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Thuggee assassin

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What Kind of Name
"What kind of name is that?"
The title of this article is conjecture.
While the article is based on canonical information, the actual subject lacks a formal identifier or nickname in official sources.

"An assassin!"
―Indiana Jones[src]

The Thuggee assassin, also known as the Pankot assassin, was hiding in Indiana Jones's suite at the Pankot Palace in 1935.

Biography[]

Attempt on Indiana Jones' life[]

In 1935, while visiting Pankot Palace, the American archaeologist Indiana Jones had questioned Prime Minister Chattar Lal about the dark stories of Pankot Palace and the Thuggee cult. With Jones having revealed himself as a liability, the Thuggee sent[1] a sinister-looking palace[2] assassin to Jones' suite that night to dispatch the archaeologist. He hid himself in the room and went undetected by standing against a wall mural, camouflaged as if he was one of the guards in the painting.[1]

Jones battles the Thuggee assassin in his room at Pankot Palace.

Jones battles the Thuggee assassin in his room at Pankot Palace.

Shortly after 10:35pm,[3] as Jones played hard-to-get and waited for Willie Scott to come to his room, the assassin stepped out from his hidden position and attempted to garrote him with a silk cord. Indy rammed him against a pillar in an attempt to loosen the assassin's death grip, to no avail. Indy even slammed a brass pot against his attacker's head and flipped him over his back, but the struggle continued with Jones eventually gaining the advantage, with the assistance of Short Round.[1]

With the tables turned and no other means of carrying out his duty, the Thuggee tried to escape through the door but Indy cracked his bullwhip, ensnaring the fall of the whip around the man's neck, throttling him.[1] His face began to redden.[4] The assassin managed to yank the whip out of Indy's hands,[1] briefly grinning victoriously, but the man's pride was short-lived[4] as the whip became caught in the blades of the rotating ceiling fan, much to his horror. Helpless, the assassin met his end when he was lifted off his feet by the neck and consequently hanged. The lifeless body continued to hang from the fan until Jones directed Shorty to turn it off, letting the assassin fall to the floor.[1]

Legacy[]

While tracking down Indiana Jones on his search for the Sankara Stones, the French mercenary René Emile Belloq was informed about the assassin's presence in Jones' room, as Short Round told everyone how Indy fought him off.[5]

Personality and traits[]

A feral-eyed[6] and very large man,[7] the Thuggee assassin was dressed in traditional Thuggee robes but wore a blue turban as opposed to the regular red-and-black turbans worn by other members of the cult. Though not much was known about him, he was very tenacious and strategic when it came to his line of work.[1] If hurt or opposed even if minimally like when Indiana Jones swung a pot against his head, the assassin's face suddenly turned from blank to a hateful glare.[4]

Behind the scenes[]

The article "50 Fascinating 'Facts' About Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 3 previously accredited the role of the Thuggee assassin to Chief Guard actor Pat Roach, also identifying him as the gong striker at Club Obi Wan.[8] However, both Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy have since confirmed that the article's claims are incorrect. Furthermore, The Complete Making of Indiana Jones reveals that the gong striker was portrayed by stuntman Bill Reed (who is listed in the film's credits),[9] plus Roach's height and that of the assassin's suggests he didn't play him.[1] By elimination, it is more likely that Bill Reed played both the Thuggee assassin and the gong striker, though this has yet to be officially confirmed.

The Thuggee assassin as depicted in the 's cover.

The Thuggee assassin as depicted in the comic book adaptation's cover.

An ultimately unused idea during development of the script was that whoever drank the Blood of Kali had their eyes turn yellow, with the Thuggee assassin being one of those affected.[9] The finished film doesn't confirm whether the Thuggee assassin was among those brainwashed or not.[1] In Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz's original screenplay as with Marvel Comics' comic book adaptation, the assassin was capable of doing backward somersaults.[6] However, in the final cut of the film, he demonstrates no such agility.[1] The screenplay also describes tiny shrunken skulls of the assassin's past victims attached to either end of his cord, which do not appear in the film.

While filming the confrontation scene between Indiana Jones and the Thuggee assassin, Harrison Ford herniated a disc on his back, which nearly caused the production of Temple of Doom to shut down. Ford was sent back the United States of America and stuntman Vic Armstrong stepped in until the actor could resume filming sometime later.[9]

In Suzanne Weyn's junior novelization, the scene with the assassin is longer than in the film. In the junior version, Indiana Jones actually menages to find him before being attacked and their struggle is longer.[7] A similar depiction of the events is also mentioned in the Topps Indiana Jones Heritage trading cards.[10] The tool used by the assassin is described as a yellow silk cord,[7] while in the film it's red.[1] In the Read-Along Adventure adaptation, the assassin and his scene are completely omitted.[11]

The Thuggee assassin and his fight with Indiana Jones was featured on the cover of the second issue of Marvel's comic adaptation, but his appearance differs from the film, depicting him as a white-haired, older man with different colored attire.[6] Instead of fleeing from the suite,[1] the assassin attempts to kill Jones with a dagger in the comic and gets hung with the whip after during a somersault.[6] He attempts to use the knife in James Kahn's novelization[3] and Michael French's storybook, the latter which describes him as a giant[4] despite him being around the same height as Indy in the film.[1]

While the Thuggee assassin is depicted as an assassin in the film,[1] Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Annual 2009 mentions he was a soldier.[12]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  2. ↑ Topps-Logo Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom trading cards (Card: Look Out, Behind You!)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom novel
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Storybook
  5. ↑ The Greatest Adventures of Indiana Jones
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom comic
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom junior novel
  8. ↑ Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 3
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 The Complete Making of Indiana Jones
  10. ↑ Topps-Logo Indiana Jones Heritage trading cards (Card: A Deadly Intrusion)
  11. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Read-Along Adventure
  12. ↑ Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Annual 2009
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