Vesper Lynd
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2012) |
| Vesper Lynd | |
|---|---|
| James Bond character | |
 Eva Green as Vesper Lynd | |
| First appearance | Casino Royale (1953 novel) |
| Last appearance | Casino Royale (2006 film) |
| Created by | Ian Fleming |
| Portrayed by | Ursula Andress (1967) Eva Green (2006) |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Double agent |
| Affiliation | Novel:
Film:
|
| Classification | Bond girl/Henchwoman |
Vesper Lynd is a fictional character featured in Ian Fleming's 1953 James Bond novel Casino Royale. She was portrayed by Ursula Andress in the 1967 James Bond parody, which is only slightly based on the novel, and by Eva Green in the 2006 film adaptation.
In the novel, the character explains that she was born "on a very stormy evening", and that her parents named her "Vesper", Latin for "evening" and Bond then gives her name to a cocktail he has recently invented. The "Vesper" became popular after the novel's publication. The actual name for the drink (as well as its complete recipe) was mentioned on screen for the first time in the 2006 film adaptation of Casino Royale.[1]
In 1993, journalist Donald McCormick claimed that Fleming based Vesper on Polish agent Krystyna Skarbek, who was working for Special Operations Executive when he knew her.[2]
Novel biography
Vesper works at
Vesper visits Bond every day in the hospital, and the two grow very close; much to his own surprise, Bond develops genuine feelings for her, and even dreams of leaving the service and marrying her. After he is released from the hospital, they go on a holiday together and eventually become lovers.
Vesper has a terrible secret, however – she is a double agent working for the
Bond deals with his grief over her death by denouncing her as a traitor and returning to work as though nothing has happened, coldly telling his superiors, "The job is done, and the bitch is dead."
Later books in the series suggest that Bond still has feelings for Vesper, however. Fleming's tenth novel,
Film biography
1967
In the 1967 version of Casino Royale, Lynd was portrayed by Ursula Andress, who had portrayed another Bond girl, Honey Ryder, in the 1962 film version of Dr. No.[3]
In this version, which bore little resemblance to the novel, Vesper is depicted as a former secret agent who has since become a multi-millionaire with a penchant for wearing ridiculously extravagant outfits at her office ("because if I wore it in the street people might stare"). Bond (David Niven), now in the position of M (John Huston) at MI6, uses a discount for her past due taxes to bribe her into becoming another 007 agent, and to recruit baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) into stopping Le Chiffre (Orson Welles).
Vesper and Tremble have an affair, during which she eliminates Miss Goodthighs (
Eon films
In the 2006 film version of Casino Royale, Vesper Lynd is a foreign liaison agent from the
She retreats to the shower afterwards, wracked with guilt, feeling she has blood on her hands from helping to kill Obanno. Bond sits next to her in the shower and comforts her by kissing the "blood" off her fingers, and they return to the casino. His kindness does not prevent her from doing her job, however; she refuses to bankroll him after he loses his table stakes to Le Chiffre. Shortly afterwards, Vesper saves Bond's life when he is poisoned by Le Chiffre's girlfriend, Valenka (
After Bond wins the tournament, Le Chiffre kidnaps Vesper, and Bond gives chase. They fall into Le Chiffre's trap and are tortured by him and his thugs, but are saved by the mysterious
While both are hospitalised to recover, Bond and Vesper fall in love, and Bond plans to resign from MI6 to be with her. As in the novel, Bond and Vesper go on vacation to Venice, both of them hoping to start a new life. Unknown to Bond, however, Vesper embezzles the tournament winnings and intends to deliver them to Adolph Gettler (Richard Sammel), who (like his novel counterpart) has been spying on them since they arrived in Venice.
When Bond receives a timely phone call from MI6 chief M (Judi Dench) and realises that Vesper embezzled the money, he pursues her as Gettler takes her hostage and throws her in a caged elevator. Bond kills Gettler and his thugs, but in the process causes the building to flood and start sinking. After apologising to Bond, Vesper locks herself in the elevator just before it plunges into the waters below. Bond frantically tries to save her life, but in a final gesture, she kisses Bond's hands as if to absolve him of guilt and lets herself drown. Bond finally extricates her and unsuccessfully attempts to revive her.
As in the novel, Bond copes with Vesper's death by denouncing her as a traitor. M tells Bond that the organisation behind Le Chiffre had kidnapped Vesper's boyfriend and threatened to kill him unless she became their spy. She then tells him that Vesper had made a deal with the kidnappers: the money in exchange for Bond's life. When Bond opens Vesper's mobile phone left in their Venice hotel room, he discovers her note for him with Mr. White's phone number which enables Bond to track down and confront him at the film's end.
In the 2008 film
In the 2015 film Spectre, following Mr. White's suicide, Bond finds a VHS video tape in his hotel room in Morocco labelled "Vesper Lynd Interrogation". Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), whose worldwide criminal organisation SPECTRE is the power behind Quantum, gloats that he is indirectly responsible for Vesper's death.
At the beginning of the 2021 film , and Swann suggests Bond should visit Vesper's grave so he can finally let her go. When he visits Vesper's grave, he says "I miss you," and burns a note reading, "forgive me".
Related character
The character of Vesper Lynd does not appear in the
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4803-3786-2.
- ISBN 978-1448208067.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84901-829-6.
- ISBN 978-1-934879-12-2.
- ^ Newby, Richard (4 December 2019). "'No Time to Die' and Finding Closure for Daniel Craig's Bond". The Hollywood Reporter.