Arnold Ernst Toht

"Now...what shall we talk about?"

- Arnold Ernst Toht

Arnold Ernst Toht was a Nazi Gestapo agent and frequently René Belloq's bane during the Nazi effort to locate the Ark of the Covenant.

Biography
In 1936, Major Arnold Ernst Toht was sent to Nepal by the Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection to acquire the headpiece to the Staff of Ra from Marion Ravenwood. Toht and his surbordinate Otto hired three henchmen off the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal known as Ratty Nepalese, Mean Mongolian, and Giant Sherpa and followed Indiana Jones to The Raven bar in Patan where they tried to take the piece.

All the henchmen who went into the bar with Toht died during the ensuing fight with Jones and Ravenwood, during which Marion's bar was set ablaze. Toht noticed the headpiece lying on the ground during the skirmish but when he tried to pick it up, he burned his hand as the headpiece had been lying close to the fire. Howling in pain, he fled from The Raven, jumping through the tavern's window to plunge his hand into the snow outside.



When Toht met up with Colonel Dietrich, Gobler, and René Belloq in Cairo, his "Heil Hitler" salute revealed his headpiece-scarred hand. From this scar the Nazis were able to create a crude, one-sided reproduction of the headpiece; but the missing information from the other side would prove critical to finding the Ark's resting place, the Well of the Souls.

Frustrated with Belloq's inability to extract useful information from the (now captive) Marion Ravenwood, Dietrich had Toht intercede. His own interrogation proved equally fruitless however. When the Nazis finally caught up with Jones at the Well of the Souls, Toht threw Ravenwood into the Well, for they had no further use for her. Belloq's protest against the action caused Toht to giggle with glee.

He later accompanied Belloq and his fellow Nazis in the effort to deliver the ark to a safer location, since his duty was to oversee the delivery of the artifact Hitler desired. However, Jones succeeded in stealing the ark back from them. Toht and the others located his whereabouts later on and took the ark again along with Marion.

Shortly thereafter, on a small island north of Crete, Toht stood with Belloq and Dietrich in the Tabernacle for the ceremonial opening of the Ark. Initially, the Ark seemed to bear only dust and sand; this amused Toht, who never quite believed in the supernatural imperative of his assignment. His laughter was replaced by astonishment, and then screams of terror, as the Ark unleashed its true power. The Gestapo agent's face was melted off of his skull by the intense fire and his remains were taken away by the following whirlwind.

Behind the scenes
Ronald Lacey portrayed Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark who is never referred to by name beyond the credits and only has a total of sixteen lines in the film. Although Dennis Muren plays a similarly bespectacled, nameless Trenchcoated European Spy who boards the plane in San Francisco with Indy, this is not Toht. Author Campbell Black in his Raiders novelization has Toht boarding with Indy in Shanghai and not San Francisco). The Raiders novelization establishes Toht's first name as "Arnold," but in Marvel's Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, the character's sister Ilsa refers to him as "Ernst Toht." The third issue of the UK Indiana Jones Comic reconciles both names, establishing Ernst as Toht's middle name.

The character originally identified as "Belzig" in Lawrence Kasdan's Raiders of the Lost Ark screenplay, remains unnamed in the film dialogue and was renamed "Toht" in the closing credits of the film. Although he has this name in Campbell Black's novelization, Toht does not die as he does in the film, but is killed flying off a cliff in The Truck Chase (being aboard the jeep driven by Gobler). The original script for Raiders of the Lost Ark portrayed Toht as a cyborg with a metal arm that could change into a machine gun and a flamethrower. The next script gave him a light in his right eye,eventually this was decided as too far-fetched by the directors.



He is referenced as "Major Arnold Toht" on the website of the "LEGO Indiana Jones" video game.

Ronald Lacey shaved the top of his head to play Toht in Raiders; when he removes his hat to wipe the sweat off his head, stubble showing his hairline can be seen.

The character was the basis for the character Herr Otto Flick in the British comedy 'Allo 'Allo!.

Appearances

 * Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark comic
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark storybook
 * Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
 * The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones
 * Issue 9: "The Gold Goddess: Amazon Death Ride!"
 * LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
 * LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues

Notes and references
アーノルド・エルンスト・トート