# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/21 "2005-07-28T18:39:44Z")
I’ve heard that the Grail made Jones Sr. decades youinger. He dropped out of sight for a while then rerappeared in the 60’s as a movie actor. ---
**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, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/22 "2005-07-28T18:41:28Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > 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? Not that I recall. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/23 "2005-07-28T19:57:53Z")
I don’t know that the immortality was tied to the seal, but the grail certainly was. The knigth COULD have left and still felt the benefits from the grail, but he wouldn’t leave because he had vowed to protect the cup. In other words, only honor kept him prisoner, not the fear of death. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/24 "2005-07-28T20:28:56Z")
It’s a shame Indy didn’t drop by on a Tuesday night, as that’s when Frodo, Elrond, and Gandalf drop by for poker night. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/25 "2005-07-28T20:31:43Z")
What I always thought about that scene was “Man, God is one seriously mean dude, placing that agonizing-super-aging-curse on all the phony cups.” ---
**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, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/26 "2005-07-28T20:48:22Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > The knigth COULD have left and still felt the benefits from the grail, but he wouldn’t leave because he had vowed to protect the cup. Nope, he would have aged and died. He needed to drink from it every day. The seal had nothing to do with immortality–it was just the limits of how far you could travel with the Grail in your pocket. ---
**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, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/27 "2005-07-28T21:02:07Z")
Even if his dad did become immortal, Indiana would’ve been right there with him. Remember, he took a healthy swig from the cup himself. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/28 "2005-07-28T21:48:09Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’ve heard that the Grail made Jones Sr. decades youinger. He dropped out of sight for a while then rerappeared in the 60’s as a movie actor. How do you explain Jones Sr.'s [brother](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062078/)? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/29 "2005-07-28T21:56:45Z")
Off topic, and perhaps common knowledge, but the sandtone temple carved out of the canyon wall where the Grail resides? It’s a real place, and part of an ancient city called [Petra](http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/MiddleEast/Jordan/Petra/MapIndex.html) (meaning “rock”.) The actual temple is [the Khazneh](http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/MiddleEast/Jordan/Petra/images/Khazneh.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/30 "2005-07-28T22:11:49Z")
> [@Q.N. Jones](#): > > Nope, he would have aged and died. He needed to drink from it every day. > > The seal had nothing to do with immortality–it was just the limits of how far you could travel with the Grail in your pocket. We don’t disagree. I am saying that if he had crossed the seal, he wouldn’t have died right away. He simply would have become mortal and aged accordingly like his brother who left for England. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/31 "2005-07-28T22:31:45Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Off topic, and perhaps common knowledge, but the sandtone temple carved out of the canyon wall where the Grail resides? It’s a real place, and part of an ancient city called [Petra](http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/MiddleEast/Jordan/Petra/MapIndex.html) (meaning “rock”.) The actual temple is [the Khazneh](http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/MiddleEast/Jordan/Petra/images/Khazneh.jpg). More trivia: it was a major thorn in the sides of the Herodian dynasty (who were maternally members of the royal family that controlled Petra). My mother describes it as the most impressive thing she saw on her Holy Land tour; you have to approach through that steep narrow passage from the movie (impossible to send a military down) and the man who gided her horse was so old that he had to ride on a donkey. I always wondered how the knight got food, oil for the lamps, etc., and kept the place remarkable free of dust for an 800 year old place in a desert. Of course he’d figured out how to put an eversharp blade in rock and build a bridge that was invisible from certain angles so he was evidently resourcesful. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/32 "2005-07-28T23:23:18Z")
Jones Sr. actually went on to an impressive run on “Celebrity Jeopardy”. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/33 "2005-07-28T23:33:18Z")
Sean Connery: Well, the game is afoot. I’ll take anal bum cover for 7,000. Alex Trebek: That’s An album cover, not anal bum cover. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/34 "2005-07-28T23:34:51Z")
From [the Wondering Minstrels](http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/487.html) on the subject of Petra - > [@](#): > > Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime, > A rose-red city - half as old as time! > – John William Burgon ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/35 "2005-07-29T00:11:08Z")
Obviously, he remained immortal until Christopher Lambert’s foe cut his head off. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/36 "2005-07-29T13:17:25Z")
> [@John Stewart Pie](#): > > Oh, yeah. > > That knight was a liar. And a bit of a tramp if you ask me. After some deliberation, I have decided that he WAS a liar. He wasn’t a crusader knight at all. He was just a geek that wondered off from the RenFest. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509/37 "2005-07-29T13:19:34Z")
To paraphrase Henry Jones, “…but in English…‘wondered’ is spelled…with an _A_ !” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-indiana-jones-dad-become-immortal/314509.md?page=1)