Elena Derevko
Encyclopedia
Elena Derevko is a fictional character
from the television series Alias
, played by Sônia Braga
.
Elena is the sister of Irina
and Katya Derevko
. Considered to be the most ruthless of the Derevko sisters, Elena is the secret leader of The Covenant
. She was first mentioned in the season three episode "Crossings" by Jack Bristow
. Nothing else is learned about Elena until the fourth season, when in "Welcome to Liberty Village" it is revealed that an unidentified Russian group is trying to find her. During the fourth season Elena is revealed to have been Sophia Vargas, caretaker to Nadia Santos
during her time in an Argentine orphanage.
A hit was ordered on Sydney Bristow's life and Jack Bristow discovered that it was ordered by Irina. In retaliation, Jack found Irina and shot her. After Sydney discovered this, she found Irina's body in a Moscow medical facility and arranged for a burial in a nearby crypt.
Around a year before Season 4, Arvin Sloane and Jack Bristow had been investigating the whereabouts of Elena. Jack received a message from an old associate that led him to one of Elena's safehouses in Warsaw. Inside was detailed information on the lives of Sydney Bristow and Nadia Santos, her nieces, with evidence suggesting she had them under surveillance for at least a decade. They assumed she was responsible for the attack on "Sophia", not realising that she in fact was Sophia.
Elena under the alias of "Sophia Vargas" arrived in Los Angeles. She used her former connection to Nadia to stay with her and Sydney so as to monitor their work for the CIA. She claimed to have been attacked in her home in Lisbon, Portugal, the reason for her coming to the United States. She gave Nadia a necklace with St. Marcos on it, who Nadia's orphanage was named after. Nadia took it, but did not know that Elena had implanted a microphone into the necklace so she could monitor Nadia's conversations and CIA work.
She later offered to cook dinner for Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia and Weiss. Sydney and Vaughn were unable to make it because of Jack's illness, so only Nadia and Weiss attended. Elena took the opportunity to have her associate, Avian, hack into Nadia's laptop and request to move the Hydrosek, a deadly weapon, to an unsecured location away from APO. Elena and Avian then went to the site and stole the weapon before Nadia and Weiss could arrive to stop them - albeit not realizing who it was that stole it.
Elena was also the one to ordered the creation of "Arvin Clone", a corporal within the U.S. army, named Ned Bolger, who was captured and brainwashed to believe that he was, in fact Arvin Sloane.
Elena sent a team into the Department of Special Research to steal all the Rambaldi artifacts necessary to complete "Rambaldi's endgame". On the same night, she left Sydney and Nadia's house, saying that she had been informed by the Lisbon police that it was safe for her to return. Hours later, Hayden Chase entered the house and accused Nadia of working against the government and allowing the team to break into the DSR. It was at this point that Jack and Sloane began to realize that Sophia was Elena, which was backed by the microphone found in the necklace given to Nadia by Sophia.
Sloane deduced that Elena would go to Lazlo Drake with the Rambaldi artifacts. Sydney and Sloane went to meet him, but he was already dead. Sydney found a hidden camera and rewound the feed to see Elena talking with Drake. Before she can see where they planned to take the Rambaldi artifacts, Sloane tranquillized her and left. He met up with Elena in her office in Prague and offered his services to help complete what she was doing. Jack also discovered through Katya Derevko, that "The Covenant" was a major terrorist organization set up by Elena in order to secretly acquire Rambaldi artifacts.
Dixon, Nadia and Sydney were sent on a mission to try to stop them. Dixon found Elena and Sloane, but Elena shot him before he could react. When in the hospital, Dixon told Sydney that he saw Irina Derevko before being shot by Elena, who had Sydney's mother in captivity. It was discovered that Elena had used the Project Helix to created a double of Irina, then set up a hit on Sydney, sparking the events that led to the double's execution - to ultimately lead the intelligence/criminal world to believe that she was dead. The double was described as being an ardent follower of Elena Derevko, and fully aware of the fact that she was being set up to die.
The real Irina, however, was imprisoned by Elena, and tortured for her knowledge of a Rambaldi prophecy known as "Il Diluvio", the Flood. She was kept for eighteenth months in Prague, but moved to a remote location in Guatemala - Tikal. Sydney, Jack and Nadia located her through Lucian Nisard, and saved her from Elena's guards.
