Talk:The Raiders Minimization/@comment-31736738-20170414034938

If Indiana Jones hadn't been in the story line, he wouldn't have saved Marian in Nepal, and the two of them wouldn't have witnessed the opening of the ark on the island. Only he and Marian lived to testify to the danger of it's opening, which is why it was locked away at the end. And had he not been there, he'd probably still be a skeptic, just as he was at the beginning of the film. It's also unlikely that the Nazis would've failed to tell any of their colleagues they were heading to the island in the first place. Eventually, some of the other Nazis would have come looking for them and found the ark there themselves. Those who found it might not have opened it, particularly as the archaeologist who opened it did so because of his passion for his work. In the film, one of the soldiers questions whether they should go through the ceremonial opening because of it's link to Judaism.

This is significant because the Ark was supposed to guarantee victory - in war - of anyone who possessed it. Raiders of the Lost Ark takes place three years before World War II, and five years before the US became involved in it. So the idea (within the story line) is that the US was guaranteed to win the war because, thanks to Indiana Jones, they were now in possession of the Ark. If the Nazis had retained it, the results of the war would've been different.