Although this article is based on canonical information, the actual name of this subject is pure conjecture.
Please see the reasons for this title in the "Behind the scenes" section below, and/or the relevant discussion on the talk page.
A German driver served under the command of Colonel Herman Dietrich and was the driver of the cargo truck which was assigned to transport the Ark of the Covenant from Tanis to Berlin in 1936.
History
In 1936, after the destruction of the Flying Wing due the intervention of Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, Colonel Herman Dietrich decided to transport the Ark of the Covenant with a cargo truck, so he assigned this driver and his companion to drive the truck from Tanis to Berlin.
However, Jones followed them and started his attempt to take the control of the truck. During the chase, after Major Gobler's gunner failed to shoot Jones, the archaeologist managed to board the truck, and the first thing he did was throw the driver's companion onto the sandy road. Then, Jones and the driver began to fight for the control of the vehicle. However, during the fight, the truck destroyed several scaffolds of a building under construction, causing several Arab workers to fall and jump to the road. At one point, one of the workers fell into the front of the truck, although he hurled himself from it quickly. Faced with a comic situation, Jones and the driver laughed, only to have Jones punch him in the face with a punch, sending him tumbling off the truck to an unknown fate.
Behind the scenes
The German Driver was played by stuntman Terry Leonard in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Leonard also served as Harrison Ford's (the portrayer of Indiana Jones second stunt double. In the film's original script, the character was referred as the Truck Driver.
In the third draft of the film's original script, written by Lawrence Kasdan, the German Driver and Jones were originally going to not destroy scaffolds of a building site. Also, it was originally planned that Indy would plaster the German Driver before making him fall off the truck.[1]
Although never stated, it remains unknown wheter the German Driver survived The Desert Chase or not. Although never specified in the film, it seems that he fall off a cliff after falling from the cargo truck. The German Driver's fate is represented in different ways in some other Indiana Jones media:
- In the LEGO short TV film LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick, the German Driver, depicted with a gray moustache, is pulled out from the cargo truck by Jones and falls to the road, bothering about what happened.
- In the video game LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, the German Driver leaves the cargo truck (which is still driving alone) to climb to the roof of this one for fight against Indiana Jones and Sallah, just so that these two make him fall to his death in the road and taking control of the vehicle. In the DS version of the game, he is simply kicked out by Jones from the truck to the road.
- In LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, the German Driver, with the help of his vehicle, fights against Jones and Sallah after these two destroy many vehicles of the Enemy Soldiers. After Jones and Sallah manage to damage the truck, he suddenly dies, allowing either of them to take control of the cargo truck and to face Belloq.
Appearances
- Raiders of the Lost Ark novel (First appearance)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Raiders of the Lost Ark comic
- Raiders of the Lost Ark storybook
- LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick (Non-canonical appearance) (On television)
- LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Non-canonical appearance)
- LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Non-canonical appearance)