Alex Rider (character)

Alexander John Rider
Biographical Information
Name	Alexander John Rider
Alias	Cub
Title	--
Date of birth	February 13, 1996 (Book) 1987(Movie)
Age	15
Physical Information
Status	Active
Nationality	British
Gender	Male
Hair	Light Brown (fair) in the books/ Blonde in the movie and graphic novels
Eyes	Brown
Skin	Caucasian
Relationship Information
Family	John Rider (father); Helen Rider (mother); Ian Rider
Affiliations	Jack Starbright (friend); MI6 (employer)
Series Information
First Appearance	Stormbreaker; Stormbreaker film
Last Appearance	Scorpia Rising

Alexander "Alex" Rider is the main character of the popular Alex Rider series of novels by British author Anthony Horowitz. He is also the main character of several short stories by Horowitz that are considered canon in the series.

1/5

Alex is a young agent for MI6, the British international intelligence service. At no more than fourteen years of age, Alex was forced into this occupation after MI6 noticed Alex's many talents. He has also worked for the CIA, SCORPIA and,  Snakehead, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (the ASIS).

He was played in the film Stormbreaker, based on the novel of the same name, by Alex Pettyfer.

Background and Personal Life

(See ‘Timeline’)

Alexander John Rider was born on February 13th, 1996, in East London, England, to John Rider, an MI6 agent and Helen Beckett, at the time working as a nurse in radiology.

Alex was three months old when his mother and father were killed in an airplane "accident." Later, it is revealed that Alex’s godfather, Anthony Sean Howell (Ash, acronym of his three first initials), placed a bomb on their plane and denonated it under orders from SCORPIA. Fortunately Alex was not on the plane, having been left behind with a nanny due to an ear infection. He would have been flown out to them when he had recovered.

From then, Alex’s paternal uncle Ian Rider raised Alex in his house in Chelsea, London. Ian and Alex had a close friendship, doing practically everything together when Ian was home. They often went travelling, Ian taking Alex around the world to educate him about other cultures. Among other places, Alex visited and stayed in the Marais district of Paris, France, and once even lived abroad for the best part of a year in Barcelona, Spain. Ian Rider also taught him many things, which were later revealed in Stormbreaker to be part of his spy training.

Because Ian was away from home quite often, he allowed Jack Starbright, a young American girl to move in with them for free when Alex was seven years old in exchange for babysitting and keeping the house in order. Alex and Jack became great friends over time, and when Ian died Jack became the guardian of a fourteen year old Alex.

Alex currently attends Brookland Comprehensive School and is now in Year 10. Alex’s best friend there, Tom Harris, knows about Alex’s involvement with MI6 but unlike Alex’s other friend Sabina, is very supportive of him and covers for him whenever he needs it. Raised in a somewhat different environment than most other boys his age, Alex tends not to relate much to his peers and does not have many close friends in the school. However, as he is not the type to seek popularity, Alex doesn’t mind this much.

Before Alex was forced to join MI6, he wanted to be a professional footballer, but is now unsure of what he wants to do when he finishes school, once jokingly stating he wanted to be a train driver. He still does not express any interest in following in his father’s and uncle’s footsteps in becoming a full-time MI6 agent.

School life

Though he normally attends Brookland School in London, Alex’s education has been interrupted several times due to his involvement with MI6. Jack Starbright has been seen worrying about his academic life in the novels, and even hires a tutor to help Alex catch up on the work he had missed while on errands for MI6.

From Alex’s hobbies, his favourite subjects in school are likely to be Physical Education and Language, and it is mentioned that he finds Physics boring. Alex once showed remarkable skill in a Mathematics class by solving a problem on the blackboard after just glancing at it, despite having been distracted most of the lesson.

It is mentioned that the school secretary, Jane Bedfordshire, has always had a soft spot for Alex.

