora. This adventure also led to his aversion to snakes.

Professor Jones' studies led to the pair travelling the world once more. As a consequence of his father's lectures and increasing searches into Grail lore, Indiana found himself on adventures with various people, including Marcus Brody, a friend of Henry, Sr., and one excursion led to his meeting Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir for the first time.

Jones and his father moved back to Princeton when Indy was fifteen. By February 1916, Jones was working as a soda jerk and going to the local high school. The prom was approaching, and he hoped to get a nice car to drive his prom date in. The engine was broke on the car he borrowed, so he took it to Thomas Edison, who offered to fix it for free. However, Indy soon uncovered a plot by the Germans to steal some secret plans Edison had been working on for a new motor. Indy and girlfriend Nancy Stratemeyer were eventually able to locate the plans and trace them to Edison's assistant, who was then taken to jail. In an expression of his gratitude, Edison loaned Indy a Bugati, which Indy then took Nancy to the prom in.

Soon after, school was let out for spring break, so Indy and his father took a train to New Mexico to visit family members. Once at their destination, Indy and his cousin Frank secretly hitched a ride south across the border to "see the senoritas". Caught in a border clash with Mexican revolutionaries, and impulsively trying to get back a screaming woman's stolen dresses, Indy took off on horse back after the receding marauders. Hopelessly outnumbered and outmatched, Indy was captured and almost shot; however, at the last moment he was released by Pancho Villa himself.

He joined this army of revolutionaries, playing a part in the Mexican Revolution of 1916. It is during this time that he met the Belgian Remy Baudouin, and the two quickly became friends. After learning the truths about revolution and warfare, and becoming disillusioned, Indy decided to join Remy in heading for the Great War in Europe, a war he felt had to be fought. After settling a score with an old enemy, Demetrios, and recovering an Egyptian artifact that had been lost to Howard Carter and Indy during his first archaeological adventure in 1908, Indy and Remy left Mexico, departing from Veracruz for Europe and war. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Jones prevented a German agent from inciting a war between the USA and Mexico.

World War I
"The truth is, when you're seventeen and ya' see a fight goin' on, ya' tend to think it'd be a good idea to join in."

- Indiana Jones speaking to Bob Traynor in 1993

After a brief stopover in Ireland in time to witness 1916's Easter Rising, and engage in fisticuffs with future prime minister Sean Lemass, Indy and Remy reached London and the recruiting office of the Belgian Army (as this was not only Remy's country of birth, but the only army that wouldn't ask awkward questions about age). Enlisting under the pseudonym Henri Defense, Indy, along with Remy, settled in to wait for their call-up papers. Indy spent this time falling in love with the young suffragette Vicky Prentiss, but his proposal was rebuffed and, heartbroken, Indy joined a newly-married Remy (to Suzette, a war widow with a number of kids) at the train station to head for Le Havre and basic training.

After seeing action first at Flanders, where all their superior officers were wiped out, Indy and Remy were sent to join with French troops at the Somme. Here, Indy and Remy were subjected fully to the horrors and pressures of trench warfare, and were engaged in several pushes, a gas attack and the terror of German flamethrowers. Mistrust was rife in Indy's unit, but after some initial difficulties the unit pulled together enough to take their target. Victory did not last long as German reinforcements were quick to swamp the combined French/Belgian defense and Indy was swiftly captured while most of his unit was killed. Remy vanished in the confusion, apparently hit.

Indy was sent to a prison camp, where he joined an escape attempt already in progress. However, he was quickly recaptured and moved to a maximum security prison at Dusterstadt. After many escape attempts Indy, with the help of Charles De Gaulle, broke free and, after a brief flirtation with the idea of heading home to America and continuing high school, rejoined what was left of his unit, including a recovering Remy, who Indy was happy to see still alive.

