List of Alex Rider characters

This is a list of protagonists and antagonists from Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books.

Antagonists

This is a list of antagonists from Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books.

Captain De Wynter

Captain De Wynter is the Captain of the Liberian Star, which is in Snakehead. He is described as over weight and ginger hair and he is about 50 years old. He is Dutch and unmarried, and he was working for the Snakehead for 11 years. He has a couple long conversations with Major Winston Yu. Yu said to him, "If the boy does slip through your fingers a second time, I suggest you kill yourself. It will be spare me the trouble, and it will, I assure you, cause you a great less deal of pain."

Replica Alex

Replica Alex is a minor Antagonist. At the end of Point Blanc, When Alex is called to see the principal at his school, Replica Alex showed up instead, trying to kill Alex Rider as revenge to what he did to Dr. Hugo Grief. In the resulting fight, the school building catches fire and Replica Alex is killed when the floor collapses underneath him.

Ash (Anthony Sean Howell)

Alex discovers that Ash, a mysterious and somewhat haunted character, is his Godfather after meeting with Ethan Brooke, head of Covert Action, ASIS. The idea of learning more about his past lures Alex into working for ASIS, alongside Ash investigating the ruthless Snakehead. Later, however, it is revealed that Ash worked for SCORPIA after leaving MI6 and that he was responsible for the death of Alex’s parents. At the end of Snakehead, Ash is shot by Fox (Ben Daniels) when the oil rig is stormed by the Australian SAS, while he was searching for the (non nuclear) bomb Royal Blue for MI6. His nickname, as well as being his initials, is a joke on the fact that Ash was seen smoking twice in the book (Alex noted that this was surprising, as he looked after himself in so many other ways).

Ash's role in the book is similar to that of Alec Trevelyan (a.k.a. Agent 006) in the James Bond film GoldenEye.

Sir Damian Cray

Damian Cray was born in North London on October 5, 1950, and baptized Harold Eric Lunt. With a remarkable singing voice he desired to be a pop star, but his parents kept him – unhappily – at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At 13 his parents died in a bizarre accident, which involved a car falling on them. Later he left the Royal Academy and traveled the world. He changed his name and became Buddhist and vegetarian.

He returned to England in the 1970s and enjoyed a hugely successful music career starting off in a band call “Slam!” (a parody of Wham!). This shot him to fame and he then went solo. His first solo album, “Firelight”, went platinum, he won several awards and released the single “Something for the Children” at Christmas time with all money given to charity. Cray campaigned for issues, including saving the rain forests, ending world debt and banning animal testing. His tireless work for charity even earned him a knighthood. The rich superstar then branched into hotels and even started developing “Gameslayer”, the newest games console of its time.

However, despite his work and beliefs, Cray has a dark and more sinister side to him - in order to fulfill some of his charitable notions, such as his campaign against animal testing and whaling, he ordered the assassinations of many people. His evil deeds went unnoticed until he ordered an assassination attempt on Edward Pleasure - father of Sabina Pleasure - a journalist who was threatening to expose Cray.

Cray was planning a nuclear attack to annihilate parts of the world which produced the bulk of the world’s illegal drugs which were exported to countries such as Britain. Under the cover of “Gameslayer” he devised a way of hi-jacking Air Force One and launching nuclear missiles in a mad bid to obliterate the world's drug supplies. However, Alex has trouble convincing Alan Blunt that the charitable Damian Cray is planning to destroy half of the world under the cover of “Gameslayer”.

Upon Air Force One, Alex manages to prevent the nuclear strike and, with Sabina, manages to push Damian Cray out of the plane and into one of the turbines, killing him instantly and forcing the pilot to make a crash landing. .

Cray's personality and death are similar to those of Sir Gustav Graves's in the Bond film Die Another Day.

The Gentleman

The Gentleman is an infamous assassin whom is regarded as being one of the best in the business. Nobody knows his real name, and is nicknamed The Gentleman because he always sends flowers to the family of the person he kills. He is employed by Dr Grief in Point Blanc to kill Michael J. Roscoe. He also kills Sam Green, the elevator maintenance man he replaces, in the process. It is a common belief that he was also the man sent by Scorpia to kill Alex Rider.

Conrad

Conrad is General Alexei Sarov's personal assistant and thus one of the main antagonists of the novel Skeleton Key. He is a short man who has been described to have several scars all around his body, the cause for his scars are apparently that once he was carrying a bomb which blew up on him, in order to save his life he was given a metal jaw, metal legs and metallic pins to hold his skull together.

He first appeared in the novel when Sarov orders him to put a bomb in The Salesman's ship and is later seen by Alex Rider near the Salesman's ship although Alex doesn't know who he is at the time. Later, after Tom Turner and Belinda Troy are killed in "The Devil's Chimney" under water cave, Conrad kidnaps Alex and puts him in a crusher only for Alex to be saved by General Sarov, Conrad's boss. Sarov planned on adopting Alex no matter how much Conrad told him it was a bad idea and that Alex should be killed because he would ruin the plan, this eventually became true.

Sarov's plan was to put a nuclear bomb in a nuclear submarine to create and enormous explosion which would destroy Murmansk and the fall out would cause so much chaos that communism could control Europe again, Sarov ordered Conrad to place the bomb in the submarine with a magnetic crane, however Alex escapes from Sarov (who had changed his mind about adopting him and decided he should die in the nuclear explosion) Conrad, without turning off the crane, goes after him and they both engage in a fight. Conrad has the upper hand in the fight until the crane he left on magnetizes all the metal pins and prosthetics in his body and is attached to the crane, breaking his back and presumably killing him. Alex then drops his body in the ocean.

Conrad's name is a play on the word "Comrade" which was a term used by Communist generals and politicians during the communist era of the Soviet Union.

