Marion Ravenwood

"Indiana Jones. I always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable."

- Marion Ravenwood

Marion Ravenwood was the daughter of archaeologist Abner Ravenwood and the wife of Indiana Jones with whom she had a son, "Mutt".

Early life
"I was a child. I was in love. It was wrong, and you knew it!"

- Marion Ravenwood

Marion was born in 1909, the daughter of the famous archaelogist and treasure-hunter Abner Ravenwood. As a girl, Marion was never particularly interested in her father's work&mdash;until 1925, when a dashing Indiana Jones offered to help his former mentor track down the Ark of the Covenant. Indy, who was still coping with his wife's death, romanced Marion. The ensuing romance destroyed Indy's relationship with Abner, and the fallout may have contributed to the latter's dismissal from the University of Chicago.

Afterward, Abner kept Marion close. She traveled with him on his quest for the Ark, which led to Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Europe, and finally Nepal. There, outside the village of Patan, Abner purchased a small tavern, which he christened The Raven. For several years, Marion managed the bar while the proceeds benefited her father's expeditions in the surrounding mountains. It was a difficult life, but the constant flow of alcohol provided Marion with some amount of solace.

Return of Indy
When Abner disappeared in early 1936, Marion assumed the worst. She was contemplating a return to the States, when suddenly, after ten years, Indiana Jones reappeared on her doorstep. She did not extend a warm welcome, but reluctantly agreed to part with one of her father's artifacts&mdash;a medallion referred to as the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra&mdash;for the sum of five thousand dollars. Unfortunately, Indy was not the only one with designs on the medallion. A Nazi officer named Arnold Toht confronted Marion and Indy at The Raven, and in the ensuing struggle, the tavern burned down. As Indy's ambitions had effectively robbed Marion of her livelihood, she felt justified declaring herself Indy's partner.

Together, the pair traveled to Tanis, Egypt. There, Marion was captured by their Nazi adversaries, led by the French mercenary, René Belloq. Indy believed she was dead until, by a fortunate accident, he stumbled upon her bound and gagged in one of the Nazi tents. To her chagrin, he decided to leave her, reasoning that an escape would draw too much unwanted attention. The perceived betrayal did not affect Marion's refusal to cooperate with her captors, however. Belloq's advances resulted only in an aborted escape attempt, and Toht's interrogation was likewise met with uncommon resistance. After recovering the Ark, the Nazis threw Marion into the Well of Souls to die with Indy. The intrepid pair managed to escape and Indy intercepted the Ark en route to Cairo. Indy and Marion then fled aboard a merchant steamer, the Bantu Wind, but the Nazis persevered. After threatening the ship's captain, Katanga, the Nazis took Marion and the Ark aboard their U-boat. Indy secretly gave chase, clinging to the submarine's periscope for the duration of the voyage.

The Nazis took the Ark to a small island north of Crete, and there Indy made a desperate attempt to free Marion before being captured himself. Fortunately for the both of them, the opening of the Ark unleashed the Wrath of God upon their Nazi captors, leaving Marion and Indy as the sole survivors of the ordeal.

Back in the states
Afterward, she accompanied Indy back to the U.S., and comforted him when the government cut short his research into the Ark's powers. While struggling to define her often complicated relationship with Jones, Marion tried her hand at various professions. She opened a nightclub, The Raven's Nest, in Manhattan's fashionable east side; but within days of opening, it was burned down by the club's conniving decorator, Jamal. After taking a stab at journalism, Ravenwood accepted a job working public relations at the National Museum. The position led to a number of further adventures with Jones, including a search for her presumed dead father in Nepal. Not long after, Marion Ravenwood disappeared, leaving only a note in her absence: "Mr. Jones, I've got to get away. Don't you dare come looking for me. Marion."

It seems that eventually they were reunited and even planning to marry. One week before the wedding though, Indy reconsidered and thought it would not work. It was his turn to disappear and the two did not meet again for nearly twenty years.