Elena and Sloane constructed a massive Mueller device over the Russian city of Sovogda which, in conjunction with the tainted water supply from The Orchid, led the people of Sovogda with a severe infection that made them violent. When Sloane learnt that APO had sent a team into the city to try to stop them, he offered to head out with the team himself. While he was doing this, Elena began to transmit a subaudible frequency via the Russian mil-sat network to spread the infection world-wide. The second that the bombers were scheduled to destroy Sovogda, the frequency would be broadcast causing the effects of Sovogda to occur worldwide.
One of Elena's men found Nadia walking around the streets. He brought her to Elena, who told Nadia that she never wanted to hurt her. She said that she always thought of Nadia as her daughter, then offered her a place alongside her. She showed Nadia a map of the world with pinpoints all over it, saying "the blood has begun, just a few will survive." Nadia refused to join her, saying that she would never kill Sydney as Rambaldi's prophecy had stated. Elena then injected with Nadia the tainted water which infected her niece with the aim of forcing her to kill Sydney.
Elena noticed Sloane arrive back on the monitor. He was carrying a supposedly unconscious Vaughn, but as soon as they arrived in the base they began to shoot Elena's men. They were joined by Jack and Irina. They got to Elena and Irina knocked her to the floor with her gun. Sloane put Elena in a chair and Jack and Vaughn went to the computers to stop the mil-sat network from uploading the frequency. However, they could not retract the transmission. Elena told them that she had planned the attack for five years; it would not be that simple to stop her. Sydney managed to get into the main circuit board, but found a blue and a white wire. Irina did not know which to cut, and she asked Elena. When she refused to answer, she told Jack to start torturing her. Before he could do so, Elena told him to stop, and said to cut the white wire. Irina immediately shot Elena, and told Sydney to cut the blue wire.
tells them Nadia was born to Irina in a Soviet prison after Irina left Jack. Sydney was born in 1975 and Irina left in late 1981. This means Nadia has to have been born in 1982. The footage proves Nadia was in Soviet custody for at least the first few years of her life. Conservatively, based on the footage, she could have been in Soviet hands until at least 1985.
Elena, as Sophia Vargas, tells Michael Vaughn the only time she met his father Bill was when he left Nadia in her care at the orphanage in Buenos Aires. However, Michael Vaughn locates Sophia's address in Lisbon through an encoded entry in a journal purported to have belonged to his father, which indicated Bill Vaughn had survived past 1979, when Irina Derevko was supposed to have killed him. Since this journal was revealed a forgery, there is no reason to believe information given by Elena supporting the authenticity of the journal was true.
Nadia ran away from the orphanage in 1992. The footage is fairly dark but it's possible she was as young as 10 when she ran away. She's in a dormitory with other girls of about that age. She's recruited by Roberto Fox when she's 17 or 18, which would make the year 1999 or 2000. She dies in circa 2007.
Under this timeline, the only loose ends are how Nadia ended up at the orphanage in the first place and why the mercenary Thomas Brill would tell Michael Vaughn his father was involved. Since the orphanage was headed up by Elena Derevko, the most obvious explanation is Elena kidnapped her after Irina had been forced to give her up while in jail and she simply lied to Vaughn about his father's involvement, and Brill - a mercenary - was paid to do the same.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the television series Alias
Alias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
, played by Sônia Braga
Sônia Braga
Sônia Maria Campos Braga is a Brazilian actress. She has been nominated for both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award.-Early life:...
.
Elena is the sister of Irina
Irina Derevko
Irina Derevko , is a fictional character on the television series Alias, and a main character during the second season of the series. Irina, played by Lena Olin, is the mother of the central character, Sydney Bristow.-Biography:...
and Katya Derevko
Katya Derevko
Yekaterina "Katya" Derevko, alias The Black Sparrow, was the second of the three Derevko sisters to be introduced on the ABC television series Alias. She was played by Isabella Rossellini.-Character Biography:...
. Considered to be the most ruthless of the Derevko sisters, Elena is the secret leader of The Covenant
Covenant (Alias)
In the television series Alias, The Covenant is a large, powerful, and secretive intelligence/terrorist organization.The Covenant was a "loose affiliation of Russian nationalists" composed of retired KGB and former Central Committee members, all dedicated to the new world envisioned by Milo...