Relationships

Jack Starbright

Since arriving in Alex’s life when he was seven years old, Jack has been an important person in his life, becoming one of his closest friends over time. After Ian died, she became Alex’s guardian, and though only hired to care for Alex, they have grown attached and their relationship has deepened. However, Alex’s MI6 life places a strain on their relationship, as Jack is always worried and upset that Alex’s life is constantly being put in danger. When she was killed in the last book, it seriously pushed Alex over the edge. He was empty, and more cold afterwards.

Sabina Pleasure

Alex met Sabina at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in Britain, the two quickly becoming friends. Sabina takes Alex back to her house. After she grows suspicious and Alex tells her the truth about his disappearances, she refuses to believe him and grows angry at him when he insists it’s the truth. After they are kidnapped by Damian Cray, however, she apologises to him before soon leaving with her family to live in America. She shows some romantic feelings for Alex, kissing him a couple of times and telling him more than once that she thinks he is attractive.

Mrs Jones

Alex first met Mrs. Jones when she briefed him for his first mission. Mrs. Jones is very sympathetic to Alex, and offers reassurance when Alex is uneasy about what is required to do for his missions. Mrs. Jones shows great concern for Alex's situation - often protesting that he is not be used again, but all the while admitting that he is useful to MI6. She shows signs of great attachment to Alex, of an almost motherly kind. Mrs. Jones also has hinted that she has had children (at least two) and that they were taken from her, which could contribute to why she has so much sympathy for Alex. It is revealed in Scorpia that her first name is Tulip, as her parents were keen gardeners.

Yassen Gregorovich

Alex first met the Russian contract killer who killed his uncle on Herod Sayle's ground during his mission in Stormbreaker. At the time, Alex originally vows to kill him. Later, during the events of Eagle Strike, it is revealed that Gregorovich worked with Alex's father John 15 years prior. When Gregorovich's friend captures Alex, Gregorovich is able to arrange for Alex to do bullfighting instead of being shot directly, leading to Alex being able to escape. At the end of the novel, when Damian Cray (the man who hired Gregorovich) orders him to kill Alex, he refuses, because he loved Alex's dad after he saves him from a black widow, and is shot and killed. Before dying, Gregorovich tells Alex that he worked with his father, and if Alex does not belive him to go and find Scorpia, terrorist group that killed Alex's parents.

Involvement with MI6

After being blackmailed into working for MI6 after his uncle’s death, Alex has been on several official and unofficial missions, all notably in the same year:

Stormbreaker

(Main Article)

After brief training with K-Unit at the SAS training camp Brecon Beacons, Alex is sent to Cornwall in the south of England to investigate Middle Eastern billionaire Herod Sayle. Posing as competition winner Felix Lester, Alex gathers as much information as he can before his cover is blown. He learns of Sayle’s plan to kill the children of Britain with a modified smallpox virus hidden inside the Stormbreaker computers he is creating and distributing. After escaping from captivity and narrowly avoiding death at the tentacles of a Portuguese Man-O-War jellyfish, Alex manages to stop the virus from being released. Herod Sayle is later killed by Yassen Gregorovich after he kidnapped Alex.

Point Blanc

(Main Article)

Alex is sent to investigate Dr. Hugo Grief, the head teacher of the Point Blanc Academy, a school in the French Alps. Undercover as Alex Friend, the rebellious son of Sir David Friend, Alex investigates the second and third floors, which the students are not allowed access to. When Grief finds out about Alex’s investigation, he reveals his plan to replace the students at Point Blanc with clones of himself, surgically altered to look like them, in order to control the world’s major businessmen. Alex manages to escape after Grief informs him he is to be dissected alive for a biology class, though is hospitalised after fleeing, Grief’s assistant Eva Stellenbosch later being told that he had died. However, this is not true, and Alex goes back with the SAS to storm the academy. Alex is later attacked by the last clone Grief made (one which looked like him) and one of the two is killed in a fight at Alex’s school, though it is left ambiguous as to which Alex survived. It is later revealed that both might have survived because they meet again in Scorpia Rising.

