A minimalistic replica of the Grail Diary was given in the package of the game Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Graphic Adventure. It was a part of the game and was never sold or distributed separately.
Development
The Grail Diary represents the notes and thoughts of Henry Walton Jones, Senior. We learn that his obsession with the Holy Grail started with an alleged vision; the following pages have his memoirs of his travels, research and correspondence with other scholars, until the timeframe of the Last Crusade movie and game. Some references to the young Indiana Jones are also given.
For a more realistic feeling, the text was muddled with strike-outs, scribbles and corrections, ink and coffee stains and other marks of age. Also, some newspaper clippings, tickets, telegrams etc were printed on the pages of the book, to imitate the insets that Henry kept between the pages of the Diary, as seen in the film.
Illustration of the 'third trial' by Steve Purcell, similar to a sketch seen in the movie Diary. Notice the cup 'stains' on the lower right
The bulk of the text was authored by Mark Falstein and the hand lettering was of Jayne Osgood. Illustrations were made by Lucasfilm artist Steve Purcell and some were directly inspired from those of the original props seen in the movie.
A significant part of the text (pp. from 9–21) are the various inconsistent descriptions of the Holy Grail in various legends, texts and references. Basically, this served as a copy protection: clues about the appearance of the Grail were scattered through the actual game. These clues were random from time to time, so the player had to use the 'Diary's' information in order to decide which was the correct Grail in the end.
All in all, the document was not intended to be faithful to the movie prop and the game manual says that it is only a 'part' of the actual Grail Diary. Other parts of the Diary are found within the game, as the player can read relevant pages of the diary in certain parts of the game to solve puzzles.
Entries
- April 3 1898, New Haven, Connecticut
- August 24 1900, Western Massachusetts
- November 14 1905, Las Mesas, Colorado
- July 8 1906, Auberge d'Écume, Cantaney, France
- July 16 1906, Gasthof Trübselig, Klasenheim, Austria-Hungary
- February 22 1912, Las Mesas, Colorado
- May 22 1912, Las Mesas
- August 19 1916, Philadelphia
- June 29 1920, Aboard the steamer George S. Pilkington, The North Atlantic
- July 14 1920, Oxford, England
- July 27 1920, The Purple Dragon, Mochdref, Wales
- September 4 1920, Sankt-Gallen, Switzerland
- September 29 1920, Bologna, Italy
- June 21 1921, Aboard the steamer Atalanta, The North Atlantic
- June 19 1923, Princeton, New Jersey
- May 29 1927, Princeton
- October 2 1928, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- September 17 1930, Salisbury, England
- October 1 1932, Princeton
- December 9 1937, New York
Appearances
Characters
- Indiana Jones
- Henry Jones
- Anna Mary Jones
- Indiana
- Marcus Brody
- Abner Ravenwood
- René Emile Belloq
- Benito Mussolini
- Richard Burton
- Heinrich Schliemann
- Sigmund Freud
- Robert Hawes
- Zeiler
- Kyot
- A.D.
- Eleanora Ferrers-Lansdowne
- Roland de Haie
- Wolfgang S. Staubig
- O'Lochlainn
- G. Codirolli
- Carruthers
- Matthius
- Hawken
- Muhammad Ali al-Jawf
- Lindberg
- Elsa Schneider
- Walter Donovan
- Jesus Christ
- Joseph of Arimathea
- King Arthur
- Galahad
- Mordred
- Perceval
- Taliesin
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Wolfram von Eschenbach
- Chretien de Troyes
- Robert de Borron
- Thomas Malory
- Franciscan friar
- Third brother
- Paolo of Genoa
- Nur ed-Din al-Musafir
- Anselm
- Richard
- Baron Munchausen
- Sherlock Holmes
- Santa Claus
- Satan
Locations
- North America
- Atlantic Ocean
- South America
- Bolivia
- Cibola
- Europe
- England
- Wales
- Scotland
- Austria-Hungary
- Spain
- France
- Paris
- Brittany
- Abbey of Cantaney
- Auberge d'Écume
- Yugoslavia
- Norway
- Germany
- Heidelberg
- Bingen
- Italy
- Switzerland
- Russia/Soviet Union
- Kiev
- Berks
- Africa
- North Pole
- Avalon
- Asia
- Crimea
- Kaffa
- French Indochina
- Israel
- Arimathea
- Jerusalem
- Holy Sepulchre
- Ottoman Empire
- Istanbul
- St. Sophia
- Troy
- Antioch
- Istanbul
- Sinkiang
- Japan
- Canyon of the Crescent Moon
- Iran
- Iraq
- Crimea
Vehicles and vessels
- Lakes Flyer
- Titanic
- George S. Pilkington
- Atalanta
- Orient Express
Artifacts
- Ark of the Covenant
- Grail
- Cross of Coronado
- The demon monkey of Laeng-Tran
- Grail Tablet
- Richard's shield
- Mirror of Bronwyn
- Sword of Bran
Events
- Last Supper
- Great War
- First Crusade
- Ravenwood expedition
Languages
- Aramaic
- Coptic
- Latin
- Greek language
- Navaho language
- Old Irish
- Anglo-Saxon
Documents
- Parzival
- Coptic cipher
- Abergavenney manuscript
- Book of the visions of St. Hildegard
- Gospel of Joseph of Arimathea
- Book of the Spells of Merlin
Miscellanea
- Association of American Medievalists
- Jesuits
- Knights of the First Crusade
- Vikings
- Saxon
- Inca
- Anasazi
- Saracens
- Skull tune
- Round Table
- Siege Perilous
Behind the scenes
Continuity
The Grail Diary was released three years before the broadcast of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series which saw a significant expansion to Indiana Jones' younger days. When the two sources are compared, there are some contradictions between the two, as well as other media in Indiana Jones continuity.
- The Grail Diary names Henry's wife as 'Mary' while the series introduced her as 'Anna'. This was retconned in 2008 with Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide presenting her with the full name of Anna Mary Jones.
- The Diary has a 6-year gap of entries between years 1906 and 1912; according to the Young Indy pilot, Henry began his two-year world lecture tour in 1908, therefore the episodes of the "Corey Carrier period" can conveniently fit in that gap, without any inconsistencies.
- The 1905 entry implies that the Joneses are living in Las Mesas, Colorado while the television series sees Indiana born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey.
- The first entry after this gap is dated February 1912 and Henry mentions his wife's death. Later canon confirmed this in the same year, but some months later.
- The entries of that same year (which also mention Indy's adventure with the Cross of Coronado), are located in Las Mesas, Colorado, indicating that the old Jones residence is located there. However later canon placed the house in Utah, not Colorado. It is possible that Falstein based the Colorado location on an inside information that the real-life house used in filming is actually located in Colorado. One way to combine these conflicting accounts is to place the house in Utah, but Four Corners University in Las Mesas.
- The text mentions that Henry Jones was 45 in an entry dated 1921. However, according to the later canon, he would be 49 that year.