| “ | Welcome to the Aetherium, Mortal! | „ |
| ~ Marduk welcoming Indiana Jones to his realm. |
Marduk, also known as Lord Marduk, is the overarching antagonist of the 1999 action-adventure video game Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, the second original Indiana Jones video game.
He is the god-like ruler of the Aetherium, a realm accessed centuries ago by the Babylonians through the Infernal Machine built inside the Tower of Babel. In 1947, Marduk sees an opportunity to be resume his world-conquering plans when the Cold War provokes the Americans and the Soviets to look after the Infernal Machine, led separately by Simon Turner and Gennadi Volodnikov.
He was voiced by Doug Lee and Adam Gregor.
History[]
Past[]
The being known as Lord Marduk originated from the Aetherium, a realm different than Earth's reality. Centuries ago, Marduk somehow contacted King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and asked him to build a great engine that could serve him as a gateway between the Aetherium and reality. This request was granted in the form of the Infernal Machine, said to be built within the Tower of Babel, a tower the Babylonians built to reach Heaven and meet God. Through the Machine, Marduk was seemingly able to cross over into reality and inspire some Babylonian priests.
However, for unknown reasons, the Infernal Machine was left abandoned prior to being completed by its uneducated builders, leaving Marduk stuck in his realm. However, four disciples loyal to him known as Urgon, Taklit, Azerim and Nub (who apparently used Marduk's powers to defeat the Egyptians) escaped with the four crucial parts of the Infernal Machine from Babylon and hide them in four sanctuaries respectively, those being modern-day Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Mexico and Sudan.
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine[]
In 1947, CIA agent Simon Turner decides to recruit the American archaeologist Indiana Jones, at the behest of his fellow agent Sophia Hapgood, to look after the four parts of the Infernal Machine to contact Marduk and make an alliance with him so the West can defeat the Soviet Union. Racing against the Soviet forces of Dr. Gennadi Volodnikov, Indy travels across the globe and retrieves all four parts while hearing about Marduk from his encounters with Volodnikov, but is not made aware of Turner's true plans until Turner demands him to hand over the four parts and leaves him with Volodnikov in a pit, leading Volodnikov to assure Indy that Turnr and Hapgood will die by Marduk's hands, prompting Indy to go after his fellow Americans to save them from unleashing Marduk over the world. Indy tries to stop Turner, but Turner doesn't back off and tries to make Sophia the "ambassador" between the Aetherium and the Earth due to her past experiences with Nur-Ab-Sal, prompting Indy to put all the pieces correctly at the behest of a statue that claims that Marduk may obey Indy if he does so and face Turner in a shootout that culminates with Turner's death but gets Sophia send to the Aetherium, leading Indy to follow her.
Once in the Aetherium, Marduk finally appears and welcomes Indy to his realm, going back on his word to let him and Sophia go and proceeding to violently attack him with fire purple energy blasts, forcing Indy to duck for cover as Sophia alarmingly points out that she is starting to feel that her body is turning like stone. However, when Indy neutralizes him for the most part by using a large mirror to reflect his thunderbolt attacks, MArduk charges at Sophia, releasing her from her aethereal cage to do so, and merges with her into an aethereal harpy known as Mophia. Unfortunately for Mophia, jones employs his bullwhip to harness Marduk's deadly powers and strikes back several times until Marduk's aethereal form can't resist anymore and explodes, freeing Sophia from Marduk's influence for good.
It's unknown whether Marduk survived or not, but even if he did survive, Marduk was likely erased from existence the moment the Aetherium collapsed upon merging with reality through the Infernal Machine's portal as the Machine was destroyed, much to the satisfaction of everyone, as Volodnikov rightly concludes that Marduk is not God like the Babylonians thought and that there are things men shouldn't know.
Trivia[]
- Marduk is the second Indiana Jones villain to possess Sophia Hapgood, following Nur-Ab-Sal from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
- It is unknown whether Marduk is male, female or genderless. However, given how the characters refer to him with masculine pronouns and how his voice was provided by two male voice actors, it is safe to assume that Marduk is male, though one can argue that he sounds like one as that's how Indiana Jones envisioned him to sound if they communicate telepathically.
External Links[]
- Marduk on the Indiana Jones Wiki
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 Villains
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