Deirdre Campbell Jones

Deirdre Campbell Jones was a Scottish redheaded student of London University where her mother, Joanna Campbell, was head of the Archaeology Department.

She first met Indiana Jones as a member of his class in 1925 and they soon became a romantic couple while investigating the truth behind the Merlin legend. The pair were married a year later in a hastily arranged service aboard the RMS Mauretania en route to Rio de Janeiro but the marriage was cut short when Deirdre was killed during a plane crash in South America soon after.

Biography[]

Deirdre Campbell was born to Joanna Campbell around 1905 in Scotland. She grew up in Whithorn in the Scottish southwest. She had a bedroom where she could see the Machars from the window. Her father died when she was fifteen.^[1]

By 1925, at the age of twenty, she was studying at London University and lived with her mother on Notting Hill. In August Deirdre piqued Professor Indiana Jones' interest with a paper exploring the historical underpinnings of the Merlin legend. The adventure that followed led the pair to Stonehenge and a fatal confrontation with Deidre's secret half-brother from a different father, Adrian Powell, a member of Parliament and the chief of the mysterious Order of the Hyperboreans. Joanna was killed as a result of prolonged exposure to chlorine gas.^[1]

Deirdre and Indy's relationship continued to blossom and they were married in March 1926 on board the RMS Mauretania while journeying to Rio de Janeiro. However, traveling in South America just a few weeks after their wedding, their plane crashed in the jungle during their escape from the veiled city of Ceiba, killing the young bride.^[2]

Legacy[]

The loss of Deirdre affected Jones deeply. Not only had he been the sole survivor of the plane crash that took Deirdre's life, but his memory of their final moments together were mostly gone, and he was unable to remember enough details to return to the crash site.^[2] The experience was a source of nightmares that continued into at least 1930.^[3]

His journal contained just one reference to Deirdre by name, noting their time together on a dig in Tikal, Guatemala,^[4] and several years later when asked if he had a wife, Jones replied that he had never been married.^[5] After the diary fell into KGB possession around 1957, research into its contents failed to uncover any information about Deirdre's background other than that she was a fellow archaeologist friend of Jones'.^[4]

Behind the scenes[]

Deirdre Campbell was created by Indiana Jones author Rob MacGregor, debuting in the novel Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants^[1] before being killed off in the follow-up Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils.^[2] MacGregor developed Deirdre as "sort of a dream woman".^[6] For the cover of Seven Veils, artist Drew Struzan used a photograph of golfer Glenna Collett as the basis for Deirdre's likeness.^[7]

The character's name was misspelled as "Dierdre" on IndianaJones.com and as "Deidre" in The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones.

While writing his prequels, MacGregor had no pushback to establishing that Indiana Jones had been briefly married before the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark, later stating that he felt Lucasfilm Ltd.'s corporate chiefs didn't take the novel content too seriously and treated books as marketing items.^[8] Despite this, the person in charge of the Indiana Jones bible about the franchise's canon disapproved of MacGregor's character, so MacGregor had her killed off in Seven Veils.^[9]

However, shortly before the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull when MacGregor was approached to write the – ultimately cancelled – novelization of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, he met with an unnamed Indiana Jones "historian" who, according to MacGregor, said that the marriage "was a mistake that wouldn't be included in the Indiana Jones bible" and, not having read the books, had been unaware of Deirdre's existence until someone notified him about it.^[8]

Appearances[]

• Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants (First appearance)
• Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils
• Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Unicorn's Legacy (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Interior World (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Sky Pirates (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the White Witch (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx (Indirect mention)
• Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings novel (Cancelled) (Mentioned only)

Sources[]

• The World of Indiana Jones
•  Indiana Jones' Marshall College entry on IndianaJones.com (backup link on Archive.org)
• The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones
• "No Time for Love?" – Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 5
• "Indiana Jones and the Novels of Doom" – Indiana Jones: The Official Magazine 5
• Grail Diary

Notes and references[]