“ | Ben Daniels: My real name's Ben Daniels. You are Alex Rider. Of course, I know that now Alex Rider: You've left the SAS? Ben Daniels: I got seconded to MI6 Special Operations |
” |
—Ben Daniels to Alex Rider |
Ben Daniels is a young MI6 operative, previously training with the SAS under the codename "Fox." He first appeared in Stormbreaker though had a more important role in the seventh Alex Rider novel, Snakehead. He also plays a role in the Alex Rider TV series, helping Alex Rider during the raid on Point Blanc Academy.
Role in Series
Stormbreaker
In Stormbreaker Ben had only a minor role, appearing as part of the group Alex Rider trained with when he went to the SAS training camp, known as K-Unit This group consisted of four men; Wolf, Eagle, Snake, and himself (Fox), though Alex became their fifth member for the eleven days he spent there. It is said in the extra Stormbreaker chapter RTI (Resistance to Interrogation) that Ben is the youngest of the four man group.
In Stormbreaker, whilst Wolf takes an active part in bullying Alex, Ben and the other two mostly ignore him, their only true interaction with him being in RTI, in which Ben explains what is happening before helping lift the lid off a drain for Alex to crawl through to get out of the place where they are being held.
Season One
In the TV series, covering the events of the Point Blanc novel, Fox has a minor role supporting Eagle, Snake, and Wolf during several of their operations. He assisted Wolf in torturing Alex, to confirm his loyalty to MI6, but agreed with Snake and Eagle that they must stop unethically torturing a minor. He later joined everyone, including Alex, for a raid on the Point Blanc Academy. Working with Snake, he captured several of Dr. Greif's clones. When Alex was captured by Eva Stellenbosch, he worked in vain with Snake to break down the door to gain access to Alex, until an explosion from the other side blasted the door off its hinges. After recovering from the blast, he and Snake evacuated Alex, and also worked to bring the clones into custody.
Snakehead
In Snakehead Ben first follows Alex whilst he prepares and goes on a mission to infiltrate the Snakehead with his godfather, Ash. Alex then realises he's being followed and trails Ben to a temple, but the tables turn when Ben traps Alex at gunpoint. He then leads the boy to meet Mrs Jones and Smithers, the latter of whom provides Alex with some gadgets.
Later, he saves Alex's life by killing Anan Sukit who was attempting to shoot Alex after he had beaten Sukit's fighter "Sunthorn" in an arena fight. Alex meets Ben again later, where he takes him to an MI6 outpost in Bangkok. It is revealed here that his real name is Ben Daniels and he was seconded to MI6 from the SAS. After Alex escapes from Bill Tanner's hospital in the Australian jungle, Ben arrives in a helicopter and rescues him. He leads the joint MI6/ASIS raid on Major Yu's oil rig, Dragon 9, where he shoots Ash, who is then revealed to be working for Scorpia. Ben is then shot by Major Yu, but survives. He states that after Stormbreaker, he was promoted to Special Operations.
Never Say Die
Ben saves Alex Rider from drowning below Needle Point. They go together to try to decipher what Steel Claw was and what the Grimaldi Brothers were plotting. At one point he was almost fired by Tulip Jones, (who was now head of M16 after Blunt was fired,) for putting Alex Rider solo into the Grimaldi's headquarters.
Physical Appearance
Ben is described as being around the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, with black hair cut short and with dark, thoughtful, blue eyes. He has very square features with high cheekbones and thin lips, and speaks with a Liverpudlian accent.
Trivia
- There is a contradiction in the extra Stormbreaker chapter Resistance to Interrogation regarding the colour of Ben's hair; In each of the novels, Ben is said to have black hair cut short, though the extra chapter describes how "his fair hair was damp and untidy".
- A growing theme in fanfiction sees Ben becoming a brother/father figure to Alex, as a result of their interactions in the novels and Ben becoming one of the more popular characters amongst fans despite only having a notable role in one book so far.
- Along with Alex, he is the only K-Unit member whose actual name is mentioned.
- It is rather strange that he does not toss a flashbang grenade into Dragon Nine's control room and simply goes in shooting.
- In Never Say Die, Ben Daniels introduces himself as Wolf instead of Fox
- According to Wikipedia "In post-2010 editions of the novels, Wolf is retconned to be the same character as Ben Daniels, who in earlier editions is the identity of "Fox"."
Sources
- Photo: none
- General information: various sources, including but not limited to:
- Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
- Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
- Wikipedia