James Bond (Personality and Traits)

The distance between insanity & genius is measured only by success. This article or section is a work in progress. If it seems lacking, that is because it is actively being constructed and researched.

"Now, having just met you, I wouldn't go as far as calling you a cold-hearted bastard... But it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine."

― Vesper Lynd to James Bond

Relationships and friendships

Bond and M in Casino Royale

Bond has had many liaisons with members of the opposite sex, but rarely makes long-lasting relationships with men or women. Bond maintains no friendships from before his parents' death and only the most irregular contact with friends from his late teens. He has only been married once, to Tracy Bond, although his marriage was brutally cut short through no fault of his own. He also demonstrates genuine affection to some women such as Vesper Lynd and Madelaine Swann.

His one strong relationship with an adult from his teens and early twenties - one Hannes Oberhauser of Kitzbuhel, Austria - ended when Oberhauser disappeared mysteriously. Bond has referred to Oberhauser as a second father. Bond also developed a close relationship with M throughout his work with her; although this was shown on numerous occasions, perhaps the most memorable is when she died in his arms and confessed that he was one thing that she got right. Following her death, Bond shed a tear and affectionately kissed her body before shutting her eyes for the last time. He also has professed to truly love Madeleine, Mr. White's daughter and Vesper, quitting the service to travel the world with her.

Hobbies

Bond excels in solitary sport, such as martial arts, shooting as well as climbing, diving, and swimming; he is also an excellent runner. Bond does not race cars in a sporting setting, but he does enjoy driving very expensive vehicles very fast. Bond has gambled at many European casinos, although never to ruin. He has been known to gamble more than he can afford to lose, although he always gambles with a plan and a clear understanding of the odds. Bond drinks, but not to excess. His drinking seems to be a way for him to test his personal limits at times rather than a vice.

Personality

The stereotype of a MI6 00 agent and a former Royal Navy intelligence officer and commander, Bond is a highly unique individual. He appears to be of sound mind and strong spirit, but can sometimes demonstrate a detached and even cruel streak. He is highly intelligent, exceedingly cunning and diabolically independent. He is also extremely sensible, calm, mature and sly. Like most who lose parents in their youth, Bond has abandonment issues, which is why he never makes friends or long-lasting relationships, his only relationship being with Vesper. In some versions professes to have never fallen in love, although whether this is true regarding Tracy, Vesper and Madelaine is unclear. He maintains no friendships from before his parents’ death and only the most irregular contact with friends from his late teens.

At first, Bond was arrogant and conceited, almost overconfident that he would be able to win each situation he got himself into.

Bond is not nostalgic, but lives firmly in the present. He has only vague notions or thoughts about old age and retirement, which he does not seem to think he will live to see. He enjoys pushing himself to the limit, both mentally and physically. Bond's stress levels actually drop when the stakes are higher. He is prone to boredom and mild depression when not challenged. He is not sentimental, not missing his childhood home in Scotland, actually saying that he "always hated this place", and showing no remorse in blowing up the house.

Bond has strong interpersonal skills. He can act comfortably in many situations, but does not seek out companionship except, most notably, for sexual recreation. Bond's lone wolf personality-type tends to attract others. He is highly manipulative, calculating and possesses a high level of intelligence. He sometimes has a hot temper.

Bond is goal-oriented, but he often seeks these goals in an indirect and secretive way. He has kept many areas of his life meticulously compartmentalized, never allowing the emotional issues from the loss of his family or from relationships to intrude on his professional life. Bond seems to have an emotional and mental need for multiple layers of reality. He thrives when not revealing all of himself, carefully organizing the aspects of his personality he reveals to others. Thus Bond is excellent as burying information he does not wish to reveal, making him a very good security risk if questioned under almost any circumstance.

Bond seeks structure in his life. He is a man of pattern and habit. He has acquired strong tastes. Bond both thrives under structure yet finds subtle ways of rebelling against it. He is not self-destructive, but he can be a challenge to his superiors, who mostly despise his unorthodox skills of completing a job and his personality.

