Major Arnold Toht, of the SS, is a sinister agent assigned by the Fuhrer to assist his principal agent, Dietrich, in recovery of the Ark of the Covenant. Toht is extremely ruthless and willing to resort to true SS-style torture in order to get results (such as use of a white-hot poker). In his zeal to obtain the Ark, he is even willing to take personal risks - in one instance he is burned by a red-hot medallion that he was trying to recover. However, he is grossly ignorant of the Ark's power and does not think it will turn on the Nazis. He will pay for that ignorance in a horrific way, as the Ark turns its furies & ghosts on the Nazi defilers & Belloq, eliminating them in terrifying ways.