Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Voss is The Villain The Series Needed

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 16, 2024 13 Views 6 Min Read
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's Voss is The Villain The Series Needed



The Indiana Jones franchise has had some solid villains over the years. Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s Toht and Belloq were an unlikely but formidable duo, Temple of Doom‘s Mola Ram was a terrifying supernatural threat, The Last Crusade‘s Donovan had wealth on his side, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull swapped out Nazis for Soviet Union troops, and Dial of Destiny offered a new spin on fascism.




Each Indiana Jones villain has two main purposes in the movie they appear in. One is to add stakes to the story, usually in the form of a race against the clock for the eponymous hero, and the second is to throw life-threatening obstacles in Indy’s way. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s Emmerich Voss achieves that and so much more.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Emmerich Voss Is One of the Franchise’s Best Villains

Emmerich Voss Is The Perfect Foil for Indiana Jones

One of the most memorable antagonists in the Indiana Jones franchise is Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s Rene Belloq. A French archaeologist, Belloq acts as a foil to Indiana Jones, essentially being the darker version of the titular adventurer. While Belloq’s career and life feature many similarities to Indiana Jones’, his methods are far more unethical. That thin line between hero and villain is one of Raiders of the Lost Ark‘s more subtle, but intriguing thematic explorations.


Indiana Jones and the Great Circle features its own foil for Indiana Jones, albeit one who’s decisively more evil. The head of the Third Reich’s archeology efforts, Emmerich Voss is a lover of ancient worlds just like Indy, but where Indy sees wonder and the capacity for learning in ancient artifacts, Voss only sees the potential to gain power.

Manipulation is Emmerich Voss’ Whole MO

While the Indiana Jones franchise has had some threatening villains, none have been quite so intimidating as Emmerich Voss. When players first lay their eyes on Voss during Indiana Jones and the Great Circle‘s story, Indy immediately remarks that the Nazi archaeologist is a master manipulator who uses his research on psychology to toy with people’s minds and get what he wants.

The first time players properly meet Emmerich Voss, they get to see this professional manipulation first hand. Voss convinces the Vatican’s Father Ventura to show him top-secret artifacts, simply by using his wit, powers of deduction, and some fancy words. In Gizeh, players watch as Voss manipulates his Nazi colleague Gantz into becoming his lapdog, turning his insecurities against him and offering sudden affirmations to make the officer loyal.


Players can also find a letter in he Gizeh Nazi headquarters from an officer named Meier, further detailing Voss’ manipulative behavior. In the letter, Meier writes that whenever a soldier simply bores Voss, he dissects their psychology and breaks them, apparently leading to some men running into the desert without water.

Emmerich Voss Poses More of a Tangible Threat Than Any Other Indiana Jones Villain

Indy has dealt with plenty of Nazis in his time, but none has posed such an overt, mighty threat as Emmerich Voss. Players can find several letters throughout Indiana Jones and the Great Circle addressed to Voss from Adolf Hitler himself. These letters confirm that Voss has a good portion of the Nazi army at his disposal, and in 1937, that carries some heavy weight. With Voss, Indiana Jones is truly one man going against an army.

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