Bond uses humor as a shield and a weapon. He is skilled at making cutting remarks that reveal insecurities of others or mock death, danger and risk so he can intimidate people who are a threat to him.

Most importantly, Bond is deeply loyal to institutions. After his parents' death, Bond embraced his British and Scottish roots. His concept of his nationality is a large part of his identity. This is reflected in some of his social attitudes, which seem to embrace a British identity of the not to distant past. When pressed, Bond seems to identify with the notion of helping to "protect the realm", or "serving the monarch" and the ideals embodied in the mythic notion of St. Georges.

Bond is very idealistic, but is solitary. He does not console himself by surrounding himself with others nor he discusses his problems or personality with other people. His athletic pursuits tend to be solitary: running, skiing, hiking, swimming, diving, and most remarkably, climbing, which are his way of seeking solace and comfort after .

Even though Bond clearly doesn't see the world in black and white terms, he doesn't tend to see it in stark terms of chaos and order, tradition and change. Bond has chosen to identify with order and tradition. Because of his complete self-sufficiency and independence, Bond became an incredible tactician when it comes to pursuits and assassinations. He is also vengeful.

In a research survey where participants were asked to rate what adjectives best described James Bond, the top 10 were sexual, pro, charming, never crying, flirtatious, bold, resourceful, charismatic, adventurous and motivated.

Daniel Craig

He self-sufficiently murdered his targets when he was meant to bring them back to MI6 for questioning, and cockily shot up the Nanbutu Embassy in Madagascar in order to escape from the Madagascar Police, and almost got himself arrested in Miami after thwarting the plot to blow up the Skyfleet prototype. However, when he got to know Vesper, she began to make him a better person, and she was the first and only person with whom Bond has fallen in love, so much that he planned to quit his job at MI6 and spend the rest of his life with her. However, when he discovered her betrayal, he became angry, obsessive and vengeful. He became murderous and quite sly, not caring who he killed or hurt. He became impulsive, incapable of seeing the difference between friend and enemy, so consumed by self-loathing and fury that he only cared about defeating Quantum and avenging Vesper's betrayal. But when he finally managed to defeat Dominic Greene and discover Quantum, and found out that Vesper was an innocent, he was finally at peace.

His hot temper is shown in Skyfall where he blames M for ordering Eve Moneypenny to shoot him. Otherwise, he is very self controlled and calm, displaying extreme psychological mastery.

He is shown mocking Le Chiffre even while he was torturing him by smacking his testicles with a rope, embracing great pain while still directly mocking Le Chiffre, saying he knows how much he is scared and that he is resorted to desperate attempts to save himself.

His vengeance is shown as he manages to ambush Mr. White for Vesper Lynd's betrayal and death, and later goes independently up against Quantum, despite constant demands not to. Another example of this is his killing of Silva at the end of Skyfall, or his desire to terminate Patrice for the killing of his fellow colleague Ronson in Skyfall. His vengeance is also shown in the video game Bloodstone, where Bond leaves terrorist Rak, who tortured him previously, to die in their final confrontation. He also shoots Carlos the corrupt police chief in Quantum of Solace, avenging the death of his retired colleague René Mathis, caused by Carlos. He also leaves eco-terrorist Dominic Greene to die either of thirst in the desert without anything to drink, or of toxication by drinking motor oil, or to be killed by Mr. White for his betrayal, because the Greene was part of the organization that was responsible for Vespers death and because he let MI6 operative Strawberry Fields be drowned in oil. However Bond can also be forgiving, and put his desire to complete the mission and gather further evidence before his quest for vengeance and justice. This is shown at the end of Casino Royale, where he doesn't kill Mr. White, when he confronts him at his villa on lake Como, which would have been understandable, as White, at that time, was from Bond's point of view, the one responsible for the death of Vesper, but instead, he leaves him alive to question him. Another example of this is shown at the end of Quantum of Solace, where Bond lets Yusef Kabira, the boyfriend of Vesper Lynd, who staged his own kidnapping by Quantum to get Vesper to reveal her secrets, alive for MI6 to question. Also, Bond leaves Silva alive for questioning after their first encounter on Silva's island in Skyfall. In Blood Stone, he leaves the terrorist Greco alive after he gave him the information he was after. In Spectre, he leaves criminal mastermind and foster brother Franz Oberhauser alias Blofeld alive, who previously tortured him and tried to have him and Madeleine killed, despite constant demands of Blofeld to shoot him. His forgiving side can particularly be seen in Spectre, when he doesn't kill Mr. White when he finds him at his hideout, instead entrusting him with his loaded firearm so that he would be convinced to trust him with protecting his daughter. He thereby puts deep confidence in White's love for his daughter that Bond wants to protect. When White killed himself, Bond even gently closes Whites eyes, a gesture that he only did to M (Olivia Mansfield) at the end of Skyfall. He even defended White's love for his daughter in front of Madeleine Swann, who loathes her father.

