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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

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Indiana Jones: The Fate of Atlantis (Part 4) Indiana Jones
"The Fate of Atlantis" Part 4

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis #4
Dark Horse Comics
From a story by Hal Barwood & Noah Falstein
Comic book plotted by Mike Richardson and William Messner-Loebs
Script, pencils, inks, and colors by Dan Barry
Lettering by Gail Beckett
Cover by Dave Dorman

September 1991

The final showdown against Nazis, supernatural forces, and the power of Atlantis.

 

Read the video game story summary at the Indiana Jones Wiki

 

Notes from the Indiana Jones chronology

 

This story takes place in May 1939.

 

Didja Know?

 

The Fate of Atlantis is a 1992 graphic adventure computer game published by LucasArts for MS-DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, and FMTowns personal computer systems.

 

A four-issue comic book mini-series was published by Dark Horse Comics in conjunction with the computer game's release.

 

A fan-written novelization of the game and comic book was released online for free from 2010-2013. The book by Dale Dassel is generally held in high regard for its quality of writing and research.

 

Notes from The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones

 

The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones is a 2008 publication that purports to be Indy's journal as seen throughout The Young Indiana Chronicles TV series and the big screen Indiana Jones movies. The publication is also annotated with notes from a functionary of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, the successor agency of the Soviet Union's KGB security agency. The KGB relieved Indy of his journal in 1957 during the events of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The notations imply the journal was released to other governments by the FSB in the early 21st Century. However, some bookend segments of The Young Indiana Chronicles depict Old Indy still in possession of the journal in 1992. The discrepancy has never been resolved. 

 

The journal as published skips from entries shortly after the events of The Last Crusade in June 1938 to those of The Fate of Atlantis in May 1939.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

 

Colonel Klaus Kerner (dies in this issue)

Professor Übermann (dies in this issue)

Sophia Hapgood

Nazi soldiers

Charles Sternhart (mentioned only, deceased)

Marcus Brody

Jerry Travis

college football players

 

Didja Notice?

 

On page 2, Übermann refers to Sophia as the Cassandra of Park Avenue. In "The Fate of Atlantis" Part 2, she was referred to as the Cassandra of Commonwealth Avenue. Park Avenue is a major boulevard in New York City and the home of many world famous businesses. Cassandra was a priestess in Greek mythology who was cursed to tell prophesies of the future but never to be believed.

 

On page 2, a German soldier says, "Mein gott!" This is German for "My god!"

 

On page 4, nein is German for "no". 

 

In the last panel of page 4, is it just me, or does Indy (here in a stolen German soldier uniform) look more like Leonard Nimoy than Harrison Ford?? Harrison Nimoy

 

On page 15, a Nazi soldier says, "Leiber gott!" This is German for "Dear God!"

 

On page 16, Kerner says, "Vas zum teufel?" and Übermann says, "Katastroph!" These are German for

"What the hell?" and "Catastrophe!"

 

On page 19, when Kerner tries to steal Übermann's chance to become a god, Übermann refers to Kerner as schweinhund. This is German for "pig".

 

As Kerner begins absorbing god power, he declares that he will rule the world and refers to Hitler as a Bavarian upstart. Bavaria is a state in Germany. Hitler was not born there, but did spend a couple years there with this family as a youth and acquired a lower Bavarian accent in that time which never left him.

 

After Kerner is destroyed by the power of the god machine, Übermann takes his turn, proclaiming, "Ahh, Valhalla! Open your gates! Ich komme! Ich komme!" "Ich komme!" is German for "I'm coming!" Valhalla is a hall of honored warriors in the world of Asgard, home of the Norse gods.

 

The gun Indy secures from a Nazi soldier on page 20 is probably meant to be an MP-40, though it looks a little bit off. The MP-40 is an submachine gun model developed in Nazi Germany and in use there from 1939-1945.

 

When Indy manages to get the Atlantean drill vehicle started on page 22, he shouts "Eureka!" "Eureka" is an exclamation derived from Greek representing a personal celebration of having made a discovery, attributed to Archimedes.

 

The comic book establishes Atlantis as located about 7.5 miles from Thera, Santorini. But when Indy and Sophia escape the destruction of Atlantis and emerge on the surface of the Aegean Sea, Indy claims he sees Crete up ahead. Yet, Crete is about 50 miles from Thera, so Thera would be much more likely to be seen on the horizon.