Skeleton Key

(Main Article)

Alex is sent to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships undercover as a ballboy to investigate a potential attempt to sabotage the games. When the ‘Big Circle’ (the gang) finds out that Alex is investigating them, they try to kill him. To protect him temporarily from the Big Circle, he is sent on a mission to Skeleton Key, an island near Cuba, to look into the affairs of General Alexei Sarov. He goes with the name of Alex Gardiner, an American boy visiting the area on holiday. Two CIA agents accompany him, though they are soon killed and Alex becomes Sarov’s prisoner. Sarov plans to set off a nuclear bomb, the fallout of which would force the President of Russia out of power and lead to Russia reclaiming lost glory. Sarov plans to adopt Alex, as he reminds him of his dead son; but when Alex ruins his plan and declares that he rather be dead than have Sarov as a father, the man shoots himself. Alex is soon taken back to England.

Eagle Strike

(Main Article)

After the house he is staying in whilst on holiday with Sabina and her family is blown up, Alex follows the man responsible, Yassen Gregorovich, and learns from the man’s phone that the man is in contact with famous signer Damian Cray. Suspecting that Cray may have been involved, he becomes determined to find the truth, stealing a ticket to a conference Cray is attending to introduce his new game console, the Gameslayer. Alex is asked to step up and play it, though Cray makes him lose by pulling his arm away.

Alex continues to investigate when Cray finds out what Alex is doing and forces him to take part in a real life replica of Cray’s video game. Before he escapes, he does some searching and steals the flash-drive he had seen Cray with before he was caught, knowing it was important. A furious Cray then kidnaps Sabina on Yassen’s advice to force Alex to return the flash-drive to him. Cray reveals his plan to launch 25 nuclear missiles and destroy all the drug sources in the world, claiming drugs to be “the greatest evil”. Alex and Sabina are then taken hostage by Cray and forced onto Air Force One, the Presidential Plane, where Cray can authorise the missiles release on. Yassen is shot dead when he refuses to kill Alex, though he is avenged moments later after Alex pushes Cray into the plane’s engine, killing him. Yassen tells Alex to find Scorpia before he dies, while Sabina disables Cray’s missile launch. Alex does not go undercover in this mission.

Scorpia

(Main Article)

Alex, taking Yassen’s advice, takes the opportunity to go to Venice and find Scorpia, breaking into Widow’s Palace. Then by BASE jumping he infiltrate a drug factory and meets Nile and tells him his told his dad worked for them, he joins them and receives training to become an assassin. However, Alex fails his first mission (to kill Mrs Jones) and learns that Scorpia had lied, and were using him until the time came to kill him. They find out about Scorpia’s latest operation, Invisible Sword, which used nanotechnology to develop poison capsules that would kill all the children in Britain who had been injected with them, including Alex, when a radio signal reached a certain frequency. Alex manages to stop the investigation, and goes back to London to learn the truth about his father. As he leaves the building however, he is shot in the chest by a Scorpia assassin.

Ark Angel

(Main Article)

Whilst Alex is in hospital recovering from the assassination attempt, he is forced into action when four armed men break into the hospital with the intention of kidnapping the boy in the room next door to him. Thinking he is Paul Drevin, they chase him through the hospital, though Alex injures them all. He is ultimately knocked unconscious and kidnapped, taken to an abandoned apartment block. He convinces the kidnappers, who call themselves Force Three, out of cutting off his finger by proving they have the wrong boy. After they lock him in a room and set the building on fire, Alex manages to escape by tight-rope walking on a banner, and is sent back to the hospital. Later, Alex is forced to go on holiday by Nikolei Drevin, Paul’s father, as a thank you for what he did. The CIA detain Alex briefly at the airport and ask them to keep an eye on Drevin, warning him that he is not what he seems.

