Indiana Jones Codexery

Hatay

The film's fictional sultanate where the Last Crusade's race for the Grail ends.

Hatay is where the race for the Holy Grail ends in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When Indy and Henry arrive there, Sallah tells them that the Nazis have also come, using the map from Henry's diary. Hatay is ruled in the film by a fictional sultan, played by Alexei Sayle, although the real Hatay State was a republic.

Quick Facts

Relevant era
Late 1930s (Pre-World War II)

Lore & Background

In Hatay, Kazim and the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword ambush the Nazis on the trail and are all killed; Henry is captured trying to rescue Marcus Brody, and Indy destroys the Nazi convoy, sending Standartenführer Ernst Vogel and his tank over a cliff. The group then reaches the temple containing the Grail. In early drafts, Kazim was Kemal, an agent of the Republic of Hatay seeking the Grail for itself.

Reader's Guide

The sultan's palace was filmed in the courtyard of the Escuela de Arte de Almería in Spain, and the establishing shot of the Hatayan city at dusk was made with backlit, smoke-obscured cutouts. The tank chase was filmed in the Tabernas Desert in Almería.

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