Holy Grail

**The Holy Grail** is an object from English myth, featured in the *Indiana Jones* franchise.

## Description

The Holy Grail is a simple, metal cup with magical properties. As a result of having allegedly held the crucified blood of the Christian messiah, Jesus Christ, the grail grants youth and immortality to those who drink from its water. However, the grail's powers only worked within the *Temple of the Sun* in the *Canyon of the Crescent Moon* of *Hatay* and could not be removed without said temple being destroyed.

## History

### Mythology

In real-life mythology, the Holy Grail is based on the *Cauldron of Change* which belonged to the welsh enchantress Cerridwen. This cauldron became combined with a grail in the Arthurian story of the Fisher King. The grail in this story was a minor artifact which centuries after the stories publication, English monks affiliated with a Roman chalice which caught the blood of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion and which he drank from during the Last Supper.

The Holy Grail served as a common McGuffin in these later Arthurian tales, being an object sought after by the Knights of the Round Table. These stories included Sir Lancelot being denied access to the grail as a result of his infidelity with the king's wife while his son Sir Gawain successfully obtained the grail and was rewarded with a space in heaven.

### Indiana Jones

Circa 30-33 AD, the grail was a cup supposedly used by Jesus Christ during the last supper which was later used to catch his spilled blood during his crucifixion. Following this, the cup was entrusted to Christ's disciple Joseph of Arimathea whom assumed the role of arranging Jesus' burial. In 37 AD, Joseph travelled to Great Britain where the grail was kept in Glastonbury Abbey before disappearing.

By the 6th century, the grail was discovered by one King Arthur Pendragon who left it with his loyal ally Sir Bedivere. After Arthur's death at the hands of his nephew Mordred around 536 AD, Sir Bedivere took the grail to a site where Joseph of Arimathea had established a hermitage. When Camelot was invaded and destroyed by Anglo-Saxons, Sir Galahad transported the grail to a monastery in Iona.

In the ninth century, the Iona monastery was ransacked by vikings and the grail passed hands for many years. In the year 1000, an unknown man in Hatay obtained the grail and housed it within the *Temple of the Sun* in the *Canyon of the Crescent Moon*. Those who kept the temple established the *Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword* to keep the grail safe as a result of the great power which it held. By unknown means, a seal was constructed within the temple which prevented the grail from ever being removed from the Temple of the Sun.

Towards the end of the century, this temple was visited by three brothers who were French knights partaking in the first crusade. These brothers pledged to protect the grail and stayed within the temple for roughly one hundred and fifty years during which time they designed three booby-traps to prove one's worth to the grail. The bravest and most worthy of these three brothers was ultimately chosen to stay within the temple and protect the grail's chamber until another would prove themselves worthy and claim his duty. This knight would remain in the temple for 700 years however whenever his spirit wavered and became less worthy, he would age one day until his body was that of an elderly man.

In 1938, the grail became sought after by the German Nazi Party with assistance from American industrial tycoon Walter Donovan and Austrian art-historian Dr. Elsa Schneider. The nazis intended on finding the grail by kidnapping archeological professor Henry Jones, Sr. who had spent much of his life studying the grail's history. They later monitored Jones' son, the adventurer/archaeologist Indiana Jones when he used his father's research to further the expedition as a means of finding his father. Indiana managed to free his father with both parties managing to find their ways to the Temple of the Sun.

Henry Sr. was shot by the nazis as a means of forcing Indiana to use his skills and conquer the temple's traps with Elsa and Donavan close behind. When the three found their way to the grail's chamber, the grail knight assumed Indiana to be a knight sent to relieve him of his duty before Elsa and Walter entered the chamber. Elsa chose the wrong grail for Walther to drink from, killing him with Indiana later choosing the correct grail and save his father.

The grail was later taken past the temple's seal causing the temple to begin collapsing. The grail fell into a crevice caused by the cup's removal with Elsa attempting to recover it. Ultimately Elsa fell into the gorge and the Jones team chose to abandon the cup.

## Appearances and allusions

### Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar

The Holy Grail's likeness is on a sign in this bar which forbids the trading of magical artifacts as currency. The menu also indirectly references the Holy Grail via the drinks, "Donovan's Dilemma" and, the "Bedtime Story".

## Connections

### Fantasyland

Several entities from Arthurian myth are featured in the mythology of Fantasyland in the Disney Parks. This includes the sword in the stone, Sir Lancelot's carousel and Merlin being affiliated with Main Street, U.S.A., keeping a dragon under Sleeping Beauty Castle, keeping the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom.

## References

1. ↑ https://touringplans.com/blog/s6\_indianajones/