Alex investigates while he is there and is soon captured, learning of Drevin’s involvement with Ark Angel, a revolutionary hotel in space. Millions of pounds in debt, Drevin hatches a plan to destroy Ark Angel by means of a bomb to get some of his money back, timing it so that the remains would fall on Washington and destroy all the evidence the CIA have against him at the same time. After escaping, the CIA send Alex up into space to deactivate the bomb on Ark Angel, while Drevin is killed in a plane crash when trying to leave the island. Alex moves the bomb to a different area inside Ark Angel so that it would just explode rather than hurtling back to Earth. While up there, he is attacked by Kaspar, the leader of Force Three, who was up there to check on the bomb. Kaspar is killed when he falls back on a knife, and Alex makes it to the escape pod minutes before Ark Angel blows up. He crashes down to Earth and lands thousands of miles off the Austrailian Coast.

Snakehead

(Main Article)

After landing in Australia, Alex is soon rescued and debriefed before being sent on another mission. Although he initially refuses, he learns of his godfather Ash’s existence and decides to take part in order to possibly learn more about his past and family. Posing as Abdul Hassan, a refugee being smuggled to Australia by the Snakehead, Alex travels to Indonesia with Ash, who poses as his father, though they get separated on the way. Alex is caught by Major Winston Yu, a man involved with the Snakehead but also with Scorpia, and tells him how he plans to kills eight significant people by detonating a bomb in the sea, causing a tsunami, to make it look like an accident which would also kill thousands of innocent people. Because of what Alex did to Scorpia, he informs Alex that he will be used as a transplant donor for money, and Alex is sent to the hospital straight afterwards. After three days Alex escapes by means of a makeshift kayak, motivated by the knowledge that his eyes would be transplanted the next day. He is soon rescued by MI6 and sent back to the oil rig where the bomb would be detonated. Upon arriving, Alex and Ben Daniels confront Major Yu and his assistant, who is revealed to be Ash, a double agent for Scorpia who was the one who killed Alex’s parents. After Ash is killed by Ben, Major Yu escapes, but when Alex sets the bomb off early it harmlessly goes off, though kills Major Yu in the resulting shockwave due to his fragile bone structure (osteoporosis).

Crocodile Tears

(Main Article)

Alex is sent to investigate the main antagonist, Desmond McCain.

Crocodile Tears is the eighth novel in the Alex Rider series by British author Anthony Horowitz. It was released in the UK on 12 November 2009, published by Walker Books, and in the U.S. on 17 November 2009. On 17 December 2008, the title was revealed (in code) to be Crocodile Tears.[2] 

Scorpia Rising

(Main Article)

[[Scorpia Rising, the ninth novel in the Alex Rider series, was released in March 2011. In the book, Scorpia is hired to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Their plan includes the laying of a false trail to Cairo, Egypt, killing Alex Rider, and blackmailing London into returning the Marbles. MI6 falls for the trap and Alex is sent to Cairo, where, unbeknownst to Alex, Scorpia is pulling the strings.]] It is revealed later that Abdul-Aziz al-Razim and Alex's old enemy, Julius Grief, are operating for the humiliation of Great Britain with the Horseman File, a collection of evidence that MI6 are using children for spies. Alex and Jack Starbright are captured by Julius Grief and his superior, Erik Gunter, and taken to Razim's mansion in the desert. Alex is experimented on, involving the death of Jack Starbright. Scorpia proceed with the operation and Julius Grief prepares to shoot the American dictator. Rider escapes, kills Gunter and pursues Grief through Cairo just as a storm begins. An intense gunfight breaks out between the two combatants which ends in Grief being defeated and murdered in cold blood. The CIA invade Razim's mansion and kill him, after which Alex is seen kneeling next to Jack Starbright's corpse.

Talents

Alex is fluent in several languages - as well as his native English, he speaks fluent French and Spanish, and some German. He also speaks basic Italian and Japanese.

Alex is highly skilled in many activities, including extreme sports - martial arts (Alex is a black belt in karate), scuba diving, absailing, mountain climbing, surfing, cycling, rifle shooting, kayaking, climbing and snowboarding. He also plays football and is captain of his school's football team. Alex is also skilled in snooker, and represents the junior team at his local snooker club.

