Alex Rider (character)
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Alexander "Alex" Rider is a fictional character, who is the protagonist and title character of the Alex Rider series of novels by British author Anthony Horowitz. He is fourteen years old.
He is a young agent for MI6, the British international intelligence service. He was forced into this occupation after Alan Blunt, the head of the Special Operations division of MI6, noticed Alex's many talents.
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[edit] Appearance
Alex Rider is described as a strikingly good-looking 14-year-old boy, with blond hair cut short apart from two thick strands hanging over his forehead, and a face that "would attract plenty of girls". Alex has serious brown eyes and a hard, narrow mouth. Alex is exceptionally well-built and slim, and has a suntan. Alex wears mostly casual clothing, and often wears a wooden bead necklace.
Towards the later novels in the series, Alex is described as looking much older than fourteen -this being due to pain endured by him on his missions, and difficult life since the death of his uncle.
Due to the fact that Alex was raised in England, he speaks British English (the standard English dialect), and has a London accent.
[edit] Biography
Alexander Rider was born on February 13th 1987, in West London, England, to John Rider, an MI6 agent, and Helen Rider, a nurse.
When Alex was a baby, his parents were killed by an international terrorist organisation, Scorpia, with an aeroplane bomb. Fortunately, Alex was not on the aeroplane (though he was meant to be at the time); he had an ear infection and stayed behind with a nanny.
Alex's now-deceased uncle, Ian Rider, who was an MI6 agent under cover as a banker, raised Alex and trained him his whole life to be his successor, although Alex did not realize this until after Ian's death, and in fact is highly reluctant; in most cases, MI6 coerce him in to taking on missions.
Before Alex was forced to join MI6, he wanted to be a footballer, but now is unsure of what he wants to do when he graduates from school. He still does not express interest whatsoever in following his father's (and uncle's) footsteps in becoming an MI6 agent.
Because Alex's parents and uncle have died, his former housekeeper/babysitter (now his new guardian), Jack Starbright, takes care of him. She is the only character that is always there for Alex.
Alex currently lives in Chelsea, London, with Jack Starbright, and is in the 8th grade (second year of high school).
[edit] Alex's Talents
Alex is fluent in several languages, including French, German and Spanish. He also speaks a little Italian. Alex is skilled in many activities, including extreme sports - Martial Arts (Alex is a Black Belt in Karate), abseiling, mountain climbing, rifle shooting and snowboarding. He also plays tennis, football and basketball, and is in the Brooklyn School basketball team.
His athletic talents help him during his missions many times, for example in Stormbreaker he rides a fourweeler to elude guards, in Point Blanc he snowboards down a mountain on an ironing board to escape Point Blanc Academy, in Skeleton Key he SCUBA dives into Skeleton Key, in Scorpia he BASE jumps into a factory and in Ark Angel he walks between two skyscrapers on a tightrope.
Alex has a slight phobia of horses and riding, which he slowly overcomes as the series progresses. This is a notable irony about Alex, as his name is Rider - and horse riding is the only sport he hates.
Alex's successful missions and exceptional talents are often not unknown by his enemies, especially General Alexei Sarov, who seemed to have a complete file on him. As the series progresses, Alex becomes exceptionally more skilled at spying, to the point that he investigates and pursues some enemies by himself with no prompting by MI6.
[edit] Alex's MI6 Life
After Alex's uncle was killed in strange circumstances, Alex wanted to investigate the matter. He researched the breaker's yard where his uncle's car was going to be crushed, and he narrowly escaped because of his wits and talent. MI6 had a hidden camera on Alex during this incident, and were curious about him. Crawley, MI6's messenger, phoned Alex and invited him to talk about his position since Ian Rider was dead. Alex agrees, but is curious to look in his uncle's office in the building (which is locked), and he climbs out of a 30 story window and talentedly maneuvres to the office window to do that. It is this that interests Blunt into making Alex an agent.