In an effort to get out of the trenches, Indy joined a courier unit attached to French High Command. But when forced to deliver orders that would result in the pointless death of thousands of his fellow soldiers at Verdun, Indy sabotaged his own bike, thereby postponing the massacre, at least for a week or so. This action got Indy fired from courier duty and thrown back to the trenches, rejoining Remy.

While on leave in Paris, Indy engaged in a tumultuous sexual affair with Mata Hari, a first for young Indy. While it ended badly, Mata advised Indy to request a transfer to the somewhat tamer fight in East Africa. Indy followed her advice and, with Remy in tow, arrived on the African continent in November 1916.

African revelations
Indy was promoted to Lieutenant, and assigned to a unit near Lake Victoria. Indy's ego and haste, however, led to the two getting lost in transit, and while trying to get back to their unit and avoiding a court martial, Indy managed to get caught up with a team of old men under British Command, the 25th Royal Fusiliers. Here Indy was tricked into helping destroy a giant cannon mounted on a train and also fooled into kidnapping the German military genius Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck (whom they were eventually compelled to release).

Jones and Remy finally managed to make it to Lake Victoria and join their new unit. During October, Indy and Remy join what Indy believed to be a fight for the indigenous population against the German aggressors. Indy quickly became a skilled, talented and rather vicious officer. During one charge, he disobeyed direct orders, continuing the charge despite an order to retreat. Because of Indy's quick thinking, however, the battle was won and he was subsequently promoted to Captain, much to the chagrin of Major Boucher, his direct superior. His unit's next mission was to march across the Congo to retrieve a weapons shipment that ran aground in West Africa. The unit set off, and traveled through Christmas 1916 and into the first weeks of 1917. Unfortunately, the entire unit became seriously ill, and only a fraction of the unit survived. With the death of Major Boucher, Indy assumed command. However Indy had come to realize that this fight in Africa was between White men, fighting for African land, and began to wonder what he was doing there. Devastatingly at the units destination they were denied extra troops for the journey back and, still feverish and exhausted, Indy and a dozen men headed back onto the river.

Indy and his men promptly fell to the fever, but luckily were rescued by the doctor and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, a German who ran a hospital in the jungle. Indy initially distrusted Schweitzer due to his nationality, but soon saw reason. From Schweitzer Indy learned lessons that would turn his life around: up until meeting Schweitzer, Indy thought he was becoming a man that would demand respect, a military man whose life revolved around orders and discipline. Schweitzer taught Indy a reverence for life and he and Remy pledged themselves to ending the war and the bloodshed.

The Secret Service
To that end Indy and Remy joined the Belgian secret service before forging their own transfer to the far more efficient French secret service. The two were split up, Remy being sent to Brussels to become the French contact with the Belgian resistance, known as the White Lady. Indy was shuffled around to various fronts and missions, as French intelligence initially knew not what to do with him. After a brief sojourn as a reconnaissance photographer with the American volunteers of the Lafayette Escadrille, Indy was assigned a series of courier missions, such as a defection plea letter for the aircraft designer Anthony Fokker, and a desperate attempt for a separate peace with Austria. Indy then spent a few months in St. Petersburg in the Analyst Department, and he and his friends there become caught up in the Bolshevik revolution.

A promotion to military intelligence saw Indy back in Western Europe, and then as the main French agent in Cairo, where his skills were brought to bear by his old friend T.E. 'Ned' Lawrence in the liberation of Beersheba in Palestine. Later, while in Italy, Indy struck up a rivalry with Ernest Hemingway for the affections of a beautiful Italian girl, who eventually married someone else, leaving Indy and Ernie with a lasting friendship.

War's end
"I'm goin' home."