Nikolei Drevin

Nikolei Drevin appears in Ark Angel. Drevin is a famed Russian billionaire, owning many hotels, businesses and even a football (soccer) club- Stratford East. While generally viewed as a philanthropist, his wealth was actually attained with the help of the Russian Mafia. He is the mastermind behind the "Ark Angel" space hotel project. Nikolei becomes acquainted with Alex Rider when the teen saves his son, Paul from Force Three, an organization of eco-terrorists. He then invites Alex to "two weeks of more luxury you have ever had". When Alex is visiting the launch site of his space hotel, Ark Angel, Nikolei discovers Alex's assignments with MI6. He then orders his head of security, Magnus Payne, to kill him. Alex is then taken to a ship wreck where he is dumped and rescued by Nikolei's assistant, Tamara Knight, an undercover CIA operative. While eavesdropping on Nikolei, Alex and Tamara Knight are found. He then takes Alex to the "main hangar". He then reveals to Alex his plan to sabotage his own (failing) Ark Angel project so he could reacquire the money from an insurance company; Force Three, as it turns out, was actually created by Drevin to provide him with a convenient scapegoat so that he himself wouldn't be suspected. He plans to have the wreckage of the hotel fall on Washington D.C. so that he may destroy the CIA records of his criminal activities in the process. Drevin, while trying to shoot Alex, accidentally shoots his own son Paul Drevin. Infuriated, Nikolei climbs onto his waterplane to try and escape. Unbeknownst to him, however, Alex had previously tied two canoes to the plane to prevent its use. The canoes weigh down the plane, causing Drevin to crash into a thicket of trees, killing him.

Yassen Gregorovich

Yassen Gregorovich was a recurring villain in the series, appearing from the first novel to the fourth. He was formerly a Russian-born contract killer, trained by and apparently working for the clandestine terrorist organization SCORPIA. A superb assassin, Yassen was considered one of the world's best.

For all his skills, Yassen is obviously best known for his assassinations; throughout the series, his reputation seems to be one of a man who makes no mistakes, and is considered an active threat by MI6. It is suggested that his training was grounded in ninjutsu, including, as is demonstrated on a single occasion, basic psychological warfare. He was also supposedly an expert with conventional weaponry and terrorist technique, though both are demonstrated only once throughout the series before his death, in the fourth book. Yassen made another appearance (in a scene set in the past) in the seventh book of the series, Snakehead. He was also revealed to be fluent in 7 languages and was learning Japanese at the time of his apparent death.

Yassen was at least partially instructed by Alex Rider's late father, John Rider, who appeared to be working as an unspecified instructor (though certainly in some form of combat, considering that he was a weapons and martial arts expert) for SCORPIA on the Italian island of Malagosto. However, he was secretly working for MI6 under deep cover.

Yassen is in debt to John Rider; during a joint assignment in the Amazon, Rider saved his student's life by killing a black widow on Yassen's throat; something which Yassen never forgot. Though Alex does not initially realize the reason, Yassen exhibits some care for the boy, on more than one occasion saving (or sparing) his life. At the time of his death (which was caused by a bullet from Damian Cray's gun), Yassen actually tells Alex he loved both John Rider and Alex.

Having trained in a special assassin school in Italy, he killed his first man when he was 19 in the Amazon Jungle. Yassen Gregorovich became a professional and reliable contract killer and is employed by SCORPIA. They sent him on numerous jobs throughout the world. He was apparently killed by Damian Cray in the book Eagle Strike.

Considering Yassen's reputation and position, it is probable that his assassinations are numerous. Throughout the entire series however, only four of Yassen's assassinations are revealed.

Born in Russia, Yassen's father was killed by an accident of a biochemical warfare project that was hushed up by the Russian Government. His mother died 6 months after due to illness. After his parents death, Yassen (who was at the time 14) made his way to Moscow in search of SCORPIA. While in Moscow, Yassen ran errands for the local mafia. Eventually, Yassen Gregorovich found and started to work for SCORPIA.

Yassen Gregorovich is described as attractive, having blond hair (though in the first film, Stormbreaker he has ginger hair), pale blue eyes, pale skin, distinctly chiseled lips, and "almost feminine eyelashes". He also has a long, distinctive scar along his neck caused by John Rider when he saved him from a black widow spider by shooting it off his neck, leaving a mark where the bullet grazed his skin. Yassen's relaxed and graceful poise is often compared to that of a dancer.

Dr. Hugo Grief

Dr. Hugo Grief ( born Johannes de Leede ) was a native of South Africa where he was the chief of biological research in the Main Biology Department of South Africa and the main antagonist of the Point Blanc novel. He was a racist man who was disgusted by how black people eventually became the leaders of South Africa feeling they would run his country into the ground, due to being incapable of handling such seats of power (to him, Nelson Mandela was criminal who had no right to be given his position). He thought that Africa was excellent when controlled by the white men and thus decided to try and rule the world to reinstall the white man's control over the world. Grief after years of thinking discovered that to rule the earth you must control the main industries in the world that humans need to live like food and technology industries. Thus he came up with a plan to rule all industries called "Project Gemini".

In order to control these industries Grief came up with a plan, he bought an abandoned castle on top of the French Alps, faked his death and along with assistant Eva Stellenbosch turned the castle into an underground laboratory where they managed to clone him sixteen times (having perfected this process, experimenting in the past on his countries political prisoners).

Grief then turned the castle into a school for the troubled sons of rich families but his actual intentions were to lock up the real children and use plastic surgery to make the clones of himself resemble the children. Grief would then send them back to their parents and eventually, when the parents died, the clones would control and inherit their businesses. However when two men got suspicious about their sons' (the clones) attitudes, Grief had them killed because they were researching him. This eventually leads to MI6 sending Alex Rider to Point Blanc in disguise to investigate. Alex eventually discovered the truth and was set to be killed by Dr. Grief, though Alex managed to escape.

