Casino Royale question *spoilers*

ycbelieve07ycbelieve07 Posts: 3MI6 Agent
in James Bond Literature
I finished reading the novel last night, but I'm left with a question.

It is stated that Vesper is blackmailed by SMERSH into working with LeChiffre to make sure Bond didn't escape LeChiffre.

Why would LeChiffre be working with Vesper? Vesper was working with SMERSH and he knew SMERSH would be after him, right?

And if it was SMERSH's intention to not allow Bond to escape, why did they release him after killing LeChiffre and his men?

Please help clear up this confusion

Thanks!

Comments

  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
    edited June 2015
    ycbelieve07 wrote:
    I finished reading the novel last night, but I'm left with a question.

    It is stated that Vesper is blackmailed by SMERSH into working with LeChiffre to make sure Bond didn't escape LeChiffre.

    Why would LeChiffre be working with Vesper? Vesper was working with SMERSH and he knew SMERSH would be after him, right?

    And if it was SMERSH's intention to not allow Bond to escape, why did they release him after killing LeChiffre and his men?

    Please help clear up this confusion

    Thanks!

    Yes, an interesting question you raise there!

    It's been about 6 years since I read CR, so I'm a bit rusty, but I don't think that Vesper worked for SMERSH per se, it might have been the MVD or some such other organ of Soviet secret intelligence - they had her over a barrel as her lover was being held hostage. As far as I can remember, this was a separate sub-plot from the whole Le Chiffre shenanigans with SMERSH - he was up against the clock trying to recoup his losses from SMERSH money being put into soon to be illegal brothels and the pimping thereof. Vesper's treachery was a different thing altogether as far as I can remember - it was a treachery sub-plot and 'Black-Patch' and co. were the agents who were after her - I'm not sure that Le Chiffre had anything to do with her - though, of course, I could be wrong. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong as memory is fallible and all that!

    The SMERSH assassin killed Le Chiffre and left Bond only with the mark of a 'Sphion', a spy as he had no orders to kill the British secret service, and so he felt he would use his knife to carve into the back of Bond's hand and warn others of his status as a spy. Killing Bond was superfluous to requirements. Hence, he was left alone. My views - I may be wrong here.
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • ycbelieve07ycbelieve07 Posts: 3MI6 Agent
    Yes, this is where my confusion arises. On Wikipedia (Not the most reputable of sources) and other online summaries, it does state that she was blackmailed by SMERSH, but in the book, it clearly states she was working for MVD. But she must have been working with LeChiffre on some level, as they staged her abduction towards the end of the novel.

    This hasn't ruined the book for me, but sometimes I get caught up on details like this.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
    edited June 2015
    ycbelieve07 wrote:
    Yes, this is where my confusion arises. On Wikipedia (Not the most reputable of sources) and other online summaries, it does state that she was blackmailed by SMERSH, but in the book, it clearly states she was working for MVD. But she must have been working with LeChiffre on some level, as they staged her abduction towards the end of the novel.

    This hasn't ruined the book for me, but sometimes I get caught up on details like this.

    I think there has to be a definite answer to this one in the text itself - it's too big a loophole for Fleming not to have noticed it.

    Here's my further views:

    Vesper played along with Le Chiffre as she believed this was her brief from MVD - to help them secure the capture of Bond and the cheque that would repay the desperate (and soon to be assassinated) Le Chiffre from his death sentence (the price for his failure to recoup his losses and his losing at the baccarat table to James Bond). Vesper probably didn't foresee the assassination of Le Chiffre by SMERSH, and Le Chiffre relied on her to bait the trap for Bond, so he could torture him and reclaim the cheque of the Casino Royale winnings he felt British agent James Bond had cheated him out of.

    Perhaps this clarifies things - or makes things murkier?! :)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • ycbelieve07ycbelieve07 Posts: 3MI6 Agent
    Silhouette Man wrote:
    ycbelieve07 wrote:
    Yes, this is where my confusion arises. On Wikipedia (Not the most reputable of sources) and other online summaries, it does state that she was blackmailed by SMERSH, but in the book, it clearly states she was working for MVD. But she must have been working with LeChiffre on some level, as they staged her abduction towards the end of the novel.

    This hasn't ruined the book for me, but sometimes I get caught up on details like this.

    I think there has to be a definite answer to this one in the text itself - it's too big a loophole for Fleming not to have noticed it.

    Here's my further views:

    Vesper played along with Le Chiffre as she believed this was her brief from MVD - to help them secure the capture of Bond and the cheque that would repay the desparate (and soon to be asassinated) Le Chiffre from his death sentence (the price for his failure to recoup his losses and his losing at the bacarrat table to James Bond). Vesper probably didn't forsee the assassination of Le Chiffre by SMERSH, and Le Chidffre relied on her top bait the trtap for Bond, so he could toture him and reclaim the cheque of the Casino Royale winnings he felt British agent James Bond had cheated him out of.

