Remarks in italics are not taken from explicitly-stated events in the canon material. They are my own speculations, logical inferences, gap-fillers, and extrapolations based on fragmentary references and passing mentions in the original sources.
July 1938 — Henry Jones III is born to Marion Ravenwood, unknown to Indy.[1]
November 1938 — Marion Ravenwood becomes involved with RAF pilot Colin Williams, who had been introduced to her by Indy the previous year. They marry soon, and Williams adopts the infant Henry Jones III. Perhaps thinking of his recent reconciliation with his father, Indy writes Marion a letter around this time, but it goes unanswered.[2]
Spring 1939 — After discovering an ancient ram’s head idol in Sudan, Indy encounters a group of Nazis, and is forced to give up the Idol, but makes an escape when he distracts their leader, fellow archaeologist Magnus Voller. Indy chases down a departing plane and boards it. Upon his return to the U.S., Indy receives a letter informing him that his former college professor, Charles Kingston, has disappeared. When Indy heads to San Francisco to discuss the matter with the letter’s sender, Archie Tan, he discovers that Tan has been kidnapped. Indy’s investigation into the disappearances leads him to the discovery of another artifact, the Jade Sphere. The Nazi agents (led by Voller) holding Tan demand the Sphere in exchange for Tan’s return. Indy agrees, but after Indy and Tan flee the situation, Voller discovers Indy had substituted a worthless figurine for the Sphere. Kingston had left the Sphere as a clue intended to guide Indy back to where Kingston had first discovered it — Panama. In Panama, Indy is joined by Irish photographer Maggie O’Malley, and the pair are attacked by Voller’s native mercenaries. Indy fights them off, saving a local village in the process. The villagers give him access to nearby Mayan pyramid, where Indy discovers Kingston’s journal. The journal reveals details regarding the location of the Staff of Moses. (Indy had already discovered the companion Staff of Aaron in a previous adventure five years earlier.) Obtaining further clues on a flying visit to Istanbul, Indy finally finds Kingston and the Staff in Nepal. They are ambushed by the pursuing Nazis, who abscond with Maggie (who is actually a British Intelligence agent) and Kingston on their zeppelin, the Odin. Indy is able to rescue Maggie, but Kingston is fatally shot. In a final confrontation with Voller, Indy and Maggie use the Staff to clear a path through the Red Sea, and then cause the waters to inundate the German archaeologist. The ultimate fate of the Staff is unknown.[3]
For unknown reasons, Indy is living in the faculty quarters of Barnett College around this time, rather than his own home. [4,5]
May 6, 1939 — Indy is approached at Barnett College by a mysterious stranger about a small key-like artifact. Indy recognizes its distinctive engraved pattern, and matches it to another artifact, a small horned idol, that the college had in storage from the 1929 Jastro Expedition in Iceland (see earlier entry). The key opens the artifact and reveals a small bead-like object. The mysterious stranger, who turns out to be SS Col. Klaus Kerner, attempts to take the gem, and in his failure to do so, leaves behind a clue leading Indy to Sophia Hapgood, a former archaeological colleague who now makes a living as a “psychic” and fortune teller, supposedly drawing her power from her collection of “Atlantean” artifacts.[5]
May 7, 1939 — While Indy is visiting with Sophia Hapgood, the apartment is raided by Kerner and his men, who make off with any artifact bearing the engraved pattern, including the idol from Barnett (but missing one worn as a necklace by Sophie), and badly wounding Indy (the fourth gunshot wound of his career by my count — his shoulder/upper arm areas on both sides must be remarkably resilient.).[5]
May 14, 1939 — Analysis by Nazi scientist Dr. Ubermann indicates the bead is a metal called orichalum, suposedly from Atlantis, and has the potential for being weaponized — a source of unlimited energy if found in sufficient quantities. While Indy is recuperating in the hospital, Sophie foils an assassination attempt on him by another Nazi agent.[5]
