- "In Iran, I chanced upon a mysterious 'Tower of Tears,' one of the seven towers scattered across the Earth harboring sorcerers who seek to chant the world to destruction."
- ―Indiana Jones, reading from Hecht's expedition journal[src]
Dr. Arthur Hecht was an archaeologist and college professor in the early twentieth century.
Once employed by both the National Museum and Marshall College in Connecticut, USA, Hecht lost his positions in 1921 when he began to give too much credence to the Seven Towers legend positing that a group of sorcerers scattered around the globe were conspiring to destroy the world. Seeing his theories as a liability, Bradley Tavistock used his own position on the Board of Trustees to pressure the administration to have Hecht ousted. The archaeologist left in disgrace, languishing in obscurity until he passed away somewhere in Scotland fifteen years later.
With his dying breath, he entrusted his research to one of his students to be delivered to Indiana Jones, a one-time pupil of Hecht an archaeologist himself, in the hopes that the man could restore his reputation.
Biography[]
Arthur Hecht was one of Indiana Jones' first professors, and Jones considered him as one of the best, as he had shown Jones that archaeology was "more than just old pots and bones."[1] Hecht was a strong believer in the existence of the Seven Towers, which were reputed to be the homes of seven sorcerers bent on world destruction. To prove his research, Hecht traveled to Yezd, Iran where he discovered the Tower of Tears and encountered its sorcerer, recording this trip in his expedition journal. Hecht also found a Sumerian clay tablet that when translated, provided the legend of how Shamash had given his eye to El-Al to defeat the seven sorcerers in ancient times. He recorded the existence of this tablet, as well as the amulet in some notebooks.
In 1921, his continued work in this field of research had put him in poor standing at the National Museum's branch in Connecticut, where Board of Trustees member Bradley Tavistock had him fired over for his crazy theories. His notebooks remained in the Museum's storerooms. Tavistock's influence may have also made it difficult for Hecht to find a new position in academia, and Hecht eventually moved to Scotland to be a professor. There, he befriended a student, Alec Sutherland.
In 1936, as his dying wish, Hecht entrusted his expedition journal to Sutherland to take to Jones in order to clear his reputation. Sutherland found Jones, and the two traveled to Yezd and defeated the sorcerer at the Tower of Tears. When asked about Hecht and the Seven Towers legend, the mortally wounded sorcerer viewed Hecht as an imaginative fool and liar.[1]
A year later, Sutherland, now working at the National Museum, found Hecht's old notebooks and the Sumerian clay tablet and tried to bring them to Jones' attention, though the archaeologist was distracted by the arrival of Victoria Keith. After realizing that Keith was actually a thief after a copper Sumerian amulet, Jones met with Sutherland, who produced Hecht's notebooks which linked the tablet's legend to the stolen amulet, which could have been the Eye of Shamash. Trying to deter Jones from following the amulet, Tavistock tried to use Hecht's dismissal as a threat for Jones. Using Hecht's ideas about the sorcerers and their towers, Jones was able to defeat Ian Soames with the Eye of Shamash.[2]
Appearances[]
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones – "Tower of Tears!" (Mentioned only)- The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones – "Double Play!" (Mentioned only)