| “ | When I took her, she was promise itself, and you left her at the mercy of a man like me! You ruined her.... for what, to get to me? She's worth 50 of me! | „ |
| ~ Renard voicing his disgust towards M for leaving Elektra in his hands. |
| “ | Welcome to my nuclear family! | „ |
| ~ Renard to James Bond. |
Victor Zokas, better known as Renard or The Anarchist, is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Elektra King) of the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. He is a former KGB agent-turned terrorist who was seduced by Elektra King and conspired with her to monopolize the world's oil market for profit.
He was portrayed by Robert Carlyle, who also played Francis Begbie in Trainspotting and T2: Trainspotting, Adolf Hitler in Hitler: The Rise of Evil, Durza in Eragon, Rumplestiltskin in Once Upon a Time, Donald Harris in 28 Weeks Later, Albie Kinsella in Cracker, Dracula in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and Colonel Ives in Ravenous.
Biography[]
Past[]
Born Victor Zokas, Renard served as a KGB assassin throughout most of the Cold War but was ultimately expelled after the Afghan conflict due to his sadistic methods. Zokas then decided to go rogue as a freelance terrorist, and took up the epithet of "The Anarchist".
Conspiring with Elektra[]
Sometime later, Renard kidnapped oil heiress Elektra King, and held her ransom. In response to the terrorist's attack, MI6 dispatched 009 to rescue the girl and eliminate Renard. When 009 located Renard's terror cell, he shot the terrorist in the head. However, Elektra is outraged to hear that her father refused to pay the ransom (on the advice of M) and vows revenge by allying herself with Renard. Now working side by side, Renard and Elektra staged her supposed escape from his clutches, with Elektra severing her own earlobe to make the stunt seem convincing. In the aftermath of 009's assault, Renard managed to survive the blow to his head which left him with a rather curious side-effect. As the bullet slowly traveled through his brain, every single one of Renard's five senses would be rapidly depleted, most notably the feeling of touch along with the sensation of pain. Though the bullet would eventually make it's way to the center of his brain and kill him, in the meantime, Renard was now rendered virtually unstoppable. With his new found abilities, Renard's final mission was to secure the future of Elektra's oil pipeline.
True Plot[]
As the events unfold, Renard is living with an indeterminate life expectancy, as the bullet could reach his cerebral cortex at any time and kill him and there is no way to surgically remove the bullet without killing him along the way. However, according to MI6 doctor Molly Warmflash, until the bullet kills him, Renard is expected to continue due to his inability to feel pain, allowing him to drive himself beyond ordinary physical limits. This unique trait is demonstrated in Renard's first on-screen appearance when he handles scalding pieces of volcanic rock in his hand without any sign of discomfort. After her "escape" from Renard, Elektra claimed to be traumatized, faking Stockholm syndrome.
Elektra and Renard start off their plot by launching an attack on MI6 headquarters in London, which results in the death of Elektra's father. Originally, it is thought their target is her family's oil pipeline, but it is later revealed that Renard and Elektra damaged the pipeline to cover their real target of disrupting all oil supplies except for those belonging to the King family. Renard hijacks a Russian nuclear submarine and intends to introduce weapons-grade plutonium into the submarine's nuclear reactor, causing a nuclear meltdown. This would happen in the Bosporus at Istanbul, which would contaminate the city and the Bosporus for decades, preventing any shipping from the Black Sea. Shipments of Caspian Sea oil via all existing pipelines except for the King pipeline which terminated on Turkey's Mediterranean coast would have been affected.
Death[]
| “ | You're lying. Liar! LIAR! | „ |
| ~ Renard's last words before eventually getting impaled by the Plutonium rod and getting killed in the destruction of the submarine. |
Meanwhile, Elektra takes M hostage for Renard, who coldly berates M for influencing Sir King to leave Elektra in his captivity and not paying the ransom in the first place, an act that left M guilt-ridden. Eventually, Elektra captures Bond, but is ultimately killed by 007 after she tells Renard to launch the submarine on its mission. Bond boards the sub and confronts Renard, revealing Elektra's death during the confrontation; shocked, Renard enters a state of denial, yelling that Bond is lying. Renard eventually locks himself inside the reactor so that Bond cannot get to him. Just as the reactor is about to go into a critical state due to Renard's plutonium-laced fuel rod, Bond causes the reactor to shoot the rod out of the core at a high speed and in the Renard's chest - informing Renard that Elektra is waiting for him, thus killing him and stopping the reaction, allowing the sub the explode harmlessly.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Renard is the only James Bond villain who's defined and called an anarchist.
- Renard's forename is the French word for Fox.
- In real life, if a person were to lose the ability to feel after a brain injury, they would end up being paralyzed and need a respirator to breathe.
External Links[]
- Renard on the James Bond Wiki
