Golden Rod of Sherdil

"A tiger's idol affixed to a warrior's staff."

- Rachel Flannery

The Golden Rod of Sherdil was a staff sought by archaeologists Indiana Jones and Rachel Flannery.

History
According to legend, a brave warrior engaged in a days-long hand-to-hand battle with a tiger who was actually the god of war Kartikeya in animal form. The warrior was eventually triumphant upon which both man and beast fused as one, taking the name Sherdil. Symbolizing this new relationship, Sherdil crafted a powerful rod that combined a warrior's staff with a tiger's idol which he wielded in battle, sending his enemies fleeing in fear without so much as a fight. The warrior amassed an empire of riches and was a fierce ruler. When Sherdil died, the tiger spirit transfered to the staff to guard Serdil's tomb, a temple which housed the warrior's great wealth.

Centuries later, Indiana Jones, assisted by fellow archaeologist Rachel Flannery, traveled to the temple site in search of the Golden Rod of Sherdil where a Secrets of the Stone Tiger Revealed! lecture was scheduled to take place with Jones as guest speaker. Though he found the wooden staff portion of the rod, Jones went missing while looking for the golden icon. Thought dead by Doctor Flannery, Jones had actually gotten trapped while exploring the temple interior.

Flannery took Jones's place on the lecture and using his journal as research, she and her peers decyphered the hieroglyphics around the temple, eventually finding the combination that provided access to the inside and, to Flannery's surprise, a means for Indiana Jones's escape with the missing tiger icon in hand. Jones entrusted Flannery with the icon while he addressed the spectators but that was when Flannery revealed her duplicity: she was using Jones to gain control of the staff.

Flannery brought the two parts of Sherdil's rod back together and wielded its power to paralyze Jones in place. However, Jones warned that fear was a two-way street and Flannery's own ophidiophobia worked against her when a snake distracted her long enough to break the staff's spell over Jones. The two archaeologists then wrestled for control of the artifact but the fight was brought to an end when Flannery stumbled backwards into the gaping maw of the stone tiger that marked the entrance to the temple taking the Golden Rod of Sherdil with her. Jones then took a piece of the mechanism which unlocked the temple to ensure that the staff, and Rachel Flannery, posed no further threat.

Behind the scenes
With no official written version of the character's name, this article assumes the spelling of Sherdil.

Appearances

 * Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Stone Tiger