- Indiana Jones, after discussing his future with Bronisław Malinowski

As the war drew to a close, Indy saw missions in Eastern Europe. At one point, he was engaged to Molly, an American school teacher in Istanbul. Tragically, however, she was killed by a bullet meant for Jones. Indy's depression was somewhat lifted by his reunion with Remy; and the war's end found the two on assignment in the trenches to arrest an Indian officer. This snowballed into a post-war quest for Alexander the Great's lost diamond, the "Treasure of the Peacock's Eye." The adventure took them from Alexandria to India and on to the South China Seas. However, after an illuminating run in with the Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, Indy realized that finding the diamond would have very little impact on his future plans, which was to finally start studying as an archaeologist. In fact, by continuing this wild search, he was only delaying what he had wanted since the age of nine. So he and Remy parted ways, with Remy's obsession with the Peacock's Eye leading him to unknown ends.

Indy headed home, but before he reached Le Havre for the homeward voyage he was brought on to work as a translator at the Paris Peace Conference, where his disillusionment with the war and politics became complete. He saw not only the seeds of a second world war, but also a war in Vietnam and every conflict in the Middle East for years to come. Indy was finally ready, after four years, to head home.

Indy's homecoming found his father emotionally unmoved. Henry Sr. acted as though nothing had transpired. This seeming lack of emotionality did not, however, outlast Indy's declaration that he would not be studying in Princeton, as his father had wished, but rather in Chicago. Indy left his father cold, and would not speak to him again for years.

College years
"You left just when you were becoming interesting."

- Henry Jones Sr.

At the University of Chicago and under the tutelage of Professor Abner Ravenwood, Jones studied archaeology alongside Harold Oxley and met Ravenwood's daughter Marion. During his off-campus hours, Indy waited tables at Colosimo's Restaurant, and frequented jazz bars with his reluctant roommate Eliot Ness and jazz clarinetist Sidney Bechet. With Ness and Ernest Hemingway, Indy investigated the murder of his boss, nearly ending up a victim of Chicago's nascent mob families. During the summer of 1920, Indy earned money for his tuition in New York theaters and back west in Hollywood where Indy took a job working for Carl Lemle head of Universal pictures. There while trying to get Erich Von Stronhiem to finish his film he encountered Irving Thalberg, Jack Warner and John Ford. Indy eventually graduated from Chicago in 1922 and moved onto a graduate program in linguistics at the Sorbonne in Paris during which time he would meet fellow student, René Belloq.

In Greece, on his first properly qualified archaeological dig with his professor Dorian Belecamus, Indy became embroiled in a plot to kill King Constantine and the Oracle at Delphi. This experience refocused Indy's archaeological aims, which had been flagging somewhat after the routines of college, where only the lecturer Abner Ravenwood managed to make the subject exciting.

In 1925, Indy was sent Ravenwood's journal along with a request from the professor for Jones to help him with his research when Jones romanced Abner's daughter Marion. This led to a falling out with Dr. Ravenwood. The intense courtship was cut short as Jones abruptly left the Ravenwoods; he would not see Marion again for ten years

That same year, Jones took his first teaching job as a doctor of archaeology at London University for the summer program. There he romanced one of his students, Deirdre Campbell as, over the following two years, they were swept up in various mysteries involving Stonehenge and the Mask of Comototz in Guatemala. Their turbulent relationship culminated in marriage aboard a boat off New Orleans. Sadly, during a search for the hidden city of the Ceiba, and the long lost explorer Percy Walcott, Deirdre Jones was killed in a plane crash that Indy only survived due to the grace of forces unknown.

High adventure


The next ten years in Indiana Jones' life were spent scouring the globe, getting involved in many different adventures: the quest for Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat; cavorting with the likes of the giants, dinosaurs, and vampires. All the while, Indy worked as a lecturer in various colleges around America and Europe, eventually settling in Marshall College in order to fund his expeditions into the world of archaeology.

Through 1928 to the beginning of 1929, Jones discovered the alicorn, a powerful artifact that had belonged to the last surviving unicorn. He eventually disposed of the relic within a vortex but unwittingly transported the alicorn to the interior world, an underground land within the earth's crust, where it was found by a Wayua named Maleiwa. Maleiwa sought to use the artifact as a means to ally himself with Adolf Hitler but was prevented by Jones after the two battled atop the Statue of Liberty in New York. However, Jones came away from the experience unsure whether the events surrounding the interior world had all been one long dream.