It was in the hands of Alex where Grief met his end. After Alex escaped, it was made to look as if he had been killed in doing so to put Grief off his guard. 24 hours later, however, Alex returned with an SAS attack force and raided Point Blanc. Grief attempted to escape in a helicopter, and Alex, in an attempt to stop the helicopter from escaping, climbs onto a snowmobile and speeds up a ramp. When he is about to reach the edge of the ramp, he leaps off, leaving the snowmobile flying through the air, striking Grief's helicopter. The snowmobile exploded upon hitting it, blowing apart the helicopter and killing Grief. After death, Grief had already set up a clone to kill Alex. But, after Alex meets his clone in his school, Alex kills the clone.

Grief was also portrayed as insane by having the idea of disposing of Alex by having him be dissected alive in a biology class for the clones of himself. Aside from this, he is also portrayed as insane by worshiping the biggest enemies of democracy such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Nile

Nile is a contract killer for the infamous crime organization SCORPIA and one of the main antagonists in the novel Scorpia. He's a black man who has a strange disease that makes his white blood cells attack his pigment glands, leaving white blotches on his skin. Nile was the second in his class of assassination. According to Julia Rothman, he could have been the first if it was not for his one fatal flaw (later revealed to be his fear of heights).

Nile first encountered Alex in the Widow's Palace and locked him up in a flood room where he was to drown, however Alex escaped and found Nile again in their technology research lab in Naples. Then Nile blew it up and drove Alex to a hotel in an Alfa Romeo Spider. Later Nile trained Alex when he joined SCORPIA in their espionage school at Malagosto and helped him infiltrate Mrs. Jones's flat to kill her, where Alex failed to kill her. Finally Alex climbed onto a hot air balloon to stop project Invisible Sword from activating and Nile was sent after him, resulting in Alex learning about Nile's fear of heights. Using this to distract his foe, Alex then sliced open the hot air balloon's gas container, causing a huge explosion and knocking off the balloon's basket. The explosion didn't only blow up the basket but also knocked Nile off the balloon and he fell down to his death as a result of being hit with fire being shot out of the container.

Magnus Payne a.k.a 'Kaspar'

Magnus Payne is the leader of Force Three, although he goes by the name of Kaspar when in this position. He had his face tattooed to look like the earth, and when on Flamingo Bay he disguised himself by wearing a latex mask. He and his gang were hired by Nikolei Drevin to pretend to be eco terrorists and pose as Nikolei's enemies when they are actually just covering up Nikolei's felonies. Drevin's main plan was to destroy The Pentagon, where a huge case file was being made against him, by blowing up his failing space hotel, Ark Angel, and make it fall on The Pentagon, destroying it and then blame Force Three for the explosion. Payne is killed on the Ark Angel shuttle when Alex blinds him by opening a window faced toward the sun and kicks him into the point of a Sabatier knife which Payne had dropped and was hovering in the module.

Julia Rothman

Julia Rothman is the head of the operation Invisible Sword as in Scorpia, the fifth book in the Alex Rider Series. Fallen in love with Alex's father, she is delighted to accept Alex into SCORPIA, the criminal organization. However, she actually wants to kill Alex (for his association with his father, who betrayed her), and she places capsules containing deadly poison into his bloodstream. She planned to destroy the relationship between America and Britain, by threatening to unleash deadly poisons into millions of children's bloodstreams in London, through the use of radio waves transmitted by a hot air balloon, if America did not comply to a series of certain (and impossible, according to her), demands. These demands were given to SCORPIA by a wealthy man from the Middle East. SCORPIA would be paid one hundred million dollars for completing his request.

During the first part of Scorpia, it is revealed that she was born in Wales and that her parents were Welsh nationalists targeting holiday homes owned by English families which they would then burn to the ground. However, one of the homes they targeted had a English family inside and they perished in the blaze. As a result, Julia's parents were sent to jail and young Julia who was only six years old was put in a home. This soon marked the start of her criminal lifestyle.

She would then make the same threats in New York, but with more reasonable demands. When America complies, she states that this will show Britain that they mean little to America and so end the alliance between the two. Julia Rothman is a lady who was on the board of SCORPIA, she was responsible of the deaths of fellow board member Max Grendel and her husband (pushing him off their hotel balcony during their honeymoon). She met her death when the hot air balloon of Invisible Sword crushed her. She once states that Alex looks very much like his father and that she (Julia) had aged 15 years.

Rothman's personality and position within SCORPIA resemble those of Rosa Klebb in the Bond film and novel From Russia With Love.

Herod Sayle

Herod Sayle (in the film adaptation Darrius Sayle) is the key antagonist in Stormbreaker. In the original UK edition, Sayle was born in the gutters of Lebanon; the US edition changed his nationality to Egyptian. He was one of 13 children (nine boys, four girls). His father was a failed hairdresser (oral hygienist in the US version) and his mother took in washing. One day, he saved two wealthy British tourists, who adopted him and sent him to school in England. He was severely bullied there, however, the primary bully being the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Growing up, he grew to hate the British school children.

Since his schooling, he has built a large and successful empire, becoming a multi-millionaire. In the film he is mentioned to be a multi-billionaire, giving him a similarity to Bill Gates.

Sayle also invented a technique that allows computer components to be developed in non-sterile environments, slashing the price of production. Using this technique, he develops a computer called Stormbreaker and is donating a Stormbreaker to each school in Britain in exchange for a British citizenship. However, MI6 is suspicious about his intentions, sending out agent Ian Rider to investigate. After several weeks, Ian Rider sends out an urgent notice, saying that he found something important and needs to contact MI6. However, as he drives back home, Yassen Gregorovich assassinates him. MI6 is even more troubled at Ian Rider's urgent message and his subsequent murder, and desperately needs to know what Ian Rider knew.

