Magda is Kamal Khan’s henchwoman, Octopussy’s right-hand woman, and her most trusted partner in the Octopus Cult. The character was created specifically for the 1983 film Octopussy and was portrayed by Swedish actress Kristina Wayborn.

Biography

Magda is first seen at the Sotheby’s auction in London bidding on a Fabergé egg named “Property of a Lady” with Kamal Khan. James Bond notices her by saying, “now there is a lady”. Magda informs Khan of the missing copy they have lost, and thus Khan has to bid for his own egg to return it to the Russian vaults and uncover their operation.

James Bond and an MI6 art assessor named Jim Fanning bid against them during the auction and replaced the real egg with Kahn’s missing copy while examining it. This was the egg that was retrieved by agent 009 at the cost of his life. Finally, Bond allows them to have the jewel after having augmented its price considerably. In the switch, Bond manages to steal the authentic egg. After the auction, Bond followed Magda out of the building and watched her get into the limo driven by Khan’s most loyal henchman, Gobinda. Khan follows her into the car.

We next see Magda arriving at the Hotel Casino in Udaipur, India, wearing a white dress. Bond watches her from his hotel window as she gets off a large boat powered by the beautiful Octopus girls with long oars. A flag flying on the boat has an octopus symbol upon it. The Octopus girls use the front of the circus to run a jewel-thieving business.

Later that night, Bond enters the hotel casino, where Khan plays backgammon against another guest, Major Clive, while Magda is by his side. She wears a sheer black dress with patterns on it. Bond notices he is cheating against the major. Bond follows Magda to the bar and offers to buy her a drink. Magda notices that he is the man from the auction. She tells him he has “a very good memory for faces”, and Bond responds with, “and figures”. After returning to the game, Bond takes over for the major and plays against Khan. He pulls out the other fake Faberge egg as collateral and then uses Khan’s “lucky dice” to roll double sixes and win.

After it becomes clear that Bond has the egg, Magda is sent by Khan to seduce Bond and retrieve it. While walking through the hotel pool area, a waiter notifies Bond that his table is ready in the dining area and that his guest is waiting for him. When he locates the table he is surprised to find Kamal’s blonde friend from the auction waiting for him. She tells Bond that she has been sent by Kamal to suggest a trade to Bond, the egg for his life. Bond can charm her, and the two end up in his room in bed, sharing a glass of champagne. Bond notices the Octopus tattoo on her rear end. It is based on one of the world’s most dangerous species of Octopus, the Blue-Ringed Octopus, which we later find that Octopussy keeps one as a pet.

In the early morning, Magda plays into Bond’s plans by stealing the egg while she prepares to leave. Bond checks the homing device on his watch. Magda walks out onto the balcony wearing her saree dress. She ties one end of the dress to the railing. She then tells Bond, “i don’t know how to say goodbye”. “Actions speak louder than words”. He leans in to give her a goodbye kiss, but instead, she does a backward flip over the railing. The saree dress slowly unravels and takes Magda down to a safe and easy landing on the ground below. She is left wearing only her lavender-colored underwear and silver high heels. She is greeted at the bottom of the balcony by Kamal who slips on a robe and the two of them pull away in a waiting car. After her escape Bond is knocked out by Gobinda.

After Bond wakes at Khan’s Monsoon Palace, he joins Kamal and Magda for dinner. This is the first time we find out the name of Magda, when Kamal makes the comment to Bond, “i believe you and Miss Magda have met.” Magda is wearing a low-cut black dress with sleeves and a white pearl chocker necklace with matching bracelets. Later that night, Bond uses the acid from the pen Q gave him to dissolve his way through the steel bars on the window of his room. As he sneaks around the palace, he spies on the gorgeous Magda getting ready for bed in an adjacent room. She is wearing a sexy black silky slip and sits on a couch while taking off her stockings. Magda spots Bond escaping the palace but does not tell.

Later, Magda is seen at the Octopussy circus as the ringmaster and performer at a Karl-Marx-Stadt in East Germany. She walks through the audience doing magic tricks for some military generals. She is wearing a top hat and very sexy magician’s outfit that includes fishnet stockings a white vest and bowtie, and a sparkly black coat with tails that hang down to her calves.

As the circus loads up their performers and equipment onto the train, we see Magda slip past Bond, wearing a khaki-colored turtle neck sweater and tan pants with calf high boots. She has her hair braided to one side of her head and she is wearing a tan-colored winter field cap. She took promotional pictures with Bond and Octopussy in the same outfit but was wearing a blazer over the top of the turtle neck sweater.

The next night Magda is wearing the same magician outfit while the circus is performing at the U.S. Air Force Base in West Germany. She was unaware that Kamal and General Orlov had strapped in a nuclear warhead in the circus, hoping to set it off to drive off NATO from Western Europe, which would be vulnerable to a Soviet invasion. Following the death of General Orlov, Bond manages to sneak in and disarm the bomb, which made Octopussy and Magda realize they had been betrayed by Kamal.

It should be noted that Magda didn’t willingly change sides. She only changed after discovering a bomb planted by Khan. Even after this betrayal, Magda seemed hesitant about changing, as she told Octopussy that it could ruin their entire operation. Magda set out for revenge on her old boss and only joined Bond to help take down Kamal and his remaining henchmen.

We see Magda leading her Octopus girls on a siege of the Palace. Magda is dressed in a pink belly dance outfit with long skirts. She performs the dance to seduce the guards as some other girls provide the musical instruments. At just the right time, she strips off her skirt, and the rest of the girls knock out the guards and take the castle.

Behind the scenes

• She may be a loose adaption of Maria Freudenstein as both are henchmen, both have similar names (Ma being the first of five letters, which end in a), and both are involved with Faberge Egg.
• Fifteen years after the filming of Octopussy, Kristina Wayborn was reunited with Maud Adams on an episode of That 70’s Show, playing bridesmaids alongside Barbara Carrera at the wedding of Tanya Roberts’ character. This was a likely Bond tribute.