 

Panel 2 of page 24 shows a brass plaque mounted on the entry gate of Barnett College that seems to proclaim its founding in 1823. But in The Last Crusade, the establishing shot of the college shows an 1895 founding date on its signage.

 

At the end of the story, back in the U.S., Sophie has apparently written an Atlantis paper that has the academic world buzzing and she has been given a full professorship at Barnett College and she has ended her professional career as a psychic.

 

Indiana Jones: The Fate of Atlantis Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Video game
Story by Hal Barwood & Noah Falstein
Developed and published by LucasArts
1992

 

Didja Notice?

 

At one point in the game, Indy comments on seeing a sandwich which he calls "worthy of Dagwood Bumstead." Dagwood Bumstead is the main character of the comic strip Blondie (Blondie being his wife). Dagwood is known for building himself skyscraper-like sandwiches filled with layer upon layer of meat, cheese, tomato, lettuce, condiments, etc.

 

At another point in the game, Sophia calls Indy a "troglodyte". "Troglodyte" is a popular generic term for a caveman or -woman.

 

A pair of in-jokes occur in the game to George Lucas' 1973 film American Graffiti: Indy sees some writing carved into the stone walls of the underwater labyrinth and calls it "Atlantean Graffiti". A bit later, he and Sophia enter a chamber housing a giant robotic transport with a bull motif; on the wall of this chamber he sees "More Atlantean graffiti", a reference to More American Graffiti, the 1979 sequel film, in which Lucas was not directly involved. 

 

The robotic transport design may be a nod to the Imperial Troop Transport from the Star Wars toy line produced by Kenner for the first time in 1979.
Atlantean transport Imperial Troop Transport
Atlantean transport Imperial Troop Transport toy by Kenner
(photo from the
Star Wars Merchandise Wiki)

 

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Notes from the computer game novelization by Dale Dassel
(pages 268-end roughly cover the events of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis #4)

 

Summary of this portion of the novelization

 

The Nazi expedition successfully penetrates the submerged ruins of Atlantis, discovering that the legendary city lies sealed within a massive pressurized air pocket and is still partially powered by its ancient technology. Sophia Hapgood, long devoted to the myth of Atlantis, is immediately shaken by the reality: instead of a radiant utopia, the city is a decaying, industrial labyrinth of mold-stained stone, rusted mechanisms, and utilitarian architecture. Colonel Klaus Kerner and physicist Hans Übermann dismiss any disappointment, focusing instead on the exploitation of orichalcum, the Atlantean energy source they believe will secure Germany’s technological dominance. As the Nazis establish a base, deploy radio equipment, and divide into survey teams, Atlantis is reframed not as a lost paradise but as the skeletal remains of an extinct technological superpower.

 

Using three ancient keystones recovered from earlier sites, the Nazis open monumental bronze gateways that lead deeper into the city. Inside, they encounter astonishing remnants of Atlantean science: motion-sensitive "light coils", electrically powered systems without visible wiring, subterranean transit tunnels, and massive industrial chambers. Übermann theorizes that Atlantis is structured like an atom, with its greatest power source hidden at its core, and organizes mapping parties to locate the central refinery. Sophia grows increasingly cynical as each discovery reinforces the idea that Atlantis was not a spiritual golden age but an advanced—and ultimately doomed—industrial civilization that exhausted itself. The city’s hybrid iconography, blending Egyptian, Minoan, Mesoamerican, and other ancient motifs, suggests Atlantis as the lost progenitor of later human cultures.

 

Indiana Jones, secretly alive and disguised as a Nazi cartographer, explores Atlantis alongside German survey teams. While maintaining his cover, he studies the city’s impossible engineering and confirms that Atlantean technology surpasses anything known to modern science. He sabotages patrols, knocks out soldiers, and uses captured radio equipment to manipulate Nazi movements, all while trying to locate Sophia before the Germans realize he is alive. Indy and Sophia later reunite independently of the Nazi groups, and together they navigate flooded corridors, cave-ins, biological hazards, and bizarre ecosystems—most memorably a chamber overrun by bioluminescent crabs fed by a malfunctioning light coil, which Indy destroys to clear their path.