Ian Rider's nephew, Alex Rider, must step up to the plate. Alan Blunt blackmails Alex into investigating. A month before, Sayle held a contest; the winner would get to stay at Sayle's house and get a tour of the Stormbreaker factory. MI6 takes the real winner, a kid named Felix, and sends Alex Rider in under Felix's identity.

Alex Rider investigates the plant and its operations and soon discovers what his uncle had found. Sayle has put a genetically modified strain of smallpox onto all the Stormbreaker computers (which we later discover, in the book Snakehead, was supplied to him by the criminal organization Scorpia). The smallpox will be released during the grand opening ceremony. In that ceremony, the Prime Minister will push a button, turning on all the computers and releasing the smallpox in the process. Sayle's minions, Nadia Vole and Mr. Grin, then imprison Alex in a tank with his pet Portuguese Man o' War jellyfish. Sayle flies to London to do the ceremony. Alex is left inside the jellyfish tank to either pass-out and drown or get killed by the jellyfish. Alex manages to avoid the jellyfish and dives to the bottom of the tank, where he uses a specialized "zit" cream from Smithers to melt off the supports of the tank. The tank breaks; Alex and the jellyfish pour out. Alex is untouched by the Portuguese Man Of War but the jellyfish lands on Nadia Vole, killing her.

Alex escapes and reaches one of Sayle's airplanes. Mr. Grin--held at gun point by Alex--flies the plane to London to the ceremony location (the Science Museum). Alex flies in using a parachute and fires blindly, destroying the switch seconds before the Prime Minister is about to flip it. Sayle is hit by two bullets, in the left arm and shoulder, but escapes.

At the end of the book, after he has a meeting with Mrs. Jones and Alan Blunt, Alex takes a cab to discover that the driver is Sayle. Sayle takes Alex hostage to a tower, showing him a helicopter about to land that will take him into hiding. Sayle is about to shoot Alex just as the helicopter lands, but Yassen Gregorovich climbs out of the helicopter and shoots Sayle instead, killing him. Surprisingly, Gregorovich lets Alex live (he claims there were no instructions for him in regard to Alex) and flies the helicopter away.

In a First News interview, Anthony Horowitz revealed that Sayle's name is derived from the Christmas Harrod's sale.

In the film adaptation, Herod Sayle is portrayed by Mickey Rourke. Herod's nationality was changed from Egyptian to American, and his name changed to Darrius. Also in the movie Herod (Darrius) becomes rich and goes to a British school because his mother won the lottery, not because he saved the rich European tourists from a falling piano.

Sayle survived Alex Rider's bullets in the Science Museum and escaped to Sayle Tower in London, where he had a back-up transmitter to activate the Stormbreakers. Alex, however, defeated Sayle's bodyguard and unplugged the back-up transmitter. Sayle was about to kill Alex when Yassen Gregorovich's helicopter flew up. Gregorovich lowered himself from the helicopter and shot Sayle dead. Sayle's corpse fell from the tower, saving Alex.

Herod Sayle's dislike of the UK and especially the British Schoolchildren and Prime Minister is strong contrast to Winston Yu, the antagonist of Snakehead, who is obsessed with Britain and liked being brought up in a British public school (Harrow). He was only ever bullied on one occasion (the bully was then assassinated by his mother).

General Alexei Sarov

Alexei Sarov was a former Russian General. He was the main antagonist of novel Skeleton Key. Sarov still lives in Russian communism days, he has a master plan in which he would detonate a nuclear bomb inside a nuclear submarine to spread nuclear radiation, the effects of the disaster would bring so much devastation to Europe that communism could take back control.

Sarov was once married to an unnamed woman and had a son called Vladimir. Sarov wanted his son to join the Russian army, however Sarov's wife disagreed which led to their divorce. Eventually Vladimir did join the army and became a powerful and skilled soldier; however he was shot by a sniper and died.

Sarov's main residence is in the island of Cayo Esqueleto ("Skeleton Key") in Cuba, his house and HQ is a large yellow house on the edge of a cliff called Casa De Oro. There are two entrances to Casa De Oro, the first being through a narrow road that goes to the edge of the cliff where the house is and the second is a booby trapped underwater cave called "The Devil's Chimney", the cave has a security device in which anything that enters the cave is diced, sliced, stabbed and impaled by fake stalagmites and stalactites on the floor and roof of the cave which ascend and descend like a giant jaw (CIA agents Glen Carver/Tom Turner and Belinda Troy are killed by this trap while trying to enter Casa De Oro).

In order to sneak a bomb into Murmansk to detonate it Sarov invites the Russian president to his house and during a banquet he knocks out the president with a drugged glass of vodka, then Sarov has the president locked up and then takes off to Murmansk in the president's jet, which will not be searched and thus the bomb would not be discovered. Aside of his nuclear devastation plan, Sarov, also had an interview with the Russian president which he planned on editing to make him look like a terrible president so that he (Sarov) could take control of Russia and thus turn it once again to a communist country.

In Skeleton Key when he saw Alex Rider who worked so hard to save his country, that he remembered his son, Vladimir, who had died serving his country in the army. Sarov planned to adopt Alex, however Alex refused several times by trying to escape from him and a depressed Sarov leaves Alex to die in the nuclear explosion of Murmask harbour. However Alex takes control of a crane and removes the detonation card of the bomb, Sarov then enters and calmly tells Alex to put it back, Alex however refuses and states he would rather die than have a father like him. A devastated Sarov pulls out a gun and shoots himself.

Eva Stellenbosch

Eva Stellenbosch is the co-director of Point Blanc Academy for young men, along with Dr Hugo Grief. Having been an Interrogator for the South African Secret Police (before that she was Miss South Africa in weightlifting five years in a row) she'd known Hugo for twenty six years. She is described as having huge muscles, and a facial structure that wasn't quite human. She also has wisps of bright ginger hair and a high domed forehead.