He was then involved with the Jastro Expedition where he would first meet Sophia Hapgood who would become a recurring love interest to him throughout the decades.

The year of 1930 saw Jones being asked to investigate a series of attacks by disc-shaped "Sky Pirates" that had been assaulting various shipping lanes. He followed up the events by chasing ancient coins said to have connections leading back to the time of Jesus Christ. Jones then ended the year by taking on the growing Nazi movement when he prevented René Belloq from supplying the extremists with an old scroll which contained many secrets, including instructions on how to produce a drug that created "Men of Odin" — beserkers who could only be stopped when dead — from those that tasted it.

In 1933, Jones was facing Italy's Fascists in dispute over the Philosopher's Stone. The year also began a two year chase as Jones' discovery of a cursed crystal skull in Cozan found the relic switching hands numerous times, and Jones being branded by the Honduran government as a grave robber, while trying to return it.

Jones joined Joan Starbuck in late 1933 to help the woman find her father, Angus, who had gone missing soon after his discovery of a dinosaur bone in Mongolia that came from an animal that had only recently died. On the journey there, Jones had his first encounter with Chinese gangster Lao Che where he met and freed Wu Han from Lao's servitude.

The archaeologist then went on to prevent the Nazis from gaining access to the legendary Ultima Thule in the Artic in 1934.

Also that year, he was captured in China by members of the Japanese Imperial Army atop a mountain while looking for the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Escaping from prison, Jones found himself teaming with two female magicians on a search for the Staff of Aaron, and the prognosticating Omega Book which only the rod could locate.



Jones began 1935 in the South Pacific Ocean assisting the crew of the Julie Anne in helping find the Shrine of the Sea Devil, an underwater cavern holding large statues inlaid with pearl. When the ship was attacked by the shrine's guardian, Jones managed to survive, stranded alone on the sinking wreckage. A chance encounter with a low flying airplane allowed Jones to snag one of the plane's struts with some rope and he realised his rescuer was aviator Amelia Earhart. The pilot agreed to ferry Jones to the nearest ship before continuing her solo flight.

After discovering the Heart of Kouru Watu on a lone archaeological expedition in Ceylon, Jones was attacked by the cohorts of Albrecht Von Beck, a mysterious Nazi official who had been searching for three coveted Chinese artifacts. Unbeknownst to Jones, the Heart of Koru Watu was the first of the three pieces of what was called the Mirror of Dreams, a mystical device believed to allow its owner access into the forbidden tomb of the First Emperor of China. Von Beck wished to attain yet another object within the tomb called the Heart of the Dragon which he believed the Nazis could use to control the mind of man.

After escaping Ceylon, Jones was approached by Marshall Kai Ti Chan, leader of the Black Dragon Triad posing as a member of the Chinese government. Although Jones agreed to collect the remaining two pieces of the Mirror of Dreams (in Prague and Istanbul, respectively), Marshall Kai's intentions became evident when Jones discovered that Kai and Von Beck were working together to obtain the Heart of the Dragon for sinister objectives (each planning to betray the other). With the Mirror of Dreams complete, Jones entered the tomb himself with the help of Chinese secret agent Mei-Ying. Together, they unwittingly blazed a trail for Kai and Von Beck to follow into the tomb. Von Beck was killed in his pursuit of Jones, but Kai, using black magic, was able to steal the Heart of the Dragon from Jones and capture Mei-Ying, fleeing to the Netherworld. Here, Jones rescued Mei-Ying and defeated Kai, while the Heart of the Dragon disappeared.

