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Allies
Simon Katanga
Captain Simon Katanga
Played By: George Harris
"Mr. Jones! I've heard a lot about you, sir. Your appearance is exactly the way I imagined."
An African sailor and captain of the steamship Bantu Wind, who helps Indy covertly transport the Ark of the Covenant.
- Death Faked for You: Katanga convinces the Nazis that he killed Indiana Jones to help Indy get away.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When the Nazis board his ship, he pretends that he plans to make Marion (who he knows was an enemy of the Nazis) a Sex Slave, hoping that after the Nazis get their cargo back and find no trace of Indy they'll be satisfied. Instead, a disgusted Dietrich takes her along with the Germans, forcing Indy to rescue her.
- Red Herring: Steeped in shadow? Smoking cigar? We're told he's trustworthy? Yeah, this guy will betray us, right? Nope, he risks himself and his crew to protect Indy (why the hell would a black guy work for Nazis anyway?).
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Genius Bonus: As shown in the novelization of the film, his reasoning for helping Indy was due to the fact that Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete, beat the Nazis during the Olympics.
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- Smoking Is Cool: He is first introduced smoking a cigar.
- Venturous Smuggler: He and his crew specialize in smuggling illicit cargo, such as the Ark of the Covenant.
Musgrove and Eaton
Musgrove and Eaton
Played By: Don Fellows and William Hootkins
Army Intelligence officials interested in Hitler's pursuit for the Ark of Covenant. They consult Indy and Marcus for further information and later finance his journey to find the ark.
- Ascended Extra: Musgrove reappears in two Middle Grade adventure novellas released in 2009 as one of Indy's handler's in World War II.
- Big Good: In a sense, by hiring Indiana to go look for the Ark.
- Fat and Skinny: Eaton is a bit chubby, Musgrove somewhat thin.
- Moving the Goalposts: They initially promised the Ark to the museum but later take it for themselves, possibly because of the reports on how dangerous it was.
- Oh, Crap!: Both are disturbed by hearing about the possibilities of the Ark's power.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: They do take away the Ark, but stow it away where it can't hurt anyone rather than try to harvest its powers themselves.
- Those Two Guys: Always appear together in the film.
Imam
Imam
Played By: Tutte Lemkow
A friend of Sallah's who assists in the search for the Ark.
- Cool Old Guy: A somewhat whimsical and knowledgeable older man who's very helpful but also cautious about the ark's power.
- Golden Translator: He quickly translates the inscriptions on the headpiece, including the ones on the back side that Toht missed.
Jock Lindsey
Jock Lindsey
Played By: Fred Sorenson
Indy's pilot in Peru.
- Ascended Extra: Jock has about two minutes of screen-time but reappears in several of the comics, where he sometimes has a bigger role. Disney Springs at Walt Disney World also created an entire restaurant, the Hangar Bar, based around him and the expanded world of 1930s adventuring.
- Heroes Gone Fishing: He's seen fishing in the river while waiting for Indy and the others.
- Oh, Crap!: He's deeply spooked to see Indy fleeing from the Hovito Tribe.
- Skewed Priorities: Jock is fishing from one of the floats of his floatplane when he sees Indy running from a tribe of angry natives. Jock spends several seconds trying to reel in his fish before getting the plane ready for take-off.
Peruvian Porter
Peruvian Porter
Played by: Ted Grossman
A Quechuan local working for Indy’s expedition in the opening scene.
- The Cameo: His actor has a background scene playing a character with a hat similar to his in a marketplace scene in the fourth film.
- Native Guide: He is a local hired for Indy’s archaeological expedition and helps clear the trail (although Indy is the one giving directions) and carry things.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He doesn't betray Indy like Satipo and Barranca, but he does flee in terror the second he sees an idol marking the area as Hovitos territory (the fact that bats swarm out of it at him doesn't help).
- Spear Carrier: His only line is a scream, the camera only focuses on his face for a few seconds, and he is gone after a couple of minutes.
Enemies
Satipo
Satipo
Played By: Alfred Molina
Voiced By (Latin American Spanish): Mario Castañeda (First dub), Enrique Cervantes (Second dub)
"Throw me the idol. No time to argue! Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip!"
A local guide who accompanies Indy when he searches for a golden idol inside an ancient Peruvian temple. He turns out to be very greedy and untrustworthy.
- Asshole Victim: He gets impaled by the spikes of the booby trap, but he betrayed Indy and left him to die first so this is kinda deserved.
- Bait the Dog: He starts out as your typical Bumbling Sidekick character with no apparent ulterior motives. Then he steals the idol and leaves Indy to die, losing any possible sympathy in the process.