Alex does not want to be an agent for MI6, in fact, initially he flatly refuses. But Blunt tells him that his housekeeper/legal guardian Jack Starbright will be deported and Alex sent to an institution if he does not cooperate. Alex does not want this for himself or Jack, so reluctantly he agrees. He is sent to a training camp to prepare for his first mission.
[edit] Missions
After Alex finishes training with the SAS, he is sent to Cornwall in South England to investigate a Middle Eastern multi billionaire, Herod Sayle, who has invented a computer called Stormbreaker, containing new software and advanced educational activity programs. Sayle plans to send ten thousand Stormbreaker computers to every school in Britain as a gift, or so it seems.
Alex has to pose undercover as Felix Lester, the winner of a competition in a computer magazine to investigate the Stormbreaker computers, as MI6 believes that Sayle has something to hide.
After the events of Stormbreaker, Alex is back at school. But one day he finds a drug dealer near his school and follows him, eventually using a crane to destroy the drug dealers supplies. This leads on to Alex's next mission.
Alex is sent to the French Alps to Point Blanc Academy, a proclaimed school for misbehaving wealthy boys, to investigate the supposed head teacher of the school, Dr. Grief, as MI6 suspects him of being involved in the murders of two wealthy men who both had sons attending the school.
Alex goes undercover as Alex Friend, rebellious son of Sir David Friend. Alex is dining with Eva Stellenbosch, a teacher at the school, when he realises he has been drugged - his drink has been spiked. Alex staggers out to his hotel room where he collapses. He is transported to a laboratory where doctors strip him of his clothing and examine every inch of him, with the intention of cloning him. When Alex wakes up, he is in his room and it seems nothing has happened - but after this, Alex finds that Point Blanc Academy is not what it claims to be, and is a threat.
Alex is playing basketball at his school one day sometime after the events of Point Blanc, when he unexpectedly encounters Crawley, who tells him about the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and how MI6 expects the games are being sabotaged. Alex is soon sent to the Wimbledon Championships undercover as a ballboy. It is here that he meets Sabina Pleasure, who becomes one of his best friends.
A member of a Chinese gang, the Big Circle, attempts to kill Alex when he finds out that Alex is investigating the games - but Alex manages to overpower him. Alex is almost killed again by another member of the gang later when he is on holiday with Sabina on the Cornish coast. Although he escapes the gang member, Alex drowns and stops breathing, but Sabina manages to find Alex and use mouth-to-mouth to resuscitate him.
To escape from the Big Circle gang, Alex is forced to leave Britain to go into hiding. MI6 sends him to Skeleton Key, an island near Cuba, to investigate General Alexei Sarov, a Russian who lives on the island. Alex goes undercover as Alex Gardiner, the only child in an American family who are supposedly visiting Skeleton Key on holiday. Two CIA agents accompany him on this mission.
Alex is on another holiday with Sabina in the South of France when he sees Yassen Gregorovich, the assassin who killed his uncle. Soon the holiday home is destroyed by a bomb, injuring Sabina's father. Alex is sure Yassen was involved.
After he finds out that Yassen's mobile phone has the number of Damian Cray, a famous singer and anti-drugs campaigner, Alex suspects Damian Cray was also involved in the holiday house incident. Alex, accompanied by Jack, travels from France to the Netherlands investigating Damian Cray.
Alex does not go undercover in this installment.
Alex has been told by a now-dead Yassen Gregorovich to Venice to find "Scorpia" so he can find his "destiny". He has also found out that Yassen once worked with Alex's father. Jack Starbright has expressed worry over Alex's schooling - concerned about Alex's progress due to the constant interruptions of his missions, Jack hires a tutor for a reluctant Alex. This tutor tells Alex about the coming school trip to Venice, and Alex agrees, hoping to find Scorpia.
When Alex eventually finds Scorpia, he discovers it is an organisation his father worked for, and joins them without telling MI6. His first mission is to kill Mrs Jones, the head deputy of Special Operations. While temporarily working for Scorpia, Alex goes undercover as a pizza delivery boy while infiltrating Mrs Jones's apartment. He does not succeed, and realising that Scorpia are attempting to use him against MI6, Alex does a mission to investigate Scorpia for MI6. This mission is a success.
