| “ | You see, Captain Jones? These are my friends now. I have been besieged by enemies for too many years. It has been too long. But now, the land will be safe. We will crush the intruders out and wash the Earth with their blood! Their deaths will cleanse us. Their screams from the stake, will alllow us to sleep. For it is such a purity death has, such a perfect beauty... | „ |
| ~ Mattias Targo confiding his plans to Indiana Jones, Maria Straussler and Nicholas Hunyadi. |
Mattias Targo is the main antagonist of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode "Transylvania, January 1918".
He is a Romanian separatist general who operates in Transylvania, Romania during the last days of World War I, becoming of Ally importance after rescusing prisoners of war from an Austrian military camp. However, as Indiana Jones and the rescue party assembled by the Allies find out, Targo didn't rescue the POWs for altruistic reasons but because of a much darker purpose than any intelligence officers could theorize.
He was portrayed by the late Bob Peck. When talking through Maria Straussler, he was portrayed by Simone Bendix.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- He is a Romanian vampire who terrorizes Transylvania, Romania during the early 20th century, rumored to be the reincarnation of the fearsome Vlad Tespes, a singularly viscious 15th century warlord of great military strategistic knowledge who drank the blood of his enemies and was known for impaling over a hundred thousand people that made the Turks fear him. Assuming Mattias Targo is Tespes' reincarnation as rumored, Targo cannibalized countless of people centuries ago.
- Became a separatist general to fight his own war for Romanian independence at the same time his country was allying to Austria-Hungary during World War I, making his fellow Romanians waste their time fighting him when they should have focused on dealing with Allied attacks.
- Freed all the prisoners of war of an Austrian military camp (technically sabotating his country by attacking their allies), but rather because of doing that out of altruism, Targo instead took them to his castle and proceeded to feast on them for their blood.
- For some of the POWs, Targo drank their blood and killed them, but even then, hypnotized them into becoming his now undead slaves to guard a nearby campsite of his, populated by German, Austrian, French, British and American soldiers he also claimed.
- For other POWs, Targo just drank their blood and then impaled them into the stakes of his castle's grounds, killing the prisoners and leaving them there for display.
- Got rid of François Picard, Frederick McCall and Evan Thompson, the French and American agents who were sent to his castle to investigate the disappearance of the POWs, mutilating them and sending Picard's finger, McCall's ear and Thompson's eyeball in a package to their superiors as a deadly warning. In fact, in addition to the mutilations, Targo also transformed them into his undead servants, feeding them meaty food and blood for wine.
- Scares Indiana Jones, Colonel Waters, Dr. "Franz Heinzer", Nicholas Hunyadi and Maria Straussler through different ways once they sneak into his castle, like laughing over the corridors, setting curtains on fire, sending energy balls after them, overheating doorknobs, raining blood in rooms, etc.
- Pulverizes Waters by tricking him into going to a snowy room where nothing but his charred boots with some of his leg bones remain.
- Takes Indy and the rescue party to the dining room where his undead guests now eat and drink as former shells of the men they used to be. Doing this also leads the undead Picard to blow out Dr. Adolf Schmidt's cover as Franz Heinzer, leading Maria to kill him after he shoots Picard, leading Indy to disarm himself while held at gunpoint and allow Targo's servants to subdue them.
- Although Targo points out that he did rescue these men, clothed them and fed them with gourmet food, referring to them as his "friends" now, this all becomes moot due to Targo hydrating them with blood rather than wine and then treating them more like servants than guests by making them escort Indy, Maria and Nicholas to the highest tower of his castle.
- Plans to terrorize all of his enemies from Romania by killing them and drinking their blood until their fluids bathe all of the Earth, expecting their deaths to clease them and let them sleep well with their screams.
- Straps Nicholas down an operation table and vivisects him alive to torture him, painfully killing Nicholas while his friends are chained nearby, unable to do or see anything (thanks to a curtain) while hearing Targo drinking their friend's blood.
- Tries to drug Maria with a liquor-like drink and puts her to rest in a bed, presumably planning to sexually harass her, if not rape her, later on.
- Forces Indy into the operation table and tries to repeat the process with Nicholas with him before Maria reveals herself as having faked being drugged and saves Indy.
- Tries to use the knife Maria threw at his back to stab Indy after preventing him from killing him with an axe.
- Grabs Maria's hand just as she and Indy prepare to stake his heart to kill him for good, prompting Indy to finish him off for once. Even as he dies, he blows up his corpse and scares Indy and Maria through the smoke one last time before vanishing from the Earth's face.
- His death caused all his undead servants to slump over dead the camp they were guarding.
- His actions were likely one of the main reasons, in addition to Mola Ram's voodoo torture, that led Indiana Jones to refuse in believing about the existence of magic or the supernatural, always dismissing them as things that had to need a rational explanation, proving how traumatic his encounter with Targo was.
Trivia[]
- Mattias Targo is, alongside Mola Ram, Jürgen Voller, and Klaber, one of the four Pure Evils of the Indiana Jones franchise to come from live-action media.
External Links[]
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 Pure Evils
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Mola Ram |
Nur-Ab-Sal |
Masashi Kyojo |
Mattias Targo |
General Makimura |
Jürgen Voller |
Klaber | ||
 Pure Evils
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Live-Action Films Animated Television Live-Action Television Video Games See Also | ||