Despite being a hardened killer and ladies man, Bond occasionally shows a soft spot for children, particularly after meeting Mathilde Swann and deducing that she is his daughter. His fatherly affection is further shown when he cuts an apple for her the following morning, then goes out of his way to save her and her mother from Lyutsifer Safin and his henchmen. Ultimately, Bond sacrifices himself in order to protect Madeleine and Mathilde after getting infected with a sample of Heracles containing their DNA.

Abilities

• Multilingualism: Bond is highly skilled with various languages partly due to his Swiss mother. From different occasions in various films and books, it would appear Bond speaks fluently without accent in Italian, French, Russian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, also he can read and write Greek.
• Peak Human Condition: Bond is at the peak of physical condition for a man his age who engages in an intense exercise regimen, he is tough and as accomplished as a commando. He is muscular and an impressive physical specimen. James engages in daily exercise, these including: swimming, diving, running and shooting. Bond could run for long times without tiring, while doing free running movements. He also has a large lung capacity, and since he could stay underwater for more than 1 minute. Due to his physical peaking Bond has great physical strength and endurance, fast reflexes and reaction time; he is able to be struck fiercely several times, dropped from great heights, was shot, stabbed and tortured. Although he rarely stopped fighting or sketched pain, Bond showed remarkable ability to run free and can move quickly while evading various obstacles, and glide over narrow passages. He could make big jumps between rooftops, walls, and even jump on moving vehicles. Moreover, Bond is adept at psychological warfare. He has superb emotional control and is capable of remaining calm in the most difficult situations, including interrogations and hostage situations.
• Master Martial Artist: Bond is exceptionally skillful martial artist . He is an expert in various types of martial arts including Judo, Aikido, Jiu-jitsu, Arnis Kali, Karate and Krav Maga. He can kill a grown man with a single blow of his hand, with sufficient placement of pressure on the fingers. While he prefers to eliminate his targets with silenced guns and remain undetected, Bond is sometimes forced to fight melee in such cases he fights with tenacity, with their attacks based on accurate and fast strokes, or counter-attacks. Generally it neutralizes the opponent, breaking limbs like arms and wrists. Bond also has a tendency to use objects in the environment to your advantage, such as heights, desks, scissors, stairs, doors and windows and even the weapons of their enemies. Alone he was able to knock out several MI6 agents, even handcuffed.
• Knife Mastery: He is a great expert in combat with knives and blades varied. With precise knowledge of the human body, Bond can kill an enemy quickly, hitting a vein or artery specifies, but also simply paralyze a muscle or limb. He also has preference for shaving knives. Bond showed great skill to knife throwing, with a precision unmatched. Bond also shows himself to be highly proficient with a knife in hand-to-hand combat.
• Master Marksman: Due to his extensive military training, Bond became a complete expert in handling all types of weapons. He also has exceptional precision, speed and reaction, which he can use to eliminate many men simultaneously without wasting a shot. He proved perfectly capable of handling machine guns, sub-machine guns and sniper rifles, as has however preferably 9mm pistols. Bond could handle handguns with unique ability, using both in the physical attacks and shots, he often quickly disarms his enemies, and use an enemy's weapon while using his body as a human shield. His accuracy was unmatched with weapons, he always fatal shooting in locations such as organs and head, even when their targets are moving and attacking. Bond's responsiveness is formidable, he could draw his weapon with incredible speed and hitting targets simultaneously. Bond also the ability to switch between weapons with great speed, how to adapt to different places, varying its position, lying down, taking cover even able to strike a killing blow on a target while blindfolded.