 

As the Nazi operation begins to unravel, multiple survey teams go missing, radio contact fails, and Kerner’s confidence gives way to paranoia and rage. The promised caches of orichalcum fail to materialize, and the city’s maze-like design defeats systematic exploration. Internal power struggles sharpen between Kerner, who wants immediate extraction of resources, and Übermann, whose obsession with theoretical mastery blinds him to the collapsing operation. The Nazis’ sense of inevitability erodes as Atlantis resists being conquered, not through defenses, but through scale, decay, and indifference.

 

Sophia is separated from Indy and captured by Abwehr agent Fleischer, who reveals herself to be Tristen Fleischer, a woman posing as a man within Nazi intelligence. Tristen imprisons Sophia in a detention chamber and attempts to coerce and sexually assault her, exposing the moral rot and predatory cruelty at the heart of the Nazi expedition. Sophia resists, both physically and psychologically, reinforcing her transformation from idealistic mystic to hardened survivor. Indy ultimately rescues her, further destabilizing Nazi control and confirming that the city itself has become a battleground of wills rather than armies.

 

Indy and Sophia enter a vast lava-lit sanctuary deep within Atlantis, where Sophia suddenly falls into a trance. The cursed Atlantean necklace allows the spirit of the ancient high priest Nur-Ab-Sal to fully possess her, intending to transfer his soul into her body and reclaim his throne. Using Sophia’s voice and memories, Nur-Ab-Sal taunts Indy and condemns modern humanity for denying the old gods. Indy realizes the possession has been building since Sophia first found the necklace years earlier and that her soul is in immediate danger.

Thinking quickly, Indy uses orichalcum to overload the necklace, forcing Sophia to tear it from her neck. He destroys it by hurling it into the lava pit, severing Nur-Ab-Sal’s hold forever. Sophia collapses, freed but shaken, and the ancient spirit is finally silenced. Together, they leave the infernal chamber and continue toward Atlantis’s inner ring, unaware that the city itself is nearing catastrophic collapse.

Indy and Sophia discover the orichalcum mines—vast industrial caverns filled with abandoned Atlantean machines, robotic sentries, and the colossal drilling device known as the Megataur. Their exploration is interrupted when Nazi forces capture them. Dr. Übermann and Colonel Kerner reveal their plan to weaponize orichalcum and achieve godhood through an ancient Atlantean machine built into the volcano.

Kerner betrays Übermann, murdering him and initiating the transformation himself. The experiment grotesquely mutates Kerner, granting him immense power at the cost of his humanity. The Atlantean machine overloads and shuts down, rejecting him and plunging the chamber into darkness. Kerner’s body disintegrates in agony, and the god machine finally dies after millennia of operation.

With the machine destroyed, Atlantis begins to collapse. Lava breaches the mining city as earthquakes tear through the caverns. Indy and Sophia flee through the collapsing mines, fighting off remaining Nazis and narrowly escaping avalanching machinery. They reactivate the ancient subway train and race through the tunnels as magma floods the passages behind them.

The destruction accelerates as the volcanic chamber housing Atlantis destabilizes completely. Indy and Sophia escape the mines and race through the city as bridges collapse, towers crumble, and rivers of molten orichalcum pour through the streets. Sophia nearly succumbs to exhaustion and despair, but Indy urges her onward, reminding her of her promise to deliver Karl Sankt’s final letter to his wife.

They reach the Nazi U-boat just as the city’s sea barrier fails. Water pours in while lava surges upward, turning the cavern into a boiling pressure cooker. Indy risks his life to retrieve his fedora before sealing the hatch, and the submarine dives away moments before Atlantis is obliterated by a volcanic eruption. The city vanishes beneath fire, water, and stone—its secrets lost once more.

On the surface, Indy and Sophia stand together on the U-boat’s deck as the volcano erupts far below the sea, sending a massive plume of ash skyward that resembles the clenched fist of an angry god. Watching Atlantis’s final destruction, Indy reflects that Atlantis may not have been a city at all, but the ancient name of Earth itself—the birthplace of all human civilization.

Sophia is overwhelmed by the implications, realizing that humanity shares a forgotten common origin. Indy cautions her that revealing the truth could destabilize history, religion, and global politics. Reluctantly, she agrees that Atlantis may be safer as a myth.