The Temple of Doom
In the aftermath, Jones had a brief relationship with Mei-Ying and reunited with Wu Han. He also found, attempting to pick his pocket, a homeless orphan and his young future companion, Short Round. After Indy received a call from an anonymous collector in possession of the Peacock's Eye, Wu Han would be killed later that year when Dr. Jones faced the gangster Lao Che in Shanghai after Lao demanded the remains of Nurhachi. Dr. Jones, along with nightclub dancer Willie Scott and Short Round, escaped in a plane, named Lao Che Air Freight and crash-landed in India, where they ran into a plot by the Thuggee cult to steal the Sankara Stones from a village. Willie, Round and Jones embarked on a mission, meeting the Maharajah and Prime Minister Chattar Lal, and the Thuggee leader Mola Ram. Eventually trapped with his group on a rope bridge, Indy cut the ropes, sending the bridge's halves plummeting. He killed Mola Ram with the power of the stones and Captain Blumburtt and his British troops sent the Thuggee packing. They returned to the village immediately. After placing Short Round in a boarding school, Indy departed again, unable to keep still. He had a new goal in mind...

The Ark of the Covenant
In 1936, Jones narrowly escaped with his life while retrieving the Golden Idol of Fertility in Peru. That same year, Jones was contacted by the United States government to recover the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis when a German communiqué containing the name of Jones' mentor, Abner Ravenwood, and an artifact Ravenwood discovered was intercepted. During this adventure, he encountered Ravenwood's daughter, Marion, for the first time in ten years at a Nepalese cantina to purchase the headpiece to the Staff of Ra. There, he learned that Abner had apparently been killed in a landslide some years before. Ravenwood had dragged his daughter half way around the globe and had died, leaving her the bar, The Raven, on the side of a mountain in Patan, all due to his obsessive search for the lost Ark.

Unaware that the jaded Marion was wearing the headpiece as a medallion around her neck, Jones was chased from the bar and ordered to return the next day. However, Jones rushed back a short time later to stop Nazi agents trying to acquire the headpiece by force. During the fight, the bar caught fire and was burned down. As a result, Marion partnered with Jones till the archaeologist could compensate for the loss of The Raven.



After chasing René Belloq through Egypt, Jones attempted to leave on a ship that was intercepted by Nazis. He managed to escape and stow aboard a submarine that they had used to chase the ship before being discovered. Jones ended up captured on an unnamed island in control of the Nazis. German soldiers, a man called Toht and many others died while the Ark was opened. Indy and Marion briefly rekindled their relationship, and though Indy helped Marion set up a new, jazzier version of the Raven in Manhattan, the relationship did not last. After Jones changed his mind about marrying her, they parted ways sometime after the fall of 1937. Unknown to Indy, Marion had became pregnant with his son during their rekindled relationship.

Reunited with Henry Jones Sr.
The adventures continued, as Indy became as accustomed to danger as he was to breathing. He moved to Barnett College and continued his adventures with academic help from his close friend and colleague Marcus Brody, who followed Indy from Marshall to Barnett.

In 1938, Jones retrieved the Cross of Coronado on a freighter during a hurricane; a quest, for Indy, as old as his hat. Soon after, he was hired by Walter Donovan to help search for the Holy Grail. Upon receiving his father's Grail Diary in the mail, Jones followed its clues to Venice where he teamed with Dr. Elsa Schneider when they were attacked by Kazim and the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword, protectors of the Grail. After a long, dangerous boat chase, it was revealed his father, Henry Walton Jones, Sr., was being held captive by Nazis also seeking the relic. During a successful rescue attempt, the Germans got hold of the Grail Diary from the Joneses when Elsa revealed herself to be a Nazi. Father and son travelled to Berlin to retrieve the book and, disguised as a Nazi, Indy reclaimed the diary from Elsa who had grown unsure of her true loyalties. During the adventure, Indy finally healed the rift between him and his father, that had been created with the death of his mother. They then ventured into the desert with Sallah, Brody and Elsa Schneider, searching for what Donovan described as the greatest historical artifact of all time, only to discover Donovan had betrayed them, and hired Nazi Colonel Vogel to help search for it. The search brought them to Hatay, where Vogel was killed in his own tank as it rolled over a cliff into a deep gorge after a drawn out fight with Indy and his companions. Indy was also thought dead in the tank, but he successfully hung from the side of the cliff and climbed back. Upon finding and entering the Temple of the Sun, Indy was threatened by Donovan; when that failed to elicit action, Donovan shot his father, forcing him to avoid the traps and find the Holy Grail to save him. After successfully navigating through the temple, Jones reached a cup filled room where an aged Grail Knight warned he must pick the right grail to save his father.

