10 Real-Life Archaeologists More Badass Than Indiana Jones

5. Otto Wilhelm Rahn

That's the Ark Of The Covenant dealt with, what about the other Biblical treasures that Harrison Ford's pulp hero tracked down? Step forward Otto Wilhelm Rahn, a writer and medievalist who researched grail mythos. Oh, and also polar opposite to Indiana Jones in a lot of ways: he was a Nazi to the point that he believed in the occult powers of the Aryan race, and was a first lieutenant in the SS. Urk. Obviously nobody wants to suggest that Indiana Jones, American hero, is less badass than a literal Nazi. But it was Otto Rahn who got closer to the Grail than anybody else, and his alliance with the SS was always an uneasy one. €œA man has to eat. What was I supposed to do? Turn Himmler down?€, he said, in explanation of his political allegiance. In fact he was both openly gay and anti-Nazi, even whilst being a member of the SS. And yet he managed to keep these two key personality traits under wraps as he allowed the Third Reich to fund his trips across the world to track down the grail, during which time he found any number of treasure troves and networks of caves hidden beneath old castles. He never found the grail, true, but at least he died trying.