Le Chiffre

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James Bond character
Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale
Le Chiffre
Gender	Male
Role	Villain
Affiliation	SMERSH (novel) Mr. White's organization (2006 film)
Current status	Deceased
Portrayed by	Peter Lorre (1954) Orson Welles (1967) Mads Mikkelsen (2006)

Le Chiffre is a fictional character and the main villain in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale. On screen Le Chiffre has been portrayed by Peter Lorre in the 1954 television adaptation of the novel for CBS's Climax! television series, by Orson Welles in the unofficial 1967 spoof of the novel and Bond film series, and by Mads Mikkelsen in the 2006 cinematic version of Fleming's novel.

Le Chiffre translates in French as "The Number", possibly a reference to Crowley's number (666) or his mathematical prowess and great intellect.

Contents 1 Novel bio 1.1 Henchmen 2 2006 film bio 2.1 Henchmen 3 See also

[edit] Novel bio

Le Chiffre, alias "Herr Nummer," "The Number," "Herr Ziffer," and other translations of "Mr. Number" or "The Cypher" in various languages; was the paymaster of the "Syndicat des Ouvriers d'Alsace", a SMERSH-controlled trade union.

He is first encountered as an inmate of Dachau DP camp in the U.S. zone of Germany in June 1945 and transferred to Alsace-Lorraine and Strasbourg three months later on a stateless passport. There he adopts the name Le Chiffre because as he claims, he is 'only a number on a passport'. Not much else is really known about Le Chiffre's background or where he comes from, except for educated guesses based on his description.

He is also fluent in French, English, and German with traces of a Marseilles accent.

In the novel, he makes a major investment in a string of brothels with money belonging to SMERSH. The investment fails after a bill is signed into law banning prostitution. Le Chiffre then goes to the casino Royale-les-Eaux in an attempt to recover all of his lost funds. There however, Bond bankrupts him in a series of games in Chemin de Fer. Le Chiffre kidnaps Bond's assistant, Vesper Lynd, to lure him into a trap and get his money back. The trap works, and Le Chiffre tortures Bond by striking his testicles with a carpet beater to force him to reveal where he has hidden the money. Upon determining, however, that Bond will not give in to torture, Le Chiffre produces a knife with the implied purpose of castrating Bond. He is interrupted by a SMERSH agent, however, who assassinates him as punishment for losing the money. The torture Bond suffers at the hands of Le Chiffre briefly upsets 007's confidence in his profession, and he toys with the idea of leaving the service until the novel's conclusion, when a new threat emerges.

Le Chiffre's death is seen by the Soviet government as an embarrassment, which in addition to the death and defeat of Mr. Big in Live and Let Die, leads to the events of From Russia with Love. In the novel SMERSH attempts to get revenge by killing Bond in an elaborate plot that would embarrass the British Secret Service within the intelligence community.

[edit] Henchmen

• Tall, thin man named only Basil - bodyguard and an expert at martial arts who takes pleasure in roughing up Bond. He is later killed by a SMERSH agent.
• Short, Corsican unnamed man - bodyguard of Le Chiffre and wielder of a walking-stick gun that he threatens to cripple Bond with at the gaming table. He is later killed by a SMERSH agent.

[edit] 2006 film bio

Le Chiffre is the main villain of the official 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale, portrayed by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen. He employs a platinum, benzedrine inhaler; not for any form of medication, but because benzadrine is a type of amphetamine. He is a banker for various terrorists and uses Alex Dimitrios, a government contractor, as a middle-man for many of his jobs. Believed by MI6 to be born in Albania, Le Chiffre is a mathematical genius and a chess prodigy. This enables him to earn large sums of money on games of chance and probabilities, and he likes to show off by playing poker.

Le Chiffre works with a man known as Mr. White, who is a representative of an unnamed terrorist organization. White introduces Steven Obanno, a feared leader of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda to Le Chiffre, and arranges for Le Chiffre to bank US$101,260,000 for Obanno. Le Chiffre invests the money in an aircraft manufacturer's stock and plans to short the stock by ordering the destruction of the company's new prototype airliner, set to make its first flight out of Miami International Airport. The plan is foiled due to Bond's intervention, and Le Chiffre loses the money.

In order to win the money back for Obanno, Le Chiffre sets up and enters a high stakes Texas hold 'em poker tournament in Montenegro at the Casino Royale in an attempt to recoup the loss before Obanno learns that his money has been misappropriated. Bond is sent to make sure that Le Chiffre doesn't win back the money, an estimated 150 million total for the single tournament. The reasoning is to force Le Chiffre to turn to MI6 for protection, in exchange for information on his creditors and employers who will be out to kill him when they discover that their money is gone.

During the tournament, an enraged Obanno and one of his henchmen break into Le Chiffre's hotel room and threaten him and his girlfriend Valenka. After a savage beating, with Valenka almost losing a hand; the men decide to give him a chance to win their money back. However, as they leave the room, the henchman spots Bond and in the subsequent brawl both Obanno and his henchman are killed by Bond.

After a tense tournament, Le Chiffre loses a key hand and the tournament to Bond's straight flush. Enraged by his loss, he kidnaps Vesper Lynd and forces Bond to give chase, but Bond is led straight into his trap. Le Chiffre leaves Vesper, bound at the feet and hands, in the middle of the road, and Bond is forced to swerve and he subsequently crashes his car. When Bond regains consciousness he is stripped of his clothing and tied to a chair. Le Chiffre proceeds to torture Bond's genitalia in a similar manner as described in the novel, trying to extort the password that will enable Le Chiffre to collect the tournament winnings. When Bond refuses to give in, Le Chiffre brandishes a knife and is about to castrate Bond. However, Bond's torture ends abruptly when Mr. White suddenly enters the room and executes Le Chiffre for losing the tournament and the money entrusted to him.

[edit] Henchmen

Main article: List of James Bond henchmen in Casino Royale

• Alex Dimitrios
  • Carlos
  • Mollaka
• Leo
• Kratt
• Valenka

[edit] See also

• SMERSH
• Casino Royale

Preceded by: Gustav Graves

Bond Villain 2006

Succeeded by: Incumbent