in the centuries of attempting to recover the grail did no one ever get past the 1st challenge? did they even try? (were there any headless skeletons about? i cant remember) i guess if they did 'kneel!' then they mustve have got through the word of god as theres no missing stone panels.. only then to fall at the 3rd challenge (either falling into the abyss or turning back) or if they did get through then they chose the wrong grail...
shareI think no-one got past the Breath of God, and the Grail Knight obviously heard the machinery doing its thing to visitors and then went and disposed of the bodies down the final challenge chasm. After all, he must've been bored shitless for 700 years, and so cleaning up the mess of failed crusaders was his main job.
These weren't abandoned traps like those at at the start of "Raiders." They have a caretaker. The knight can hear everything with his old but grail-sustained ears.
Easy to imagine he'd wait for the invaders to die off or leave, then dispose of the corpses
Alternatively, because it took so much for Henry Jones, Sr., to even get as far as he did, it's possible that no one else ever got into the cave before.
Also, it's possible the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword knew exactly where the cave was all along and killed everyone else who even came close to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon. Indy and the Nazis were conceivably the first to travel with "tanks" (Donovan: "you're welcome").
(yeah, I know, it's more likely Kazim and the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword were just following Donovan and the Nazis)