- Dirty Coward: He is easily frightened by most of the traps when he enters the temple with Indy. And when given the chance, he abandons Indy in the midst of peril and runs away with the idol.
- Hate Sink: He is a greedy, backstabbing, rotten scumbag with a complete lack of empathy who deserved to die.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This is Satipo's fate when he blunders into one of the traps Indy showed him how to avoid, and he's last seen with a wall of spikes right through him.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: One of the spikes caught him through the back of the neck and out through the trachea.
- Karmic Death: When he betrays Indy by stealing the idol, he soon gets caught in one of the earlier traps.
- Lack of Empathy: If it wasn't already obvious enough.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: When Indy stops to catch his breath after escaping the pit, he suddenly stumbles onto Satipo's body.
- The Sociopath: He is cold-hearted enough to leave Indiana Jones to die for his own greedy reasons, so he is definitely this.
- So Long, Suckers!: "Adios, Señor." It lasts about ten seconds.
- Too Dumb to Live: He forgot about the Booby Trap which Indy discovered earlier.
Barranca
Barranca
Played By: Vic Tablian
A partner of Satipo and second Native Guide to Indiana in Peru.
- Asshole Victim: After trying to backstab Indy, it's quite satisfying to see him get his comeuppance.
- In the Back: He tries to shoot Indiana in the back but is disarmed. Later, his body is found with several poison darts in his back.
- Native Guide: He's a local guide, although he appears to focus more on leading the horses than breaking the trail.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Uses a Remington 1875 revolver as his primary weapon and subsequent attempt to kill Indy.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: It's implied that he led Belloq and the Hovitos to Indy, only to get killed once he had done that.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Attempted to shoot Indy after the latter reunited the two portions of the map.
René Belloq
Dr. René Emile Belloq
Played By: Paul Freeman
Voiced By (Latin American Spanish): Salvador Delgado (First dub), Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. (Second dub)
Voiced By (European French): Marc Cassot
"Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away."
A French archaeologist who is a longtime rival of Indiana Jones, he is hired as the lead expert by a Nazi expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: The bad guy version of the trope. Plus, he's willing to let someone else do the adventuring while he waits outside to hold them up for the treasure at gunpoint.
- Affably Evil: He's genuinely polite and friendly, if a little smug, with Indy and Marion and even gets enraged when the Nazis try to kill the latter by tossing her into the pit.
- Arch-Enemy: Well, the closest thing to it that Indy has. Unlike other villains in the films, Indy has a long history of butting heads with Belloq on his adventures, and if Belloq's to be believed, he's bested Indy more than once. In the novelization, it's revealed that Belloq built his career around letting Jones do all the work, then swooping in to steal his artifacts/research papers.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: According to the Raiders of the Lost Ark Sourcebook, his ancestors were nobility.
- Asshole Victim: Nice as he might be, it's still satisfying to see his Evil Plan bite him in the ass.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Wanted to see the power of the Ark... and paid with his life.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Dietrich in Raiders, with Belloq as the main antagonist of the film. He had bigger plans than anyone else and acted more as the direct threat to Indiana and Marion, but still had to work alongside the Nazis to get anywhere.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: His whole career stemmed from him stealing Indy's achievements, and trying to do the same thing with the Ark ended with his death.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Experiences a Your Head Asplode after looking into the Ark of the Covenant.
- Deadpan Snarker:Belloq: (seeing the monkey crawling off Indy's shoulder): I see your taste in friends remains consistent.
- Also, the scene where he has Indy trapped into the Well of Souls.
Belloq: You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even you may be worth something. - Death by Irony: Belloq, Dietrich and Toht wanted the Ark to use it as a weapon. When they unleashed its power, Belloq is one of those who was killed by the very power he sought to use.
- Didn't Think This Through: He casts his lot in with an organization of anti-Semites hell-bent on eradicating the people who originally built and kept the Ark in deference to their God, all the while gleefully gloating to Indy that the Ark can allow him to communicate with said God. At the end of the day the rabbinical robes and torah reading were comparatively lighter blasphemies...
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: Not that he fared any better in the movie, but the novel has an equally painful Cruel and Unusual Death for him via the Ark - there his eyes are burned out, his skin rapidly decays, and what's left of him is aged to dust similar to Donovan.
- Establishing Character Moment: His entire personality and shared history with Indy laid out in three sentences.Belloq: Dr. Jones. Again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away. And you thought I had given up.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Draws the line at rough treatment of women. René repeatedly tries to shield Marion from harm, though he's not overly enthusiastic about it.
- Though he has Indy at his mercy, he lets him go when Sallah's children shield him, rather than have his men open fire on them.
