Disclaimer: I do not own René Emile Belloq, or anything else from the Indiana Jones universe. This is just my version of a tribute to Indy's best adversary. Ulla Tornaes is from the Expanded Adventures novel Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth. I don't own her either.
I once knew the American archaeologist Indiana Jones when he was looking for Ultima Thule in the hollow earth. We weren't lovers, but we got along well and agreed on some of the things regarding the ancient myths of the world. I, myself, am Pagan, but I usually tolerate the beliefs of others. As great a man as Jones is, though, I am not here to talk about him, or at least not primarily about him. It's about his French rival archaeologist, René Emile Belloq.
I met him once over the course of my adventures with Dr. Jones. He was definitely one-of-a-kind. Indy doesn't know it, but I've been keeping track of Belloq's history, both past and present. If one word could describe him, I think it would be this: honorable. Of course, it's a twisted kind of honor, but I have no doubt that he follows some sort of code, one he made up himself. He was a thief and a money-grubber, stealing some of the artifacts Indy had fairly claimed and selling them on the black market for profit, but he was also a very smooth and elegant man, always well dressed, drinking the best wine, eating the best cheese, and smoking the best tobacco. All the elements you'd expect from a Frenchman. He also wore a stately expression on his face that showed he was a man who offered respect and expected respect in return. To be sure, Indy may never have done him that favor, but I imagine most of the people who hired Belloq to do archaeological jobs for them did give him the respect he wanted. René was a man who made his own kind of difference in the world, maybe not the compassionate one that Indy makes with his sympathy for his friends and his donations to his friend Marcus Brody's museum, but he certainly had better manners and better virtues than most black market dealers.
He was also quite the ladies man. All the time we were together, he always showed me the utmost courtesy, even as he talked down to Indy as if he were somehow inferior. I could tell that he cared about women, provided that they were intelligent as well as pretty. When he was around a woman he liked was the only time he normally let his guard down, though I heard that because of his weakness for fine liquor, sneaky women, like Indy's girlfriend Marion Ravenwood, could drink him under the table temporarily.
The thing that might intrigue me the most about this man, though, is probably his faith in the supernatural. We have different beliefs, of course; like I said, I'm a Pagan, while he believed in the Judeo-Christian God. Nevertheless, he surely had more positive ideas than I do; as a Pagan, I know that the world is ultimately going to go to darkness in the end, but he had an enthusiasm for Jesus Christ, the central figure in Christianity. He even believed that Jesus' blood ran in the veins of the Belloq bloodline to a certain extent. It sounds a bit farfetched to me, because even if Jesus was real, how can his blood have passed down to a wealthy French family? According to the Bible and many other records, Jesus never even had children. Still, René's commitment stands in contrast to the abstract agnosticism of Indiana Jones.
It absolutely makes no sense that he would side with Hitler's Nazis to get his hands on the Ark of the Covenant. The Nazis just wanted to use it as a powerhouse of invincibility for their armies so they could conquer the world, according to what Indy told me recently. But perhaps Belloq's opinion of the Nazis shows that he didn't think very highly of people who had ripped him off in the past and had no respect for the "Jewishness" of the Ark. They were his employers, but not his friends. But then, I suppose even an honorable adversary can be terribly foolish. Belloq thought that the Ark was "a radio for speaking to God," as Indy quoted to me, and intended to use it to do that very thing. The thing is, I thought prayer was supposed to be a radio for speaking to God, and most Jews and Christians do it regularly. And the Ark was supposed to be the most dangerous artifact ever to exist, too. The Bible speaks of death always surrounding it. It makes me grateful that I never saw the Ark, not to mention grateful that I'm not a Jew or a Christian. The Ark is terrifying, and Belloq's boldness in using it to "speak to God" reportedly got him and a lot of Nazis in some terrible trouble on a desert island near Crete.
I don't know exactly what happened to Belloq or the German soldiers. Even Indy and Marion, the only survivors from that island, don't know, because they couldn't look at the power of the Ark when it was unleashed. Who'd have thought it, that such a worthy adversary to my archaeologist friend Dr. Jones would apparently disappear in a conflagration of devastating power? I guess it just goes to show that some people, no matter what their honor, are foolish enough to meddle in the affairs of the gods when they shouldn't do so. Though Indy disagrees with me, I think it's a little sad that the world is without René Belloq now. More of the world's pure heroes like Indy need someone like that to keep them in line with their own honor.
Curiously, few people seem to miss him outside of his family. I heard a rumor that René's son, whose name I don't know, is demanding to know what happened to his father, and finds the legend of the wrath of God disrespectful. I know little about the junior Belloq, but here's hoping he doesn't go down the same stupid path that his senior did.
Somehow, I know deep down that if there is a God like in Judaism and Christianity, Belloq is likely to be in what they call Hell by now with his Nazi collaborators. After his rash actions, I hope all the more that I please the Pagan gods enough that the Valkyries show me mercy when I die. But nevertheless, Belloq was the most impeccable man I ever knew. No dirt on his skin or clothes, no sweaty stench, and no mussed-up hair. To Indy, he was a devil. To the Nazis, he was a useful assistant. To the world, he was an archaeologist and a mercenary. To me, he was just a smooth and smart man with his own unique outlook on life and should've been a little wiser so he could die a better death than the apparent wrath of God.
And I'll take that image with me all the way to Valhalla and beyond.
A/N: This isn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be, but hopefully it's good enough to be satisfactory. René Belloq has always been my favorite Indiana Jones villain. For some reason, he touched me when I first saw him in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He isn't altogether evil, and if he hadn't gotten on the wrong side of God, he could have lived to become the same legend that Indy was. Oh, and I got most of the extra information about Belloq from Indiana Jones and the Hollow Earth and Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs, two Indiana Jones novels. It's Ulla Tornaes' observation of him, but some other Indy fans like Belloq too, and I found it a little sad that he desecrated God's almighty Ark and had to be destroyed for it.