Late May 1939 — Out of the hospital, Indy decides to join Sophie on a trip to Iceland to investigate the Nazis’ interest in the artifacts. After discovering the frozen body of Thorskald, a fellow archaeologist clutching an idol identical to the one once in Indy’s possession, they decide to follow Dr. Jastro’s post-expedition route from Iceland to the Azores, where they find a stash of artifacts that Jastro had hidden for his private collection, including a a part of a keystone with the distinctive engraving. Following a lead in Thorskald’s notes, they end up in the Yucatan, investigating ruins that have engravings in Mayan…also in Egyptian, and an unknown script that is possibly Atlantean. A mutated skeleton in one of the crypts is wearing another engraved keystone, but this is stolen by their contact and guide, Charles Sternhart, along with their horses. Indy and Sophie make their way back to town on foot to discover an emergency cable from Brody. Brody has been investigating his own leads in Cardiz, Spain, and received a keystone from a Spanish Atlantis researcher. He arranges to meet Indy and Sophie in Leningrad to study a rare manuscript by Plato with clues to the existence and (former) location of Atlantis, only to have the manuscript stolen by Kerner. The only other copy of the manuscript known to exist…is at Barnett College.[5]
Early June 1939 — The manuscript leads them to Morocco, where local Berber diggers (supervised by the Ubermann and Kerner) are already digging for more clues and artifacts. Indy and Sophie make off with an important artifact (an “orichalum-finder”) and escape in a hydrogen balloon heading out over the Mediterranean Sea. They end up on Crete, and enter the labyrinth under Knossos, where they find Steinhart (killed by the Nazis he was working for) and collect the third and final keystone that will allow entrance into Atlantis. The information in the manuscript combined with Steinhart’s journal provide the exact underwater location of Atlantis. Indy dives down and enters the city buried under the seafloor using the three keystones. The Nazis, utilizing a U-boat and with a captive Sophie, are not far behind. Indy frees Sophie, and they use the orichalum finder to find the source of the powerful metal deep in the core of the ruined city. Sophie’s necklace begins giving her visions of the fate of Atlantis — they tried using orichalum to re-create their own living gods (“horned ones”), but it resulted in mutations and failure. Indy and Sophie are eventually captured by Ubermann and Kerner, both of whom attempt to use the Atlantean god-making device, and are both killed gruesomely by it. A series of undersea explosions destroy the remains of Atlantis for good. After their return, Sophie joins the faculty of Barnett College.[5]
Summer 1939 — Indy is assisting a French academy on a dig in the Libyan desert when he receives instructions (via Marcus Brody) to head immediately to Nepal. (His overly-loyal servant boy from Libya, Khamal, accompanies him as a stowaway.) There he meets up again with Sophie Hapgood, who has discovered scrolls that appear to be 500 years older than any known Buddhist scripture — and point the way to a divine revelation from the Buddha himself. The government of Nepal agree to fund an expedition to find the “Covenant of Buddha.” Joined by Dr. Patar Kali, Indy, Sophie, and Khamal head for Afghanistan to begin their search. Their train is attacked by Afghani bandits. Sophie is abducted and the scrolls stolen. The Afghan warlord finds Sophie too troublesome to keep, so she is offered as a prize in a multi-tribe horseback competition. A disguised Indy manages to win her, and they escape. They meet up with a small portion of their Nepalese security detail who survived the train ambush. They reveal that Japanese military intelligence is also in pursuit of the map, in the hopes of uniting Asia under their rule, and has placed a spy in the Nepalese expedition. Without the scrolls, both Indy’s team and the Japanese must rely on clues found at various Buddhist shrines, beginning with the Colossus of Bamian, the only major shrine between Afghanistan and the Far East. They beat the Japanese to the required clue (a hidden map) which leads them to an isolated city, Chanri-Ha, high in the Himalayas. After an initially hostile welcome, inhabitants (who practice a blend of Buddhism and primitive paganism) begin to revere young Khamal as their god Zan-Khan– a reincarnation of two “gods” who had conquered the city in earlier times — Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. In the Chanri-Ha archives, they discover the next place to seek the Covenant — Szechuan, China. They flee the city when it is attacked by the bandit army of the female warlord known as the Serpent Lady. The Serpent Lady insists on accompanying Indy and his party to Szechuan, where she will use the Covenant for her own purposes. After eluding a Japanese ambush, and hijacking a train, they end up captured by a rival warlord, Ch’ao the Red, near where the Covenant is supposed to be hidden. After an air raid by the Japanese on Ch’ao’s camp, Indy and co. reach the final temple, only to be confronted by Japanese general Masashi Kyojo. After a brutal round of hand-to-hand combat, Indy finds the Covenant, only to have it disintegrate into ash.[6]
