Stone of Fal

The Stone of Fal was a large stone with a spiral carving cut into it. It formed part of the floor in a underground chamber in a mound near New Grange, Ireland. According to Irish mythology, it was one of the four legendary treasures of Ireland, along with the Spear of Lugh. It was supposed to shriek when the true king of Ireland stood upon it.

In 1945, Indiana Jones was on a dig at the mound site, and uncovered the Stone among many others with spiral carvings on it. Brendan O'Neal was one of his assistants on this expedition. The two postponed the excavation after Jones received a mystical warning and a letter from his father to find the Spear of Longinus - and Blueshirt assassins tried to kill Jones.

Trying to stop the Nazis from assembling the spear, the Joneses and O'Neal returned to Ireland in a small sailboat and O'Neal returned to the excavation site with the elder Jones. Unaware of the stone, the two of them realized the full history of the spear, combining Celtic and Christian lore. O'Neal assembled the spear, carving a shaft from a yew tree, and affixing the bit of the Holy Thorn, and half of the spear head.

When the Nazis arrived with the other half of the spear head, the spear halves magically reassembled, and the spear flew around the cave site, killing Kurt, Dieterhoffmann's Nazi muscle. As the chamber started to collapse, O'Neal jumped onto the Stone of Fal. The cave began to shriek, and Indiana Jones realized the identity of the spiral-carved stone -- and O'Neal as a true king of Ireland. As a true king, O'Neal commanded the spear to come to him as he stood on the stone, and the spear obeyed, piercing O'Neal in the shoulder. O'Neal was unable to keep it from injuring him deeper, but Henry Jones help control the spear as the first light of the equinox broke into the cave mound, lighting the spear tip, and the center of the spiral on the Stone of Fal. With the sun's light in the room, the spear tip began to bleed, according to the senior Jones, and the Nazi plotter Dieterhoffmann, who then began mystically bleeding and died.

As the cavern began to collapse again, O'Neal moved off the Stone of Fal and escaped with the help of Rebecca Stein. The stone was presumably buried when the mound collapsed and grass grew quickly over its site.

Behind the scenes
The Stone of Fal as depicted in Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny is slightly different than the real-life Stone of Fal or Lia Fáil (as it is called in Irish). The Lia Fáil is found on the Hill of Tara in the same county in Ireland as the Newgrange mound and was moved to its current position in 1798 (not inside a mound, but on top of a hill). The Lia Fáil is supposed to roar in joy when the High King of Ireland stands on it - and not just shriek as the Stone of Fal does when O'Neal stands on it.

Appearances

 * Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny