Tatiana Romanova
Encyclopedia
Tatiana Romanova is a fictional character
in the James Bond
novel, film
, and video game From Russia with Love. She is played by Daniela Bianchi
in the movie. According to William F. Nolan
, author Ian Fleming
based Tatiana Romanova on Christine Granville.
Intelligence, assigned to work in the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul
as a cypher clerk. Her superiors, in connection with SMERSH
, plan to sow dissent in the intelligence community by murdering and discrediting a significant figure in western intelligence. This was to be achieved by the murder of James Bond
.
Her commanding officer is Rosa Klebb
— in the screenplay adaptation, she is secretly an agent for SPECTRE
— who manipulates her into believing that she is on an important mission for her country, when she is in fact merely a pawn in the terrorist organization's latest bid to destroy the British Secret Service.
In the novel, Klebb is actually a member of the Soviet government, commander in chief of the Otdyel II section of the SMERSH
. Thus, Romanova works for the Soviets, who assign her the mission of seducing Bond and having him take her to England
to deliver a SPEKTOR code machine, as well as plant false information, before being rescued from a political prison and returned to Russia.
Once in Istanbul
, she contacts Darko Kerim Bey (Ali Kerim Bey in the film) and tells him her plans: she would willingly defect from the Soviet Union and take with her the precious LEKTOR/SPEKTOR only if Bond assisted the operation. She claimed that she had fallen in love with the man from a picture she had seen in a secret file and wanted to live with him.
Both M
and Bond believe this to be a trap, but the prize is valuable enough to go for it. They react just as the main instigator of the plot, chess champion Kronsteen, had predicted. Bond then flies to Istanbul and contacts Kerim, spending several days there, waiting for contact. After a riot at a Gypsy camp, Bond returns to his hotel room and finds Romanova walking across the room and getting into his bed, wearing only a black velvet choker and black stockings. They make love, but are secretly filmed by Klebb's minions via a one-way mirror. This tape is explicitly planned to be used to embarrass MI6.
In the film, after meeting her again to verify the authenticity of her information, they blow up the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul to cover their escape. With the help of Kerim, they board the Orient Express
and depart for Trieste
and the Italian frontier. As a part of Kronsteen's strategy, the SMERSH
/SPECTRE assassin Donovan 'Red' Grant kills Kerim. Bond contacts Grant, who is pretending to be an agent named Nash. After sedating Romanova, Nash's identity is revealed to Bond, who then fights Grant in their train room. Prior to the fight, Grant explains that he is going to kill Bond and then execute the sleeping Romanova with Bond's gun, making it look like a murder-suicide
. Bond finally defeats Grant and takes Romanova to Venice
. It is there they meet Klebb again who, in an attempt to retrieve the LEKTOR and kill Bond, disguises herself as a maid and tries to eliminate the agent with a dagger-tipped shoe poisoned with blowfish
venom. Romanova shoots Klebb, thus saving Bond. She and Bond are last seen on a boat in Venice, with Bond dropping the incriminating negatives into the canal.
Similarly, in the novel, they board the Orient Express with Kerim, planning to travel to England over the course of four days. Kerim, instead of being killed by Grant, is killed by a Russian agent named Benz who had boarded the train earlier and also is killed in the struggle. This prompts the bombing of the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul in retaliation. Despite this, Bond elects not to leave the train for a plane or the embassy, after having fallen for Romanova and not wanting to cut their time short. Grant pretends to be Nash, an MI5 agent sent by M in response to the death of Kerim. After sedating Romanova, under the guise of standing guard over Bond, he waits until they are both asleep, and plans to murder them. However, due to his vanity, he taunts Bond, revealing details of a meeting with Rosa Klebb. This allows him to disarm and save Romanova's life. It is unclear as to what ultimately becomes of Tatiana in the novel as in her last appearance, she is still heavily affected by the sedatives, sleeping in the British Embassy, while Bond confronts Klebb. It is presumed that she has been arrested and/or released by the British.
.
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...
in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novel, film
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...
, and video game From Russia with Love. She is played by Daniela Bianchi
Daniela Bianchi
Daniela Bianchi is an Italian actress, whose best known part was Tatiana Romanova in the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia with Love....
in the movie. According to William F. Nolan
William F. Nolan
William Francis Nolan is an American author, who wrote stories in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He is best known for coauthoring the novel Logan's Run, with George Clayton Johnson. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1976 horror film Burnt Offerings which starred Karen Black and...
, author Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
based Tatiana Romanova on Christine Granville.
Novel and film biography
Tantiana Romanova is introduced as a corporal in Soviet ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
Intelligence, assigned to work in the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
as a cypher clerk. Her superiors, in connection with SMERSH
SMERSH (James Bond)
SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. СМЕРШ is an acronym from two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" meaning "Death to Spies"...
, plan to sow dissent in the intelligence community by murdering and discrediting a significant figure in western intelligence. This was to be achieved by the murder of James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
.
Her commanding officer is Rosa Klebb
Rosa Klebb
Colonel Rosa Klebb is a fictional character and the main antagonist from the James Bond film and novel From Russia with Love. She was played by Lotte Lenya in the film version...
— in the screenplay adaptation, she is secretly an agent for SPECTRE
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
— who manipulates her into believing that she is on an important mission for her country, when she is in fact merely a pawn in the terrorist organization's latest bid to destroy the British Secret Service.
In the novel, Klebb is actually a member of the Soviet government, commander in chief of the Otdyel II section of the SMERSH
SMERSH (James Bond)
SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. СМЕРШ is an acronym from two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" meaning "Death to Spies"...
. Thus, Romanova works for the Soviets, who assign her the mission of seducing Bond and having him take her to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to deliver a SPEKTOR code machine, as well as plant false information, before being rescued from a political prison and returned to Russia.
Once in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, she contacts Darko Kerim Bey (Ali Kerim Bey in the film) and tells him her plans: she would willingly defect from the Soviet Union and take with her the precious LEKTOR/SPEKTOR only if Bond assisted the operation. She claimed that she had fallen in love with the man from a picture she had seen in a secret file and wanted to live with him.
Both M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
and Bond believe this to be a trap, but the prize is valuable enough to go for it. They react just as the main instigator of the plot, chess champion Kronsteen, had predicted. Bond then flies to Istanbul and contacts Kerim, spending several days there, waiting for contact. After a riot at a Gypsy camp, Bond returns to his hotel room and finds Romanova walking across the room and getting into his bed, wearing only a black velvet choker and black stockings. They make love, but are secretly filmed by Klebb's minions via a one-way mirror. This tape is explicitly planned to be used to embarrass MI6.
In the film, after meeting her again to verify the authenticity of her information, they blow up the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul to cover their escape. With the help of Kerim, they board the Orient Express
Orient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
and depart for Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
and the Italian frontier. As a part of Kronsteen's strategy, the SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
/SPECTRE assassin Donovan 'Red' Grant kills Kerim. Bond contacts Grant, who is pretending to be an agent named Nash. After sedating Romanova, Nash's identity is revealed to Bond, who then fights Grant in their train room. Prior to the fight, Grant explains that he is going to kill Bond and then execute the sleeping Romanova with Bond's gun, making it look like a murder-suicide
Murder-suicide
A murder–suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons before or at the same time as killing himself or herself. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms, including:...
. Bond finally defeats Grant and takes Romanova to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. It is there they meet Klebb again who, in an attempt to retrieve the LEKTOR and kill Bond, disguises herself as a maid and tries to eliminate the agent with a dagger-tipped shoe poisoned with blowfish
Pufferfish
Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the Tetraodontiformes order. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called pufferfish, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab...
venom. Romanova shoots Klebb, thus saving Bond. She and Bond are last seen on a boat in Venice, with Bond dropping the incriminating negatives into the canal.
Similarly, in the novel, they board the Orient Express with Kerim, planning to travel to England over the course of four days. Kerim, instead of being killed by Grant, is killed by a Russian agent named Benz who had boarded the train earlier and also is killed in the struggle. This prompts the bombing of the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul in retaliation. Despite this, Bond elects not to leave the train for a plane or the embassy, after having fallen for Romanova and not wanting to cut their time short. Grant pretends to be Nash, an MI5 agent sent by M in response to the death of Kerim. After sedating Romanova, under the guise of standing guard over Bond, he waits until they are both asleep, and plans to murder them. However, due to his vanity, he taunts Bond, revealing details of a meeting with Rosa Klebb. This allows him to disarm and save Romanova's life. It is unclear as to what ultimately becomes of Tatiana in the novel as in her last appearance, she is still heavily affected by the sedatives, sleeping in the British Embassy, while Bond confronts Klebb. It is presumed that she has been arrested and/or released by the British.
Video game
The character's role in the video game adaptation of From Russia With Love is more or less the same as in the novel and film, with the only major difference being that she is now an unwitting double agent for a terrorist organization called "OCTOPUS". She is voiced by Kari WahlgrenKari Wahlgren
Kari K. Wahlgren is an American voice actress who has provided English language voices for dozens of anime titles and video games. Her debut role was as one of the main characters of FLCL, Haruko Haruhara. She had a live-action role as Tinker Bell in the 2003 Damion Dietz film Neverland...
.