Fall 1939 — Indy has hired a salvage ship and its very unscrupulous crew to sail into the North Atlantic in search of a Viking shipwreck. After it is discovered lodged in an iceberg, a polar bear attack causes most of the crew to flee, leaving Indy and the salvage captain, Lawton, marooned on the drifting iceberg. Weeks pass. They are rescued by the French passenger liner Normandie. On board the ship, Indy discovers a conman has claimed to be his older brother, “New Jersey Jones,” and is selling phony artifacts to wealthy donors. Indy becomes intrigued by “New Jersey”’s female accomplice, Cairo, who has some kind of previous connection with Lawton. After an altercation, all four end up adrift in a Normandie lifeboat, which drifts into a portion of the North Atlantic known as the Sargasso Sea, known for its lack of wind and currents. They find a graveyard of old ships, some of them dating back centuries, trapped in the thick sargassum seaweed. They are captured by the residents of the ships’ graveyard, the Sargasso pirates, who take them to their flagship (the Freedom), and introduce them to the pirates’ leader, the Sea Witch. She allows them to stay after passing a dangerous trial — Indy must fight off a kraken. Indy is interested in investigating the Freedom’s treasure room, so he sends Cairo to distract the guards. This also gives Lawton the opportunity to assassinate the Sea Witch and take over the pirate crew. He pins the assassination on Indy. Indy is captured and sentenced to a “sweating,” a slow and torturous form of execution. He is spared when an oil lamp sets off a major fire, which destroys most of the floating city. Many of the pirates escape on the Freedom. Cairo has discovered the Sea Witch survived the assassination attempt, and they wait in the Sea Witch’s hideout until she sufficiently recovers. The Freedom gets quickly bogged down in the seaweed, but fortuitously discovers an abandoned U-boat. The U-boat chains itself to the treasure-laden Freedom and prepares to head out, but the Sea Witch reveals herself, and combat ensues. Thinking Indy, Cairo and the Sea Witch have been dealt with, Lawton steers the U-boat out of the Sargasso region, but the trio has managed to stow away on the Freedom. They are discovered and cut loose. The Sea Witch unfurls the sails and engages the sub in cannon vs. torpedo combat. The Freedom is sunk, but not before they get on the sub. The Sea Witch kills Lawton, and his mutinous crew is brought under control. Unfortunately, the treasure is lost.[7]
Late 1939 — Indy is in Egypt, assisting a “rival” colleague, Dr. Dafoe, in deciphering clues that lead to the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Azudab. The translated inscription states that the death mask of Azudab will reveal a path to the afterlife and all the treasures that follow. Indy’s father has joined them to help with the dig. The tomb is quickly found. In an attempt to cut Indy out of his share of the artifacts, Dafoe seals Indy and Henry in a small room within the tomb. Water from Henry’s dropped canteen leads them to an escape route — where they discover a dead Dafoe wearing the Azudab death mask, and leaving everything in the tomb to Jones.[8]
1940 — Indy is searching for the Golden Jaguar flute in Bolivia. He talks to local native (and friend from some time before) Tuxa, a member of the Guarani tribe. Tuxa reveals that his village has fallen ill, but a crystal skull has been brought to the village by an outsider, “Jasy Kuna,” which has healed the village in exchange for valuable offerings. Indy exposes Kuna as a fake (she’s corrupt botanist Josie Kelland) that caused the illness by secretly poisoning the villagers. The “healing” was just the poison wearing off. The skull is worthless cut glass. Indy is given his choice of the offerings Kelland had planned on escaping with, and he chooses the Golden Jaguar flute.[9]
Later that year, Indy and his guide, a young boy named Bhakdi, arrive at a hidden temple in the Kamphaeng Province in Thailand. Indy had discovered the route to the temple’s interior in some old writings, and planned a full expedition. When he caught a college intern, Clifford, spying in his files, he decided to make the trip a year earlier than planned. Clifford has arrived before them, and plans on taking all the treasure and artifacts for himself. Bhakdi snatches Indy’s notes from Clifford’s hand, allowing Indy to overpower him. With his notes in hand, Indy leaves with Bhakdi, but Clifford has a copy, and attempts to enter the temple, but he still does not have enough expertise of information to avoid the temples traps.[10]
Colin Williams, Marion Ravenwood’s husband and young Henry’s adoptive father, is killed in combat.[2]
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Holy Bee of Ephesus 