Along with Dr Grief, she organises the Gemini Project (having raised Hugo's clones for the first fourteen years of their lives), which uses fourteen year-old clones of Grief, along with a Plastic Surgeon named Mr Baxter, to create copies of the students, who they send home in place of the real ones.

She ends up being killed when she is shot in the leg by Alex's SAS friend of the codename "Wolf", causing her to stumble backwards and trip into a window, shattering it and falling off a three story building to her death.

Eva Stellenbosch is also portrayed as a smoker. At various points in the book, she is pictured smoking cigars.

Anan Sukit

Anan Sukit is the head of the Bangkok Snakehead, owned by Winston Yu. Sukit is described as a short Asian man who wears a strange mixture between a suit and combat clothes. He has no ears since they were cut off during a deal which was ambushed by a rival Bangkok gang.

He first meets Alex when he and Ash are disguised as Afghan refugees trying to get smuggled to Australia. Sukit, however, was warned about Alex by his boss Winston Yu and said that Alex was to retrieve the fake passports Snakehead would provide for the smuggling.

When Alex went for the papers, he was kidnapped by Sukit's men and taken to fight in an arena located in a building in one of Bangkok's many swamps. Alex, cheating, defeated his opponent in the fight, a man named Sunthorn, and this enraged the gamblers who all bet on Sunthorn, leading Sukit to attack him with a gun. However Ben "Fox" Daniels, shorts out the arena lights giving Alex a chance to flee the arena.

Later when Alex attempts to escape from the place in a swamp boat, he finds the boat to be tied to a pillar which holds together the arena, and as he is stuck Sukit approaches him with a gun. Just before he shoots Alex, Fox (a.k.a. Ben Daniels) shoots Sukit in the back three times, killing him and letting his corpse fall into the swamp.

The Salesman

The Salesman is a short term antagonist in the Skeleton Key novel. The Salesman's main line of work goes along with his name; he sells illegal products like weapons, drugs, etc. CIA agent Tom Turner was placed undercover as a weapons purchaser to engage a friendship between him and The Salesman on his ship Mayfair Lady.

Eventually The Salesman discovered Turner's real identity and prepared to kill him, however Alex Rider was on the boat at the time with Turner and made it on board The Salesman's main work center and set the boat on fire. When the crew members got distracted by the fire Alex knocked out The Salesman and saved Turner. However The Salesman woke up and when Alex and Turner jumped offboard he tried to ram them with his boat, but one of (see above) General Alexi Sarov's assistants called Conrad had set up a bomb in the Salesman's boat which blew up while The Salesman tried to kill Alex and Turner. The detonation of the bomb blew the boat to pieces and killed The Salesman and his crew.

Mr. Grin

Mr. Grin is Herod Sayle's right hand man and butler. Grin used to be a circus performer who flung knives into the air and caught them in his mouth and fingertips, however, one day Grin's mother came to see his act, he was distracted by her and his knives fell in his mouth, cut off his tongue, and left a scar that makes it look like he has a permanent smile on his face (hence his name "Grin").

Mr. Grin's main role in the novel where he appears, Stormbreaker, is when he captures Alex after they discover he is a spy infiltrated in Sayle Corp. Alex is then tortured by Grin so he confesses to who he's working with.

Later when Sayle heads to execute his plan in London, Grin takes a jet out for unknown reasons. However Alex gets in the jet and threatens him with a gun, telling him to fly to London. As they arrive in London, Alex quickly grabs a parachute and throws himself off the jet. Grin attempts to ram Alex with the jet, but Alex left a smoke bomb in the jet, and he triggers it. The smoke totally blinds Grin and he accidentally drives off course and crashes into a building, Grin dies in the jet explosion.

Grin is portrayed by Andy Serkis in the film Stormbreaker.

Nadia Vole

Nadia Vole (otherwise known as Fräulein Vole) is Herod Sayle's assistant and henchman. She is described as being broad-shouldered and severe, having blonde hair, a moon-shaped face, wearing wire framed spectacles, and also wearing a smear of yellow lipstick. She also has a thick German accent, she dies when the tank containing Sayle's Portuguese Man of War smashes and the jellyfish poisons her.

She is portrayed by Missi Pyle in the film Stormbreaker.

Major Winston Yu

Major Winston Yu was one of the members of the executive board of SCORPIA, he was charged by Zeljan Kurst, another head member of SCORPIA to command operation "Reef Encounter" in which they would generate an artificial tsunami to destroy Reef Island and the west coast of Australia by detonating a special bomb named "Royal Blue" between two under water tectonic plates when they are most vulnerable. He ran the Bangkok Snakehead with Anan Sukit, but becomes the sole leader when Ben "Fox" Daniels kills Sukit.

Yu has a form of osteoporosis that he calls "Brittle Bone Disease," which makes his skeleton highly un-stable. It was this disease that forced him to leave the army after four successful tours of duty in Northern Ireland, and into organized crime. Yu is obsessed with the British and has British boats, paintings and statues. His obsession with the British began when his mother had an affair with a British business man who told her beautiful things about England. When Yu was born, his mother named him after Winston Churchill. He treats every one of his underlings with merciless behaviour, but treats Alex gently because he is British.

After his men steal Royal Blue, his plans start going wrong when MI6 tells Alex about Yu and his plot. Yu and Alex escape from the boat The Liberian Star and Yu has Alex kidnapped. Then he is brought to his mansion so Yu could explain himself, and then sends Alex to have his organs surgically removed and used for illegal organ transplanting.

However, Alex escapes his captors and leads Yu to believe he is dead, however, Alex and a group of ASIS soldiers, among those soldiers is Ben "Fox" Daniels, they raid Yu's center of operations, an oil drilling platform named Dragon Nine and Alex and Fox eventually encounter Yu and Ash. Fox shoots and kills Ash but Yu shoots Fox, although he is not killed. Alex and Yu have a final confrontation and when Yu is about to kill Alex, a crane collapses inside the control room and the impact breaks Yu's arm, forcing him to flee. In the process he breaks both his ankles as he falls into his yacht, which he then attempts to escape in. While trying to escape, Yu is killed when Alex detonates Royal Blue before due time, sending a huge soundboom which hits Yu and his yacht. Yu's weak bone structure cannot stand up to the force of the explosion and he is killed when all his bones break at the same time.