- He seems to dislike Toht for very obvious reasons. Belloq might be greedy and selfish but he's not a sadistic torturer.
- Evil Counterpart: Indiana Jones, but greedy and sleazy.
- Evil Genius: He does most of the planning for the Nazis and essentially manipulates Dietrich. Sallah even says that the Nazis have not brains among them aside from Belloq.
- Evil Gloating: It's subtle, but he does rub it in whenever something that was "briefly" Indiana's becomes his.
- Evil Laugh: Lets out one after taking the idol from Indiana Jones and sicing the Hovitos against him.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: He calls Dietrich out for his archaeological methods but eventually stops when he discovers an unauthorized dig site.
- False Friend: He pretended to befriend the Hovitos in order to steal their fertility idol.
- Feet-First Introduction: The first thing we see of him is his booted feet stepping over Barranca's darted body and walking up to Indy.
- Follow the Chaos: After he has seen Indy buried alive in the Well of Souls, he looks around at the burning airfield and destroyed plane.Belloq: Jones!
- French Jerk: He is a French archaeologist working for the Nazis.
Albeit played by a British actor. - A God Am I: You'd almost think René got into this business just so he could hold idols over his head and make people bow to him.
- Hand Signals: He uses the throat-slash to tell the Hovitos to kill Indy.
- The Heavy: Belloq is the villain with the most effect over the plot and is the main antagonist. However, he is still under the employ of Adolf Hitler and shares.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Word of God is that if Indy hadn't showed up on the island, he would have just given the Ark over to Hitler, who would have gone on to win the war. He just had to get one final Kick the Dog moment to his rival.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: There's a hint of this in his interactions with Marion. He's less sleazy about it to her face than most examples of this trope, but to others he makes no bones about the fact that he considers her companionship part of his "payment" for services provided to the Nazis.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Well, he's not wrong when he points out to Indy at the beginning that he trusted the wrong people, given that one (Barranca) tried to kill him outright and the other (Satipo) attempted to leave him to die in the temple.
- Kick the Dog: Ordering the Hovitos to kill an escaping Indy even after he gives Belloq the idol.
- Light Is Not Good: Much of his wardrobe is light-colored.
- Loveable Rogue: Tries to present himself as this to Marion, and succeeds at first. This illusion is probably shattered for good later when a captured Marion gets shoved around by a soldier and Belloq coldly brushes by without a word.
- Manipulative Bastard: Gets into the heads of and manipulates the natives of South America, Marion, and even Indy himself.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: He and the Nazis successfully obtain the Ark of the Covenant, but he wants to perform a ritual with it to ensure its authenticity first. The ritual ends up eradicating him and the entire Nazi unit.
- Mirror Character: He's got this speech summing up the similarities between himself and his old friend The Hero, Indiana Jones:Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archeology is our religion, yet we have both fallen from the pure faith. Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am but a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me. To push you out of the light.
- Necessarily Evil: What Belloq sees working with the Nazis as. He honestly doesn't give a damn about the Third Reich, he only cares about the money and glory of finding the Ark.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Relies on his manipulative skills and Nazi allies to get what he wants.
- No-Sell: Marion attempts to drink Belloq under the table in an attempt to escape, but he's able to outlast her because she used his family label.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Gives a standout example of such a speech to Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Oh, Crap!: He has one after the Ark of the Covenant is opened and the spirits inside it turn on him and his Nazi allies.
- Omniglot: Taking that summer course in Hovitos really came in handy down in Peru, 1936.Indy: It's too bad the Hovitos don't know you like I do, Belloq.
Belloq: Yes, too bad. You could warn them... if only you spoke Hovitos. [Turns around and starts giving orders to the Hovitos] - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally calm, soft-spoken and fairly pleasant with his allies and employees, he loudly insults and and slaps the Badass Driver of the staff car for losing the truck with the Ark. This is in spite of how the man did a good job of both keeping up with Indy and keeping them form getting run off the road throughout the whole sequence.
- Opportunistic Bastard: From what the film shows, Belloq isn't as successful an archaeologist or adventurer as Indy is, usually letting Indy do all the work before swooping in to steal the artifacts he recovers. He does this in the beginning of the movie after Indy gets the golden idol and again when he steals the Ark of the Covenant after Indy discovers its rightful location and recovers it. The novelization says Belloq essentially made a career out of doing this, stealing Indy's research papers in addition to artifacts.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Having Barranca killed by the Hovitos isn't the worst thing he does since Barranca attempted to murder Indy.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Wants the Ark for his own reasons, believing it's a vehicle for communicating with God.
- The Quisling: René is French; France and Germany have not been on the best of terms since
19141870, mind. And this is only three years before France (together with Britain) declares war on Germany, and less than twenty years after the end of the last war between the two nations. - Reasoning with God: He tells Indy that the Ark is a 'transmitter' and a 'radio for speaking to God'; presumably his intense desire to open it before it reaches Hitler is so he can have his own personal tete-a-tete with the Almighty. He never considered the fact that God might not be so interested in hearing what's on Rene's mind...
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the Blue Oni's to Indy's Red.
- The Rival: He is a rival archeologist to Indy who reveals himself as throwing his lot in with the Nazis.
- Rival Turned Evil: Reveals himself as throwing in his lot with the Nazis.
- Self-Disposing Villain: He and his Nazi cohorts opened the Ark of the Covenant themselves and its powers then proceeded to annihilate them all a very painful manner.
- Shadow Archetype: Even refers to himself as a shadowy reflection of Indy.
- Smug Snake: How else can you convince Hovitos, Egyptians and Nazis to follow your evil schemes? On the whole, he's competent, but overestimates himself severely by the end.
- Swallowed a Fly: He is clearly seen to have a fly crawling across his face and into his mouth in the last few minutes of the film.
- Tempting Fate: Defied. Shortly after recovering the Ark from the Wells of Souls, he is offered a drink by Colonel Herman Dietrich, who is toasting to "Our success in the desert", not knowing that at that very moment Indy is in the middle of trying to spoil their success by hijacking the plane to be used to fly the Ark out. Belloq refuses to tempt fate and says that he'll only drink to success "When we are very far from here."
- Throat-Slitting Gesture: He makes a back-and-forth throat slitting gesture to the Hovitos as an order to kill Jones.
- Villain in a White Suit: He wears a white suit for much of Raiders, and he is working with the Nazis.
- Villainous Crush: He seems to have one on Marion Ravenwood. He provided her with a dress, drunk wine alsongside her, and was disappointed when the Nazis abandoned her in the Well of Souls.
- Villainous Legacy: In the Indiana Jones Expanded Universe, he had a brother named Claude, and an unnamed son, both of whom nursed a grudge on Indy after Belloq's death.
- Wicked Cultured: Wears nice suits, loves archaeology, is fluent in many languages, enjoys fine wine and food, and is oh so polite. Also works with the Nazis for his own ends.
- Worthy Opponent: He imagines that he has this sort of relation with Indy, but he doesn't return it.Belloq: Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?
Indiana: Try the local sewer. - Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He lets Indy go after Sallah's children shield him from the Nazis.Belloq: Next time Dr. Jones, it'll take more than children to save you.
- Your Head Asplode: When God unleashes His righteous fury on the Nazis upon the Ark of the Covenant being opened, the flames from the Ark engulf Belloq while Dietrich and Toht are brutally killed next to him. He keeps screaming in fear and agony before his head abruptly pops, bursting into a gory mess.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Successfully pulls a variant of this on Indiana freaking Jones, for god's sake. When Indy threatens to shoot the Ark of the Covenant with a panzerfaust if the Nazis don't release Marion, Belloq refuses, taunts Indy to blow it up, and points out how Indy can't do it because of the Ark's archaeological value. Indy thinks about it, realizes Belloq is right and gives up. To prove his point, Belloq even helps Indy by holding the German soldiers at gunpoint with a submachine gun when they try to shoot Indy or get in the way of Indy's line of fire.
Herman Dietrich
Colonel Herman Dietrich
Played By: Wolf Kahler
Voiced By (Latin American Spanish): Jesús Barrero (First dub), Idzi Dutkiewicz (Second dub)
"The Fuhrer is not a patient man. He demands constant reports!"
A German military officer personally chosen by Adolf Hitler himself to lead the expedition for the Ark of the Covenant.
- Affably Evil: He's fairly polite, all in all, for a Nazi.
- Asshole Victim: Along with Belloq and Toht, he gets killed by the Ark's powers, by way of his head being shriveled and collapsed.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Belloq in Raiders, being the man technically in charge of the Nazi operation yet relying on Belloq to do the heavy lifting.
- Cool Car: His 1937 Mercedes-Benz 320.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: His fate when staring at the Ark is having his head shrink and shrivel up, as if suffering rapid dehydration.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Has a relatively minor moment of this when he seizes the smuggling ship. Captain Katanga tries to protect Marion by implying that he plans to sell her as a Sex Slave, hoping that after the Nazis get their cargo back and find no trace of Indy they'll be satisfied. Instead, a visibly disgusted Dietrich immediately grabs Marion and threatens to sink Katanga's ship.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a scar across his left cheek.
