Arnold Ernst Toht

Arnold Toht is a fictional Nazi character in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the film, Toht is a Nazi Gestapo agent and Rene Belloq's right hand man.

Toht was sent to acquire the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, which Marion Ravenwood possessed. In this he was helped by three henchmen: Ratty Nepalese, Mean Mongolian, and Giant Sherpha. (Note: The Second German was just Toht’s personal bodyguard.) All his henchmen, including his bodyguard, died during the fight with Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, during which Marion’s bar had been set ablaze. Toht then noticed the headpiece lying on the ground during the skirmish. When he tried to pick it up, he burned his hand as the headpiece had been lying close to the fire.

When Toht met up with Colonel Dietrich, Gobler, and Rene Belloq in Cairo, his "Heil Hitler" salute revealed his headpiece-scarred hand. The Nazi digging party then realized they had been mislead in the actual location of the Well of the Souls. Toht then rudely interruped Belloq in his tent, where he was attempting to woo Marion – thought to be dead in a car explosion - for any useful information about the true location of the Ark’s resting place.

Sometime after this, when Belloq noticed diggers at a distance from their assigned digging site, Toht and the other Nazis descended upon the true site and confiscated the Ark. Indiana and Marion were sealed in the Ark’s resting place, despite Belloq’s protests that Marion was supposed to be "his". The spectacle caused Toht to giggle with glee.

During the rest of the adventure, the happy henchman maintained his presence in such scenes as the Desert Chase (sitting in the car accompanying the truck bearing the Ark), at sea (on the U-Boat which forced Indiana’s ship to surrender the Ark – AND Marion – again), and the final Ark Trek (where Indy chose to surrender rather than destroy the Ark).

This finally brings us to the climactic scene when the Ark was opened. When it seemed it bore only dust and sand, Toht initially laughed mockingly. However, the Ark began to glow and spirits emerged, astonishing the Gestapo agent. When one of the spirits transformed from a friendly woman's face to a skull with fangs - the Angel of Death - he began to scream in terror as the Ark unleashed its power. Paralyzed with fear, Toht was finally put out of his misery when the intense heat from the Ark literally melted his face to the bone.