All 5 Main Indiana Jones Artifacts, Ranked By Power

Warning: This list contains spoilers for all the Indiana Jones movies, including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Throughout the five Indiana Jones movies, Indy (Harrison Ford) and his allies come across a variety of powerful artifacts from the ancient world. The exact nature of these artifacts’ power can be hard to gauge because they most often do not work the way the movies’ characters want them to. The standard Indiana Jones plot depicts Indy racing to find the relevant artifact before the Nazis do, to prevent them from using the artifact to further their agenda. However, most of the time, the conditions or hazardous nature of the artifact would have prevented the Nazis from achieving what they wanted anyway.

This is the basic thinking behind the famous, now-debunked Raiders of the Lost Ark argument that Indy is not important, not affecting the outcome of the story. However, it is clear that the artifacts seen throughout the series still possess varying amounts of significant power. The message is generally that humankind was not meant to meddle with these artifacts but to leave them alone to have a specific ordained effect on the world. The only true indication of the power of any given Indiana Jones artifact is how disastrous its built-in defenses are to the people searching for it.

5 The Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

The notorious investigation leading to a “kingdom” inhabited by aliens in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull reveals that the crystal skull artifact is a remnant of an extra-terrestrial life form; once the skull is returned to the rest of the alien’s body, it regains consciousness and leaves Earth. The interdimensional beings themselves are powerful, even if it’s not clear what they can do with this power. They apparently possess more knowledge than any human ever could, demonstrated by Spalko’s (Cate Blanchett) fiery death.

On its own, the skull has some psychic abilities if a person looks into its eyes for too long. Oxley (John Hurt) also uses it to divert an army of red ants away from himself and Indy. Additionally, the skull has a very strong magnetism, attracting metals that aren’t even magnetic. However, other than these incidental properties, the crystal skull is not that powerful in its own right. The issue is that all the real power the skull has is attached to the alien race it comes from. At the point it rejoins the body, it is no longer an artifact but a living, sentient being.

When it is just the skull on its own, it can only accomplish these parlor tricks that happen to be incredibly useful to the protagonists based on the very specific dangers they find themselves in. It might be argued that it has the potential to be powerful by bestowing vital knowledge upon a person, but Kingdom of the Crystal Skull vividly illustrates how one person can only handle so much knowledge. Ultimately, the crystal skull can only achieve so much on its own, making it the weakest Indiana Jones artifact.

4 The Sankara Stone(s)

Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom

In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indy, Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), and Willie (Kate Capshaw) are prompted to go to Pankot Palace to retrieve Sivalinga, a sacred stone stolen from the shrine of the village Mayapore. The village’s shaman (D.R. Nanayakkara) only ever discusses the stone that was taken, but it is revealed that there are five. Two are never discovered, and Indy loses two more after retrieving them from the Temple of Doom, before returning the single lost stone to the village.

The loss of the stone causes a blight of drought, crops failing, and livestock dying in the village. Indy causes the stones to burn by reciting a Sanskrit incantation during the final fight. When Indy returns the stone in the final scene, Mayapore’s bountiful crops and water have apparently returned. Mola Ram (Amrish Puri) also believes that if he could find all five stones, he could rule the world. When Indy theorizes that the missing stone is believed to be one of the lost Sankara stones, he tells Short Round that Sankara means “fortune and glory.”

The stones’ power cannot be undersold because the one that is housed at the village’s shrine evidently does affect the people’s welfare, and what they were able to yield from the land. The burning trick is a minor power that has the most impact because of when it is used. However, the theory that the Sankara stones could be used to rule the world is never proven; it is merely a vague characterization of what they could be rather than what they are in the movie itself.

3 The Holy Grail

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

The Holy Grail is a classic example of an Indiana Jones artifact that is immensely powerful in theory, but this power isn’t necessarily accessible to people. Whatever it is supposed to do is negated by strict conditions. Indy can live forever by drinking from the Grail, but only if he stays in the cave where the Grail is housed forever. The Holy Grail technically can grant immortality, something that is held up as an impossible feat within the story, and therefore merits consideration as a powerful artifact.

Characters like Indy’s father Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery) and Elsa (Alison Doody) want to find the Holy Grail because of what it is and not what it can do. Their reverence of the history surrounding the Grail suggests a less tangible kind of power. In the end, Henry makes his peace with having seen the Grail for himself and leaves it behind, while Elsa refuses to give it up and dies as a result.

The barrage of defenses surrounding the Holy Grail also demonstrates its power. When Donovan (Julian Glover) drinks from the wrong goblet, he immediately withers until he turns to dust. When Elsa attempts to leave with the real Grail, the entire temple begins to collapse. Traps surrounding an artifact are characteristic of an Indiana Jones adventure. In the case of the Grail, they are not indisputable evidence of its power, because it’s not clear if they are directly triggered by the Grail itself. However, this chain reaction can still be associated with the artifact.

2 The Dial Of Destiny

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

The most recent Indiana Jones movie again introduces an artifact with a very specific purpose that is essentially the only thing it can do. There is a lot to discuss concerning what led to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s massive box office losses, or its failure to end Indiana Jones’ 42-year losing streak at the Oscars. However, the dial accomplishes another monumental feat that is positioned as a fantastical end goal in much pop culture and mythology: time travel. Indy and his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) race to find the dial before Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a Nazi-turned-NASA scientist.