- Hypocrite: He is disgusted at Katanga's supposed plan to sell Marion as a sex slave, but immediately after hearing about it, agrees to give her to Belloq as part of his "payment", effectively taking part in the type of human trafficking he just disparaged.
- Kick the Dog: Takes an offered melon from an Egyptian merchant and tosses it at a random offscreen dog.
- Villainous Cheekbones: Actor Wolf Kahler has a serious jawline.
- Meaningful Name: Dietrich is the German word for lock pick.
- Not So Stoic: Although Indy continually coming out of nowhere to ruin his mission eventually starts getting to him, both with the tossing a melon at a dog thing and when his men can't find Indy on the smuggler's ship. "WHAT ABOUT JONES?!!"
- Officer and a Gentleman: To a point.
- Oh, Crap!: He makes a hilarious gape that screams this when the spirits within the Ark turn on him and his company. He's left rooted to the spot in fear before his head abruptly implodes.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: When Katanga gives Dietrich his offer, the colonel responds to it by calling Katanga, an African man, a savage (though it's not like Katanga wasn't asking for it with the false implication he was going to turn Marion into a Sex Slave). However, Katanga shrugs it off and remains calm. Fitting for a Nazi, Dietrich is antisemitic too, irritating Belloq when the colonel distastefully asks if a 'Jewish ritual' is necessary to open the Ark.
- The Stoic: Indiana Jones hijacking the truck carrying the Ark and all the wild driving his Mercedes is put through as a result? It barely earns a raised eyebrow and a mild frown from him.
- Tempting Fate: After taking the Ark from Indy, Dietrich attempts to toast to their (temporary) success.
- Wicked Cultured: Listens to a record player and drinks bourbon from a cut crystal decanter outside his tent in Tanis.
Arnold Toht
Major Arnold Ernst Toht
Played By: Ronald Lacey
Voiced By (Latin American Spanish): Jorge Roig (First dub), Martín Soto (Second dub)
"Fräulein Ravenwood, let me show you what I am used to..."
A Gestapo agent who serves as Dietrich's partner during the Nazi expedition.
- Agent Scully: In the novelisation, Toht is described as being skeptical about the supernatural. So when the Ark is opened, Toht takes a moment to laugh at Belloq's dismay at only finding sand in the Ark instead of the Ten Commandments.
- Artistic License – History: It doesn't make a lot of sense for a Gestapo agent to be involved in a foreign archaeological expedition. That department was tasked with upholding the internal security of the Third Reich and its conquered territories, so it'd make more sense for Toht to be a member of the SD (SS intelligence) or the Ahnenerbe (the branch of the SS specifically tasked with mounting expeditions abroad to 'prove' Nazi racial theories and search for historical artefacts). However, those two organisations are much less well-known than the Gestapo.
- Ax-Crazy: He is a sadistic man who takes psychopathic glee in attempting to torture Marion with a hot fireplace poker and often relishes in other people's misery by giggling.
- Badass Longcoat: A black leather one, which he even wears in the broiling desert heat of Egypt. Well, he is a Gestapo agent.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Toht is very fastidious.
- Bad Boss: When Indy and one of his henchmen are fighting, he gives the order to "shoot zem both".
- Bait-and-Switch: What looks at first to be a torture implement of some sort (consisting of chains and metal rods) turns out to be a folding coat-hanger for his Badass Longcoat.
- Bald of Evil: Probably why he wears that hat.
- British Nazis: He's played by a British actor.
- Chekhov's Gun: During the fight in Marion's bar, Toht tries to grab the medallion from a fire — and, not surprisingly, burns his hand. This explains how Those Wacky Nazis gain information from said medallion on how to find the Well of the Souls — and why they only have half of the inscription.
- Coat Cape: Wears it as such while digging for the Ark.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Being a Gestapo officer, he excels at this. He attempts to inflict this on Marion with a red hot poker after she blows cigar smoke in his face.Marion: Wait, I'll tell you everything.
Toht: Yes. I know you will. - Creepy High-Pitched Voice: Has a very nasal tone of voice, fitting his playfully psychotic personality.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Not that Belloq and Dietrich have it any better (Belloq has a Your Head Asplode while Dietrich's head shrivels and collapses in on itself), but Toht's death in front of the opened Ark is especially nasty, with the skin melting from his bones.
- Dark Is Evil: Dresses all in black, and in his first appearance shows him willing to torture Marion with a red-hot poker even after she says she will tell him all he needs to know.
- Death by Adaptation: Type B; in the novel and comic he dies during the truck chase, well before the film's climax.