Alex is an accomplished, skilful and proficient martial artist. Through a combination of his variety of skills and using whatever is around him as a weapon gives Alex an advantage against dangerous opponents, notably him being able to defeat Nile and Conrad through using his surroundings and their own weaknesses to defeat them, even when they've gained the upper hand and are close to killing him. He has exceptionally fast reflexes and relies mainly on the element of surprise and psychological.

While on a trip to Prague in the Czech Republic, Alex learned the "art" of pickpocketing from his uncle, who showed him the techniques of the Artful Dodger, from Oliver Twist. He puts this skill to use when he needs a V.I.P pass to enter a conference during his investigation of Damian Cray, though he feels remorse about doing so. Alex's athletic talents also greatly assist him during his missions many times: for example, in Stormbreaker, he rides a four-wheeler to elude guards; in Point Blanc he snowboards down a mountain on an ironing board to escape the Point Blanc Academy; in Skeleton Key he scuba dives in order to find his partners; in Scorpia he BASE jumps into a factory, in Ark Angel he walks between two skyscrapers on a tightrope and in Snakehead, he successfully kayaks down a dangerous river on a makeshift kayak.

As the series progresses, Alex becomes exceptionally more skilled at spying, to the point that he sometimes investigates and pursues some enemies by himself while not on an MI6 mission. The first of these was in Eagle Strike.

Alex has repeatedly shown himself to be highly strategic, able to calmly assess a situation and work out the best way to adapt to it. He's frequently thwarted the plans of the many antagonists he's encountered in his missions, prevailing through his own talent, his gadgets, luck and sometimes his enemies' overconfidence. It's because of his talents that many intelligence agencies seek to use him as a spy due to him always being able to complete a mission, regardless of how much the odds are against him.

Physical Appearance

Alex is described as being a strikingly good looking 15 year old boy, with fair hair (as said in Stormbreaker) or light brown hair (as said in Crocodile Tears and Scorpia Rising) and a handsome slender face that would “attract plenty of girls.” He also has serious brown eyes and a slightly hard, narrow mouth.

Well built and slim with a slight tan, Alex is described as having “the body of an athlete”. He is 5’7” tall and he weighs 120 pounds (around 8.6 stone). By the time of Scorpia Rising, however, it states that he's grown to be 5'10", and while still slim, it also mentions that he's filled out considerably. It is mentioned that he has a birthmark on his left shoulder, and he mostly wears casual clothing such as baggy jeans and hoodies. He often wears a wooden bead necklace, and in Snakehead, it is revealed that Alex wears boxer shorts.

In the summer he tends to wear reefer sandals.^{[citation needed]}

As time passes through the novels, although Alex stays fourteen, he is described as looking older than he actually is – although he is also going through puberty, this is mainly due to the difficulties and pain he endures because of his involvement with MI6: It is said in Eagle Strike by Jack that every time Alex arrives back from a mission he appears "more scuffed up".

Personality

Alex has become quite headstrong, courageous independent in his character as a result of having no parents. Quick-witted and good at assessing the dangers ahead of him, particularly on missions, he has a very strong level of intuition. Though he is prone to extreme emotion at times (such as fear and panic) he never lets it get the better of him. Shown to be a mature teenager, Alex is good at analysing situations, before then often going on to handle them better than most adults would be able to.

He has a good-hearted personality and maintains this even after being exposed to death and danger on a regular basis because of his involvement with MI6. He is shown to have a good sense of humour, often aiming bits of snarkery and dry mockery at his enemies despite the danger that he is in. He purposefully does this because he knows that people make more mistakes when they're angry. He is also pessimistic and can be rather rigid towards people, especially to Tom Turner and Belinda Troy in Skeleton Key, since they keep ignoring and antagonising him, despite the fact that he saved their lives.

