Rene Belloq is a character and an antagonist in Indiana Jones franchise, appearing as the main antagonist of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He appears in LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. He is a French archeologist who allied himself with the Nazis.
Description[]
Rene Belloq is a minifigure sporting a dark tan legs, explorer shirt and hat. His shirt has two front pockets on his chest, a brown belt and an open collar, which reveals his neck. His face reuses Draco Malfoy's headpiece from 5378 Hogwarts Castle set.
Background[]
In the Movie[]
Rene Belloq is Indy's rival and has opposed him multiple times in the search for artifacts, most notably stealing the Golden Idol from the latter. Some time after, he allied himself with the Nazis and was assigned to help them in finding the Ark of the Covenant, with Colonel Herman Dietrich in charge of the searching party. However, due to having access only to one side of the medallion, which was burned onto Major Arnold Toht's right hand, the Nazis ended up digging for Well of Souls in the wrong place. After a failed interrogation attempt of Marion Ravenwood, whom Belloq grew very fond of, the Nazis discovered Indiana Jones' group extracting the Ark and stole it. Rene gloated briefly about his success, before becoming visibly displeased once Toht threw Marion down the Well. He joined Dietrich and Toht on their way back, riding with them in the staff car and was frustrated when Jones retrieved the Ark back.
The next day however, the Nazis sacked Captain Katanga's ship, where Jones, Ravenwood and the Ark were staying on. Taking Marion and the artifact with them, they began making their way to the Tabernacle on the island. Indiana Jones revealed himself to them in a canyon and threatened to blow up the Ark with a rocket launcher, but Rene called his bluff and had his rival captured. Upon arriving to the Tabernacle that night, the Nazis tied Indy and Marion to pole while Belloq, dressed in a ceremonial robes, said a short prayer and signaled the Ark to be opened. Much to his dismay, only dust and sand were found inside of it, infuriating Dietrich. However, soon the entirety of Nazis' equipment began to go haywire, followed by the arrival of spirits. Their sight amazed Belloq, who shouted out that the experience is beautiful. Upon that, one of the spirits flew toward him, Toht and Dietrich and hissed maliciously, turning into a decaying corpse. As Toht and Dietrich began screaming with fear, fires began coming out of the Ark, engulfing Belloq and using him to strike down all of the gathered soldiers with lightning bolts. It then turned its' fury on the remaining trio, shriveling Dietrich up, melting Toht and blowing up Belloq's head. The following firestorm then disintegrated their bodies, before returning the Ark's lid on, sealing it back.
In Games[]
In Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Belloq's role is almost the same as in the movie, with the only differences being the scenes of Marion's interrogation and his meeting with Indy in a Cairo bar omitted, as well a small change of his fate. In which instead of his head exploding, his entire body does so. In this game all of his three variants are playable, with each of them unlockable after certain levels, with his jungle variant being unlocked after completing Lost Temple level, his regular variant after completing The Well of Souls level and his ceremony variant after completing Opening the Ark level. As a playable character both his jungle and regular variant carry a book with themselves and can solve the archeological puzzles.
In Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, his role has been altered just like every other villain's. He doesn't appear in the Raiders arc until the level After the Ark, in which he and Toht are a short boss while in a staff car on the level's end. After crashing into a barricade of military cars Belloq watches as Indy drives away with the Ark in the truck. However, during the latter's stay on Captain Katanga's ship, Belloq commands Toht to threaten the ship, forcing Katanga to return the Ark to the Nazis, before making their way to the Tabernacle. Once there, upon Dietrich's nod of approval Belloq proceeds with the ceremony. Once opened, a mystical energy comes out of the Ark, but his smirk of satisfaction turns into confusion as a disco ball floats out and high into the air above them. As music starts playing from within the artifact, Belloq and the Nazis fall under its' spell, starting to dance against their will. In the wake of it, Belloq himself becomes overwhelmed with the Ark's power and turns into a lightning monster, before starting to kill the Nazis off, Toht included. However, Indy and Marion manage to deflect one of his bolts directly at him using a metal plate, which causes him to electrocute himself, before exploding.
After completing the last level of this arc, Belloq can be found in pieces on the Tabernacle island. After being build back up he is purchasable for 500,000 coins. As a playable character he wields a Ceremonial staff that can be used to deflect energy and light rays in puzzles.
Notes[]
- In The Original Adventures game, Satipo was allied with him, unlike in the movie.
- In The Adventure Continues game, only his Ceremony variant is playable.
- So far only his Jungle variant made it to physical LEGO sets.