Voller believes he can use Archimedes’ dial, also called the Antikythera, to travel back in time and change the outcome of World War II. If Voller could do this, the dial would be granting him a dangerous amount of power. Dial of Destiny doesn’t really land on an answer about whether the past can be changed, although most of the characters seem to believe it can. However, Voller’s plan is derailed because people in the present day cannot control where they go into the past. While Voller tries to take them all to 1939, they are brought back to Archimedes’ (Nasser Memarzia) time.

This plot twist highlights one of the harsh realities of Indiana Jones’ character because he wants to stay in the past but is prevented from doing so by Helena. As far as the dial is concerned, it is a powerful artifact that can take the user into the ancient past — that much is non-negotiable. Just because the conditions of what it does are not convenient for humans who are trying to use it to achieve their own ends does not mean that it is not powerful.

Source

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny: 31 Easter Eggs & Hidden References

Indiana Jones 5 honors the entire legacy of the adventuring archaeologist with several fun Dial of Destiny Easter eggs and references.

1 The Ark Of The Covenant

Raiders Of The Lost Ark

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Brody (Denholm Elliott) tells Indy: “The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it is invincible.” This is obviously what the Nazis were hoping for when they set out to find the Ark. Theoretically, the Ark could do this in the modern day. It turns against the Nazis because they were not meant to use the Ark. In the context of the religion from which it originates, the Ark’s power can only be used by humankind if God wills it.

The famous scene where the Nazis open the Ark leads to a demonstration of its power where they are all killed. While nearly all the artifacts in the Indiana Jones movies are protected by practical and supernatural traps, the Ark warrants extra consideration because its defenses are self-contained. The flashing lights and spirits circling during the face-melting scene don’t seem to do anything in particular besides suggesting more potential power that the Ark contains. They could, hypothetically, launch an attack on a bigger threat.

The way the characters speak of the Ark creates an image of it that is too powerful for any person to understand, let alone be able to use that power for themselves. Brody is not the only character to raise concerns about how destructive unearthing the Ark could be; Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) tells Indy that the Ark “is something that man was not meant to disturb. Death has always surrounded it. It is not of this earth.” That combined with a real if brief demonstration of that potential makes the Ark of the Covenant the most powerful artifact in the Indiana Jones movies.

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  Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

  The most popular and well-received film in the Indiana Jones movie franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark follows Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones in a race against Nazi forces to recover the famed Ark of the Covenant. Aided by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy must work to keep the Nazis, led by Dr. Rene Belloq, from obtaining the Ark and thus becoming recipients of its power. The film is widely regarded as one of the all-time greatest movies ever made. 

  Release Date

  June 12, 1981

  Cast

  Harrison Ford , Karen Allen , Alfred Molina , Paul Freeman , Ronald Lacey , John Rhys-Davies , Denholm Elliott

  Runtime

  115 Minutes

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  Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

  The second installment in Steven Speilberg’s classic film franchise, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom features the titular hero on an adventure in India, attempting to save the children of a remote village from a violent cult of the goddess Kali. Harrison Ford reprises his role as Indiana Jones, with a supporting cast that includes Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri, and Philip Stone. 

  Release Date

  May 8, 1984

  Writers

  Willard Huyck , Gloria Katz

  Cast

  Harrison Ford , Kate Capshaw , Ke Huy Quan , Amrish Puri , Roshan Seth , Philip Stone , Roy Chiao

  Runtime

  118 Minutes

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  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

  A sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade sees the return of the titular hero, this time in search of his father who has been kidnapped by Nazis. Aided by his friends Marcus Brody and Sallah, as well as his father’s associate Elsa Schneider, Indy must travel Europe to locate his father and stop the Nazis from finding the Holy Grail. Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, and Alison Doody also star. 

  Release Date

  May 24, 1989

  Writers

  Jeffrey Boam

  Runtime

  127 Minutes

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  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

  The fourth installment in the Indiana Jones franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull sees the return of the legendary hero 19 years after his last outing. In the film, Indy finds himself in a race against KGB operatives to locate a mysterious crystal skull, aided by his former lover Marion Ravenwood and their erstwhile son, Mutt Williams. Along with Harrison Ford, Karen Allen reprises her role as Marion, with Shia LaBeouf joining the cast as Mutt. 

  Release Date

  May 22, 2008

  Cast

  Harrison Ford , Shia LaBeouf , Cate Blanchett , Karen Allen , Ray Winstone , John Hurt , Jim Broadbent

  Runtime

  122 Minutes

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  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the fifth entry in the Indiana Jones franchise, directed by James Mangold and starring Harrison Ford in his final portrayal of the titular character. The film will see Jones in 1969 on an adventure with his goddaughter, Helena Shaw, as they find themselves in the middle of an uneasy space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, with the former enlisting the help of former Nazis with ulterior motives.

  Release Date

  June 30, 2023

  Writers

  Jez Butterworth , John-Henry Butterworth , David Koepp , James Mangold

  Runtime

  2 hours and 2 minutes