Bargain, Bite, and the Sun
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Indy asks about Marion's father, learning of his death in an avalanche and Marion's bitter feelings about her current life.
Marion expresses her long-held resentment towards Indy, hinting at a past romantic betrayal.
Indy reveals his purpose: he seeks a specific artifact from Marion's father's collection and offers her money, sparking her interest.
Marion negotiates with Indy, raising the price for the artifact and asserting her control over the situation.
Indy leaves the money with Marion and they share a tense, charged kiss before parting.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Guilty and apologetic toward Marion, determined about the artifact, weary but willing to risk personal humiliation to achieve his goal.
Indy enters quietly, sits at the bar, endures Marion's physical blow, reveals he seeks a bronze sun piece, negotiates price (raising to $5,000), lays cash as collateral from his money belt, shares a charged kiss, and departs promising to return.
- • Secure Marion's help or information about the bronze sun piece
- • Demonstrate seriousness and commitment by leaving money as collateral
- • Diffuse Marion's hostility enough to keep negotiation viable
- • Reassure Marion he will return (maintain trust)
- • Marion knows or can locate the piece he needs
- • Money can buy cooperation even where emotional wounds exist
- • His word and presence can eventually persuade Marion to cooperate
- • Open confrontation should be minimized to preserve future access
Rage and bitterness masking fresh grief; ambition and bargaining pragmatism; momentary softness toward Indy that she quickly weaponizes into control.
Marion bursts behind the bar, clears the saloon with force, strikes Indy, exposes raw grief over her father's death, drives a hard negotiation for the bronze sun piece, accepts cash left as collateral, forces a kiss, then privately removes her scarf to reveal the sun medallion.
- • Reassert control over her bar and life by forcefully managing the crowd and conversation
- • Extract maximum advantage (money and leverage) from Indy's need
- • Protect and hide what she still owns while testing Indy's sincerity
- • Convert personal pain into a transactional pathway out of Patan
- • Indy abandoned her and therefore deserves punishment and mistrust
- • Money is the practical route to escape and status; she must secure it now
- • Her father's collection is worthless to ordinary buyers but valuable to specialists like Indy
- • Power and humiliation will maintain her authority over patrons and over Indy
Cautious and obedient—wary of the patrons but defers to Marion's authority and decisions.
Mahdlo exits from behind the bar carrying a large axe handle, helps Marion herd the patrons out, places the axe handle on the bar when Marion sends him away, and obeys her instructions with visible deference.
- • Protect the saloon from violence and property damage
- • Support Marion's commands to preserve order
- • Avoid escalating conflict beyond Marion's instructions
- • Marion is the unquestioned authority in the bar
- • Using a show of force (axe handle) will keep patrons in line
- • Obedience preserves his job and safety
Aggressive and ready to escalate until confronted by Marion's dominance, then cowed and retreating.
The Sherpa stands up to fight the Australian climber, brandishes implied weapons with his supporters until Marion intervenes directly between the fighters and halts the violence.
- • Defend group honor or grievance against rival patrons
- • Intimidate or defeat rival (Australian climber)
- • Maintain status among local patrons
- • Physical confrontation settles disputes
- • Group backing legitimizes personal violence
- • Marion's intervention will be respected once asserted
Hostile and eager to fight, then embarrassed and restrained by Marion's authoritative presence.
The muscular Australian climber rises to duel the Sherpa, forming the immediate physical threat Marion disperses; after Marion's arrival he steps back as the fight is quelled.
- • Assert dominance in the bar conflict
- • Defend his group's honor
- • Avoid being publicly humiliated by losing a fight
- • Demonstrations of physical strength command respect
- • Marion's interference can be pushed away if confronted
- • His group's backing vindicates aggression
Initially boisterous and confrontational, then cowed, embarrassed, and compliant once Marion asserts control.
The ragged mass of patrons—Nepalese natives, smugglers, climbers—fills the room with noise until Marion and Mahdlo clear them out; they recede obediently or grumble and leave via the front door.
- • Continue drinking/socializing without interference
- • Avoid being involved in violent reprisals once Marion intervenes
- • Exit quickly to avoid trouble
- • Public displays of force by the proprietor will keep them in line
- • Leaving avoids legal or physical consequences
- • Collective presence offers safety until an authority intervenes
Referenced repeatedly as Marion's deceased father whose death in an avalanche and dispersed collection drive the negotiation; he is off-stage …
Mentioned in Marion's backstory as the former owner who 'went snow crazy' and left the saloon to her; his fate …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Mahdlo carries the big wooden axe handle forward to scatter brawlers and lay it on the bar as a show-of-force; it functions as a blunt instrument of control, emphasizing Marion's capacity to physically clear the house.
Marion takes a whiskey bottle from the shelf, pours herself and intermittently drinks to steady emotion and punctuate her verbal blows, using alcohol as a prop that reveals fracture between hardness and near-tears.
Indy's seltzer marks his restrained, controlled state amid chaos; Marion refills it and jokes about it, the fizzy glass functioning as a small intimacy touchpoint during their barbed conversation.
The $5,000 cash is counted out and slapped onto the bar as collateral — sensory proof Marion demands; it converts Indy's verbal promise into immediate leverage and fuels the bargain and Marion's future plans.
Indy reaches into his money belt to retrieve cash, demonstrating his commitment and seriousness; the belt functions as the practical source of the collateral he lays down for Marion.
Marion's sun-shaped golden medallion — the exact object Indy seeks — is kept hidden beneath her scarf until the final private beat when she removes the scarf to reveal and examine it, converting the public negotiation into an intimate, ominous pivot.
Marion's scarf functions as a concealment device for the medallion; its removal is the closing gesture that turns bargaining into a revelation of possession and intent.
The barstool is where Indy perches at the scene's opening; Marion punches him off it and later he returns to it to continue the negotiation, making it a physical marker of the power dynamics between them.
The huge stuffed raven mounted behind the bar functions as dominant set dressing framing Marion's territory; it visually anchors the saloon as her domain while patrons are cleared and the negotiation occurs beneath it.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Raven Saloon functions as the public stage for confrontation, commerce, and personal history — an overfull Himalayan dive where factional violence, black-market trade and private grief collide. Its crowded, rough setting forces the negotiation into performance, amplifying stakes and humiliation.
The saloon's front porch is the ejection point for patrons Marion and Mahdlo force outside; it serves as the threshold between interior chaos and the colder night, emphasizing the proprietor's control over who remains inside.
The fireplace corner is where the initial brawl ignites, giving the scene an immediate physical threat Marion decisively quells; it frames the escalation that justifies her forceful clearing of the room.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Nepalese native patrons constitute part of the crowd that inhabits the Raven; their presence helps create the multicultural, high-stakes market atmosphere that makes Marion's clearing and the subsequent deal dramatic and public.
Sherpa mountain guides form one organized demography in the bar and initiate the violent clash with rival climbers; their factional pride catalyzes the scene's opening conflict which Marion extinguishes.
The sleazy international smugglers and fugitives populate the saloon's margins and provide the illicit market context that makes Marion's bargaining and Indy's artifact interest plausible; they are background actors whose presence heightens commerce and danger.
The mountain climbers, represented by the Australian combatant, create the immediate antagonistic force that brings Marion into dramatic action; they personify transient foreign presence and entitlement within the saloon.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"MARION: "Well you’re two years too late.""
"INDY: "I need one of the pieces your father collected.""
"MARION: "You want trust, give some. I want to smell your money.""