Sophia Hapgood

CHARACTER
Sophia Hapgood
Gender	Female
Nationality	American
Profession(s)	Archaeologist CIA agent Professor Psychic
Allegiance(s)	Nur-Ab-Sal Indiana Jones CIA

"You know, Marcus, the coldest year of my life was the one I spent in Iceland with Sophia."

―Indiana Jones

Sophia Hapgood was an archaeologist and an agent of the OSS and also its successor organization, the CIA. She was known for her dark red hair and green eyes, and her belief in psychic premonitions.

Biography

"They're punishing me for being a career girl! It's not "prop-ah" in Philadelphia, you know!"

―Sophia Hapgood, about her parents.

Sophia Hapgood was born into a wealthy family from New England, but her rebellious nature made her somewhat of a black sheep. Her first encounter with Indiana Jones was in 1929 as his assistant on the Jastro Expedition in Iceland. There, the pair unearthed many unusual artifacts. The two became close and worked closely for three months, at one point even sharing the same blanket, but maintained a professional relationship. Jones was disappointed when he learned that Hapgood had pocketed many of the pieces for herself; some she sold on the international antiquities market.

Hapgood in 1939.

Hapgood was reunited with Jones in October 1938, when she asked for his help in securing the Covenant of Buddha, referenced in an ancient scroll she had uncovered in Nepal. The search led them to Afghanistan—where Hapgood was briefly kidnapped by bandits—then to the lost city of Chanri-Ha, and finally to the location of the Covenant scrolls: a remote Buddhist temple on the Yangtze River. Indy and Sophie fought off a company of Japanese raiders, but the sacred scrolls were destroyed in the process.

Disappointed, Hapgood refocused herself on psychic pursuits, turning her attention to a strange necklace/medallion she had kept from the Jastro Expedition years earlier. She became convinced the piece had once belonged to the Atlantean king Nur-Ab-Sal. Claiming that Nur-Ab-Sal spoke to her through the object, she gave seminars on Atlantis in her apartment on Park Avenue, and became quite popular among the socialites of New York City. A newspaper reported her as being a "bonepicker turned mystic".

In 1939, an extremely skeptical Indiana Jones interrupted a social gathering to warn Sophie of an urgent Nazi interest in all things Atlantean. After a run in with the dastardly SS Colonel Klaus Kerner, Hapgood joined Jones in his race against the Germans. In the process, Hapgood came increasingly more under the influence of her medallion, as if the artifact wanted to return to Atlantis and restore Nur-Ab-Sal to power. Indy helped free her from the medallion's grasp and after the case, they became more closely romantically involved—though briefly.

She went on to publish a paper on Atlantis which granted her full professorship with tenure.

Sophia Hapgood as a CIA agent.

After World War II, Sophia landed a job with the Central Intelligence Agency and caught up with Indiana Jones in the American southwest in 1947. She showed up at various times during Indy's search for the four missing pieces of the Infernal Machine, a Babylonian device said to be able to open a portal between reality and the Aetherium. Their romance was rekindled somewhat. Hapgood informed Indy about the Soviet investigation into a Babylonian ruin, and this led to the pair taking turns saving each other from various impossible situations. In the end, Sophia was double-crossed by her boss Simon Turner and sent into the Aetherium. There she was possessed by the Sumerian god Marduk, their combined entity taking the form of a bizarre, harpy-like creature. Indy was able to break the spell, however, and the two embraced before escaping from the collapsing Aetherium.

Behind the scenes

Sophia Hapgood is the heroine and the player's sidekick in the Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis video game. She accompanies Indy on most of his travels if the player chooses the Team Path, until their arrival on Atlantis, where the game's story later on becomes the same as the other paths (Wits Path and Fists Path).

In the game, Sophia often provides Indy (the player) with hints whenever he talks to her. In certain circumstances, the player also has control of Sophia. Cooperation between Sophia and Indy is critical to solving some riddles. For example, some characters insist on talking to Sophia, and Indy is able to take advantage of the distraction.

There is occasional antagonism and teasing between Sophia and Indy, but there also seems to be somekind close personal relationship between the two since the Jastro Expedition. As shown in Indy's disappointment on Sophia keeping the Jastro Expedition's artifacts for herself. Meanwhile Sophia seems to have trusted Indy to help her in times of need.

The game seems to imply that Indy hadn't met Sophia after the Jastro Expedition, however Sophia reappears in the comic Indiana Jones: Thunder in the Orient which occurs only a year before the game.

The game also implies that after finding Nur-Ab-Sal's necklace, Sophia had been possesed by Nur-Ab-Sal's spirit. This drives her on being obsessed on Atlantis, using what ever means for the Spirit to return back to Atlantis, such as keeping Atlantean artifacts for 'herself'. It is also perhaps one of the reasons that caused her relationship with Indy to go sour back then.

Sophia Hapgood's last name is an homage to historian Charles Hapgood, author of The Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings.

In one of the unused backgrounds in the game, there is an additional room next to Sophia's office. The room had furniture that was similiar to the furniture in Monte Carlo, where Madame Sophia provides 'seance' in her hotel bedroom.

Portrayal

• Sophia Hapgood was developed and created by Hal Barwood, one of the writers of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Barwood modeled Sophia's appearance on LucasArts' Associate Director of Development Lucy Bradshaw.
• Jane Jacobs provided the voice of Sophia in the 1993 CD-ROM re-release of Fate of Atlantis. (The original 1992 release had no voices.)
• Tasia Valenza provided Sophia's voice in Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.
• An unnamed model was shot as Sophia for the The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones: Thunder in the Orient
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (First appearance)
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis comic
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: The Action Game
• Indiana Jones and the Pyramid of the Sorcerer (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine

Sources

• The World of Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 5
• Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings: Prima Official Game Guide