Marion Ravenwood
Encyclopedia
Marion Ravenwood Jones is a fictional character
that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark
. Played by Karen Allen
, she enters the story when Indiana Jones
visits her in Nepal
, needing her help — specifically, he needs an artifact in her possession, originally obtained by her father, archaeologist Professor Abner Ravenwood (Jones' mentor), in order to locate the Ark of the Covenant
. After 27 years of absence (21 years in the films' internal chronology), the character returned in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and was once again played by Allen.
), he was also a mentor to the young Henry "Indiana" Jones (Junior)
who eventually accompanied them on several digs.
Marion entered into a relationship with Indiana Jones during this time. Jones abruptly left the Ravenwoods in 1926. Marion was about 16 or 17 years old when the relationship finished, and Jones was 27, ten years her senior. Later in her life, Marion chastised Jones, stating, "I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!" Nevertheless, he never showed remorse until he met her again ten years later.
After Jones broke off contact with them both, he returned to the United States to focus on his career as an archeology professor, and Marion and her father settled in Nepal. She later started running a local tavern- "The Raven", after its manager died and left it to her. Taking advantage of her high tolerance for alcohol, she would frequently drink the bar's patrons under the table on a wager. She refused to return to the United States until she had enough money to return "with style".
In 1936, Marion found herself back in contact with Jones, when he offered her money for the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, an artifact originally located by her father. Reluctant at first, she was forced to cooperate when the bespectacled Gestapo agent Arnold Toht arrived to demand the piece himself. During the subsequent fight, the tavern catches on fire. Marion told Jones that, until he repaid her the money, which was destroyed in the fire, she was his partner. However she was then captured by the Nazis, with Jones believing she was dead. Indy believed she was dead until, by a fortunate accident, he stumbled upon her with her hands and barefeet bound and gagged with a knotted hankichief between her teeth in one of the Nazi tents. To her chagrin, he decided to leave her, reasoning that an escape would draw too much unwanted attention and regagged her. The perceived betrayal did not affect Marion's refusal to cooperate with her captors, however. Belloq's advances resulted only in an aborted escape attempt, and Toht's interrogation was likewise met with uncommon resistance. After being captured by and escaping from Jones' rival, Rene Belloq, she helped Jones recover the Ark of the Covenant
from the Nazis; in the process, the couple rekindled their relationship.
Jones continued to pursue archaeological artifacts, while Marion tried her hand at journalism
before opening a bar in New York City
named The Raven's Nest. For a time, she also worked as the public relations officer for the museum at Marshall College. However, a week before their planned wedding, Indy, thinking that it wouldn't work, left her without any explanation—and with child with their future son, Henry "Mutt" Jones III. Marion met the RAF pilot Colin Williams three months after Mutt was born, and they eventually married and lived happily until Colin was killed during World War II. Jones' eccentric old friend, Harold Oxley, then helped raise Mutt, acting as a second (technically third) father.
Twenty years after Mutt's birth, Russians captured Oxley in an attempt to find the mythical crystal skulls that he had pursued. After she was captured trying to find Oxley, Marion sent Mutt to find Jones. After a desperate escape attempt, she revealed to Jones, who had remained clueless, that Mutt was actually his son. They argued so much that one of the Soviet agents finally gagged her. During the adventure, she and Jones again realized their love for each other. Back home, they were married, set to continue their adventures together.
named the character after his wife's grandmother, and took the character's surname from Ravenwood Lane in California. Spielberg originally intended the role for his girlfriend Amy Irving
. Sean Young
auditioned for the role, Barbara Hershey
was considered, while Debra Winger
turned it down. Steven Spielberg
cast Karen Allen
, on the strength of her performance in National Lampoon's Animal House
. Allen screen test
ed opposite Tim Matheson
and John Shea
, before Harrison Ford
was cast as Indiana.
Kasdan's depiction of Marion was more complex, and she was genuinely interested in René Belloq in earlier script drafts. She and Paul Freeman added more comedy in the tent seduction scene. Allen came up with her own backstory for the character, such as what happened to her mother, her romance with Indiana at age 15 or 16, and her time in Nepal; Spielberg described it as "an entirely different movie".
After Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, Spielberg wanted Allen to return for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
, but George Lucas
decided that Indy would have a different love interest in each film. Marion became a frequent supporting character in The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, a Marvel Comics
title which ran for 34 issues from January 1983 until March 1986. During the 1990s, Lucas forbade author Rob MacGregor from including her in his novels for Bantam Books
' Indiana Jones series. "How did Indy meet Marion? What happened in their earlier encounters? George apparently wanted to keep that for the future. Maybe we’ll find out in Indy 4," MacGregor speculated. Frank Darabont
claimed it was his idea to bring back Marion for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, during his tenure as writer from 2002 to 2004.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
that first appeared in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
. Played by Karen Allen
Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allen is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...
, she enters the story when Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
visits her in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, needing her help — specifically, he needs an artifact in her possession, originally obtained by her father, archaeologist Professor Abner Ravenwood (Jones' mentor), in order to locate the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
. After 27 years of absence (21 years in the films' internal chronology), the character returned in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and was once again played by Allen.
Biography
As a fictional character, Marion's father, Dr. Abner Ravenwood was a professor of archeology who was obsessed with finding the Ark of the Covenant (referred to in the BibleBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
), he was also a mentor to the young Henry "Indiana" Jones (Junior)
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
who eventually accompanied them on several digs.