- Death by Irony: He threatens to burn Marion's face with a hot poker. Guess how he dies…
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the novel and comic adaptation he is instead killed during the truck chase by having the car he's in knocked off a cliff, instead of being killed by the spirits of the Ark. Given they way they killed him in the movie, it can be said that his book and comic counterpart was the lucky one.
- Dirty Coward: When Indy comes to rescue Marion he tries to use her as a Human Shield and when the shootout erupts he immediately covers and leaves the rest of his men to deal with it without taking part in the action.
- Faux Affably Evil: Unlike Belloq and even Dietrich, the politeness is just an act. Toht is a total sadist.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears circular glasses, giving him a resemblance to Heinrich Himmler, and is perhaps the most evil character in the film.
- Ironically, the actor who later play a small role as Himmler in Last Crusade during the book burning scene.
- Giggling Villain: Added with his Sissy Villain personality who breaks into high-pitched giggling at other people's misfortunes.
- Gonk: He's very pug-looking. Far from being an handsome man.
- Hate Sink: The only notable villain in the film with no real redeeming qualities to his character. Toht basically exists to be despised by the audience.
- The Hyena: Of the giggly, effeminate variety.
- Hypocrite: One of the first lines out of his mouth is that Indy is nefarious. This is coming from a guy who specializes in torture.
- I'm Melting!: He has his face melted off his skull during the opening of the Ark. He is heard drowning on his own blood even after most of his head has been liquefied.
- Jerkass: He's a sadistic and evil Nazi torturer who loves to inflicts pain in other people, a Dirty Coward and a Bad Boss to his men. Yeah, definetly a dick.
- Kick the Dog: When he's about to torture Marion she tells him she can be reasonable but Toht cruelly ignores it stating that "that time has passed."
- Kill It with Fire: Toht seems to have a liking for using fire; he attempts to use a red-hot poker to torture Marion, and also uses a burning stick to light a trail of liquor to burn Indy.
- Large Ham: Hams most of his lines.
- Laser-Guided Karma: First, he intends to burn Marion's face with a heated poker, then he burns his own hand by gripping the heated headpiece to the Staff of Ra.
- Meaningful Name: His name is an Anglicised spelling of the German word for death.
- More Despicable Minion: While Belloq is the Big Bad, he is at least Affably Evil, and has some humanizing moments. Toht, however, is just a sadistic psychopath, and his Establishing Character Moment has him about to torture Marion with a fire poker.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Pronounced the same as Tot, the German for "death".
- Oh, Crap!: His face when he picks up the white-hot headpiece to the Staff of Ra is this. He proceeds to drop the medallion, screaming as he barges himself out the nearest window to cool off his hand in the snow.
- He gets another, much bigger one when the Ark is opened, and the spirits turn on him. He proceeds to scream like a little girl until his face is liquefied.
- Psycho for Hire: He appears to be in the operation for kicks, not out of ideals. Then again, he's a Gestapo officer, so it makes sense.
- Psychotic Smirk: Whenever he's about to torture someone.
- The Quiet One: Toht has 16 lines over the entire film.
- Red Right Hand: Quite literally, after grabbing the staff while its heated up.
- Sadist: One gets the impression that Toht thoroughly enjoys his line of work. Even after Marion freaks out upon seeing him with the poker and offers to tell him everything, he tries to use it on her just for kicks.
- Scars Are Forever: The headpiece to the staff of Ra happens to be super-heated when Toht grabs it, leaving an imprint of the map seared into his hand.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Part of his outfit, which makes his torture scenes all the more unnerving.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: During the Ark Opening scene, when one of the spirits in the Ark changes from serene to terrifying. Even Belloq screams in a somewhat more manly way. Even when he grabbed the burning medallion earlier in the film, he didn't scream as high-pitched as he does in this scene, and he keeps screaming until he melts. Ronald Lacey apparently could do it very well in real life.
- Sissy Villain: Screams Like a Little Girl and generally has an effeminate touch to his behavior.
- Smug Smiler: Even when Dr. Jones threatens to destroy the Ark with a bazooka.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Rarely raises his voice.
- Stab the Salad: The famous coat hanger scene.
- Torture Technician: His primary role is to torture people, as befitting a member of the Gestapo.
- We Have Reserves: At one point he instructs a mook to shoot both Indy and another mook who are in the middle of wrestling for possession of a gun. Backfires spectacularly, since now Indy and said mook both want to shoot the same guy with the gun.
- We Have Ways of Making You Talk: Threatens Marion with this, but Indy intervenes.
Gobler
Major Gobler
Played By: Anthony Higgins
Voiced By (Latin American Spanish): Carlos Íñigo (First dub), Arturo Mercado Jr. (Second dub)
"Perhaps the girl can help us."
The other officer in command of the Tanis dig site alongside Dietrich.
- Disney Villain Death: The first of many Indiana Jones villains to plunge to their death, when Indy rams his car off a cliff.
- The Dragon: To Dietrich who spends most of his time with and is Dietrich's primary enforcer.
- Flat Character: Besides being a Nazi working for Dietrich he doesn't have much of a personality.
- Last-Name Basis: The only main villain in the film without a first name.
- Lean and Mean: Shorter and thinner than Dietrich, with much more angular features.
- Mook Lieutenant: Serves as Dietrich's gofer at Tanis.
- The Quiet One: He only line is the dialogue written above. Aside that, he's mostly silent.
- Satellite Character: Although he has a name and his actor is billed in the opening credits, there's really nothing to him except that he's "the other Nazi officer with Dietrich." The Novelization even emphasizes this, describing him as "Dietrich's shadow" and little else.
German Mechanic
German Mechanic
Played By: Pat Roach
"Hey dünner ! Komm hier ! Komm hier ! Komm, kämpf ! Junge, komm runter da ! Unter jetzt !"
An unnamed German soldier who gets in a fistfight with Indy, which doesn't end well for the former.
- Bald Head of Toughness: He's a bald, boxing-loving, Giant Mook who's the only enemy in the film that gives Indy an even fight, and is only disposed of through sheer happenstance, being accidentally shredded by his own plane instead of being directly beaten by Indy.
- Bald of Evil: He's a bald Giant Mook.
- Balls of Steel: When Indy kicks him in the groin he doesn't even make a pain sound or else.
- Battle Strip: When he sees Indy trying to hijack the plane, he takes off his shirt as he prepares to fight him.
- Blood Knight: He enjoys battling Indy. In fact, it works against the interests of the Germans, as at one point he knocks Indy down and the pilot gets ready to shoot Indy... but the mechanic blocks the pilot's shot when he steps forward to continue the fight with Indy.
- Bring It: He challenges Indy to fight him.
- British Nazis:: He's played by a British wrestler.
- The Brute: He's the only physically imposing Nazi in the whole movie and apparently he seems to enjoy good fisticuffs.
- Boxing Battler: Unlike other German soldiers, he likes to fight with his fists. The novelization reveals that he enjoys boxing and is experienced in the sport.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He gets chopped up by a plane propeller.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: He's much tougher than Indy, but the vicious torrent of punches that Indy delivers to him do eventually end up breaking and bloodying the Nazi's nose, at the very least.
- Determinator: Indy kicks him in the groin, bites his arm and breaks his nose, but the giant Nazi still keeps fighting him totally unfazed. It only takes the plane propeller to take him out for good.
- Dumb Muscle: Of course for being a mechanic he must displays some sort of intelligence, but at the end he's so eager for a good fight that he doesn't even pay attention to his own safety. This causes him to die in a very horrible way.
- Elite Mook: As far as the story goes, he's just another Nazi henchman, but he's the only one in the entire movie to give Indy a good fight.
- Failed a Spot Check: Somehow he didn't feel the wind from the propeller right behind him. Or even hear it turning for that matter...
- Giant Mook: He is a really big and muscular Nazi soldier, and gives Indy one hell of a beating during their fight. He's arguably the Trope Codifier.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We don't actually see the propeller blades hit him, just his blood splattering on the swastika and pilot window when they do.
- Groin Attack: To start off their fight, Indy kicks him below the belt. He doesn't even react.
- Man Bites Man: Indy bites him during their fight.
- Nasal Trauma: Indy viciously breaks his nose during the fight. That still doesn't stop him though.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He beats Indy quite badly and actually gets the better of him for most of the fight. Actually Indy had very little if not zero chances to beat him if it wasn't for the plane propeller...
- Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he sees the propeller coming towards him. He only has time to let out one quick scream before he is chopped to pieces.
- Skewed Priorities: He is not at all fazed that his colleague is injured, Marion has hijacked the plane, and the tanker truck is leaking fuel everywhere. He is only interested in beating up Indy.
- Smug Snake: He's big and strong and awfully confident about it.
- Strong and Skilled: While Indy wings haymakers from last week, the mechanic throws short, fast, precise strikes and repeatedly beats Jones to the punch; and going by Indy's reaction, each and every one of those hits like a ton of bricks.
- Villainous Valour: He actually wants to fight Indy one-on-one in a fist-fight.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: He fights with Indy totally shirtless until his death.
- Worthy Opponent: Seems to view Indy as this. When he knocks him down, instead of kicking him like a normal villain would do, he simply orders him to continue fighting.
