| Elektra King | |
|---|---|
| Character from the James Bond franchise | |
| Affiliation | Renard |
| Relatives | Sir Robert King (father) |
| Portrayed by | Sophie Marceau |
Elektra Vavra King is a fictional character, and primary antagonist in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. She is played by Sophie Marceau.
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Elektra King is the daughter of oil tycoon Sir Robert King, whose mother's side of the family is of Azeri descent and fled the country immediately after the Soviet Union was established.[1] As Elektra's maternal grandfather had no sons, Sir Robert became the de facto male heir when he married into the family. It is for this reason that Elektra believes her father "stole" the oil reserves that rightfully belonged to her mother.
Elektra was kidnapped by the terrorist Renard and held for ransom, which her father refused to pay on the advice of family friend (and head of MI6) M. Embittered by what she saw as her father's betrayal, Elektra participated in Renard's scheme to milk money from her father, going so far as to mutilate her ear so Renard could send it to Sir Robert as a warning.
After surviving her "kidnapping", Elektra secretly collaborates with Renard to blow up her family's oil pipeline. She intends to kill her father and seize his oil business, which she believes is rightfully hers. She also holds a personal grudge toward M for influencing Sir Robert's decision not to pay the ransom demands. Elektra and Renard arrange an attack on MI6's London office hoping to kill her father and M. The attack is only partly successful, as M survives. Bond decides to offer his services to protect Elektra, believing that Renard will target her next. To throw off suspicion, Elektra accepts Bond's offer and even becomes his lover. When Renard publicly threatens to destroy the pipeline in an attempt that apparently culminates in the deaths of Bond and new ally Dr. Christmas Jones, however, she shows her true colours and kidnaps M. The pipeline destruction proves to be a diversion to further throw off suspicion to her real plan: contaminating the Bosporus with a nuclear meltdown, forcing oil traders to use her family's pipeline to transport fossil fuel as any other route would require tanker transport across the Bosporus. With her plan minutes away from completion, Elektra places Bond in a torture device designed to break his neck by forcing a metal rod against his spine. She straps his hands, feet, and neck down, but Bond frees himself with the help of Valentin Zukovsky, who sacrifices his own life in order to save Bond.[1]
Bond then chases after Elektra, and corners her in her bedroom. He angrily demands she call Renard off, threatening to kill her if she does not cooperate, but Elektra arrogantly and seductively insists Bond loves her too much to ever harm her ("You'd miss me") – and tells him to die. Without hesitation, Bond shoots her dead, saying, "I never miss". Seconds later, however, he cradles her body, implying that her death has deeply affected him.