Idol Missing — Army Intelligence Wants Abner
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Brody examines artifacts from Indy's Peruvian expedition, revealing his distraction and concern.
Indy and Brody discuss the missing idol and Belloq's uncertain fate.
Brody hints at an Army Intelligence request, shifting the conversation to a new mission concerning Abner Ravenwood.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Surface bitterness and sarcasm masking a deeper worry — terse and slightly defensive, shifting quickly to guarded concern when the Army is mentioned.
Indy is present in his tweedy academic mode, closing a book, removing his glasses, helping the TA place reference volumes, making a bitter offhand remark about the Indians and Belloq, and reacting with private concern when Brody reveals Army Intelligence is looking for Abner.
- • Minimize personal inconvenience and shield his academic routine
- • Gauge the significance of Brody's news and protect himself from official scrutiny
- • Artifacts are professionally negotiable (can be sold to the Museum)
- • Personal archaeological matters should remain separate from military authority
- • Belloq is untrustworthy and the indigenous handlers are culpable
Worried and businesslike — anxious about unresolved matters but careful to shield Indy from alarm until necessary.
Brody examines Indy's Peruvian trinkets with a jeweller's eyepiece, appears distracted and worried, and shifts the room's tone by informing Indy that Army Intelligence is present and looking for Abner Ravenwood.
- • Convey critical information to Indy without causing undue panic
- • Ensure the artifacts are processed and the Museum's interests preserved
- • The Museum should acquire and catalogue artifacts responsibly
- • Army involvement is serious and changes the stakes of private disputes
- • Indy's expertise and discretion are valuable
Polite, solicitous, and oblivious to the larger tension — focused on performing a helpful, administrative task.
Phil, Indy's eager teaching assistant, barges in with an arm-load of reference books, reports the McNabe is checked out, asks if anything else is needed, and exits after Indy dismisses him — his intrusion momentarily grounds the scene in campus routine.
- • Deliver the requested reference books and inform Indy of library availability
- • Remain useful to his professor and avoid causing trouble
- • Professor needs academic resources more than anything else
- • Small procedural problems (checked-out books) are worth reporting
Lighthearted amusement; they are spectators rather than participants.
Two coeds pause at Indy's office door, take a quick, amused look at their attractive archaeology professor, giggle, and leave — their brief presence reinforces the domestic campus tone before the urgency arrives.
- • Enjoy a brief, teasing moment of student life
- • Reinforce Indy's persona as a charismatic professor
- • The professor is an object of playful attention
- • Campus life continues even amid weightier matters
Emile Belloq is referenced in Indy's remark and Brody's earlier mention; he is not physically present but functions as the …
Abner Ravenwood is invoked by Brody as the person Army Intelligence seeks; he is not present, but his name converts …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A cluster of pocket-sized Peruvian trinkets that Indy pocketed are spread across Indy's office and are being examined by Brody; they function as the scene's tangible link to Indy's recent temple raid and prompt institutional interest and valuation.
The jeweled idol is the off-stage MacGuffin discussed by Brody and Indy: its absence and Belloq's role in its disappearance provide emotional fuel and motive. It catalyzes Indy's bitterness and frames the artifacts' significance.
Brody intermittently uses his jeweller's eyepiece to scrutinize small artifacts on Indy's desk; it emphasizes his curatorly professionalism and the institutional valuation of Indy's finds in the moment the scene pivots to government intervention.
Indy's reading glasses are used to inspect fine print at the scene's start; he snaps the book closed and removes them to focus on Brody, a small physical beat that signals shift from casual scholarship to personal engagement.
The McNabe reference book is referenced by the TA as unavailable (checked out), serving as a mundane subplot that underscores campus normalcy and small frustrations in contrast to the larger, emergent military interest.
The TA's arm-load of reference books is carried into the office, set down with Indy's help, and functions as a domestic interruption that grounds the scene in daily academic life before Brody's governmental news raises the stakes.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Peruvian temple is mentioned as the off-stage source of Indy's recent artifacts and the jeweled idol; its perilous past (traps, theft) infuses the conversation with danger and moral ambiguity even though it is not shown.
Indy's cramped office is the scene's stage: cluttered with books, maps, etchings, and artifacts, with a deliberately cleared desk for Brody. It contains domestic campus details and becomes the space where scholarly intimacy is disrupted by a government summons.
The New England campus outside the office provides the scene's seasonal, everyday backdrop: life continuing normally (students, coeds giggling) which contrasts the eruption of urgency inside the office.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Army Intelligence is the unseen institutional force that Brody reports has come looking for Abner Ravenwood. Their involvement instantly reframes a private archaeological dispute as a matter of national importance and pushes Indy toward official scrutiny and obligation.
The National Museum is present via Marcus Brody as the institutional buyer and custodian of artifacts; Brody's assurance that 'The Museum will buy them' positions the museum as the pragmatic steward of Indy's finds while also mediating between Indy and external authorities.
The Small Eastern College functions as Indy's employer and the everyday institutional context for the scene — its routines and students contrast the intrusion of Army Intelligence and heighten the sense of normal life interrupted by geopolitics.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"BRODY: Do you think the idol will ever show up?"
"INDY: I don’t know. Just because Belloq had it doesn’t mean he kept it."
"BRODY: Army Intelligence. They’re looking for Abner."