Cairo Swordsman
Cairo Swordsman
Played By: Terry Richards
An unnamed local man in Cairo who challenged Indy to a sword duel, though this attempt gets (quite literally) shot down.
- Advertised Extra: He's featured on one of the posters
◊, despite appearing onscreen for less than one minute. - Brownface: Terry Richards was a white British stuntman, and played an Arabic swordsman.
- Cool Sword: He has a quite impressive-looking scimitar. It's no use against Indy's revolver though.
- The Dreaded: The crowd of people immediately part as they see him approaching impying that he's a well known and feared figure. Only Indy is not intimidated in the slightest.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: All in all, he cuts an imposing figure with his unique black outfit and sword skills, and would likely have proven a fearsome enemy. Problem is, he's not bulletproof.
- Master Swordsman: Alas (for him), he's up against a man with a gun.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: He pulls out a Sinister Scimitar to face Indy — and is quickly shot dead.
- Sinister Scimitar: His weapon, it would've been quite useful for him if it weren't for these two things:
- 1. Harrison Ford (who played Indy) was sick with dysentery at the time...
- ...and...
- 2. ...Indy brought a gun with him.
- Smug Snake: He's quite arrogant in showing his skills with his sword and it's quite evident he's thinking that Indy can't beat him. How wrong he was...
- Too Dumb to Live: Even a master swordsman like him should have known that it was not a really good idea to challenge someone who very visibly has a gun in a swordfight.
- Weapon Twirling: He's rather fond of this. Indy, however, is not impressed, and just shoots him.
Tough Sergeant
Tough Sergeant
Played By: Sergio Mioni
The sergeant of the squad of German soldiers onboard the truck carrying the Ark who fight Indy during his hijacking of it.
- Attack the Injury: He quickly sees that Indy's arm is hurt (a prior soldier had managed to shoot Indy in the shoulder), so without hesitating he punches Indy in the injured shoulder several times.
- Bald of Evil: He's a Mook Lieutenant with thinning hair.
- Combat Pragmatist: He recognizes that Indy's shoulder is wounded and immediately hits it.
- Foreign Cuss Word: He mutters "Scheiße" (Aka "Shit") when his last soldier is thrown out of the truck.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Little is shown when he falls under the wheels at the end of their fight.
- Mook Lieutenant: He's the commander of a group of other mooks. He's even one rank away from being an actual lieutenant.
- Perpetual Frowner: He is grim and unsmiling, athough to be fair, he is conducting a serious mission coming under severe threat.
- Sergeant Rock: A villainous version who barks orders harshly at his men but is willing to take the same risks himself.
- Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: He is a Mook Lieutenant who manages to get the jump on Indy and gets the better of Indy for awhile, beating Jones up and then throwing him out of the truck. Indy was very lucky to avoid being killed then and there.
- Villainous Valor: He braves going over the top of the truck to face Indy.
Monkey Man
Monkey Man
Played By: Vic Taliban
A henchman of the Nazis in Cairo.
- Badass Biker: He is tough-looking and drives around on a motorcycle.
- Eyepatch of Power: He is a sinister spy with an eyepatch.
- Mook Lieutenant: He seems to have some authority over the local thugs hired by Belloq.
- Right-Hand Cat: He is a villain with a right-hand monkey.
- Sinister Surveillance: He follows Indiana, Marion and Sallah through Cairo, with some help from his monkey, to sinister music accompaniment.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: He tries to poison Indy's dates but kills his own pet instead.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He disappears from the film after his monkey dies.
- You Look Familiar: He's played by the same actor who plays Barranca at the movie's beginning.
Giant Sherpa
Giant Sherpa
Played By: Pat Roach
One of Toht's henchmen in Nepal.
- The Cavalry: A villainous version, waiting outside while the others went to accost Marion and coming in to help when he hears a struggle.
- Enemy Mine: After Toht tells another henchman to shoot them both he briefly helps Indiana kill that man.
- Made of Iron: He takes several injuries without slowing down.
- Man on Fire: His arm is briefly set on fire but he keeps punching anyway.
- Uncertain Doom: He's punched out and left inside the bar, which is on fire, but not completely engulfed in flames.
2nd Mechanic
2nd Mechanic
Played By: Glenn Randall Jr.
Another mechanic who fights Indy at the landing strip.
- Non-Indicative Name: He's actually the first of the two mechanics to fight Indy, but due to being less iconic than his fellow, he's often referred to as the 2nd mechanic.
- Oh, Crap!: When he wakes up to find gasoline flowing across the area and some nearby fires, he wisely decides to Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
- Wrench Whack: Being far less brawny than his coworker, he tries to fight Indiana with a large wrench, but fails.