Yu is portrayed as being a ruthless and merciless killer, a characteristic he inherited from his mother who, when Yu and her were poor in Hong Kong, worked as a paid assassin for the Hong Kong Snakehead. Several of Yu's employees prefer to commit suicide rather than face Yu's unspeakable punishments. An example of this is Dr. Bill Tanner, who was the head of an illegal organ transplant compound, which Alex escaped from.

Bill Tanner

Dr. Bill Tanner was the doctor who worked for Major Yu. He was in charge of removing Alex's organs for transplants, having been sacked from his previous job for telling a patient they could get an instant transplant if they paid him. He tells Alex of all the security systems in the organ camp, which leads to Alex knowing what to watch out for during his escape. Alex knocks out the guard with a heavy filing cabinet, then, Alex puts a sleeping pill he had been previously given to make him sleep but which he didn't eat, in the guard dog's food and escapes from his shack/cell. Then, Alex hacks off the float of a seaplane for use as a makeshift canoe, and, as a blaze of glory stand, sets the organ camp on fire, destroying it. Tanner, however, survived the fire and sends a Huey helicopter after Alex, Alex loses the helicopter and escapes. In chapter Dinner For Three it's mentioned that Tanner committed suicide, rather than receiving a horrible death sentence from Major Yu.

Zeljan Kurst

Zeljan Kurst is a Yugoslavian business man and the head of the terrorist organization SCORPIA. During Snakehead, he supervises Winston Yu when he is doing the job of coordinating and executing operation "Reef Encounter" an operation in which they would use a powerful, British-made, non-nuclear, bomb called Royal Blue, to cause a tsunami and also to pleasingly destroy an Australian Island where an Anti-Poverty conference would be held. Zeljan advises Yu to not underestimate Alex Rider's abilities, since Zeljan was impressed by Alex's abilities to thwart operation Invisible Sword during the novel Scorpia.

Zeljan is introduced at the beginning of the book when he assigns Yu to the job of coordinating operation "Reef Encounter". During that same scene, Zeljan is proven to accept no criticism of his actions, since he kills an Afghan member of the board of SCORPIA by activating electrodes in his chair when says that Yu is a bad choice for coordinating the operation. Many times through the book, Kurst has small meetings at public places with Yu, so Yu can brief him on the progress of the operation. At the end of the book, Zeljan is shown lamenting the failure of operation "Reef Encounter" but not caring about Winston Yu's death, since he knew from the start Yu wouldn't be able to handle Alex.

Zeljan owns and operates a funerary parlor and mourner business which has a secret room which serves as a conference room for SCORPIA. .

Kurst is one of the only two major antagonist to not be killed in the book he's introduced, the other being Yassen Gregorovich.

Kurst's role in the story is similar to that of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond novel and film series. This is because of his role as the head of an antagonizing terrorist organization and because of his particular method of killing his henchmen with electrodes in their chairs, a method employed by Blofeld in the film Thunderball.

Protagonists

The following is a list of the protagonists recurring, appearing in, or referred to in the Alex Rider series of novels by British author Anthony Horowitz.

James Sprintz

When Alex is sent to Point Blanc there is one kid that had not yet been cloned and thrown in jail. Before he was thrown in jail Alex and James had become close friends. The day before James was captured, he had thought about escaping. Then Alex snuck out and saw James being captured. The next day James' replica showed up at breakfast.

Alan Blunt

Alan Blunt is the head of MI6 Special Operations. He is an aloof, impassive, and ruthless man. He is known for wearing a grey suit and grey glasses, and driving a Rolls-Royce. From the book Point Blanc, it is said that he had graduated with a honours degree in mathematics from Cambridge University. He is married, but his wife is not mentioned in the series. Blunt is dedicated to his job and has a very analytical mind. Like many spy-masters in popular culture, Blunt is portrayed as being emotionally unattached to anything he does and whatever means he uses.

After Alan Blunt dismissed Alex Rider's suspicions of Damian Cray and his attempt to destroy half the world, he was severely humiliated and was only narrowly able to keep his position. He insists on Alex's continued use despite of his youthfulness, the death of his uncle in an intelligence case, and the fact that he has encountered near death more times than most intelligence agents would be expected to in their careers; after Alex is almost assassinated, however, he agrees with Mrs. Jones not to use him again.

In the film Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker he is portrayed by Bill Nighy.

John Crawley

John Crawley is a man who works for MI6 as a messenger between Alex Rider and Special Operations. He is in his thirties and is known to have worked with John Rider, Alex's father, on a number of occasions. He is described as having "the kind of face you forget while you're still looking at it." In Stormbreaker Alex is tranquilized by him while in his uncle's office, snooping. It is hinted in Ark Angel that he was injured by Scorpia on one mission. He is also involved in the Wimbledon committee, once getting Alex a job there as a ball boy to investigate the possibility of somebody trying to sabotage the competition.

In the film, he is portrayed by Jimmy Carr, and is renamed "John Crawford", after an unusual request from the real MI6 itself not to use the name Crawley. He retains his original name in the books, however.

Ben 'Fox' Daniels

Fox is a character that is seen in Stormbreaker at an SAS training camp in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. In Snakehead, Alex meets Fox again, and it is later revealed that his name is in fact Ben Daniels. He comes to Alex's rescue in the deep Australian jungle. It is also revealed that he was taken out of the SAS and placed in MI6 in Snakehead. In Snakehead, he shoots Alex's godfather Ash, who was recently revealed to be the man who had betrayed Alex's parents, and is wounded by Winston Yu who shoots him. He is known to have a liverpool(scouser)accent.

