Molly Walder

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Molly Walder was an American woman living in Istanbul, Turkey in 1918.

Biography[]

Ill-fated romance[]

A young woman,^[2] Molly Walder worked as a teacher at an orphanage, helping the girls gain a basic education. She fell in love with Nils Anderson, a Swedish reporter for the Balkan News Agency office in Istanbul, not knowing that Nils was actually Indiana Jones, a spy for French intelligence seeking how to bring the Turks to the side of the Allies. She brought Nils around to the orphanage, letting him meet with her supervisor, Turkishh nationalist Halide Edib, and even letting him teach the children about being a reporter.^[1]

One evening in September, Nils took Molly to a fancy dinner and asked to marry her, with a bracelet he had purchased in the bazaar. Molly agreed to the engagement. A few days later, Molly and Nils encountered a fortune teller who told them that their marriage would be joyful - but didn't tell them of impending misfortune. One evening when it was too late to return to the orphanage, Molly spent the night with Nils in his apartment, after tending to his fever and wounds from a recent fight.^[1]

The next day, Molly received word from General Mustafa Kemal that her fiance was actually a French spy. She angrily confronted Indy about his lies, and he told her that while his background as a Swedish reporter was a cover, his love for her was real, and he wanted to marry her when the war was over. She stormed out on him.^[1]

Later in the day, she reconsidered, and wearing Indy's trench coat, she set out in the evening to visit him. Unfortunately, at that same time, Indy was being hunted by the double-agent Stefan, who had also snuck up on Indy's apartment. While Stefan was aiming at a decoy that Indy had set up in his room, Molly entered the building and Stefan looked down the staircase and saw the trench coat and Molly's brown hat, and fired upon her, thinking she was Indy. Indy appeared from his room, and shot and killed Stefan, before racing down the steps to Molly. Molly announced that she still wanted to be with Indy and died in his arms.^[1]

Legacy[]

Following his failure at marrying Molly Walder, Indiana Jones opted to not marry^[1] until he met Deirdre Campbell in 1925,^[3] marrying her the following year though,^[4] much like Molly,^[4] Indy's romance with Deirdre was unfortunately short-lived when a plane crash in Matto Grosso, Brazil claimed her life but not his.^[4] It wasn't until 1957 that Indy finally settled down with a woman, that being Marion Ravenwood, whom he married despite their complicated history.^[5]

Cut content: This section contains information from unused or cut material that does not usually inform Indiana Jones canon.

Despite their brief romance, Jones never forgot Walder. Decades after her death, an elder Indy told his grandson Charlie about his and Molly's doomed romance at Charlie's wedding in New England to dissuade him from running away from his commitments despite loving his bride. Recalling Molly's death brought Indy and some of his relatives to tears, but it encouraged Charlie to go through his vows and marry his beloved, a ceremony his tearful grandfather mentally pictured as his and Molly's.^[6]

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Behind the scenes[]

Molly Walder was portrayed by Katherine Butler in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode "Istanbul, September 1918", later edited into Masks of Evil.^[1]

The episode's teleplay indicates that the character was called Molly Vaughan for a time and bookends were written which showed that the elderly Indiana Jones was moved to tears recalling the experience which lead to Molly's death.^[6]