He is extremely self-sacrificing, brave and selfless a person, always willing to give himself up for his friends or family. He is also sarcastic and frequently angers those around him with a cutting remark. He cares very much for people such as Jack Starbright or Sabina Pleasure. He is rather deductive and extensively intelligent, displaying a natural talent for espionage techniques. He is an excellent tactician and an adept spy, using several of his teenage characteristics to his advantage.

After each and every mission, Alex is severely traumatized. By the end of Scorpia Rising, he's profoundly emotionally damaged. Losing his housekeeper, the only adult who really cared about him, was a major blow, but shooting Julius was also a contributing factor. Not only did he kill another human being, he killed a person who looked just like him. Essentially, he killed himself. Because of this, he is mostly quiet and brooding after it's all over. The head of CIA, Joe Bryne compared it to "As if he had aged ten years."However, Edward Pleasure is hopeful and determined to help Alex recover and heal.

Contradictions

• Alex's official year of birth is stated as being 1987, with Alex stating in Point Blanc that he was two years old in 1989. However, in Snakehead Alex remembers the Boxing Day Tsunami (2004). Then in in the US version of Crocodile Tears, it mentions Obama as being the President of the United States. Considering these events, his birth year would more reliably be February 13, 1996.
• Alex Rider is originally stated as being "tall for his age" in Stormbreaker. Snakehead, however, claims him to be 5'7" and short for his age.

Trivia

• Alex is onychophagiac (bites his nails). This is a common habit associated with anxiety due to nervousness and stress, revealed in Point Blanc.
• Alex does not like horse riding. This is a notable irony about Alex, as his name is Rider - and riding is the only sport he hates.
• Alex's favourite soft drink is Coke - whenever offered a drink, Coke is what he usually chooses, as shown in various times throughout the series. When Alex is in Italy, his favorite dessert is granita, as mentioned in Scorpia. When in France, Alex enjoys sirop de grenadine, a type of bright red fruit juice with ice. This is first mentioned while Alex is in France with Jack Starbright in Eagle Strike.
• To date, Alex has been hospitalized six times: in Point Blanc after a snowboarding accident; in Skeleton Key after Sabina gave him CPR when he nearly drowned; again in Skeleton Key after he was injured in Murmansk; in Scorpia after he was shot by a sniper; in Snakehead, Alex was hospitalised to be used as a transplant donor against his will, and in Crocodile Tears, he was hospitalized after having fractured his ankle and receiving burns from an exploding fuel drum.
• Alex's blood type is A positive, as mentioned in Snakehead.
• Alex always wears mud shoes, although they don't seem muddy on the outside.
• Alex once shot a worker at Sayle Enterprises. It is unknown exactly who he murdered, because they don't mention this in the novel Stormbreaker or show this happening in the movie.

Also, out of the first 6 books, MI6 only used him twice, in Stormbreaker and Point Blanc.

Skeleton Key - It was the CIA Eagle Strike - They didn't want to know Scorpia - He wasn't with them Ark Angel - CIA again

Stormbreaker: The Film

In the 2006 Stormbreaker film directed by Geoffrey Sax, Alex Rider is played by Alex Pettyfer, a rising British actor. Pettyfer was chosen from 500 hopefuls for the role of Alex.

Anthony Horowitz, who was the scriptwriter for the film as well as the author of the novels, recommended Pettyfer to play Alex Rider after seeing him in Tom Brown's Schooldays. Horowitz gave Pettyfer intense guidance on becoming the character of Alex Rider, expressing him and bringing his athletic talents, intellect and charm to the screen.

The role of Alex Rider was said to be the most physically demanding ever taken by a child actor. Pettyfer undertook martial arts training with Hong Kong martial arts choreographer Donnie Yen, as well as horseback riding. Pettyfer did most of his own stunts in the film, and underwent major physical preparation for the role.

Pettyfer was fifteen years old at the time of the film's shooting, just one year older than his character.

Useful Links

• Alex Rider Profile - Alex Rider official website