Paul Drevin

Paul Drevin is the son of Russian multibillionaire Nikolei Drevin. Paul, like Alex, is 14 years old. He has a noticeable Russian accent. Paul has short blond hair and light blue eyes. At his first appearance his face is described as being "thin" and his skin as "pale", although his recent operation to have his appendix out may account for some of this.

During Paul's first encounter with Alex, when Alex asks: "'Where is home?", Paul replies: "'I'm not sure.'" He then continues to explain that he lives in London a lot, but is accustomed to moving frequently, mentioning places such as: Moscow, New York and south of France. Paul has so many houses that he doesn't know where home is and doesn't go to school. Instead, his father employs tutors, therefore Paul misses out on meeting children his own age. Paul's parents divorced when he was six years old and his mother lived in America. Paul sees her no more than a few times a year. Paul was educated at an ordinary school but had to be removed as there were too many "security problems".

When on his own territory, Paul comes across as more confident than he is anywhere else. Paul understands perfectly well that other children see him a "spoilt brat" and that they only ever meet him because of all the free stuff. He tells Alex that he would understand if he decided to pack his bags and leave Neverglade, the castle that they were staying at. Growing up with such wealth has led Paul to comprehend the fact that friendship can't be bought, no matter how rich his dad is. Paul often protested against some of the things that came with the billionaire lifestyle, but he fitted into a lot better than he seemed and was much more like his father than he would think.

Paul Drevin has suffered from asthma all of his life but says that it isn't that bad. He is an excellent tennis player, naturally, he has his own tennis courts, however, due to his asthma he cannot manage any more than two sets.

Nikolei and Paul do not appear to be close. Nikolei had been "too busy" to visit Paul after his appendicitis operation and during his stay in hospital. It is evident by the language spoken and the actions when in each other's presence that neither is particularly close to the other. During a talk with Alex, Paul reveals that he wishes he had a brother as he always feels alone, despite the company of his father. However, Nikolei insisted that Paul stay with him and not his mother. Paul also confides in Alex that "Dad's not too bad", but he does wish that he had a life of his own. Paul may also fear his dad, offering a serious warning to Alex not to make him his enemy. He understands how ruthless and dangerous his father can be.

Nikolei shows little concern for his son, demonstrated perfectly near the end of the story where Nikolei flees, leaving his bullet-ridden son dying on the ground, preferring to save himself, although it is later stated that Paul should recover.

Tulip Jones

Mrs. Jones is second in command at MI6 and is Alan Blunt's closest associate. Blunt insists their personal and professional lives remain separate; consequently, Mrs. Jones has never even been inside of his house, despite knowing him better than anyone else in Special Operations. Mrs. Jones has two children, both of them whom have been taken by someone at a young age. Mrs. Jones also has a cat named Q, presumably after the gagdet master from the James Bond series. As a result of that, she has a soft spot for Alex Rider, even though Alex tried to kill her under orders from Scorpia in Scorpia.

In Scorpia, Mrs. Jones' first name is revealed to be Tulip because "her parents were avid gardeners", prompting Alex to reflect that the reason she hasn't mentioned it earlier is that nobody would want to admit to a name like that.

Mrs. Jones can be found sucking on a peppermint while giving Alex his briefing before he goes on his next action-filled mission.

In the Stormbreaker film, she is played by Sophie Okonedo.

Sabina Pleasure

Sabina Pleasure made her first appearance in the series in the novel Skeleton Key, in which she is a ballgirl at Wimbledon. She and Alex become friends and offers to take him to Cornwall with her parents. From this moment on, she serves as Alex's primary romantic interest. First signs of her feelings for him are when he is settling down to sleep the night before he goes surfing with her, she comes into his room and they share their first kiss. The next day, she gives him CPR when he is knocked out by a massive wave. At the end of the book, she invites him on a trip to the South of France.

In Eagle Strike, during this holiday, Sabina's father is nearly killed by a bomb. She breaks up with Alex when he tries to show her MI6's headquarters (She doesn't believe him when he says he is a spy) and is chased off by security. Later, however, she is kidnapped by Damian Cray, who wants to use her as a ransom for the flash drive Alex has stolen from him. When Alex presents the flash drive, Cray presents Sabina, who is, under Cray's orders, bound and gagged. Cray reveals that the bomb that nearly killed Sabina Pleasure's father was an assassination attempt, as her father was about to expose Cray's illegal activity. By threatening to cut her fingers off, Cray makes Alex give him the flash drive and keeps her, as he wants to have her killed, and decides to take Alex with him. On Air Force One, however, as Cray is about to execute them both, she puts up strong resistance and eventually Alex and Sabina prevail. Despite their love being rekindled, Sabina is forced to move to America by her parents. Before she leaves, they have a brief meeting under a bridge, where she gives Alex a brief kiss. They part, where Alex does not look back; certain she has just walked out of his life, and they will never meet again.

It is revealed in the later book Ark Angel that she is still planning to visit Alex at Christmas and her father is writing a book "The Truth About Damian Cray." She appears at the end of Snakehead for a "surprise" Christmas visit, and the book ends with them entering his house, together.

Her name is a pun on the phrase "It's been a pleasure."

In both the graphic novels and the film, she appears as a school friend of Alex, instead of meeting him at Wimbledon, to provide a love interest element to the film. By the end of the film she knows (and believes) Alex's secret, so how the storyline of her not believing him in the first half of Eagle Strike will be portrayed in a possible sequel remains to be seen.

She was played in the film Stormbreaker by Sarah Bolger.