Upon his return from the mission, Alex finds out that his father was not an assassin; he worked for MI6 undercover as an assassin for Scorpia, and that it was Scorpia that killed Alex's parents. As he is walking out of MI6's building, Alex is about to phone Jack and ask her to go out with him - when he is shot in the chest by a Scorpia assassin.
Alex is in hospital after the events of Scorpia. When a group of ecoterrorist kidnappers known as Force Three target Paul Drevin, the boy next door to him, they kidnap Alex instead after he switches tghe room numbers. Alex eventually manages to escape.
Alex returns home with Jack Starbright after eleven days in the hospital, to find out that Jack is angry with him; she loves him and nearly lost him only for him to be nearly killed again, and fears that next time he may not make it. Alex assures her it will not happen again and tells her how much she means to him - only for there to be a phone call from Nikolei Drevin, Paul Drevin's father, inviting Alex to stay with him and his son out of gratitude for Alex's bravery.
Alex accepts, only to discover that Drevin is not the man he seems, and after he escapes from Drevin, he has to do another mission for the CIA - to infiltrate Ark Angel, a hotel in outer space.
Notes:
Despite coming face-to-face with many criminals and having personally witnessed many murders and other deaths, Alex does not possess a killer's instinct, and never kills unless in self-defence; however, he has personally killed or been responsible for many of the deaths of the criminals he battles for this reason.
In addition to being employed by MI6 in Stormbreaker and Point Blanc, Alex has done two missions for the CIA, in Skeleton Key and Ark Angel. In Eagle Strike and Scorpia, he becomes involved in adventures for personal reasons.
[edit] School Life
Alex normally goes to Brookland School in London, England, but his education has been interrupted several times for MI6 missions. He has a friend in this school named Tom who knows about Alex's MI6 life.
The school secretary, Jane Bedfordshire, has always had a soft spot for Alex. In Scorpia, while the students were on excursion to Venice, Alex recovered Miss Bedfordshire's handbag after it was stolen by Italian thieves.
[edit] Alex Rider In The Stormbreaker Film
In the Stormbreaker film, Alex Rider is played by Alex Pettyfer, a rising British actor. Pettyfer was chosen from 500 hopefuls for the role of Alex.
Anthony Horowitz, who was the scriptwriter for the film as well as the author of the novels, recommended Pettyfer to the casting director to play Alex Rider after seeing him in Tom Brown's Schooldays.
The role of Alex Rider was said to be the most physically demanding ever taken by a child actor. Pettyfer undertook martial arts training with martial arts choreographer Donnie Yen, as well as horseback riding.
[edit] Differences Between Novel And Film Regarding Alex Rider
There were quite a few changes, mostly on Alex Rider's part, made in the film that were noticeably different from the novel.
| Aspect | Novel | Film |
|---|---|---|
| How Alex Rider is introduced | Alex has woken up and found out about his uncle - this sends him in deep thought, and is an introduction to his character. | Alex is in class at school and is giving an oral presentation on his family. |
| Alex's eye colour | Brown | Blue |
| Languages Alex is fluent in | French, German and Spanish | French, German and Japanese |
| How and when Alex found out his uncle died | At 3:00 a.m., after waking up from the police ringing the doorbell, and overhearing the police tell Jack. | In the evening, after answering the front door to his home, initially believing it to be his uncle - when it was actually the police. |
| How Alex finds out his uncle was a spy | Alex sneaks into his uncle's office and reads his mission files. | Mrs. Jones tells Alex. |
| How Alex first gets to the MI6 Headquarters | Alex was lead there by Crawley, being told it was a bank, before seeing his uncle's office. | Alex is transported there via a photo booth in Liverpool Street Station. |
| Where Alex gets his gadgets from Smithers | In MI6 Headquarters | In a toy shop |
| The name of the boy Alex goes on his mission undercover as | Felix Lester | Kevin Blake |
