# Did Indiana Jones Dad become immortal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509 "2005-07-28T02:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/1 "2005-07-28T02:35:43Z")
Someone recently brought this up in another forum and now, I’m wondering. In Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Jones Sr drinks from the grail cup. Is he now wandering around immortalized as a 65 year old history professor? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stewart\_Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@John\_Stewart\_Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stewart_Pie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/2 "2005-07-28T02:39:43Z")
Junior drinks from the Grail, but he is only immortal so long as he stays in the room the Knight was in. The Knight tells Jr. that the power of the Grail is limited to that little cave room. Senior never drinks from the Grail. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/3 "2005-07-28T02:58:12Z")
That was about the most ineffective spoiler tag I’ve ever seen. -foxy ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/4 "2005-07-28T02:59:37Z")
**John Stewart Pie** : Yes, Jones Sr. did drink from the cup. When Indy brought it back, he poured half the water into his dad’s mouth, and the other half directly into the bullet wound. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/5 "2005-07-28T03:01:16Z")
IIRC, the immortality was linked to the seal found in the area before the grail room. The same seal sparked a quake when the grail was taken beyond its mark. That’s the problem with immortality, there is always a clause involved which ultimately gives you the shaft. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stewart\_Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@John\_Stewart\_Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stewart_Pie)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/6 "2005-07-28T03:01:26Z")
Oh, yeah. That knight was a liar. And a bit of a tramp if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/7 "2005-07-28T03:07:58Z")
I was under the impression that it would prolong your life, but you would only be immortal as long as you continued to drink out of it. I don’t know where I got this idea, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/8 "2005-07-28T03:47:56Z")
I think that the cup confers immortality to whoever drank from it. The problem was that the cup couldn’t cross the seal- hence everything crumbling. I don’t think that the immortality ended at the seal. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/9 "2005-07-28T06:19:27Z")
I thought the Grail conferred immortality, too, but then I realized that the second knight (not the one in the cave, but the one who told the story to the monk) died of “extreme old age” at appr. 150 years old. Which implies that he had some supernatural help in the life department, but on the other hand, he does in fact die. My revised theory is that the Grail’s immortality juju only works within the seal, which is why the last knight had to stick around for so long. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/10 "2005-07-28T07:32:20Z")
Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s not everlasting life if you stop drinking it. I, for one, feel kind of sorry for the knight. If he was still more or less immortal when those rocks came a-tumblin’ down, he was in a world of hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Catsmeow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Catsmeow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catsmeow)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/11 "2005-07-28T16:04:31Z")
Doesn’t the Knight say something to the effect of “The grail can not pass beyond the great seal. Such is the price for immortality.” My take is that you need to continuously drink from the grail or the caveat “such is the price” wouldn’t have been said. Now you could go back and forth to the cave (since I’d guess that the grail gives say a month of protection per drink) but that would attract all sorts of attention and what if you were shot as Dr. Jones Sr. was? How would you get to the healing power of the grail? What if people got suspicious and followed you back and stole the grail setting off the 'quake, etc? ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/12 "2005-07-28T16:10:33Z")
I always wondered about that “do not cross the seal” thing. It seems like if you sprinted full-tilt-boogie through that room and across the seal you would’ve made it. Who knows, a column would probably fall on you at the last second. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/13 "2005-07-28T16:12:04Z")
I don’t have the movie to hand, but I could swear I remember the knight saying he had to drink from the Grail _every day_ in order to be immortal. He said the reason he was so old was because there were periods of time when he wouldn’t drink because he was tired of his extended life, and it was while he wasn’t drinking that his body aged. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/14 "2005-07-28T16:30:02Z")
> [@](#): > > but I could swear I remember the knight saying he had to drink from the Grail every day in order to be immortal This appears nowhere in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Catsmeow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Catsmeow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catsmeow)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/15 "2005-07-28T16:32:59Z")
Okay, courtesy of [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097576/quotes) here is the actual line. > [@Knight of the Grail](#): > > You have chosen… wisely. But, beware: the Grail cannot pass beyond the Great Seal, for that is the boundry, and the price, of immortality. So it seems that the seal is the boundry for immortality. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/16 "2005-07-28T17:37:37Z")
I recall reading somewhere (perhaps in a novelization) that both Indiana Jones’s (remember, Indy drank from the cup as well, to see if it was the right one) and his father’s lives were both extended beyond normal, but that they were not immortal based on the brief amount of exposure to the grail and the one time drink from it. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/17 "2005-07-28T17:44:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > **John Stewart Pie** : Yes, Jones Sr. did drink from the cup. When Indy brought it back, he poured half the water into his dad’s mouth, and the other half directly into the bullet wound. And the OTHER half stayed in the cup! I love that continuity error. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/18 "2005-07-28T17:50:44Z")
In the novelization, it is explained that you have to drink from the Grail every day to remain immortal. The knight guarding the grail was so old because sometimes his “spirit faltered” and he didn’t drink from the grail. He aged a year for each day he did not drink. I was a huge Indiana Jones geek back when that movie came out. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/19 "2005-07-28T17:51:21Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > That was about the most ineffective spoiler tag I’ve ever seen. > > -foxy The very thread title and OP is an open spoiler. What difference does it make at this point? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/20 "2005-07-28T17:57:03Z")
> [@The 1](#): > > You have choosen wisely. But the grail can not pass beyond the Great Seal. That is the boundary, and the price of immortality. Once that insanely beautiful (yet diabolically evil) Austrian woman tried to take the grail past the seal, an earthquake started and the ground tried to swallow her and the cup. So I always figured that the Grail would work anywhere, but for some reason was bound to that cave. They never really did explain that, did they? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509.md?page=2)