Unbeknownst to Jones she had also taken away his son. Marion had become pregnant in the fall of 1937. In July 1938, Marion gave birth to Henry "Mutt" Williams. Growing up, she told Henry he was the son of an a RAF pilot named Colin who died during World War II. Marion raised him with her close friend Harold Oxley, who, like Indiana, was a former student of Abner.

Reunited again
When Oxley went missing in Peru, Marion went looking for him and was also captured by the Russians, led by Irina Spalko. She was able to get a letter to Mutt, telling him to find Indiana Jones.

Marion again encountered Jones when he and Mutt were also captured by the Russians. She accompanied Indy, his partner/rival in archeology Mac, and Mutt into a South American rainforest and Inca temple in a search for the crystal skull. They became close once more and when a life threatening sitution arose stranding in quicksand, she revealed that Indiana was a father. On managing to escape the pit, they were once again captured. Her hands and feet were tied up. During this time, Marion revealed to Mutt that Indiana was his real father. After a hectic adventure through the rainforest and Akator, Marion and Indiana finally became husband and wife.

Behind the scenes
Introduced in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Marion Ravenwood is a tough, self-reliant woman, who is unintimidated by men, and able to take care of herself when the situation demands it.

The script states that Marion's age in Raiders is 25 years old, making her around 15 at the time of the affair with a 27-year-old Indy. With the release of Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide in 2008, this was changed when Marion's birthyear was revealed to be 1909, making her age about 27 at the time of Raiders instead.

Concept and creation
Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan named the character after his wife's grandmother, and took the character's surname from Ravenwood Lane in California. Spielberg originally intended the role for his girlfriend Amy Irving, but they split during production. Sean Young auditioned for the role, Barbara Hershey was considered, while Debra Winger turned it down. Steven Spielberg cast Karen Allen, on the strength of her performance in National Lampoon's Animal House. Allen screen tested opposite Tim Matheson and John Shea, before Harrison Ford was cast as Indiana.

Kasdan's depiction of Marion was more complex, and she was genuinely interested in Belloq in earlier script drafts. She and Paul Freeman added more comedy in the tent seduction scene. Allen came up with her own backstory for the character, such as what happened to her mother, her romance with Indiana at age 15, and her time in Nepal; Spielberg described it as "an entirely different movie". This even included Marion prostituting herself following her father's death.

After Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, Spielberg wanted Allen to return for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but George Lucas decided that Indy would have a different love interest in each film. During the 1990s, author Rob MacGregor was forbidden by George Lucas to include Marion in his novels for Bantam Books' Indiana Jones series. "How did Indy meet Marion? What happened in their earlier encounters? George apparently wanted to keep that for the future. Maybe we’ll find out in Indy 4," MacGregor speculated. Frank Darabont claimed it was his idea to bring back Marion for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, during his tenure as writer from 2002 to 2004.

Karen Allen revealed in an October 2006 interview with Empire magazine that for the character of Marion, she had written her own backstory, including details on Marion's mother. The character in the National Treasure series Abigal Chase and the character in The Mummy series Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell are said to be based in part on Marion.

Karen Allen reprised her role of Marion in the fourth installment.

Appearances

 * Raiders of the Lost Ark novel
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
 * Indiana Jones in Revenge of the Ancients
 * The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones
 * Issue 6: "Club Nightmare!"
 * Issue 7: "Africa Screams!"
 * Issue 8: "Africa Screams!: Crystal Death"
 * Issue 11: "The Fourth Nail: Blood and Sand!"
 * Issue 12: "The Fourth Nail: Swords and Spikes!"
 * Issue 17: "The Search for Abner: The Grecian Earn"
 * Issue 18: "The Search for Abner: The City of Yesterday's Forever!"
 * Issue 20: "The Cuban Connection!"
 * Issue 21: "Beyond the Lucifer Chamber!"
 * Issue 22: "End Run"
 * Issue 23: "The Secret of the Deep"
 * Issue 25: "Good as Gold"
 * Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull