Madere - Last Crusade

This scene, taken from the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is indicative that Indiana has reached the final stage 0f the knight's quest--that of the Grail Knight. Although each stage of the knight's quest is highlighted individually in each Indiana Jones movie--the Mercenary Knight in Temple of Doom, the Indentured Knight in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and of course the Grail Knight in Last Crusade--scenes that portray Indiana in each of these roles all appear in the final movie.

The scene that shows Indiana Jones as a Mercenary Knight in Last Crusade happens at the very beginning of the movie when he discovers the cross of Coronado in a cave in Utah. Despite the fact that the cross was found by someone else (and thus belongs to him), and despite Indiana's righteous quote, "It belongs in a museum," it is clear from the look on Indy's face that he's somewhat starstruck by the cross. While it is clear that he steals the cross with the intent of having displayed in museum, there is also an undercurrent of perhaps wanting to be the person who famously recovered it. The scene immediately following this one also sets the story for Indiana's overall "anything goes" Mercenary Knight attitude in Temple of Doom, as he is betrayed, and this squashes any intent he had to go on his quest for any higher purpose than money and glory.

The scene in Last Crusade that shows Indiana Jones as an Indentured Knight are the scenes where Indy agrees to go on the journey to find his father at Donovan's request and on Donovan's dime. It is clear that he is only on the quest to serve one end--to find his father--and, unbeknownst to him, becomes Donovan's puppet in his quest to find the Grail and, ultimately, eternal life and power.

Indiana's transition into Grail Knight in Last Crusade begins with the scenes conquering the three tasks that you must pass in order to prove yourself worthy of finding the Grail. These scenes show Indiana's new found faith and belief in God and the Grail, as well as his exhibiting the mythic characteristics needed for a Grail Knight. His transition is complete when, in the second-to-last scene of the movie, he gives up reaching for the Grail (and eternal life, fortune, and glory) in order to save his life and the life of his comrades. This scene proves that he has conquered his demons and his love of material things and grasped onto a larger purpose.

Kuebler-The Last Crusade

As my classmates before me mentioned, the trilogy of Indiana Jones serves as a three part reflection on the trials of the knight. Yet each movie seems to hold in it a set of its own tasks. In the Last Crusade we first see Indy as a very young boy fighting for what he believes is right. He lost, but that doesn't mean that he has to like it. Years later we see him still pursuing the same artifact that he feels "belongs in a museum." As the mercenary knight he fights for what he believes and seems to always get away by the hair on his chin.

We transition past the rogue, thief, and mercenary knight and move on to the indentured knight where we find Indy needing to look for his father. Yet it is not just for this reason, he is working for a man who he cannot trust and seems to be a knight on a quest. But it is not until he is with his father that his decision must come. He can either save his friend and the maps and leave the book or continue along on the grail quest to serve a higher purpose. Indy’s father does a good job of convincing him even though Indy is still a non-believer in the grail’s power. Finally as they enter the temple, Indy becomes a knight of the grail and while still technically unworthy of the grail he is able to take up the challenge. He is not seeking the grail for the glory of himself but of sacrifice and care for his father. Indy is able to retrieve the grail and is proven worthy by not being taken by the temptress who killed the last man.

It is not until he listens to his father and releases the grail that he is a fully realized knight. It is because of these stages that we see the transformation of one man into legend. If he was anyone else these events would have never taken place, but that’s not much fun. Indiana Jones, through these quests, is made into more than human. He is a knight of Arthurian Legend and is fit to live on for eternity.

Cutler: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy changes from mercenary knight to indentured knight and finally to the Holy Grail quest knight. The first scene in this film where Indy is shown as a mercenary knight is when he steals Coronado's cross from the bandits in Utah. Even though he is doing it for a good cause ("it belongs in a museum"), he is still stealing it, therefore doing it for his own gain. The next scene shows Indy as an indentured knight. He and his father narrowly escape the Nazis and come to a crossroads. Indy wants to go find Elsa, but Henry Sr wants to retrieve his diary in the enemy territory (Berlin). Indy begrudgingly obeys his father and becomes indentured to him and his quest to find the Holy Grail. Finally, we see Indy as a Grail quest knight. After years of his distant relationship with his father, Indy realizes that he is on a spiritual quest to find the Grail and he must respect that. He joins his father in finding the Grail. The scene when Henry Sr is shot, Indy becomes a Grail quest knight and follows his father's dream by searching for the Grail using his diary. He uses his knowledge that his father had instilled in him all throughout his life to realize that the Grail is modest and not flashy, so he picks the right one. In the end, Indy narrowly escapes but he has the knowledge that he found the Grail with help from his father.

Gooch- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Although each of the movies in the Indiana Jones trilogy is meant to show Indiana’s journey through each stage of knightly formation, The Last Crusade has elements of all three stages in one movie. This last mission of the trilogy is the perfect mission for him to fully transform into the Aristocratic, or Spiritual, Knight because it is personal. The journey with the father he barely knows challenges Indy to search more inside himself for what he believes. He is challenged to confront his

past and the resentment he holds against his father. The first part of The Last Crusade explains where Indiana’s love for escaping death in the pursuit of ancient artifacts was first born. In this back story, we see so many reasons why Indiana Jones is the way he is: his fear of snakes, his belief in preserving artifacts, why he has little belief in the law, and the distance between him and his father. In the ending scene of the back-story he is confronted with his pursuers and the sheriff, being forced to give the crucifix back. In this scene we see how he is formed into a Mercenary Knight. He no longer believes the law can help him, so instead he works on his own fighting without belief in the cause, but simply to achieve the artifacts and achieve

the thrill.