Marion entered into a relationship with Indiana Jones during this time. Jones abruptly left the Ravenwoods in 1926. Marion was about 16 or 17 years old when the relationship finished, and Jones was 27, ten years her senior. Later in her life, Marion chastised Jones, stating, "I was a child! I was in love! It was wrong and you knew it!" Nevertheless, he never showed remorse until he met her again ten years later.
After Jones broke off contact with them both, he returned to the United States to focus on his career as an archeology professor, and Marion and her father settled in Nepal. She later started running a local tavern- "The Raven", after its manager died and left it to her. Taking advantage of her high tolerance for alcohol, she would frequently drink the bar's patrons under the table on a wager. She refused to return to the United States until she had enough money to return "with style".
In 1936, Marion found herself back in contact with Jones, when he offered her money for the headpiece of the Staff of Ra, an artifact originally located by her father. Reluctant at first, she was forced to cooperate when the bespectacled Gestapo agent Arnold Toht arrived to demand the piece himself. During the subsequent fight, the tavern catches on fire. Marion told Jones that, until he repaid her the money, which was destroyed in the fire, she was his partner. However she was then captured by the Nazis, with Jones believing she was dead. Indy believed she was dead until, by a fortunate accident, he stumbled upon her with her hands and barefeet bound and gagged with a knotted hankichief between her teeth in one of the Nazi tents. To her chagrin, he decided to leave her, reasoning that an escape would draw too much unwanted attention and regagged her. The perceived betrayal did not affect Marion's refusal to cooperate with her captors, however. Belloq's advances resulted only in an aborted escape attempt, and Toht's interrogation was likewise met with uncommon resistance. After being captured by and escaping from Jones' rival, Rene Belloq, she helped Jones recover the Ark of the Covenant
Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
from the Nazis; in the process, the couple rekindled their relationship.
Jones continued to pursue archaeological artifacts, while Marion tried her hand at journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
before opening a bar in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
named The Raven's Nest. For a time, she also worked as the public relations officer for the museum at Marshall College. However, a week before their planned wedding, Indy, thinking that it wouldn't work, left her without any explanation—and with child with their future son, Henry "Mutt" Jones III. Marion met the RAF pilot Colin Williams three months after Mutt was born, and they eventually married and lived happily until Colin was killed during World War II. Jones' eccentric old friend, Harold Oxley, then helped raise Mutt, acting as a second (technically third) father.
Twenty years after Mutt's birth, Russians captured Oxley in an attempt to find the mythical crystal skulls that he had pursued. After she was captured trying to find Oxley, Marion sent Mutt to find Jones. After a desperate escape attempt, she revealed to Jones, who had remained clueless, that Mutt was actually his son. They argued so much that one of the Soviet agents finally gagged her. During the adventure, she and Jones again realized their love for each other. Back home, they were married, set to continue their adventures together.
Concept and creation
Screenwriter Lawrence KasdanLawrence Kasdan
Lawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...
named the character after his wife's grandmother, and took the character's surname from Ravenwood Lane in California. Spielberg originally intended the role for his girlfriend Amy Irving
Amy Irving
Amy Davis Irving is an American actress, known for her roles in the films Crossing Delancey, The Fury, Carrie, and Yentl as well as acclaimed roles on Broadway and Off-Broadway. She has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and has won an Obie award...
. Sean Young
Sean Young
Sean Young is an American actress, best known for her performance in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, and No Way Out.-Early life:...
auditioned for the role, Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey
Barbara Hershey , also known as Barbara Seagull, is an American actress. In a career spanning nearly 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema, in several genres including westerns and comedies...
was considered, while Debra Winger
Debra Winger
Mary Debra Winger is an American actress. Three-times an Oscar nominee, she received awards for acting in Terms of Endearment, for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in 1983, and in A Dangerous Woman, for which she won the Tokyo International Film Festival...
turned it down. Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
cast Karen Allen
Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allen is an American actress best known for her role as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...
, on the strength of her performance in National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
. Allen screen test
Screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
ed opposite Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson
Tim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...
and John Shea
John Shea
John Victor Shea III is an American actor and director who has starred on stage, television and in film. He is best known for his role as Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and also starred in the short lived 1990s TV series WIOU as Hank Zaret...
, before Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
was cast as Indiana.
Kasdan's depiction of Marion was more complex, and she was genuinely interested in René Belloq in earlier script drafts. She and Paul Freeman added more comedy in the tent seduction scene. Allen came up with her own backstory for the character, such as what happened to her mother, her romance with Indiana at age 15 or 16, and her time in Nepal; Spielberg described it as "an entirely different movie".
After Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, Spielberg wanted Allen to return for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second film in the Indiana Jones franchise and prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark . After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone...
, but George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
decided that Indy would have a different love interest in each film. Marion became a frequent supporting character in The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, a Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
title which ran for 34 issues from January 1983 until March 1986. During the 1990s, Lucas forbade author Rob MacGregor from including her in his novels for Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
' Indiana Jones series. "How did Indy meet Marion? What happened in their earlier encounters? George apparently wanted to keep that for the future. Maybe we’ll find out in Indy 4," MacGregor speculated. Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont
Frank Darabont is a Hungarian-American film director, screenwriter and producer who has been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Golden Globe. He has directed the films The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all based on stories by Stephen King...
claimed it was his idea to bring back Marion for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, during his tenure as writer from 2002 to 2004.