As the sun sets over the Aegean, Sophia jokes about writing a book about their adventure—Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis—and Indy dismisses it as pulp fiction before admitting it might make a good story with a happier ending. The epilog closes with the two sharing a tender kiss, sailing away from the ruins as Atlantis slips once more into legend, forever just out of reach.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this novel, not in the video game

 

Captain Heinrich Wilhelm

Leutnant Holtz

Schulte (dies in this segment of the novel)

Horst (dies in this segment of the novel)

Karl Sankt (dies in this segment of the novel)

Torsten/Tristen Fleischer (dies in this segment of the novel)

Adler (German soldier identity taken on by Indy to infiltrate the Atlantean scouting trip)

Hauptmann Schelker

Melina (mentioned only)

Hofmeister

Eschenfelder

Prisha (mentioned only)

Mercy Sankt (mentioned only)

Karl and Mercy's son (mentioned only, not yet born)

 

Didja Know?

 

This book is a fan-written novelization of the game and comic book and was released online for free from 2010-2013. This book by Dale Dassel is generally held in high regard for its quality of writing and research.

 

Didja Notice?

 

CHAPTER 18: ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD

 

The word "antediluvian" in this chapter's title refers specifically to the period of time in the Bible between the creation of Earth and the great flood. In a more general sense, it has come to mean any period of time lost to history. 

 

On page 271, "Lampen! Wir brauchen mehr Licht!" and "Es gibt hier drin keine Lampen!" are German for "Lamps! We need more light!" and "There are no lamps in here!"

 

On page 272, "Jawohl, mein Herr," and "Bringt die Signalleuchte hoch!" are German for "Yes, sir," and "Raise the signal light!"

 

Wilhelm uses a Morse lamp on page 272 to illuminate the area beside the docked sub. A Morse lamp is normally used as a signal lamp for optical communication via the opening and closing of the slats built into the lamp case. The signals are normally in Morse code, hence the name.

 

On page 273, kaleun is another German term for "captain".

 

Speaking of the Germans' portable backpack phone system, Shulte remarks, "The portable telephone, surely the wave of the future!" This is probably a joking nod by the author to the modern cell phone addiction.

 

On page 275, hell is a German word for "bright".

 

On page 276, Übermann calls out to the U-boat crew, "Achtung!" This is German for "Attention!"

 

After a "rousing" speech by Übermann on the German victory of the discovery of Atlantean orichalcum, Sophia cracks, "I’ll contact the Nobel Prize committee when I get back to New York." The Nobel prizes are awarded once a year by a committee of the Scandinavian countries for work in the studies of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace and are considered the top prizes in the world in each field.

 

Übermann comments he has calculated that one kilogram of orichalcum is equivalent to tenfold the amount of uranium and "Even a fraction of the mineral supply in this city will render our mines in Joachimsthal obsolete." Joachimsthal is a resort town in the Czech Republic (at the time called Czechoslovakia), a nation which was under the control of Germany from 1938-1945, where the Nazis had control of many mineral mines, including mines of uranium ore.

 

Übermann's statement that the curvature of particle trajectory is proportional to the charge, but inversely proportional to its momentum is correct according to the laws of physics.

 

On page 285, hauptmann is another German word for "captain".

 

Among Indy's ruminations on page 285, the Celts were diverse, interconnected Iron Age European tribes from Central Europe who spread outward, sharing similar languages, beliefs, and cultures, with their legacy still strongly seen today in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Anasazi were an ancient Native American culture in the modern-day Four Corners region of the United States; modern-day civilization doesn't know what these people called themselves; they are often called Anasazi in modern times from a Navajo word meaning "ancient enemy". "Puebloans" is becoming the more accepted term for this ancient civilization, as the meaning of "Anasazi" is not particularly complementary.

 

On page 286, the Waffen SS is the military branch of the SS (Schutzstaffel).

 

Page 286 explains that most of the crew of the Orogeny had not been told where they were really headed until they arrived in the underwater ruins of Atlantis. The crew had presumed that "Atlantis" was the operational code word for an invasion of Tripoli or Malta.

 

On page 287, "Unglaublich!" is German for "Incredible!"

 

Infiltrating the German scouting troop with a military uniform, Indy assumes the role of Sturmmann Adler. Sturmmann is German for "Storm man", a paramilitary rank in the Nazis' Sturmabteilung and SS. It was a junior rank, similar to a soldier or stormtrooper.

 

When Schelker becomes suspicious of Indy, Indy says he is originally from the Rhineland-Pfalz 5th Infantry recently assembled in the Hunsrück. Rhineland-Pfalz is a state in western Germany. Hunsrück is an upland region in Rhineland-Pfalz.

 

On page 290, Übermann wonders if Sophia is as gifted as the Nazi's own Fraulein Orsic. This is a reference to Maria Orsic, supposedly one of the founders of the Vril Society and mystic contactee of extraterrestrials from Aldebaran to build an anti-gravity device. Historians have found no legitimate proof that she actually existed, and her story is believed to have been concocted by right-wing extremist esotericist neo-Nazis in more modern times.

 

The Nazis and their prisoner come upon a gigantic pyramid in the Atlantean ruins, and Torsten goggles, "What the Hohenzollern is that?" "Hohenzollern" refers to the House of Hohenzollern, a royal German dynasty whose members formerly ruled Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania.

 

On page 293, "Gott im Himmel," is German for "God in Heaven."

 

On page 294, Sophia seems to see a vision from the upcoming August 1939 release of the film The Wizard of Oz, the scene of Dorothy's family's house being carried through the air by a tornado. This vision also appears in the computer game.

 

On page 295, Herr Oberst is German for "Colonel".

 

On page 296, Kerner says "Auf Wiedersehen," to Sophia. This is German for "Goodbye."

 

On page 297, Abwehr agent Torsten Fleischer reveals "he" is actually a woman, Tristen Fleischer. She tells Sophia she finds her gorgeous and says, "Given the choice between yourself and Marlene Dietrich, I would be hard-pressed to choose." Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) was a German-American actress and singer. She was a popular sex symbol in the 1930s.

 

CHAPTER 19: GATEWAY TO ETERNITY

 

On page 303, "Hey, Amerikaner! Komm her!", "Was machst du hier, Cowboy? Hast du dich verlaufen?", "Was?", and "Geht das auch auf Deutsch, kleiner Mann?" are German for "Hey, American! Come here!", "What are you doing here, cowboy? Are you lost?", "What?", and "Can you say that in German, little man?"

 

Indy tells the suspicious Horst he's selling "these fine leather jackets", indicating his own well-worn coat. This line first appeared in the LucasArts video game of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

On page 304, the Luftwaffe is the German air force.

 

Also on page 304, "Jetzt nehm ich dich auseinander, du dreckiges kleines Weichei. Steh auf und wehr dich!" and "Träum schön, Cowboy. Zeit zurück auf deine Ranch zu gehen," are German for "Now I'm going to take you apart, you dirty little wimp. Get up and fight back!" and "Sweet dreams, cowboy. Time to go back to your ranch."

 

On page 305, Indy refers to the unconscious Horst and Tristen as "Hansel and Gretel". Hansel and Gretel is the title of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a young brother and sister menaced by a child-eating witch in the forests of Germany.

 

When Sophia grimaces at the mold-blackened walls of Atlantis gleaming with decay and remarks, "What kind of place is this?", Indy chides her, saying, "It’s the oldest civilization in the world. What did you expect to find, a perfect city under a glass dome?" She doesn't respond directly to that, but page 203 had revealed that she had envisioned, in her wildest dreams, a great glass dome protecting the city.

 

On page 308, Indy comments on Schliemann discovering the ancient city of Troy and finding it wasn’t exactly in the sparkling condition advertised by Homer. Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) was a German amateur archeologist who excavated the ground of what is now believed to be the site of the lost city of Troy. Homer was an Ancient Greek writer and author of numerous works about that culture's history and mythology, including the Iliad, telling of the last year of the Trojan War.

 

On page 309, Indy points out to Sophia that the walls of the Atlantean city are constructed of polished drystone without mortar and the shape and fit are exactly the same as the ruins at Sacsayhuamán and Tiahuanaco, with the blocks melted together. Sacsayhuamán is an ancient Incan citadel in Peru. Tiahuanaco is a pre-Columbian archeological site in Bolivia. In neither case are the stone building blocks "melted together", but the huge stone sections are very precisely cut and fitted to each other such that there is virtually no seam.

 

When Indy fishes a tin of waterproof matches from his satchel, Sophia asks if there is anything he doesn't carry in that bag, and he tells her that it always helps to be prepared. She responds that he sounds like a Boy Scout and he says he was one.  Indy was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, attaining the highest rank, Eagle Scout. The motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be prepared." Some of Indy's Boy Scout adventures are recorded in "The Cross of Coronado" and "The Mountains of Superstition".

 

On page 314, Indy eliminates most the ravenous crabs in the Atlantean labyrinth by using the city's fluorescent lighting liquid as fuel across the surface of the flooded passage, setting it afire and burning or boiling the crabs. He tells Sophia it's a trick he learned in Venice last summer. This refers to the rats burned by flaming oil in the catacombs beneath an old Venecian church in The Last Crusade.

 

On page 315, Waffenamt is German for "Weapons Office".

 

On page 316, "Wasser, bitte," "Mein Herr", "Beeilung!" and "Jawohl, Herr Oberst," are German for "Water, please," "Sir," "Hurry!" and "Yes, Colonel."

 

On page 317, Kerner ruminates that he must not fail the Führer after Hitler had broken the shackles of the Weimar Republic and assured the nation that the crippling humiliation of the Versailles Treaty would never be repeated again. "Weimar Republic" was the name of the German nation after its defeat in WWI from 1918-1933. The Versailles Treaty is the peace treaty signed by Germany with the Allied nations in 1919 after the end of the war.

 

Kerner believes that when he succeeds in bringing orichalcum to the Reich, Himmler will bestow upon him the coveted rank of Obergruppenführer on behalf of the Ahnenerbe and as a member of the elite Oberste SA-Führung, he would return to Berlin in glory and oust Walther von Brauchitsch as head of the German Army. Obergruppenführer means "Senior Group Leader", similar to lieutenant general in the regular army. Oberste SA-Führung means "Supreme SA-Command & Control".

 

On page 322, "Ihr drei, überprüft den Gang. Beide Seiten. Seht in jeden Raum," is German for "You three, check the corridor. Both sides. Look in every room."

 

On page 323, "In diesem Raum ist nichts, Herr Hauptmann," and "Los, zum nächsten," are German for "There's nothing in this room, Captain," and "Let's move on to the next one."

 

On page 325, Sophia explains to Indy that she used the fake ghost as part of her psychic act at the theatre in New York because she can’t summon an Atlantean god to appear in front of 2,000 people on a nightly basis and she had to sell herself as a spook act otherwise the management would not let her book the hall, adding a dignified lecture on the subject of Atlantis is too high-brow for "those Broadway showbiz hacks." Broadway is a road running through the New York borough of Manhattan and is world famous as a center of the theatrical arts; the name of the road, Broadway, has become synonymous with the theatrical productions originating there.

 

On page 327, the legend of Talus that Indy tells to Sophia is accurate from Greek mythology.

 

    Finding a statue that looks just like Sophia holding a sphere in the underwater city, Indy speculates that it is Selene, a moon goddess. Selene is the Greek goddess and personification of the moon.

    On page 335, Sophia claims the statue is Atlantis, daughter of Atlas. In Greek mythology, Atlas is the Titan god condemned to hold the heavens up upon his shoulders for eternity after the war against the Olympians that toppled the Titans. He is not said to have a daughter named Atlantis, though he had several other daughters.

 

Sophia thinks the sphere looks like the Perisphere from the World’s Fair until she realizes it is a depiction of the Earth, with miniscule gems dotted on it marking the locations of pyramids. The Perisphere was an actual large spherical structure at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The World's Fair is an international exhibition of scientific, technological, and artistic achievements of the world's nations, generally taking place every two or three years in a different city around the world. In 1939, the World's Fair did take place in New York.

 

Speculating on Plato's "three rings" of Atlantis, Indy points out that the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn are divided by the equator. The Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) and Tropic of Capricorn (23.5°S) are the northernmost and southernmost latitudes where the sun appears directly overhead at noon, marking the boundaries of the tropical zone. They define Earth's seasonal shifts, experiencing maximum direct sunlight during the June and December solstices, respectively.

Although phrased awkwardly, Sophia's statement on page 333 is correct. It takes 26,000 years for the Earth to complete an axial wobble.

 

Atlas was the founder of astrology in Greek myth, just as Indy states on page 337.

 

On page 338, Sophia says that yesterday was the summer solstice. On page 216, she had said the day was June 22. Summer solstice always takes place between June 20-22 and in 1939 it took place on the 20th, so the days do not quite line up here.

 

CHAPTER 20: SUBTERRANEAN DEATH

 

On page 343, Nur-Ab-Sal says, "Nobody can steal my power, for I am the almighty Belial, guardian of the ancient sea-fire." Belial is a name used in the Old Testament of the Bible for the devil.

 

On page 344, Sophia quotes some lines from Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 poem "The Raven".

 

After Indy saves her from the possessing power of the amulet of Nur-Ab-Sal, Sophia remarks that from now on, she'll buy her jewelry at Tiffany’s. She is referring to Tiffany & Co., a U.S. luxury retailer, specializing in diamond jewelry. 

 

Page 346 describes the face of the Atlantean transport as sloped elegantly backwards like the nose of a Zephyr. I presume the author is referring to the custom built RAE Zephyr, a single-seater biplane built by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1923. (Photo from Wikipedia.) RAE Zephyr

 

Sophia tells Indy she wrote an article about levitation a few years ago for Atlantis Quarterly and Indy sarcastically replies, "I must’ve missed that issue." Atlantis Quarterly was an actual journal of Atlantean and occult studies that published five issues from June 1932 to October 1933. As far as I can tell, none them had articles about levitation or were written by a Sophia Hapgood. There is an article about the occult in China by Dr. Strange though! (Dr. John Strange, but still...)

 

On page 351, a Nazi soldier shouts at Indy and Sophia, "Halt! Ihr zwei, Hände hoch! Sofort!" This is German for "Stop! You two, hands up! Now!"

 

On page 352, the soldier says to Indy, "Sarkastisches Amerikaner-Schwein." This is German for "Sarcastic American pig."

 

On pages 353-354, the Nazi soldier and Karl have a bit of a conversation: "Nein," "Sie haben nicht viel Zeit. Kerner sucht in diesem Moment nach Ihnen. Aber ich werde Ihnen helfen, zu entkommen," "Weil ich weiß, was Dr. Übermann mit diesem neuartigen Mineral, das er sucht, bauen will. Ich weiß, welche Greueltaten mein Land in Europa begeht, und es muss aufhören, bevor den Rest der Welt dasselbe Schicksal ereilt," "Verdammter Verräter!", "Tut mir leid," "Sowas mache ich nicht gern," "Vielen Dank, mein Freund," and "Nicht alle von uns sind Nazis. Wir haben immer noch einen freien Willen," are German for "No," "You don't have much time. Kerner is looking for you right now. But I will help you escape," "Because I know what Dr. Übermann intends to build with this new type of mineral he's looking for. I know the atrocities my country is committing in Europe, and they must stop before the rest of the world suffers the same fate," "Damn traitor!", "I'm sorry," "I don't like doing things like that," "Thank you very much, my friend," and "Not all of us are Nazis. We still have free will."

 

On page 353, the soldier tells Karl, "You may outrank me in Berlin, but not in the field. These are my prisoners, and if you don’t like it then go and bitch to Admiral Canaris about protocol when you get back." Wilhelm Canaris (1887-1945) was a German admiral who was the head of the Abwehr military-intelligence service from 1935-1944. He was a clandestine member of the German resistance against Hitler.

 

On page 355, Karl says, "Bitte…" and "Ja! Meine süße Mercy! Sie kennen sie?" This is German for "Please..." and "Yes! My sweet Mercy! Do you know her?"

 

On page 356, before dying, Karl says, "Ich habe einen Sohn?" "Ist das wirklich die Zukunft, die Sie sehen?" "Ich habe einen Brief…" "Bitte schicken Sie ihn meiner Liebsten," and "Sie sind wahrlich eine Seherin. Gott segne Sie, Fräulein Hapgood." These are German for "I have a son?" "Is that really the future you see?" "I have a letter..." "Please send it to my sweetheart," and "You are truly a seer. God bless you, Miss Hapgood."

 

On page 360, Tristen swears, "Verfluchte Scheiße!" This is German for "Fucking shit!"

 

When Sophia tries to hit Tristen on page 361, Tristen sarcastically laughs, "So it’s true what they say about a lover scorned." The full phrase is "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," from the 1697 play The Mourning Bride by William Congreve.

 

CHAPTER 21: THE GOD MACHINE

 

On page 376, Indy compares the fiery volcanic cavern he and Sophie are in to a Thuggee temple he’d once seen in India beneath Pankot Palace. Further, he realizes that a misstep would have him falling to his death, with no invisible bridge to catch him this time. The Thuggee temple beneath Pankot Palace refers to his adventure in The Temple of Doom. There was no "invisible bridge" in that movie; he seems to be jumping to a later adventure he had in The Last Crusade, where an "invisible bridge" allowed him to cross a chasm to complete his quest for the chamber holding the Holy Grail.

 

Sophia tells Indy that Atlantean libraries did not contain books, but instead crystals which can store untold volumes of information. She refers to it as the akashic record, a telepathic compendium of universal knowledge, located in the Hall of Wisdom. In the Theosophic religion, the Akashic Records are a non-physical, metaphysical "library" of energetic, vibrational records containing every thought, word, action, and emotion experienced by every soul throughout its entire existence.

 

On page 381, Sophia says that Chronos is the keeper of the Holonothic record. In Greek mythology, Chronos is personification of time. "Holonothic" appears to be a made-up term, perhaps related to "holonomic", a term referring to a system that can move in any direction independent of its orientation.

 

On page 385, Mein Kampf (My Fight) is Adolf Hitler's 1925 manifesto and autobiography.

 

Übermann says the Atlantean colossus is worthy of the great Fritz Lang himself. Lang (1890-1976) was an Austrian film director, screenwriter and producer who made films in Germany before he moved to the United States in 1934 and continued his career there. He is considered one of the most influential film makers of all time. Übermann's comment comparing the colossus to Lang's work probably refers largely to his most well-known film, Metropolis (1927), an expressionist science-fiction film with dramatic noirish/art decco production design.

 

When Indy announces that the giant Atlantean machine is a device for manufacturing higher beings, Kerner exclaims, "The Übermensch! It all makes sense now. Ancient prophecy ordained that the fifth Root Race shall arise in the fourth cosmic round. Now the time of the Aryan has come!" Übermensch is German for "Superman", a term used by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in his 1883 book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, with the Übermensch being a goal for humanity to set for itself. The Nazis twisted this idea into a racial ideal of a master race who are empowered to dominate "inferior" forms of humanity. The "Fifth Root Race" refers to a concept in Theosophy, identifying the current stage of human spiritual evolution characterized by developing intellect and individuality, following the Atlantean Fourth Root Race.

 

Kerner's use of the term "original Aryan sun" on page 387 refers to various sun myths common to most cultures, as cultures shared their myths when they made contact, with many pagan religions thus having similar general sun myths to represent the same story of humanity's creation and development across the planet.

 

Übermann's term Überbombe on page 388 means "Superbomb".

 

CHAPTER 22: ATLANTIS RISING

 

On page 397, Indy runs, guiding Sophia, from the Atlantean volcano that threatens to erupt at any second, that singular terror propelling him faster than he's run in his life. Indy has experience running from volcanoes, just check out "Indy vs. the Volcano".

 

Aboard the Atlantean "Zephyr" train, Sophia wonders if they have enough orichalcum to power the vehicle. Indy says, "I hope so, or this is gonna be a real short trip!" This line is a nod to an exchange in Star Wars: A New Hope, where Han Solo says, "Sure hope the old man got that tractor beam out of commission or this is gonna be a real short trip!" as he and his friends attempt to escape from the Death Star aboard the Millennium Falcon.

 

Captain Wilhelm shouts, "Raus! Raus!" as his crew frantically exits the quaking city to the sub. This is German for "Out! Out!"

 

As the U-boat rides the shockwaves of the dying underwater city, Indy remarks to Wilhelm, "I think we’re going to need a bigger U-boat." This is a nod to the 1975 film, Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, in which the character of police chief Martin Brody aboard shark hunter Quint's boat says, after seeing the size of the shark they're after, "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

 

Page 410 references Indy's guardian eagle. The eagle is said to be his spirit guardian in The Peril at Delphi and which he also saw in a vision in Dance of the Giants.

 

EPILOGUE

 

On page 413, Indy tells Sophia he thinks that "Atlantis" was actually the ancient name of our planet. This brings Sophia to realize, "That means…we’re all Atlanteans. Every one of us. The whole
human race."

 

Memorable Dialog

 

you sound like you're possessed.mp3

Atlantean graffiti.mp3

More Atlantean graffiti.mp3

I knew I smelled a rat.mp3

a lot of my discoveries seem like tall tales.mp3

 

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