• Master Spy
• Master Assassin: Bond is an excellent assassin, trained to eliminate the target anyway, being possibly the best assassin around MI6. At first their preferred form of murder, is with pistols with silencer. However depending on the situation, he can eliminate the target with any object, such as scissors, knives, and axes. He can also eliminate them physically by strangulation, demonstrated when he proved capable of strangling a man of low water using legs. Bond showed remarkable skill at stealth and can move quickly and quietly through places full of enemies. He proved easily capable of killing a man in a busy place, without being noticed.
• Gifted Intellect
• Master Tactician: Bond proved to be an excellent strategist and tactician; able to create several complex plans to achieve his goals.
• Master Detective: James also proved very effective in investigation. He also possessed a unique analytical ability. Bond always makes analysis of the environment and people, being the minimum prepared for any kind of hostile reaction. Bond has used a system of mnemonics, where he can store Thousands of pieces of information of any kind to or filed away memory, available for immediate recall, in his memory of the computer. Most information was related to work, so best were not committed to writing in any case.
• Master Manipulator: James always uses inductive or psychological changes of tricks to people make other information you deem, or do you favours. For women, it easily seduce, usually leading to the bed.
• Expert Driver: James is remarkably proficient to drive cars, trucks, and motorbikes. He is more than skilled enough to do amazing tricks in steep and narrow places, even at high-speed and under pressure.
• Expert Pilot: James also proved to be able to fly planes with relative ease, as shown who was able to escape from two planes, standing with a cargo aircraft.
• Expert Sailor: Bond also proved to be able to run two boats using a simple fishing boat.
• Expert Parachutist and Sky-Diver: He has mastered the skills to skydive and parachuting off and onto ground safely even in the most dangerous of situations
• Expert Gambler and Card Player: Bond has been mentioned to be the best player in the Service. Because of his expert reading of people around him, he can easily notice bluffing, and is a skilled bluffer himself. Since he is unafraid of gambling a large amount of money, he can easily play high stakes poker games. He also won a vintage Aston Martin DB5 in a poker game.

Abilities demonstrated by Bond actors

Sean Connery

• Expert Marksman:
• Golfer - He plays a good round of golf against Goldfinger, even though Goldfinger is constantly cheating.
• Expert driver
• Swimmer and diver
• Card player
• Courage in the face of danger
• Multilingualism: In You Only Live Twice he lives in a Japanese village where few people would have spoken English. (In the book it is made clearer that he knows several Oriental languages.)

George Lazenby

• Skiing
• Hand-to-hand combat
• Resourcefulness: He uses a the metal edge of a ruler to escape his externally locked room in Piz Gloria, then manages to escape from a cable car machinery room by ripping out his pockets in order to use them as gloves and climb along the cable to freedom.
• Bobsledding
• Large-scale raids
• Courage in the face of danger
• Charisma with women

Roger Moore

• Expert Marksman - especially apparent when up against Scaramanga.
• Seducer'
• Demonstrates an ability to deal with dangerous wild animals.
• Skier and snowboarder
• Expert pilot - he is even able to fly a space shuttle in Moonraker, and fly a plane through the open doors of a hangar.
• Driver - For Your Eyes Only, the Spy who Loved Me, View to a Kill etc.
• Bomb defuser - dismantles or disarms bombs on several occasions.
• Courage in the face of danger