Alex Rider

Main article: Alex Rider (character)

Alex Rider is the main character of the series, his name being the title for the franchise. His parents died when he was young, and his uncle was killed when he was 14. He lives with his housekeeper, Jack Starbright. Through his adventures he discovers new things about his parents, Uncle Ian, and even his foes, even something about Yassen Gregorovich, the Russian contract killer who assassinated his uncle. He is used repeatedly by MI6, and has also worked with the CIA (Skeleton Key)(Ark Angel) and the ASIS (Snakehead). Both which he goes in with another agent, or in Skeleton Key, two, but comes out alone, as the agent/agents with him have been killed. The only exception is in Ark Angel, but the other agent (Tamara Knight) is still wounded. He has fair hair and a body of an athlete, as said in the first book in the series. He is described as handsome by some in the books.

He is portrayed by Alex Pettyfer in the film Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker.

Helen Rider

Helen Rider (born Beckett) was Alex Rider's mother. She is now dead. She was a nurse before she was killed with her husband John Rider in a plane explosion by a bomb set off by the couple's friend, Ash. In Scorpia, after Alex is shot, he sees an image of his mother, smiling at him.

Ian Rider

Ian Rider, Alex's uncle, became his guardian after his parents died. He worked for MI6, under cover of being a banker. Ian and Alex had a very good relationship. They were very close, and when Ian was home they did practically everything together. Ian often took Alex around the world to educate him about other cultures. Ian also taught him a lot of things that prepared him for being a spy, such as scuba diving. He was killed at the beginning of Stormbreaker by Yassen Gregorovich. His death led Alex into working for MI6. He had completed missions in Iraq, Havana, and Washington. But his luck ran out in Cornwall, while investigating Herod (Darius) Sayle and the Stormbreaker project. And we later find out that Yassen worked for Herod (Darius) Sayle and that he or Scorpia orders the assassination.

Ian Rider is played by Ewan McGregor in the movie adaptation of Stormbreaker.

Smithers

Smithers is the gadget expert at MI6, a role similar to Q's in [James Bond] films. He is described as balding, extremely overweight and very jovial. It is often implied that Smithers is Alex's only friend at MI6; in Eagle Strike, when Alex attempted to convince MI6 to investigate Damian Cray, he was ignored by Blunt and Mrs Jones, but Smithers nevertheless supplied with a high-tech bicycle that played a crucial role in Alex's investigations. He has often stated that he enjoys having Alex around because he finds it a greater challenge to come with gadgets for teenagers, as well as the final results inevitably being more 'fun' than his products for MI6's adult agents. He is always trying to give Alex some sort of weapon, but MI6 will have none of it. Anthony Horowitz has said that Smithers has a dark secret, to be revealed in the last book. In the film Stormbreaker he is portrayed by Stephen Fry. It is revealed in Alex Rider: Mission Files that Smithers has a secret which Anthony Horowitz say's he plans to reveal in the last book.

Jack Starbright

Jack is Alex Rider's closest and best friend, an American girl who traveled to London to study law when she was twenty one, but never returned to the United States, presumably after having become attached to Alex in their time living together. Her parents still live in Washington D.C, America, and she still occasionally visits them.

She was originally employed as a housekeeper by Ian Rider to look after a young Alex and maintain their house during Ian's long absences, in return for the lease of a room in the residence. She is twenty-eight years old. She is described as slim, with tangled red hair, and a boyish, round face that "is always cheerful, even when in a bad mood". She has a crooked smile, and is described to look more like a big sister than a housekeeper. She has known Alex for seven years, since Alex was seven years old. After the death of Ian Rider, Jack became Alex's legal guardian, and continues to live with him in Chelsea, London. She has appeared in every installment of the Alex Rider series, having been introduced near the beginning of Stormbreaker. She is very protective of Alex, having looked after him for several years, and developed a strong relationship with him.

In Point Blanc and Skeleton Key, Jack makes appearances but does not have a part in the major plot. She strongly disapproves of MI6's demand of Alex, but Alex and Jack have a somewhat "unspoken agreement" not to discuss his MI6 life in their time together. She does not know she is the reason Alex is with MI6, Blunt blackmails Alex by saying he would send Jack back to America or even to prison.

In Eagle Strike, Jack helps Alex investigate suspicious millionaire Damian Cray. She travels with him from France to the Netherlands, and assists in carrying out a pickpocketting of a V.I.P.'s ticket by distracting him while Alex took the ticket, allowing him to investigate Cray.

In the original English version of Scorpia, Jack hires a tutor to help Alex catch up with the schoolwork he missed because of his MI6 life, having become concerned about the way Alex's spy status has affected him.

When Alex is in hospital in Ark Angel, he receives a get-well card from Jack. It is described as the biggest card in the room, and it is followed up with magazines, chocolate bars and energy drinks. Later, while Alex is on his mission, Jack is in Washington D.C., visiting her parents. When the city is under threat of being destroyed by a bomb on Ark Angel, Jack is one of the main reasons Alex travels to space in order to stop it happening.

In Snakehead, it is revealed that Jack had met Alex's godfather and John Rider's best man, Anthony Howell, also known as 'Ash'. She also tells Alex that she had a minor relationship with Ash, but Ash left and they stopped communicating. She expresses some anger when Brooke tells Alex about A.S.H knowing again Alex was being bribed. Her last words before he went away on mission were to ask A.S.H for a card for once.

Jack speaks fluent French - she once spent a year at the Sorbonne when studying art in college. It was stated that, if not for her involvement with Alex, she might have gone to live in France. She is also a good cook; according to Alex, she specialises in scrambled eggs. However, she refuses to make anything that takes longer than ten minutes (for comically unknown reasons).

Jack's name may be short for Jackie or Jacqueline - in Stormbreaker, it mentioned that Alex once asked, but she never revealed what it was.

In the Stormbreaker film adaptation, Jack is played by Alicia Silverstone and Alex Rider is played by Alex Pettyfer. Jack also appears in the graphic novel adaptations of Stormbreaker and Point Blanc.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7