. She was first mentioned in the season three episode "Crossings" by Jack Bristow
Jack Bristow
Jonathan "Jack" Donahue Bristow, played by Victor Garber, is Sydney Bristow's father on the television series Alias. Jack is widely referred to as "Spy Daddy" in Alias fandom, and consistently ranks as one of the most popular characters on the show...
. Nothing else is learned about Elena until the fourth season, when in "Welcome to Liberty Village" it is revealed that an unidentified Russian group is trying to find her. During the fourth season Elena is revealed to have been Sophia Vargas, caretaker to Nadia Santos
Nadia Santos
Nadia Santos is a fictional character in the television series Alias, and a main character during the series' fourth season. She is played by Mía Maestro.-Biography:...
during her time in an Argentine orphanage.
Fictional Biography
Elena was one of the KGB's foremost assassins, responsible for the murder of countless diplomats and politicians throughout Eastern Europe. She was described by her sister Irina as "volatile and quick-tempered". Thirty years before Season 4, Elena disappeared and could not be found even by her sister Irina. Little did they realize that Elena had posed as "Sophia Vargas", the head of the orphanage Nadia Santos, her niece, was at.A hit was ordered on Sydney Bristow's life and Jack Bristow discovered that it was ordered by Irina. In retaliation, Jack found Irina and shot her. After Sydney discovered this, she found Irina's body in a Moscow medical facility and arranged for a burial in a nearby crypt.
Around a year before Season 4, Arvin Sloane and Jack Bristow had been investigating the whereabouts of Elena. Jack received a message from an old associate that led him to one of Elena's safehouses in Warsaw. Inside was detailed information on the lives of Sydney Bristow and Nadia Santos, her nieces, with evidence suggesting she had them under surveillance for at least a decade. They assumed she was responsible for the attack on "Sophia", not realising that she in fact was Sophia.
Elena under the alias of "Sophia Vargas" arrived in Los Angeles. She used her former connection to Nadia to stay with her and Sydney so as to monitor their work for the CIA. She claimed to have been attacked in her home in Lisbon, Portugal, the reason for her coming to the United States. She gave Nadia a necklace with St. Marcos on it, who Nadia's orphanage was named after. Nadia took it, but did not know that Elena had implanted a microphone into the necklace so she could monitor Nadia's conversations and CIA work.
She later offered to cook dinner for Sydney, Vaughn, Nadia and Weiss. Sydney and Vaughn were unable to make it because of Jack's illness, so only Nadia and Weiss attended. Elena took the opportunity to have her associate, Avian, hack into Nadia's laptop and request to move the Hydrosek, a deadly weapon, to an unsecured location away from APO. Elena and Avian then went to the site and stole the weapon before Nadia and Weiss could arrive to stop them - albeit not realizing who it was that stole it.
Elena was also the one to ordered the creation of "Arvin Clone", a corporal within the U.S. army, named Ned Bolger, who was captured and brainwashed to believe that he was, in fact Arvin Sloane.
Elena sent a team into the Department of Special Research to steal all the Rambaldi artifacts necessary to complete "Rambaldi's endgame". On the same night, she left Sydney and Nadia's house, saying that she had been informed by the Lisbon police that it was safe for her to return. Hours later, Hayden Chase entered the house and accused Nadia of working against the government and allowing the team to break into the DSR. It was at this point that Jack and Sloane began to realize that Sophia was Elena, which was backed by the microphone found in the necklace given to Nadia by Sophia.
Sloane deduced that Elena would go to Lazlo Drake with the Rambaldi artifacts. Sydney and Sloane went to meet him, but he was already dead. Sydney found a hidden camera and rewound the feed to see Elena talking with Drake. Before she can see where they planned to take the Rambaldi artifacts, Sloane tranquillized her and left. He met up with Elena in her office in Prague and offered his services to help complete what she was doing. Jack also discovered through Katya Derevko, that "The Covenant" was a major terrorist organization set up by Elena in order to secretly acquire Rambaldi artifacts.
