ARTIFACT
Holy Grail
Culture	Christian
Discovery	1938 Canyon of the Crescent Moon, Hatay
Discovered by	Indiana Jones

"That's the cup of a carpenter."

―Indiana Jones^[src]

The Holy Grail was a Biblical artifact said to have supernatural powers. A person that drank from the cup was granted eternal life and youth, though this effect would last only until they crossed the Great Seal that marked the entrance to the cup's resting place at the Temple of the Sun. Water poured from the Grail could heal severe injuries, such as a gunshot wound.

HistoryEdit

The Grail was believed to be the cup that Jesus Christ used during the Last Supper which was then entrusted to Joseph of Arimathea. It was said that the Grail could give to whomever drank from it eternal life.

The Grail was discovered centuries later, by King Arthur. After the fall of Camelot, it was believed to be delivered by Sir Galahad to a monastery at Iona where the cup remained for around three hundred years. The monastery, however, was sacked by Vikings in the ninth century and the Holy Grail got a far as Kiev before trade or raid carried it south.^[1]

The Grail was found in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon after the First Crusade by a company of knights from France, three brothers who swore to protect it. They lived in the cup's sanctuary for nearly one hundred and fifty years. One of the brothers was chosen to stay behind while the other two returned to Europe, leaving behind a marker near Ankara about its location. Sir Richard's shield carried a second marker but the man died on the journey back, and was buried along with his shield in a tomb in Venice, Italy. The third brother returned home and in the 13th century, told his story to a Franciscan friar, who recorded about the whereabouts of the holy relic somewhere "in a canyon deep in a range of mountains" and made a painting about it which was kept in castle Gasthof Trubselig, in Klasenheim.

The Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword was a secret society who perhaps knew the location and true history of the Grail. They swore to keep it safe from discovery and misuse.

Modern timesEdit

Indiana Jones's father, Professor Jones Sr., was obsessed about the Grail after a vision he had in 1898. He made thorough researches and travels for its study and kept several notes about it in his Grail diary.

G. Codirolli while in the ruin of Kaffa, discovered a parchment with the testimony of the physician who attended the dying of the Franciscan friar, when he mentioned the three tests. Codirolli later shared the Kaffa parchment with Jones.

Professor Jones was hired by antiquities collector Walter Donovan to search for the Grail but ended up captured by the Nazis. Donovan, who was in league with them, also obsessed over the Grail and planned to acquire it and later give it to the Nazis for their own use.

The Grail was located in a mountain-side temple in the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, in the Middle East. In order to reach the cup, the person was required to overcome three challenges. The first was the "Breath of God", the second the "Word of God", and the third being the "Path of God". Afterward, the person had to defeat the guardian of the Grail in single combat in order to succeed in being guardian. Finally, the person would have to choose which cup was the Grail, for it was placed on a large table amongst other cups. If the person chose right, they would be granted eternal life but cannot leave the temple with the Grail for that is the price of immortality. If the person chose incorrectly, they would have their life taken away.

On Elsa Schneider's recommedation, Donovan made the mistake of choosing a False Grail which he saw as most befitting a "king of kings" and rapidly aged to death. Indiana Jones, however, found the most modest of the chalices and recognized the true Grail as the cup of a carpenter.

Indiana recovered the grail in order to heal a gunshot wound that Donovan inflicted upon Henry Jones Sr. After Henry was healed, Schneider tried to take the grail from the temple. This caused a large earthquake, and the grail fell onto a small ledge in a ravine. Elsa, who had nearly fallen herself, was saved by Indiana and greedily tried to grab the grail below with her free arm. Indiana could not maintain his grip for long and despite his protests, Elsa overreached to grasp the chalice and her hand slipped from its glove where she fell to her death. Indiana nearly tumbled into the abyss himself, but was caught by his father. Indiana, like Elsa, tried to reach the cup, but was persuaded by Henry to let it go.

As a result, the Grail was ultimately lost following the events of the adventure, but the experience gave both Indiana and his father the chance to rekindle their rocky relationship.

LegacyEdit

Years later, the elder Jones remarked on the elusive, indefinite nature of the Grail, commenting that the cup discovered by the father-son team was simply "a Grail. But many of the oldest Grail texts, written by the most ancient seers, refer to the Grail as an elixir, as a bread, a powder, gold, or a stone."

Behind the scenesEdit

The prop Holy Grail currently resides in the Hollywood Museum (housed in the Max Factor building) in Los Angeles, California.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure the Grail's appearance is random each time, and its final determination is part of the game's copy protection. When Indy looks at each Grail, he comments "Now THIS is a cup of a carpenter".

In the game, it is possible to catch the Grail with the whip, and then surrender it back to the Grail Knight. This can be done even before Elsa tries to catch it, and that way, she can live till the end of the game.

The carpenter line is spoofed in Monkey Island, where it is repeated by Guybrush Threepwood when he sees a chalice. It is further spoofed in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, when looking at an Atlantean stone cup, and Indy comments "Certainly NOT a cup of a carpenter".

AppearancesEdit

• Young Indiana Jones and the Ghostly Riders (Mentioned only)
• The Mata Hari Affair (Mentioned only)
• The Day of Destiny (Mentioned only)
• The Secret Treaty (Mentioned only)
• The Rule of Russia (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (First appearance)
• Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny

SourcesEdit

• Grail Diary
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Sourcebook
• Close Encounters of the Random Kind (Ambiguously canonical source)
• Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
• Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 3
• The Greatest Adventures of Indiana Jones

Notes and referencesEdit