After choosing the true Grail, Jones saved his father, but in the aftermath, the temple collapsed when Elsa tried to carry the cup from beyond the Great Seal barrier. Both cup and Schneider were lost to the earthquake that followed.

Also in 1938, Jones reunited with Sophia Hapgood, an Atlantis buff who believed she had psychic premonitions, and sought the Covenant of Buddha across Asia. However, like the Grail, the Covenant succumbed to an earthquake and the archaeologists went their seperate ways before Jones was forced to find her again the following year when he found that a Nazi SS Colonel was interested in recovering artifacts from the Jastro expedition.

In the North Atlantic, Jones hired the crew of the Black Pete — a ship captained by Bill Lawton, a survivor of the very vessel that Jones had recovered the Cross of Coronado from — where they came across a Viking knarr embedded in an iceberg with the frozen remains of the people aboard and Leif Ericcson's battle-ax. Betraying Jones for claim to the treasure, Lawton was blindsided by a polar bear and, thought by his crew to be dead, the pair were abandonned. Jones and Lawton made a temporary truce and spent weeks alone on the iceberg. When a rescue ship arrived, Jones recovered on board to find himself face to face with "New Jersey Jones", a conman capitalizing on the archaeologist's fame by pretending to be his older brother to unload fake artifacts onto unsuspecting buyers.

World War II and the Cold War
During World War II, Jones returned to espionage work, this time for the Office of Strategic Services. During this period he met and became friends with MI6 agent George "Mac" McHale, with whom he shared several adventures.

In 1941, Jones discovered the Golden Fleece. The year after, Jones and McHale were working in Flensburg. Jones joined his father in 1945 to recover the Spear of Longinus before the Nazis could use it to tip the scale of the war in their favor and he came out of World War II holding the rank of Colonel.



Jones' adventures continued even in the post-war era, as did his teachings. After the war, in 1947, former lover Sophia Hapgood returned into Jones' life once more as an agent of the nascent Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA offered Jones a chance to find the missing parts of the Disciples of Marduk, an ancient quartet of Babylonians who had each been entrusted with one piece of the "Infernal Machine." The CIA's objective was to obtain the Machine parts before the Soviet Union, who were seeking the pieces in order to reactivate the Infernal Machine, a supposed, legendary portal into an alternate realm called the Aetherium. The Soviets' objectives remain ambiguous, however, it is believed that they thought they could somehow harness the power of the Machine in order to gain an upper hand in the Cold War.

Jones and the Russians, led by mystic physicist Dr. Gennadi Volodnikov raced from Soviet Kazakhstan to the Philippines to Mexico to Sudan, the respective locations of the four lost Machine parts. Jones successfully collected the four parts and reunited them with the Machine in Babylon, however, his efforts almost had adverse consequences when he nearly unleashed the monsterous aethereal spirit Marduk into the world. Fortunately, the Machine was buried when the excavated city of Babylon re-collapsed and Jones narrowly escaped with his life once again, he and Agent Hapgood surprisingly being rescued by their former enemy, the Soviet Dr. Volodnikov. At the end of this adventure, it is believed that Jones and Hapgood parted ways for good.

Also in 1947, the US government sought his opinion and invited Jones to Roswell, New Mexico to inspect the crash site of an unidentified object. The winter of 1950 saw him in Wyoming, fleeing armed goons with his close friend, an old American Indian named Grey Cloud&mdash;to whom Indy told tales of his experiences as a waiter in 1920s Chicago.