Timothy Dalton

• Expert Marksman: He is able to use a sniper effectively whilst on a mission with Saunders he aims and shoots Milovy's rifle out of hands, sparing her life when he suspects that wasn't an assassin.
• Skier
• Courage in the face of danger

Pierce Brosnan

• Peak Human Condition: Bond is at the peak of physical condition for a man his age who engages in an intense exercise regimen, he is tough and as accomplished as a commando. He is muscular and an impressive physical specimen. James engages in daily exercise, these including: swimming, diving, running and shooting. Bond could run for long times without tiring, while doing free running movements. He also had a large lung capacity, and since he could stay underwater for more than 1 minute. Bond has great reflexes and reaction time. Due to his physical topping, Bond has great physical strength and durability, such as when he was struck fiercely several times, dropped from great heights, was shot, stabbed and tortured, however he rarely stopped fighting, or sketched pain. Bond showed an remarkable ability to free-run and can move quickly while evading various obstacles, and glide over narrow passages. He could make big jumps between rooftops and walls, and even jump on moving vehicles. He also has exceptional self-control, It's shown he is calm when he's held hostage by 006 in Goldeneye and being interrogated by a Russian Defence Minister, Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies, and by Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough.
• Gifted Intellect: Bond is very intelligent, cunning and calculating man.
• Master Tactician: To be added
• Master Manipulator: James always uses inductive or psychological changes of tricks to people make other information you deem, or do you favours. For women, it easily seduce, usually leading to the bed.
• Expert Combatant: James is a extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant able to defeat everyone he faced in hand-to-hand combat. He can engage armed and unarmed people or otherwise and come out as the victor
• Expert Fencer: in Die Another Day, he is shown fencing against Gustav Graves
• Expert Marksman: He is an expert with most firearms and rarely misses his target
• Expert Gambler and Card Player: This skill is demonstrated when he plays a game of baccarat against Xenia Onatopp; lost the first time but won the second round of the game in Goldeneye.
• Master Pilot: Shown in Goldeneye when he rides off a bike into a cliff of the USSR base and straight on to the plane without sustaining any injuries and able to stabilize it by pushing forward the throttle. It is also shown in Tomorrow Never Dies when piloting one of the planes of a terrorist base he was still was able to functionally control the plane's movements whilst being strangled by a second passenger behind him, then he slowly ejected him out of the plane and destroyed another plane that was going after him. It is also shown in Die Another Day when he can maneuver out the helicopter from Graves' plane that was being demolished by Icarus, a satellite weapon and still be able to stabilize it.
• Expert Driver: Able to drive a bike off a cliff in Goldeneye without sustaining injuries, being able to ride a motorcycle properly while handcuffed with Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies.
• Expert Sky Diver: It is demonstrated when Bond executes a HALO jump in Tomorrow Never Dies into several feet of water and Goldeneye when he jumps several feet from a dam in Russia using suspenders and rope.
• Multilingualism: Demonstrated the use of German and Danish in Tomorrow Never Dies and French in Goldeneye and perfected a Russian accent in The World Is Not Enough.
• Courage in the face of danger

