Satipo

CHARACTER
Satipo
Gender	Male
Death	1936 Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors, Peru
Nationality	Peruvian
Profession(s)	Guide Thief

Satipo was a Peruvian guide and thief who, along with his partner Barranca and several porters, helped guide American archaeologist Indiana Jones to the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors in 1936.

Biography

Everyday life

Satipo ran scams in the South American jungles with his partner Barranca. They frequently hung out at Machete Landing in between expeditions. The two con men had contacts throughout Peru, Colombia and Venezuela who set up jobs for them. They often guided adventurers into the jungle only to then murder or rob them.

Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors and death

In 1936, Satipo and Barranca were hired by the American archaeologist Indiana Jones to guide him to the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors to learn the fate of his competitor Forrestal and if possible, retrieve the golden idol said to be there, despite Jones' acknowledge about their reputation. Indy might have have eventually found the Temple on his own, but that would have taken more time whereas Barranca and Satipo had a fragment of the map towards the Temple and some knowledge of the route aside that Jones was certain that some treasure hunter had a head start on him. Once at Dead Man Falls, Barranca tried to kill Jones, but failed and flee, while Satipo remained with the archaeologist. Now only them, Jones and Satipo reached and entered into the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors.

After a fearful encounter with tarantulas and discovering Forrestal's dead body, Satipo followed Jones in swinging across a deep pit on Indy's bullwhip. He almost fell backwards into the hole when the branch anchoring the whip started to give way but Jones caught him. Satipo then saw Jones making his way to the Chachapoyan Fertility Idol without getting shot with darts and then replacing the idol with a sandbag. Believing the danger to be over, Satipo smiled relieved, but as Jones turned his back, the sandbag sunk into the alter, causing the temple to start falling down. Using Jones' whip, Satipo barely made it back to other corner of the pit, but then demanded Jones to throw him the idol with the promise he will throw him back the whip, revealing his true greedy nature.

Satipo's dead body after being killed by the spike trap.

Jones did what Satipo asked, but the treacherous guide double crossed him and dropped the whip where he was standing, leaving Jones to die while he escaped with the prize as the door closed. After jumping back to the corner and making it through the door, Jones finally reached Satipo and shockingly discovered that he had been caught by a spike trap which protruded from a wall, killing him similarly to Forrestal. Jones recovered the idol from his deaceased guide, whom he insulted and then made his escape from the cave only to face the Hovitos themselves once there.

Legacy

Jones returned to the temple some years later to find Satipo's corpse still attached to the trap that had taken his life. The archaeologist reproached him for not throwing him his whip when he had the opportunity and continued on his way before discovering a second idol.

Personality and traits

As Barranca, Satipo was a furtive and a swindler. He had no qualms to be entrusted by adventurers to serve as their guide only to then rob or murder them at the jungle. Greedy and materialist, Satipo didn't show any remorse in leaving Indiana Jones–his own employer–to die even after he saved him from falling to his death as long he had the prize for himself. However, Satipo's greediness ultimately became his undoing; while making it away with the idol craftily by giving Jones no other chance, he failed to notice the spike traps which ended with the life of one of Jones' competitors, and then his own.

Aside from money, both Satipo and Barranca liked sports and were enraged when Peru's president announced that the Peru team had been forced to withdrew from the Olympic Games on Berlin due Austria's complaints, reason for which both treasure thieves hoped to console their country's loss by claiming any treasure they could found for themselves.

Behind the scenes

Satipo was portrayed by Alfred Molina in Raiders of the Lost Ark in his first film acting role. Molina hadn't worked for the big screen before Raiders, but after 10 minutes with director Steven Spielberg, Spielberg was convinced to give Molina the role of Satipo. Molina loved the opportunity to work on the film in spite of the spiders scene. The character was erroneously called "Sapito" in the video game Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, perhaps reflecting Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford's delivery of the line that was simply "Adios" in the film's script drafts and written as "Adios, stupido" in the Release Dialogue Script.

In Lawrence Kasdan's first draft of the film, Satipo flees the boulder with Indiana Jones, only to be killed once outside the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors by the Hovitos (a fate which would later go to Barranca in the finished film).

In the video game Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, Satipo's role is greatly reduced. There he simply informs Jones that the Hovitos are near then disappears from the narrative without explanation. Satipo appears in the game LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, in which he actually manages to escape from the temple along with Indy, only to then betray him when it is revealed he was working for Belloq all along. In LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, the Peru sequence is omitted despite Satipo being a playable character.

Satipo, like Barranca, never appears in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! at Disney World. In the show, Indy independently goes to the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors temple to retrieve the golden idol. In the TV special, LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick, Satipo's role is the same as the movie. However, when he betrays Jones and claims the idol for himself, Indy knocks him out with the idol, and continues his escape.

There were plans by Kenner in the 1980s for a Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors set which would have included an action figure of Satipo. The set, however, went ultimately unproduced when the whole Indiana Jones toyline was abruptly cancelled, although some concept art was made.

Appearances

• Raiders of the Lost Ark novel (First appearance)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Raiders of the Lost Ark comic
• Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (Remains) (As 'Sapito')
• LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick (Non-canonical appearance)
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Non-canonical appearance)
• LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Non-canonical appearance)
• LEGO Star Wars: Bombad Bounty (Non-canonical appearance) (On television)

Sources

•  Raiders of the Lost Ark trading cards (Card: Valley of Mystery)
•  Raiders of the Lost Ark trading cards (Card: Temple of the Warriors)
•  Raiders of the Lost Ark trading cards (Card: Victim of the Gods)
•  Raiders of the Lost Ark trading cards (Card: Removing the Idol)
•  Raiders of the Lost Ark trading cards (Card: Fearsome Hovitos Indians)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay
• Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook
•  Barranca's Marshall College entry on IndianaJones.com (backup link on Archive.org)
•  Satipo's Marshall College entry on IndianaJones.com (backup link on Archive.org)
•  Indiana Jones Heritage (Card: The Quest of Indiana Jones)
•  Indiana Jones Heritage (Card: Danger Everywhere!)
•  Indiana Jones Heritage (Card: A Game of Chance)
•  Indiana Jones Heritage (Card: The Trap Is Sprung!)
•  Indiana Jones Heritage (Card: Alfred Molina)
• The Complete Making of Indiana Jones
•  Indiana Jones Masterpieces (Card: Adventure Has A Name)
• Temple Escape

External links

• Satipo on Brickipedia, the LEGO wiki