Later years
"We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away."

- Charles Stanforth

The year 1951 marked the death of Henry Jones, Sr., Indiana Jones' father, an event that caused grief to Indy that would span the remainder of the decade. Sadly, the following year, Marcus Brody also died.

In the '50s, Jones was teaching at Marshall College once more though he would be temporarily fired, following a Soviet scandal in 1957.That year &mdash; the height of the Cold War &mdash; found the Soviets coercing Jones into finding an artifact at a US Government warehouse in Nevada by threatening the life of "Mac" McHale, the British friend of Jones from the Second World War. However, Mac turned out to be working for the Soviets. Escaping, Jones returned to discover that his encounter in Nevada had gained him the wrong kind of attention: the Red Scare was on, the government was relentlessly searching for Communist infiltrators, and Jones' presence at a top-secret military installation in the company of a Russian special forces unit made certain people wonder if he did not share their sensibilities. The FBI ransacked his offices, and this scared the administration at Marshall College into pushing for him to be fired. The dean of students, Charles Stanforth, succeeded in getting the concession that he be placed on indefinite leave with pay, but to do this, Stanforth had to tender his own resignation.

On leaving Bedford he was approached by a young man calling himself "Mutt" Williams, who needed Jones to help him search for his mother&mdash;whom Jones would later learn was Marion Ravenwood&mdash;as well as Williams's surrogate father and Jones's old schoolmate Harold Oxley, who had went missing in Peru. Jones agreed and as a result, found himself again in conflict with the Soviets&mdash;led by Agent Irina Spalko&mdash;in a search for the Crystal skull of Akator. Jones and Williams were reunited with Ravenwood, who now accompanied Jones on a mission that had become one to prevent Spalko and her men from achieving the means for world domination. Jones and Ravenwood ended up in dry quicksand. With the threat of death looming, Marion confessed that Mutt, whose real name was Henry Jones III, was her and Indiana's son.

Jones, Ravenwood, Mutt, Oxley, and Mac, managed an escape through the Peruvian jungle, evading voracious hordes of siafu and tribal warriors. Pursued by Spalko and her soldiers, they arrived at the Temple of Akator where they found thirteen crystal skeletons. Spalko, returning the Crystal Skull to the body of one headless skeleton, activated a force in the room that combined the thirteen bodies into a single living alien. While the alien endowed Spalko with the "great gift" of knowledge, Jones and the others escaped the crumbliung Temple. Unfortunately for Spalko, the alien knew of her evil intentions and used its transfer of knowledge to overwhelm her human brain, causing her body to spontaneously combust. A portal opened in the ceiling of the Temple which the Russian soldiers were sucked into, as well as Spalko's remains and the remaining Russians. Mac's true loyalties remain ambigous, since, though he appeared to be a Soviet double agent, Jones still tried to save him, trusting that that was the right thing to do. Mac, however, was humbled by his old friend, and went peacefully to prevent himself from delaying Indy's escape. It is unknown if he died or simply was "abducted" since the portal through which he disappeared was later actually revealed to be the bottom of a huge flying saucer.

Following the Peru adventure, Jones was allowed to resume his teaching position at Marshall College, and was promoted to associate dean under Charles Stanforth, who also got his job back. With their relationship rekindled, Indiana and Marion wed soon after. Jones went on to write several books on Archaeology. At some point between 1957 and 1992, he suffered a wound to his right eye, which required him to wear an eyepatch. In addition to Mutt, he eventually had a daughter, three grandchildren (Caroline, Spike, and Lucy) and two great-grandchildren (Annie and Harry). By 1992, Jones was living in upstate New York with his daughter and grandchildren. The rest of the family would visit on Thanksgiving. Although his family questioned his fitness to live independently, Jones continued to drive, travel   and give college lectures. After nearly a century's worth of life experiences, he enjoyed relating stories of his youth to anyone he could get to listen.

