Arnold Ernst Toht (1890 - 1936) was a German Gestapo agent and Sturmbannführer of the Schutzstaffel.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Toht was born in Berlin in 1890. During World War I, he served as a corporal in the Western Front. After the war, Toht joined the Nazi Party and the Sturmabteilung. He formed a friendship with Heinrich Himmler, serving as one of his top men. In 1936, Heinrich Mueller sent him to Nepal with the mission to found the headpiece of the Staff of Ra in possession of Marion Ravenwood. This staff would allow the Nazis to find the supposed Ark of the Covenant, which would be used in their conquests.
Nepal[]
After arriving in Nepal, Toht hired three thugs to accompany him and fellow Gestapo agent Otto Schliemann before heading to Patan, where the bar Ravenwood owned was located. Indiana Jones, the former lover of Ravenwood, archaeology professor, and treasure hunter, beat him to the bar, though he did not leave with the headpiece. Toht interrogated Ravenwood with a heated fire stoker before Jones ambushed Toht, using his bullwhip to pull the stoker out of his hands and onto the curtains, lighting it aflame.
A lengthy skirmish ensued in the burning building, with Toht branding his hand on the superheated headpiece after it was caught in the flames. Out of sheer panic from the immense pain, Toht dove through a window to cool his hand with the snow. Despite his fleeing, he was the only survivor between Toht, Schliemann, and the four Nepalese thugs.
Egypt[]
Toht in 1936
In Egypt, Toht was tasked with torturing Ravenwood, who was kidnapped by local collaborators. He later went on an expedition to Geheimhaven off the coast of Crete in the Aegean Sea, with the supposed Ark of the Covenant in tow, from where he would never return.
Death[]
It is believed that he was killed by Jones, who infiltrated the island, though a more outlandish theory says that he was killed by ancient Israelite spirits for breaking the Covenant by opening the Ark.