Viktor Gantz

"I will walk through fire for the devoted men of the Reich."

―Viktor Gantz^[src]

Oberst Viktor Gantz was a high-ranking Wehrmacht officer and Nazi enforcer for the Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection agent Emmerich Voss. Tasked by Adolf Hitler to watch over Voss, Gantz was manipulated into being a useful ally by the German archaeologist in his pursuit of the power behind the Great Circle.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Viktor Gantz was born in Germany around 1899.^[2] Eventually, Gantz joined the Nazi Party, rising up through their ranks until becoming a colonel within the Wehrmacht, fostering a hatred for American culture in the process.^[1]

Great Circle expedition[]

On July 15, 1937, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler wrote to Viktor Gantz, calling him a "loyal friend", to inform the colonel that he was being reassigned to Giza, Egypt to protect the Third Reich Special Antiquities Collection agent Emmerich Voss' excavation from "any outside meddling" although rival archaeologist Indiana Jones would later suspect Gantz was really being placed to oversee Voss himself.^[1]

By October 25, Gantz and Voss maintained an uneasy alliance due to clashing personalities over who was truly in charge. He outranked Voss but the archaeologist led Hitler's occult research program. A student of Sigmund Freud's work, Voss psychologically manipulated Gantz into cooperating despite the colonel's skepticism over the paranormal imperative of Voss' mission. Gantz completely fell under the man's control after he mistakenly thought the latter had saved him from being shot, with the bullet deflected into a portrait of Hitler.^[1]

Subsequently, Gantz led a German task force into the Himalayas in pursuit of a stone relic tied to the mystery of the Great Circle. On board an abandoned battleship stranded among the frozen peaks on November 1, Gantz and his men encountered Indiana Jones and his Italian reporter companion Gina Lombardi already in possession of the artifact.^[1]

When Gantz demanded the piece after mocking Jones for his presumed beliefs, Lombardi handed over a similar sized grenade instead. In the fallout of the Nazi's efforts to be rid of the explosive, both he and Jones ended up falling from the ship.^[1]

Both men had the tenacity to avoid plummeting to their deaths as the tremors sent the ship down the mountainside. Jones and Lombardi successfully activated the relic which teleported them along with Gantz and much of the vessel to Shanghai, China amidst Japanese attack. Landing in a wrecked department store, the Nazi quickly got to his feet, grabbed a piece of the debris and moved in on Jones who was yet to fully recover. While proclaiming his own supposed invincibility, Gantz was suddenly impaled through the spine from a falling shard of glass, killing him instantly.^[1]

Legacy[]

Some days later in Sukhothai, Siam, upon retrieving one of the stones, Indiana Jones, Gina Lombardi and Locus were cornered by Emmerich Voss and his Fascist forces. Quickly deducing Viktor Gantz's fate, Voss pointed out that he always had a feeling that the "little sausage" of a Wehrmacht colonel would die for his Fatherland, mockingly imitating Gantz's salute to the Führer before proceeding to attack Jones and his allies.^[1]

Personality and traits[]

"I endure this dreadful mountain even if my mind was screaming every step of the way. Because of a concept you narrow minded Americans will never understand. Devotion. Total and absolute devotion to the fatherland. You have no purpose. What you have, is your stupid American cartoons. Choo-choo, choo-choo! [laughs] You laugh and dance celebrating your own idiocy and drinking the piss you call beer!"

―Viktor Gantz, to Indiana Jones^[src]

An insecure man yet fiercely loyal to his country, Viktor Gantz believed that devotion to the Fatherland was paramount and should make anyone face their greatest fears in order to serve well. He confronted his own acrophobia by journeying high into the Himalayas despite his reservations in doing so. He was wary of occultism, but was still able to assist Emmerich Voss after the man manipulated him into doing so. Absolute in his dedication towards Adolf Hitler, Gantz was exploded into anger when Voss suggested his actions were treasonous and held Voss at gunpoint for doubting his loyalty to the Nazi cause. He soon abandoned his bad blood with Voss when he mistakenly thought the man had saved him from being killed by Gina Lombardi despite his willingness to execute him only minutes prior.^[1]

Gantz proclaimed himself to be invincible and, like many Nazis, Gantz had little regard for things related to the United States and its culture. When confronting archaeologist Indiana Jones, Gantz referred to him as an "American rat" and dismissed his countrymen as a "narrow minded" people who could never understand devotion, that laughed and danced in celebration of their own idiocy and drank "piss" that they called beer. He also mocked their "stupid cartoons", mimicking an animated whistle while doing so. He also indicated racist sentiment towards the gigantic members of the Nephilim Order, like the one he interrogated and killed in Gizeh, Egypt against orders to keep him alive.^[1]