Personality and traits
"The minute I saw you, I knew you were a lucky kid."

- Remy Baudouin

From a young age, Indy liked to play baseball. He traded some baseball cards to Leo Tolstoy in 1909, taught the sport to Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1910, played on his high school's baseball team in 1916, and introduced the game to Short Round in the 1930s. Jones was also an aficionado of the soprano saxophone, which he was introduced to while in basic training in La Havre. He later utilized his saxophone skills in 1918 Italy in an effort to impress a girl he liked. In 1920 Chicago, Jones played the soprano sax with Sidney Bechet&mdash;an event he looked back on fondly in 1950 while hiding from a group of thugs who were trying to steal his friend Grey Cloud's peace pipe.

Though a man seemingly made hard-heartedly cynical by his traumatic experiences in World War I and his estrangement from his father, Indy consistently maintianed a steadfast sense of honor and compassion learnt through his meeting of Doctor Albert Schweitzer. This was demonstrated by his willingness to be captured by the Thuggee to stop a helpless little boy from being whipped to death, and he later attempted to (unsucessfully) save the same man who tortured the little boy from being crushed by a rock grinder. Complementing his compassionate character was an unshaking sense of integrity and respect for knowledge, believing that culture was something to be shared and preserved for future generations. However, Indy's belief that artifacts belonged in a museum earned him a fair share of enemies, along with a reputation as a graverobber in some countries.

Jones' childhood hatred of snakes was taken to a new level in 1912, when he fell into a train car full of snakes. This resulted in Jones developing ophidiophobia. On his early journeys around Europe, Africa and Asia, he learned to speak, read, and write 27 languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Vietnamese, Swahili, Latin and Chinese, some Hindi, and a bit of Mayan and Quechua. Learning the language of the country was a lesson imparted to him on his first adventure in Egypt, by a young T.E. Lawrence&mdash;a life long friend Indy would call Ned, though the world would eventually call him "Lawrence of Arabia".

Jones had type O blood. As an adult, Jones' outdoor equipment typically consisted of: a fedora, travel bag, bullwhip, and revolver.

Discoveries
Jones is credited with uncovering all of the following legendary artifacts:
 * The Knife of Cain (found in 1914)
 * Noah's Ark (found in 1927)
 * The Heart of the Dragon (found in 1935)
 * The Sankara Stones (found in 1935)
 * The Ark of the Covenant (found and opened in 1936)
 * The Holy Grail (found in 1938)
 * Atlantis (found in 1940)
 * The Spear of Destiny (found in 1945)
 * The Philosopher's Stone (reassembled in 1947)
 * The Babylonian Machine (found and activated in 1947)
 * The Crystal Skull of Akator (found in 1957)

Behind the scenes
"You know, he's a man's man and a lady's man&mdash;together."

- Sean Patrick Flanery

Since his introduction in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, the character of Indiana Jones has become a cultural icon for adventure. His popularity has allowed him to make appearances in three more feature films, a three-season TV series, dozens of novels, comic books, and video games, and theme park attractions. Raiders was followed by a prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and a sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, the series starred Harrison Ford as Jones. The television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, aired from 1992 to 1996, and starred Corey Carrier, Sean Patrick Flanery, and George Hall as the character. Ford reprised his role for the second season episode Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues and the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The character has been officially portrayed by nine people:

Aside from his proficiency in his trademark whip, Indy is shown to be a competent unarmed combatant, even briefly demonstrating ability in Northern-style Kung Fu in the South China Seas when attacked by pirates in his quest for the Eye Of the Peacock. Although his proficiency in Eastern Martial Arts was never explicitly retconned into the film series proper, Indy is nevertheless shown to be at least skilled in US Marines Close Quarter Combat (CQC) techniques from The Temple Of Doom onwards.

Appearances

 * The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
 * Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull