Didja Notice?

 

On page 5, Mikhail is said to be a Cossack standing in the open turret hatch of a T32. Cossacks are members of various ethnic groups living in the Great Eurasian Steppe, mostly within the regions of modern day southern Russia and the Ukraine. A T32 is a Czechoslovakian tankette.

 

Page 7 informs us that the Bolsheviks had put a price on the heads of men like Mikhail. The Bolsheviks were a radical Marxist faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, who had become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the October Revolution of 1917 and now ruled that country.

 

Mikhail is a soldier in the Red Army."Red Army" has been the popular name of the Russian Army since the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922, named for the traditional color of the workers' movement in Russia at the time.

 

On page 9, Tungus and Kyrgyz are people of the Tunguska region of Russia and the Soviet nation of Kyrgyzstan, respectively.

 

On page 15, the Kalashnikov is a popular line of Russian automatic rifles, the most commonly known of which is the AK-47, designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov.

 

Also on page 15, SMG is an abbreviation for Sarah Michelle Gellar. Er, I mean, "submachine gun".

 

On page 16, the Huns were a nomadic people of the 4th and 6th centuries AD in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe.

 

On page 18, Temujin is the real name of Genghis Khan. "Genghis Khan" (meaning Great Emperor) was the title given to Temujin, the son of a 12th Century leader of the Mongols, who went on to found the Mongol Empire by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of the region and building a powerful army from them.

 

Page 20 opens at the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States.

 

Page 22 mentions, Indiana had had a life that was more adventurous than most of his friends even suspected.

 

On page 23, Indy obliquely compares himself to Allan Quatermain. Allan Quatermain is a character appearing in a series of adventure novels and short stories from 1885-1927 by H. Rider Haggard, who in turn was one of the inspirations for George Lucas' character of Indiana Jones.

 

On page 23, faux pas is French for "false step". It has taken on the meaning in the Western world of an embarrassing or tactless blunder.

 

On page 24, Tamara Jaglova is described as having the body of a Venus of Moscow. The "Venus of Moscow" is a famous moniker applied to Princess Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna (1741-1838), a Russian noblewoman and one of the most celebrated beauties of the late 18th century. Moscow is the capital of Russia.

 

Indy thinks that with a woman like Jaglova, no man had a chance with her who didn't have at least the appearance of Tyrone Power, the intelligence quotient of Albert Einstein, and the bank account of Howard Hughes. Tyrone Power (1914-1958) was an American actor and leading man. Dr. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is the renowned German theoretical physicist who refused, during a visit to America, to return to Germany after Hitler came into power, and became an American citizen. Howard Hughes (1905-1976) was one of the richest men in the world during his lifetime.

 

On page 25, the Austrian K.u.K. was the Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1867-1918. "K.u.K." is an abbreviation for "kaiserliche und königliche", German for "Imperial and Royal".

 

On page 29, Tsarevich (or Zarewitsch) is the title for the son of a Tsar.

 

On page 34, Indy calls a Russian secret service man "Tovarisch." This is Russian for "comrade".

 

On page 38, Indy thinks of Tamara as an "atheist Russian woman". This is because the tenets of communism refute religion as a competitor against the communist party for the loyalty of the people.

 

On page 44, the Supreme Soviet was the highest level of state authority in the Soviet Union from

1922-1991.

 

On page 45, Indy thinks of the Sword of Genghis Khan alongside the legends of Excalibur, Barbarossa's tomb, and the Ark of the Covenant. Indy has encountered two versions of Excalibur in The Legacy of Avalon and "The Sword of Excalibur" (Indy even acknowledges the existence of two Excaliburs here, telling Tamara, "Every Mongolian knows the legend, just as every Briton knows the Excaliburs."). I'm not sure what the deal is about Barbarossa's tomb, the commonly known tomb being the tomb of Hayreddin Barbarossa, the 16th Century Ottoman corsair and later Ottoman Navy admiral, a known mausoleum in Beşiktaş, a district of Istanbul, Turkey. The Ark of the Covenant is a wooden, gold-covered chest that carries the Ten Commandants, as stated in the Bible; it was discovered by Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

Page 49 reveals that Marcus is a fan of opera and indulges in seeing it at every opportunity. He was in the middle of enjoying Mozart's The Magic Flute when he was whisked away and taken to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House. The Magic Flute is a 1791 opera by Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president of the United States from 1933-1945. The White House is the official home of the U.S. President.

 

Page 52 reveals that Indy is currently in charge of an exhibition of Asian grave finds at the Washington Museum. This appears to be a fictitious museum, possibly the Washington, D.C. branch of the National Museum, Indy's regular patron of artifact finds.

 

On page 57, Tamara sees Indy in his adventuring togs for the first time and realizes he is not just a dusty scholar but and adventurer, perhaps a man like Scott or Amundsen and a bit of Sinbad the Sailor. "Scott" probably refers to Scott of the Antarctic, the epithet of Captain Robert Scott (1868–1912), a British Royal Navy officer and Antarctic explorer. Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) was a Norwegian explorer of the polar regions. Sinbad is a fictitious sailor of an Arab story cycle of seven fantastic voyages around the seas south of Asia and east of Africa.

 

On page 58, Indy looks out the window of his small quarters in the museum and sees men he believes must be CIA or FBI. The CIA is the Central Intelligence Agency, one of the major intelligence agencies of the United States government. The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigates federal crime and provides internal intelligence for the federal government of the United States.

 

On page 59, "plasticine" is a putty-like modeling clay.

 

On page 61, "USSR" stands for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", another name for the Soviet Union.

 

Pages 67-69 show that Indy somehow knows a second charter airplane pilot, Paul Webber, who likes to keep a pet snake with him named Nancy! An earlier pilot, Jock Lindsey, and his pet boa constrictor, Reggie, were introduced in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jock also appeared in "Tomb of the Gods" Part 2 and "Island of Peril". Like Jock, who had admonished Indy to show some backbone in regards to his snake, Paul tells Indy not to be so squeamish about them.

 

Webber flies Indy and Tamara to San Francisco.

 

On page 74, the man with the Charlie Chaplin mustache mentioned by Indy is, of course, Adolf Hitler. Chaplin (1889-1977) was a British comedic actor and filmmaker. Both Chaplin and Hitler sported the toothbrush style mustache.

 

On page 75 Tamara and Indy remark on the fact that the German soldiers are often called "Huns".

The "Hun" reference is not as well-recognized today, but "Hun" was a term sometimes used (especially in Allied propaganda) for the Germans, comparing them to the "barbarian hordes" of Attila the Hun, the 5th Century warlord. And, of course, the original Huns of the 4th-6th centuries AD are said to be genetically related to native Mongolians, who are feared to rise up in rebellion against the Soviet Union as one of the communist nations's satellite countries.

 

From San Francisco, Indy books passage on a tea freighter for himself and Tamara to Hong Kong.

 

Page 76 remarks on the Japanese attacks on Manchuria. This does not seem quite accurate for the time. Japan had already conquered and occupied Manchuria by 1932. The only real military offensives there around 1941 would have been actions within the occupied territory against Chinese communist and nationalist resistance groups that remained active in parts of Manchuria.

 

Indy and Tamara arrive at the distinguished Excelsior Hotel in Hong Kong. As far as I can tell, there was no hotel by that name in the city around this time (there was a later one that existed from 1973-2019).

 

The lobby of the hotel is described as having a noise level that exceeded that of London Central Station at rush hour. There was no London Central Station in the city of London at this time. It seems likely that author Hohlbein uses it as a generic term for his German readers, to suggest a bustling train station in England.

 

On page 83, Moto, an amateur archeologist (though he turns out to be much more), says he recognized Dr. Indiana Jones by his hat and famous whip.

 

Moto and his acquaintance give Indy and Tamara a ride in a Daimler-Benz (now Mercedes-Benz) automobile.

 

Indy accepts Moto's offer for he and Tamara to stay with him as his guests for the duration in Hong Kong, in fear that the Japanese man might commit seppuko. Seppuko (or seppuku or harakiri) is a Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment with sword, committed for a perceived failure of honor or act of cowardice.

 

Page 88 mistakenly refers to the aforementioned Daimler-Benz automobile as a Mercedes.

 

On page 89, Tamara asks Moto if the Tenno owns the fortress-like home they've been brought to. Tennō is Japanese for "emperor".

 

On page 91, Indy slams into an intruder said to have the hardness and weight of the Rock of Gibraltar as he is going through a doorway. The Rock of Gibraltar is a gigantic limestone promontory on the tip of the Iberian Peninsula near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Page 98 features the use of shuriken or throwing stars. These are a traditional Japanese weapon with sharpened points or blades which could be concealed in the hand and thrown.

 

Moto is revealed to be a modern day samurai. Samurai were members of pre-industrial Japan's professional warrior class, obliged by the rules of Bushido. Bushido, meaning "way of the warrior", is a moral code adhered to by the Japanese samurai of the Edo period.

 

On page 101, Indy angrily tells Moto that he insists "that you finally pour me pure wine!" The phrase "pour me pure wine" is translated from a German saying that means "to tell the whole truth". Normally, this is not a phrase that Indy, as an English speaker, would say. It is an artifact of the novel having been written in German that the German idiom is used.

 

The Chinese general Dzo-Lin, a follower of Chiang Kai-Chek, is also on the trail of the sword. Chiang Kai Shek was the revolutionary leader of the Republic of China from 1928-1949.

 

Moto and Indy travel to Shenyang, the capital of the Liaoning province of China to rescue Tamara from the clutches of General Dzo-Lin.

 

The Japanese military unit in Shenyang is preparing for a top-secret commando operation near the Great Wall of China against rebellious general Dzo-Lin and his guerrilla army.

 

On page 110, Indy observes that nothing seemed to be left of the proverbial joie de vivre and cheerfulness of the Chinese in the Japanese-occupied portions of the country. Joie de vivre is French for "joy of living."

 

On page 126, Indy mentally identifies the gigantic Japanese soldier he must face off against as half King Kong. King Kong, of course, is the gigantic ape who's appeared in a number of films and other media since his debut in the classic 1933 film King Kong.

 

On page 129, Indy's opponent suddenly seems to move slowly, "like a Hollywood movie run at the wrong speed". Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles known mostly for its film and television production studios.

 

On page 130, "Schlagetot technique" (from the German Schlagetot, literally "beat-to-death") is a term used to describe a reckless brawler or a ruthless warrior.

 

Page 141 describes the Great Wall of China's length as more than six thousand kilometers. In actuality, the entirety of the barrier called the Great Wall is over twenty-one thousand kilometers, but that includes portions that are trenches and natural barriers such as hills and rivers. If you count only the actual built wall, the length is still about 8,850 kilometers.

 

On page 146, Moto concludes that the only way of sneaking into Dzo-Lin's mountain fortress is to parachute in and asks Indy if he has any experience in that, which Indy responds to evasively with, "I'm capable of learning." On page 147, during the actual jump, Indy is reflecting, "It wasn't really his first jump, but there was a difference between doing something like this for pure pleasure and on a sunny summer's day over flat terrain or being in a situation like now." Of course, in the PopApostle chronology, Indy does have more adventurous parachuting experience, as seen in "The Fokker Agenda", The Temple of Doom (sort of), "The Devil's Cradle", "Tower of Tears", and The Labyrinth of Horus.

 

Throughout this novel, a ninja (or shinobi) served primarily as a spy and infiltrator in feudal Japan, with modern descendants depicted here. Although popular culture has long depicted ninja as professional assassins, historical records provide little evidence that assassination was their primary function.

 

Page 149 opens at Dzo-Lin's mountain fortress 150 miles north of Paiyünopa. Paiyünopa appears to be a fictitious location in China.

 

On page 169, "the dark, choppy rattle of an MP volley tore the night apart." Here, "MP" is probably a reference to an MP 40 submachine gun, used by Axis forces during WWII.

 

On page 177, Indy and the ninjas come upon a half life-size Buddha statue in the mountain temple/fortress. Buddha was the 5th-6th century BC Indian spiritual teacher Siddhārtha Gautama whose teaching began the Buddhist religion.

 

On page 185, Huehot is the capital of Inner Mongolia.

