Elektra Vavra King was the daughter of wealthy oil tycoon Sir Robert King and a criminal mastermind associated with terrorist Renard. One of the main antagonists in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, she was portrayed by French actress Sophie Marceau and also appeared in the film’s accompanying novelization penned by Raymond Benson and its video games.
Biography
Elektra is the daughter of Sir Robert King and his second wife. Her maternal background is of Azerbaijani descent; the family had fled the country immediately after the Soviet Union was established and relocated to England. Robert King’s marriage had become a much-noted affair as he acquired his father-in-law’s oil business and assimilated it into his construction enterprise, forming the official King Industries.
Elektra’s subsequent birth was also the subject of much press coverage, foreshadowing much of the attention she would receive later in her early adulthood. Elektra had a privileged upbringing as the only daughter of a lucrative oil baron, becoming a bit spoiled. She attended prestigious European private schools and often spent summer vacations with her maternal family in the Middle East. After college, Elektra decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and join King Enterprises.
Much to the media’s delight, Elektra’s business affiliation and beauty made her a well-known figure in the press. The fame eventually drew the attention of the anarchist Renard, who decided to kidnap her to extort a large sum from her father. Sir Robert refused to pay the ransom on the advice of a family friend (and James Bond’s boss) M. Embittered, she became Renard’s lover and participated in his scheme to extort money from her family (going so far as to mutilate her left ear so Renard could send it to her father as a warning) but pretended to have been traumatized by the kidnapping. (Bond thought she suffered from Stockholm syndrome but may have been blinded by his affection for her).
Hostile takeover
In 1999, Elektra secretly collaborated with Renard to blow up her family’s oil pipeline, becoming Bond’s lover to throw off suspicion. When Renard publicly threatened to destroy the pipeline, she showed her true colors and kidnapped M, whom she blamed for her father’s betrayal in not paying her ransom years earlier. Her plan was minutes away from completion when Bond stormed her hideout. Soon Bond and Christmas Jones are captured by Elektra’s henchmen. Christmas is taken aboard the submarine, which Renard’s men seized. Bond is taken to the tower, where Elektra tortures him in a garrote. During said torment, Elektra taunts and seduces Bond, insisting that she had a specific power that no man could resist and that Bond’s affection for her had been his undoing. Bond denied that Elektra ever meant anything to him, even as Elektra slowly but steadily brought him closer to death.
Death
Having survived the bombing, Valentin Zukovsky and his men raid the tower. Reaching the room where Elektra has Bond, he is shot by her. Dying, Zukovsky uses his Walking Stick Rifle to free Bond, who then chases after the fleeing Elektra, freeing M in the process. During a tense standoff and at the business end of a gun, Bond demands that Elektra order Renard to call off the imminent meltdown in the city. Elektra then taunts Bond, telling him that he wouldn’t shoot her and that he would miss her as she didn’t see him as a killer of a former lover in cold blood. She then radios Renard, and in her overconfidence on her hold over Bond, she tells him to proceed with the plan. Out of anger, Bond immediately kills her with a single gunshot while exclaiming, “I never miss.”
Personality
Elektra was a woman who was used to getting what she wanted. She did not like to be resisted and would do anything to get her way, including using her charms and torturing and killing anyone who tried to stand in her way. She’s also an excellent tactician and actress who passes for an innocent girl when she’s one of the brains behind her operation.
