Ian Rider

Ian Rider
Biographical Information
Name	Ian Rider
Physical Information
Status	Deceased
Nationality	Britain
Gender	Male
Relationship Information
Family	Alex Rider(nephew), John Rider(brother, deceased)
Affiliations	MI6
Occupation	MI6 Operative
Series Information
First Appearance	Stormbreaker
Last Appearance	Stormbreaker
Mentioned	Stormbreaker, Point Blanc, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel, Snakehead, Crocodile Tears, Scorpia Rising

“	... A good man, a patriotic man. He will be missed	”
—Ian Rider's eulogy

Ian Rider was an agent who worked for the Special Operations division of MI6. He was the brother of John Rider and uncle to Alex Rider, becoming the guardian of the latter when he was orphaned at the age of three months.

Life and career

Ian was probably born around 1960. Prior to working for Special Operations, it is said that Ian attended Cambridge University, though the subject(s) he studied are unknown. He was recruited by MI6 in 1988, a year after he became the guardian of his nephew Alex Rider due to the death of his parents. Whilst working for MI6, he claimed he was an overseas finance manager for the Royal & General Bank as a cover. He successfully completed assignments in Iran, Washington, Hong Kong and Cairo, among others, during 1988 and 2001.

Ian is described as being in perfect physical shape, and was thin with fair hair and dark brown eyes. He didn’t smoke, didn’t have any friends, didn’t eat anything fried, and dressed expensively. He was an extremely private man, who was quiet and liked good wine, classical music, and books. It is said that he was proficient in Thai-boxing and karate, and that he spoke three languages fluently (presumably French, Spanish and German, the three that Alex is fluent in). Because of his job, he traveled a lot, and sometimes took Alex with him on his trips.

Biography

Alex Rider: Christmas at Gunpoint

Four months before the beginning of Stormbreaker, Alex and Ian are spending Christmas at a skiing resort in Gunpoint, Colorado. They book into a hotel, and Ian later challenges Alex to find out the names of two bodyguards accompanying a government employee before the end of the week. After a trip out, Alex returns to see Ian seemingly disturbed at the arrival of a man, Mr Da Silva. After dinner Ian goes outside for some fresh air and Alex soon finds him struggling with Da Silva for the control of a gun. After a brief scuffle, snow falls on top of Da Silva, burying him. In their room, Ian tells Alex not to worry about it, though in the morning finds out that Da Silva had disappeared. After Alex sees the daughter of the government employee being kidnapped, he tries to find Ian, and fails. Later on, Ian saves him from Da Silva, though they don’t talk about what happened afterwards.

Stormbreaker

After being sent on a mission to Cornwall to investigate middle-eastern billionaire Herod Sayle, Ian is shot and killed by Yassen Gregorovich, who was working for Sayle. Stormbreaker begins with Alex being woken up at three in the morning to be informed of his death. He later finds Ian’s bullet-ridden car in a breakers yard, and when he is sent to finish Ian’s mission traces his footsteps and finds clues left by Ian along the way. Stormbreaker ends with Alex telling Yassen Gregorovich that he’ll kill him one day to avenge his uncle.

Appearances

• In Graphic Novel version of Stormbreaker.
• In Film Version of Stormbreaker.

Trivia

• In the film version and graphic novel version of Stormbreaker, Ian actually makes an appearance, seen traveling back to London when he is pursued and killed just minutes after getting off the phone with Alex.
• He hated the name "uncle'.