Skeleton Key (Alex Rider)

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Alex's official year of birth is stated as being 1987, with Alex stating in Point Blanc that he was two years old in 1989. [18] However, in Snakehead Alex remembers the Boxing Day Tsunami (2004). [13] Then in the US version of Crocodile Tears, it mentions Obama as being the President of the United States. [24] Considering these events, his birth year would more reliably be February 13, 1996. Major Winston Yu (deceased, broke every single bone in his body spontaneously after his yacht was hit by a tidal wave) Drake is described as being in his mid-thirties, unshaven, with silver hair, a slim build and a handsome face. He also suffers from Mobius Syndrome, causing his face to be permanently smiling, something he despises, saying that "I've been smiling all my life even though I've never found very much to smile about".

Alex once shot a worker at Sayle Enterprises. It is unknown exactly who he murdered, because they don't mention this in the novel Stormbreaker or show this happening in the movie. [13]When he met Alex, Sarov was sixty-two years old, but looked "twenty years younger". Sarov is described as not being particularly tall, but he "radiates power and control". He also has short grey hair, pale blue eyes, and an emotionless face. He normally dresses in either suits or his old Red Army uniform. [3] In Kenya when Alex escapes McCain sends Njenga after Alex. Njenga chases Alex until the dam. Alex makes the dam explode and Njenga falls to his death and his body is washed away. Alex Rider is originally stated as being "tall for his age" in Stormbreaker. Snakehead, however, claims him to be 5'7" and short for his age. [12] [13] However, in the novel Crocodile Tears (novel), once again he is described as getting noticeably taller. [24]

Anthony Sean Howell, more commonly referred to as Ash (his initials), is a major character in Snakehead. Sabina Pleasure is a protagonist who made her first appearance in the novel Skeleton Key and has gone on to appear in Eagle Strike, Snakehead, Crocodile Tears, Scorpia Rising and Never Say Die. She is romantically interested in Alex and has been supportive of his work as a teenage spy. Her parents are Edward Pleasure and Elizabeth “Liz” Pleasure. It is stated in the afterword of Point Blanc that Rothman was inspired by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Sofia Helin is set to portray Rothman in the series. There are twenty-three out of twenty-five Numbers at the beginning of the novel Nightshade: Numbers Fourteen and Twenty-One are said to have died in training accidents. Known Numbers include:

ALEX RIDER SERIES SKELETON KEY circle tattooed on his arm? He hadn‟t wanted that to be seen. Alex was certain he had tried to cover it up. And there was something else. Maybe it was just coincidence, but the guard, just like the man who had broken into the All England Tennis Club to begin with, was Chinese.

Sister" Professor Krysten Shultz: A former director at Harvard School of Engineering, until she disappeared twelve years previously, and responsible for developing the radio implants in the Numbers' heads. She has "long white hair that swept down over her shoulders, and a thin, angular face with a nose like a kitchen knife", with glasses and dangling silver earrings. At Harvard, she was leading microscopic radio receivers using diamonds, so she was responsible for creating the Numbers. She has responsibility for academic training of the Numbers. For all his skills, Yassen is obviously best known for his assassinations; throughout the series, his reputation seems to be one of a man who makes no mistakes, and he is considered an active threat by MI6. He has been employed by Iraq, Serbia, Libya, and China. It is suggested that his training included, as is demonstrated on a single occasion when he convinces Alex not to shoot him by describing what will happen when he pulls the trigger, basic psychological warfare. He was also an expert with conventional weaponry and terrorist techniques, though both are demonstrated only once throughout the series before his death. Yassen made another appearance (in a scene set in the past) in the seventh book of the series, Snakehead. He was fluent in nine languages and was learning Japanese at the time of his death, while working with Damian Cray. Known board members include the acting chairman Zeljan Kurst, Major Winston Yu (deceased), Julia Rothman (killed), Max Grendel (murdered), Levi Kroll (murdered), a Frenchman called Jean Picoq, a Chinese man called Dr. Three who is the world's foremost expert on pain and torture, having written books about it, a Japanese man named Hideo Mikato (it is said in Scorpia that he has a diamond set in his teeth and in Snakehead that he has yakuza tattoos all over his body), and an Australian man named Brendan Chase, who abandoned his job as paymaster of the ASIS when he stole four hundred thousand dollars from them in a drunken haze (he was previously known as #5, as he never used his real name). Three other board members were mentioned to have died before the audience is introduced to the organisation; two of them were murdered and the third died of cancer. Two board members were killed over the course of the fifth novel. The first, Max Grendel, a former German spy and the oldest member at the time at seventy-three, decides to have no part in the operation Invisible Sword and attempts to retire, but is immediately killed by a suitcase of scorpions given to him by Julia Rothman. Rothman herself is then killed when Invisible Sword is foiled by Alex Rider and she is crushed to death by her terahertz transmitter. Major Winston Yu dies in the book Snakehead, having made the same mistake as Rothman by underestimating Rider, thus leaving the current roster at exactly half of what it was at its inception.With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of capitalism, Sarov felt betrayed and disgusted, at the way his country was heading. He promptly quit the army and moved to communist Cuba, which welcomed him outright.

A couple of years later, Alex meets Sahara Sands again, where she reveals her father was working in the office of the American Secretary of Defense, and that his laptop hard drive contained classified information on the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. da Silva had presumably been hired to steal the laptop and leak the data, which would have resulted in a huge embarrassment for the US government.Despite being a doctor and surgeon, Tanner has several vices, including alcohol, cigarettes and gambling. He also does not present the image of a doctor, dressing only in open shirts and jeans, without a white coat on. It is possible that The Gentleman has either heard of or encountered or used to be 'The Priest', a contract killer MI6 has encountered in the past. Mr. Grin (real name Sean Green) is a secondary antagonist in both the novel and film adaption of Stormbreaker. He is Herod Sayle's right-hand man and butler. Grin was formerly a circus performer, throwing knives into the air and catching them in his mouth. However, when Grin's mother came to see his act one day, he was distracted by her and his knives cut off most of his tongue, and left him with a Glasgow Smile. It was after this accident he changed his name to Grin. Slavko Novak is a minor villain in Never Say Die. He is hired by the Grimaldi twins after his cousin and predecessor, Dragana Novak, is unintentionally shot by Frankie "The Flame" Stallone and then killed by the Grimaldi twins. The twins ask Novak as a replacement helicopter pilot for kidnapping fifty-two children from Oxfordshire's private Linton Hall Preparatory School and holding them to ransom for three hundred million pounds. Slavko was suggested by Dragana as a replacement, because he works as a test pilot for a jet company.