Then as Indiana finds out that his father is in trouble, he becomes much more invested in his mission to save him. This personal connection attaches Indiana to a bigger cause and transforms him into the Indentured Knight. We see how much he lacks spiritually still when we compare him to his father. His father is on this journey not for the thrill or to retrieve an artifact, but to protect the artifact from evil and find “illumination.” This is shown in the scene where Indiana is at the cross roads with his dad arguing about where to go. His father explains why he has searched for so long for the Holy Grail, but Indiana still won’t believe because he has suffered from his father’s dedication to his mission.

We see Indiana reach his final stage at the end of the movie when he has to retrieve the Holy Grail in order to save his father. He has to go through three stages that are no longer based simply on cunning, like his previous tests, but on spiritual kn

owledge. We see him accept his role as a Spiritual Knight when he is hanging from his father’s arm trying to reach the grail. He is faced with the choice to risk his life one more time and retrieve an ancient artifact, or simply appreciate what it had done to save his father and leave it behind. In his refusal to reach for it and walk away with his father, he proves his worthiness to be a Spiritual Knight.

Bloo - Last Crusade

In the Indiana Jones Trilogy, we see Indiana Jones in different stages of the knight’s journey. In Temple of Doom, we see Indiana’s transformation from a mercenary knight into an indentured knight, and in Raiders of the Lost Ark we see him again as an indentured knight. However, his journey is not yet completed. He has to go on a Grail quest in order to become a Grail quest knight. This final stage is shown

in the Last Crusade, but not only do we get to see him as a Grail quest knight, we also see the other stages of his journey as

well. All these stages come back in the film to show Indiana’s development and it helps the audience to understand where Indiana is coming from.

In the first scene, Indiana Jones is presented as a mercenary knight. He steels the Cross of Coronado, which he had stolen

before when he was a child. Even though he acknowledges the value of the Cross by saying ‘’it belongs in a museum’’, in the end he also steels it for his own good.

Throughout the film, Indy transforms into the indentured knight. Serving for a lord is one characteristic of the indentured

knight. In the beginning of the film, Walter Donovan is his ‘’lord’’, because he assigns Indiana to find the grail. He gets another task, when he learns that the Nazis are also looking for the grail and have bad intentions with it plus they have abducted his father. Indiana must find the grail first to save the world.



One of the elements that belongs to the Grail quest knight is that the knight must atone with his father and submit to his ‘’spiritual authority’’. Henry Jones senior represents the spiritual authority, he understands that it is not about the chalice but about ‘’illumination’’. Indiana, on the contrary, does not understand this. After eluding the Nazi soldiers on the motorcycles, Indy and his father come to a fork in the road with a sign indicating left to Berlin where the diary is or right to Venice, to save Marcus. Because Indiana is still in the stage of the indentured knight, he wants to go to Venice, because he feels an obligation to Marcus to save him. However, his father understands the spirituality that comes with finding the Grail and tries to convince Indiana to go to Berlin. Eventually, Indiana submits to his father’s will and they go to Berlin. This shows that Indiana partially understands that it is not about finding the Grail itself but about spiritual enlightenment.

Lazo - The Last Crusade

The Indiana Jones trilogy as a whole depicts the three stages of a knight's quest: mercenary, indentured, and Grail quest. There is, however, a depiction of all three stages in The Last Crusade. The condensing of the knight's journey into one film highlights the shift in authority figures as the knight transitions from mercenary to Grail quest.

Indy is first scene as a mercenary knight on the boat by the Portuguese coast. This is best shown by the transition that precedes this scene. The mercenary gives Young Indy his hat, and the film immediately shifts to 1938, underscoring that Indy is, on some level, imitating that rogue who gave him the hat so many years prior. Further, Indy is stealing. No matter how much he says, "It belongs in a museum," he is exercising his own rogue interpretations of right and wrong by stealing the Cross of Coronado. Even though he is getting the cross for a museum, he is answering to no one but himself.

Indy reclaims his position as an indentured knight when he answers the government's call to find his father and seek the Holy Grail. Here, he is serving two master: his father and his government. Indy must save his father because, well, he's his father. He is also once again helping his country by seeking the Grail to keep it from the Nazis, who would use it for evil. His motives are greater than that of money or his own interests; instead, they serve a greater authority in the forms of his father and government.


One of the most significant scenes comes after Indy has rescued Henry Jones, Sr. Father and son arrive at a physical fork in the road that represents the two paths Indy can take. He can either go to Venice and try to save Marcus, making him an indentured knight (interested in a greater good, but not a spiritual one) or head to Berlin to retrieve the Grail diary, becoming a Grail knight. Henry convinces Indy of the importance of the diary, saying that the quest for the Grail is bigger than any one man and emphasizes the spirituality of discovering it. They go to Berlin. Indy accepts the Grail quest with an understanding and faith in a greater power above humanity in the form of God.

Henry Last Crusade Blog

Indiana Jones has been through a lot and we have seen that he not not have the easiest job. Especially since people are constantly trying to kill him, but lets face it, he has to love the chase. if not he would not have come this far. first and foremost, he is a mercenary knight and his aligence belongs to the highest bidder. Yet, we saw in Temple of Doom that his aligence involved the village and thier value. In The Last Cruasde Indy goes through three different stages on his quest for the Grail. First, on his knight's journey he is a mercenary knight. In the scene where he finally recovers the crusifics from the guy in white coat his aligence belongs to his boss. He puts his life on the line to get this rare artifact. He finally besomes a Grail quest knigh when he ans his father came to a cross roads between Berlin and Venice. I believe he sought the secrets of reaching the Grail at this moment rather then simply going off instinct once he finally reached the cave. From this moment on he started to believe and understand that its not all about glory, unless its glory to the highter power. These stages are critiqued because they add up to the Indiana that ultimately lets the Grail go at the end.