    Perhaps this clarifies things - or makes things murkier?! :)


    That seems to make a bit of sense. Fleming certainly doesn't contradict any of the deductions you just made, but he also wasn't extremely clear.

    Thanks a lot though!
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
    edited January 2013
    ycbelieve07 wrote:
    Silhouette Man wrote:
    ycbelieve07 wrote:
    Yes, this is where my confusion arises. On Wikipedia (Not the most reputable of sources) and other online summaries, it does state that she was blackmailed by SMERSH, but in the book, it clearly states she was working for MVD. But she must have been working with LeChiffre on some level, as they staged her abduction towards the end of the novel.

    This hasn't ruined the book for me, but sometimes I get caught up on details like this.

    I think there has to be a definite answer to this one in the text itself - it's too big a loophole for Fleming not to have noticed it.

    Here's my further views:

    Vesper played along with Le Chiffre as she believed this was her brief from MVD - to help them secure the capture of Bond and the cheque that would repay the desparate (and soon to be asassinated) Le Chiffre from his death sentence (the price for his failure to recoup his losses and his losing at the bacarrat table to James Bond). Vesper probably didn't forsee the assassination of Le Chiffre by SMERSH, and Le Chidffre relied on her top bait the trtap for Bond, so he could toture him and reclaim the cheque of the Casino Royale winnings he felt British agent James Bond had cheated him out of.

    Perhaps this clarifies things - or makes things murkier?! :)


    That seems to make a bit of sense. Fleming certainly doesn't contradict any of the deductions you just made, but he also wasn't extremely clear.

    Thanks a lot though!

    Well thanks!

    By the way, if you have any other litwerary Bond queries, you'll find at least some of the answers on The Bondologist Blog here:

    http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/

    -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • ChromeJobChromeJob Durham, NC USAPosts: 149MI6 Agent
    Silhouette Man wrote:
    ... I think there has to be a definite answer to this one in the text itself - it's too big a loophole for Fleming not to have noticed it....
    I read recently that Fleming said in an interview, about his first Bond novel at lease, that he wrote 2000 odd words daily, and never reviewed the previous days' output, since he thought he'd dislike it so much he'd never finish. So ... plot holes aren't inconcieable here...
    Silhouette Man wrote:
    ... By the way, if you have any other litwerary Bond queries, you'll find at least some of the answers on The Bondologist Blog here:

    http://www.thenbondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/
    -{

    Blog not found. :(

    Oh, let me fix that for you. http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/
    20130316-5278_kingston_corvusbond_pussyposter_80x65.png
    “It reads better than it lives.” T. Case
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
    ChromeJob wrote:
    Silhouette Man wrote:
    ... I think there has to be a definite answer to this one in the text itself - it's too big a loophole for Fleming not to have noticed it....
    I read recently that Fleming said in an interview, about his first Bond novel at lease, that he wrote 2000 odd words daily, and never reviewed the previous days' output, since he thought he'd dislike it so much he'd never finish. So ... plot holes aren't inconcieable here...
    Silhouette Man wrote:
    ... By the way, if you have any other litwerary Bond queries, you'll find at least some of the answers on The Bondologist Blog here:

    http://www.thenbondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/
    -{

    Blog not found. :(


    Oh, let me fix that for you. http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/

    Fixed it again - sorry about that.

    True on Fleming, but he had William Plomer as an editor at his publisher Jonathan Cape and he rather reread the drafts of his work for corrections. I think that I may have answered the question in the above posts. (?)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,865MI6 Agent
    Does anyone else want to give their thoughts on this question? :) -{
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • RevelatorRevelator Posts: 612MI6 Agent
    ChromeJob wrote:
    I read recently that Fleming said in an interview, about his first Bond novel at lease, that he wrote 2000 odd words daily, and never reviewed the previous days' output, since he thought he'd dislike it so much he'd never finish. So ... plot holes aren't inconcieable here...

    Fleming was never strong on plot, but what you're referring to are Fleming's first drafts, which he always wrote full-steam ahead in order to get the book down on paper without delays. But the drafts were always revised before publication, and the manuscript of Casino Royale was "heavily" revised, according to everyone who's seen it.

    As for why LeChiffre worked with Vesper--having knowledge of how Smersh operations, he must have presumed that Vesper, a double agent in the British secret service, was not likely to be a Smersh hitman. Smersh probably did not fully commit to LeChiffre's execution until his final loss to Bond--until then, LeChiffre thought he could buy his way back into the organization's good graces.
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