Dixon, Nadia and Sydney were sent on a mission to try to stop them. Dixon found Elena and Sloane, but Elena shot him before he could react. When in the hospital, Dixon told Sydney that he saw Irina Derevko before being shot by Elena, who had Sydney's mother in captivity. It was discovered that Elena had used the Project Helix to created a double of Irina, then set up a hit on Sydney, sparking the events that led to the double's execution - to ultimately lead the intelligence/criminal world to believe that she was dead. The double was described as being an ardent follower of Elena Derevko, and fully aware of the fact that she was being set up to die.
The real Irina, however, was imprisoned by Elena, and tortured for her knowledge of a Rambaldi prophecy known as "Il Diluvio", the Flood. She was kept for eighteenth months in Prague, but moved to a remote location in Guatemala - Tikal. Sydney, Jack and Nadia located her through Lucian Nisard, and saved her from Elena's guards.
Elena and Sloane constructed a massive Mueller device over the Russian city of Sovogda which, in conjunction with the tainted water supply from The Orchid, led the people of Sovogda with a severe infection that made them violent. When Sloane learnt that APO had sent a team into the city to try to stop them, he offered to head out with the team himself. While he was doing this, Elena began to transmit a subaudible frequency via the Russian mil-sat network to spread the infection world-wide. The second that the bombers were scheduled to destroy Sovogda, the frequency would be broadcast causing the effects of Sovogda to occur worldwide.
One of Elena's men found Nadia walking around the streets. He brought her to Elena, who told Nadia that she never wanted to hurt her. She said that she always thought of Nadia as her daughter, then offered her a place alongside her. She showed Nadia a map of the world with pinpoints all over it, saying "the blood has begun, just a few will survive." Nadia refused to join her, saying that she would never kill Sydney as Rambaldi's prophecy had stated. Elena then injected with Nadia the tainted water which infected her niece with the aim of forcing her to kill Sydney.
Elena noticed Sloane arrive back on the monitor. He was carrying a supposedly unconscious Vaughn, but as soon as they arrived in the base they began to shoot Elena's men. They were joined by Jack and Irina. They got to Elena and Irina knocked her to the floor with her gun. Sloane put Elena in a chair and Jack and Vaughn went to the computers to stop the mil-sat network from uploading the frequency. However, they could not retract the transmission. Elena told them that she had planned the attack for five years; it would not be that simple to stop her. Sydney managed to get into the main circuit board, but found a blue and a white wire. Irina did not know which to cut, and she asked Elena. When she refused to answer, she told Jack to start torturing her. Before he could do so, Elena told him to stop, and said to cut the white wire. Irina immediately shot Elena, and told Sydney to cut the blue wire.
Elena's Past with Nadia
Sydney and Vaughn discover footage of a very young Nadia being tested with Rambaldi fluid in a Russian bunker. Katya DerevkoKatya Derevko
Yekaterina "Katya" Derevko, alias The Black Sparrow, was the second of the three Derevko sisters to be introduced on the ABC television series Alias. She was played by Isabella Rossellini.-Character Biography:...
tells them Nadia was born to Irina in a Soviet prison after Irina left Jack. Sydney was born in 1975 and Irina left in late 1981. This means Nadia has to have been born in 1982. The footage proves Nadia was in Soviet custody for at least the first few years of her life. Conservatively, based on the footage, she could have been in Soviet hands until at least 1985.
Elena, as Sophia Vargas, tells Michael Vaughn the only time she met his father Bill was when he left Nadia in her care at the orphanage in Buenos Aires. However, Michael Vaughn locates Sophia's address in Lisbon through an encoded entry in a journal purported to have belonged to his father, which indicated Bill Vaughn had survived past 1979, when Irina Derevko was supposed to have killed him. Since this journal was revealed a forgery, there is no reason to believe information given by Elena supporting the authenticity of the journal was true.
Nadia ran away from the orphanage in 1992. The footage is fairly dark but it's possible she was as young as 10 when she ran away. She's in a dormitory with other girls of about that age. She's recruited by Roberto Fox when she's 17 or 18, which would make the year 1999 or 2000. She dies in circa 2007.
Under this timeline, the only loose ends are how Nadia ended up at the orphanage in the first place and why the mercenary Thomas Brill would tell Michael Vaughn his father was involved. Since the orphanage was headed up by Elena Derevko, the most obvious explanation is Elena kidnapped her after Irina had been forced to give her up while in jail and she simply lied to Vaughn about his father's involvement, and Brill - a mercenary - was paid to do the same.