Daniel Craig

• Peak Human Condition: Bond is at the peak of physical condition for a man his age who engages in an intense exercise regimen, he is tough and as accomplished as a commando. He is muscular and an impressive physical specimen. James engages in daily exercise, these including: swimming, diving, running and shooting. Bond could run for long times without tiring, while doing free running movements. He also had a large lung capacity, and since he could stay underwater for more than 1 minute. Bond has great reflexes and reaction time. Due to his physical topping, Bond has great physical strength (able to kill a man with one punch) and durability (dropped from great heights, was shot, stabbed and tortured, however rarely stopped fighting, or sketched pain). Bond showed remarkable ability to run free, do parkour and can move quickly while evading various obstacles, and glide over narrow passages. He could make big jumps between rooftops and walls, and even jump on moving vehicles. He has extremely fast reflexes, being able to get an unloaded gun in the air, he throws it into Mollaka, while he was on a crane lifted several feet tall. Bond also has high tolerance to pain, when tortured by Le Chiffre, he was attacked several times in the testes, however despite the tremendous pain, he still made ​​fun of Le Chiffre.
• Master Martial Artist: As a MI6 00 agent, Bond is a incredibly skilled martial artist able to contend with stronger and tougher opponents such as Mr Hinx, as well as other expert fighters (such as Mollaka) and assassins. James can effortlessly engage multiple opponents armed, unarmed otherwise and come out as the victor. For example, in Quantum of Solace, he was able to defeat several MI6 agents while handcuffed in an elevator, as well as brawl against Dominic Greene
• Knife Mastery: It is shown several times in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. In the latter film, he uses a pair of scissors to kill an assassin while in a house. In Casino Royale, he was able to kill a man wielding a knife. He carries a straight razor during the events of Skyfall. He also uses a stiletto whilst on Silva's island, which he uses to kill Silva's bodyguard at a distance and uses a meat knife to kill Silva himself by throwing it at a long range.
• Master Marksman: Bond is a very skilled and accurate marksman skilled in sharpshooting and knife throwing. He is also an expert in the use of pistols, sub machine guns, shotguns, assault and sniper rifles. Bond can accurately shoot opponents no matter how far they are without wasting a shot and makes it a lethal kill. In fact, he rarely ever misses a shot. In Spectre, he was able to take down groups of henchmen and make 100m headshots at the SPECTRE headquarters right after having his skull drilled into by Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
• Expert Acrobat: He managed to stay with Mollaka, even though the latter is a specialist of Parkour.
• Master Spy: He manages to ambush Dryden's apartment at the start of Casino Royale, and also manages to disarm his gun and eventually confront Dryden in person, murdering him. He is also able to sneak into M's house as well as kill with silenced firearms (Skyfall).
• Master Assassin: He can also use explosive objects, high places and even, in Quantum of Solace, a piece of broken glass to kill. He is also able to make and use improvised weapons, such as scissors (Quantum of Solace), flaming candles and kitchenware (Spectre), and a briefcase (Skyfall)
• Expert Detective: He was able to deduce the origin and character of Vesper, only their clothes and vocabulary, he was also able to deduce that Sévérine was a prostitute only for a small tattoo on her arm.
• Master Manipulator: James always uses inductive or psychological changes of tricks to people make other information you deem, or do you favors, such as with Le Chiffre. He is able to easily seduce women, usually leading to the bed.
• Expert Gambler and Card Player: He is described as MI6's best poker player.
• Expert Driver: With a bike he was able to climb stairs, jump through windows and even fly over the Grand Bazaar.
• Expert Sky Diver: Bond skydived and parachuted along with her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II into the London 2012 Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony on 27th July 2012. Having served in the Royal Navy and the SBS, Bond is obviously an expert skydiver. It is also shown in Quantum of Solace, as well as No Time to Die
• Multilingualism: Bond speaks his native English, as well as fluent Spanish and Italian. He spoke Spanish in Quantum of Solace and spoke Italian in Spectre.
• Courage in the face of danger

Equipment

Weapons

• Walther PPK: James' primary sidearm given by MI6. It is wielded by every incarnation of James Bond. In Skyfall, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is given a custom made PPK by Q that has a fingerprint scanner
• Walther PP9: Bond wielded this sidearm instead of the PPK in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace
• Various Gadgets: Each incarnation of James Bond has wielded numerous gadgets, including custom watches with laser cutters and self detonation, rocket firing cigarettes, dart shooting pens, jetpacks, parachutes, minature helicopters, stun guns, explosive keychains, exploaive cigarettes, etc.