Elsa Schneider
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Indiana Jones character | |
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| Elsa Schneider | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | Unknown |
| Place of birth | Unknown |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Family | Unknown |
| Portrayed by | Alison Doody |
| First appearance | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade |
Dr. Elsa Schneider is a fictional character, appearing in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and played by Alison Doody. Schneider is a beautiful female Austrian historian who worked closely with Indiana Jones' father Henry Jones Sr. during his quest to find the location of the Holy Grail — briefly becoming romantically involved with the elder Jones during the project.
[edit] Fictional character biography
By nature, Elsa is noticably and decidedly more introverted, composed and calculating than previous Indiana Jones females Marion Ravenwood and Willie Scott. She harbors an obsession with the Grail similar to Jones Sr. albeit her feelings towards it differ to his.
When Jones's father is kidnapped, Indiana Jones travels to Venice and meets up with Schneider. They work together to find clues to the location of the Holy Grail, enjoying a tempestuous romantic affair in the process. Elsa's role in Jones Sr.'s kidnapping (or whether or not she even had such a role) prior to Indiana and Marcus Brody arriving in Venice is not known.
Jones soon discovers his father is held at castle Brunwald in Austria. He brings Elsa with him, but to his surprise discovers she is a Nazi spy. Elsa seizes the Grail Diary, and proceeds to make a stop at Berlin before travelling to find the Grail with Walter Donovan. Jones escapes his castle captivity and confronts Elsa at the Berlin rally to get the diary back from her. During this exchange, Elsa expresses her private contempt of the Nazis. After this exchange, Jones leaves, not seeing Elsa again until he arrives at the Grail Temple.
Jones is forced to pass through the Grail trials to reach the holy cup after his father is shot. In the process, Jones finds a room filled with dozens of false grails and only one true grail. Walter Donovan and Elsa enter, and she offers to choose the cup for Donovan. Unbeknownst to him, Elsa purposefully chooses the wrong cup, betraying him. Donovan falls for Elsa's deception, which promptly costs him his life. With Elsa's help, Jones "chooses wisely", and uses the holy water to heal his father's wounds.
Elsa, however, can't resist her temptation to leave with the artifact and crosses the seal. The temple begins to collapse, and in the confusion she falls, dropping the Grail on to a nearby ledge. Jones manages to catch one of her hands, however despite his pleas she refuses to give him her other hand, instead reaching for the Grail; As she is about to get a fingertip on it, her glove slips off her sweaty hand and she plummets to her death.
| The Indiana Jones series | |
|---|---|
| Films | Raiders of the Lost Ark • The Temple of Doom • The Last Crusade • Indiana Jones 4 |
| Television | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles |
| Characters | Indiana Jones • Willie Scott • Marion Ravenwood • Elsa Schneider Marcus Brody • Sallah • Short Round • Henry Jones, Sr. • Walter Donovan • Rene Belloq • Colonel Dietrich • Arnold Toht • Colonel Vogel • Mola Ram • Club Obi-Wan Triad |
| Cast | Harrison Ford • Sean Connery • Corey Carrier • Sean Patrick Flanery George Hall • River Phoenix • John Rhys-Davies • Denholm Elliott • Julian Glover • Wolf Kahler • Ronald Lacey • Paul Freeman • Amrish Puri • Michael Byrne |
| Crew | George Lucas • Steven Spielberg • Frank Marshall • John Williams |