 

Lobsang claims the sword was taken to a place called Shambala. In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambala is a legendary spiritual kingdom of peace, wisdom, and prosperity generally thought to be in the Himalayas. Indy previously visited similar kingdoms, those of Ra-Lundi in "The City of Yesterday's Forever" and Chanri-Ha in "Thunder in the Orient" Part 4.

 

On page 201, Indy sees a couple of Japanese Zeros parked on the tarmac of the military camp's improvised runway. "Zero" was the Allied force's unofficial name for the Japanese Imperial Navy's Mitsubishi A6M long-range fighter aircraft used throughout WWII.

 

Page 229 brings Indy and friends to somewhere in the Himalayas. This refers to the Himalayan Mountain Range in Asia which hosts the world's highest peaks.

 

On page 236, Santa Claus, of course, is the folkloric figure who brings gifts to children around the world on Christmas Eve.

 

On page 237, Indy and friends' location is referred to as the "roof of the world". This is a metaphoric epithet often applied to the high-mountain region of Asia, including the Himalayas.

 

On page 264, Indy tries to put some schadenfreude in his voice when sees that Moto may have a problem. Schadenfreude is a German term, now used in English as well, for the experience of pleasure or joy at the misfortune of others.

 

The ninjas, Indy, and Moto encounter what may be a Yeti. The Yeti is a cryptozoological, ape-like creature said to inhabit the Himalayan Mountains separating India and Tibet. It has often been referred to in the west as the Abominable Snowman. The Yeti is somewhat analogous to the Sasquatch (or Bigfoot) said by some to exist in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Indy doesn't acknowledge it here, but he had some passing brushes with the alleged beast in The Child Lama and the 2-part "The Search for Abner" story.

 

When Indy first denies the existence of Yeti, but then they see one seconds later, Moto chides him, "What kind of scientist are you, Dr. Jones? One who works with coffee grounds and crystal balls?" So-called "fortune tellers" have been known to use both in their divinations. Reading coffee grounds is similar to the more well-known reading of tea leaves and is called "tasseography".

 

On page 268, Moto is disgusted with his men for becoming a bunch of trembling idiots because of a ghost. Indy somewhat derisively reminds him it wasn't a ghost, but a Yeti. But Indy has also seen ghosts in his adventures, e.g. in The Ghostly Riders and The Emperor's Tomb (and possibly Raiders of the Lost Ark with the wraiths that emerge from the Ark during the climax).

 

After Indy is left stranded at the bottom of a crevasse due to the avalanche, he reasons that he was not in any condition to climb up his whip cord Tarzan style at the moment. Tarzan, of course, is the world-renowned character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, a British boy who was lost in the African jungle and raised by apes.

 

Though the Yeti seen here turns out be faked (Lobsang in a costume to scare Moto and his men away from Shambala), when Indy examines the costume it has both identifiable parts (llama fur, etc.) and parts Indy, though not a zoologist, is unable to identify to an existing creature from which the skin of the face and the predatory jaw were obtained. So, it may be that Lobsang (or another lama) constructed part of the costume from a partial corpse of an actual Yeti.

 

It's not clear by the end of the novel whether Indy's prediction comes true, but on page 308, "he could remember very little of what had happened in Shambala. It was as if there was something that prevented him from remembering too clearly. And he was suddenly almost certain that it would not be long before he had simply forgotten his experience here on the roof of the world and even the knowledge of the existence of this monastery. The idea filled him with regret, but at the same time with the sure feeling that it was right." A similar forgetting occurred at the end of The Seven Veils, with his memory of the lost city of Z and Colonel Fawcett wiped from his mind.

 

On page 308, "Cyrillic" refers to the Cyrillic alphabet, a variation of which is used officially by Russia (originally developed in Bulgaria in the 10th century).

 

On page 309, the Kremlin is the official home of the Russian President.

 

At the end of the novel, Indy flies from Moscow to Paris and there catches another plane to New York.

 

On page 311, though there are a number of museums in Moscow, one called the "Moscow Museum" appears to be fictitious for the time.

 

From an idea by Indy, Tamara arranges secretly for the sword of Genghis Khan to be displayed in the Moscow Museum as an unidentified sword with the legend:

 

"Sword. Mongolian.
Probably 11th century.
Location unknown."

 

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