How much did Tracy's death affect Bond?

AlphaOmegaSin

How much do you think this personally affected Bond?

DieAnotherDay

It is extremely hard to say due the scattered continuity of the Bond films. At the end of OHMSS he seems truly heartbroken by the situation but because we have Connery back for DAF the revenge story just doesn't seem to fit within the film so I guess we are to think he just never talks about Tracy's demise or it never actually happened. In TSWLM, FYEO & LTK it is clear that he still does mourn her death though, and remembers her with quiet sadness...never wanting to really bring it up.

I think it affected him profoundly but it is very difficult to say since the producers never backtracked to that storyline

AlphaOmegaSin

The Part where Bond says that 'She's having a Rest' is most likely due to the sudden Shock of whats happened.

Thunderpussy

I agree the producers decided to avoid too many references or show Bond really upset
over Tracy's death, as by that stage Bond was becoming a Superman character.
From memory even Fleming didn't dwell too much over her death, as Bond got his
revenge in the next novel. Then became brainwashed before being sent on one last
mission as a sort of kill or cure.
J Gardner had Bond thinking more about the death of Tracy in some of his books.
Although as stated by M in QOS, it would be a pretty cold bastard who didn't want
revenge for the death of a loved one.
So maybe not overtly shown but Bond slaps agent XXX down for mentioning his
wife in TSWLM, and his sad smile as he catches Della's garter in LTK. So yes Bond
Was greatly affected by his wife's murder, although in my opinion it would never have
lasted.

Blackleiter

DieAnotherDay wrote:

I think it affected him profoundly but it is very difficult to say since the producers never backtracked to that storyline

I agree with you there.

Gassy Man

With rare exception, the Bond films have never really dealt with emotions profoundly. But they never really intended to. Even the two films that are the most interested -- On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Casino Royale -- for the most part downplay Bond's emotional entanglements in favor of the action. So, to put it succinctly, Tracy's passing affected Bond enough to service the plot.

Colonel Shatner

In a related thread that posted a few months back, I got depressed thinking about how Bond could cope with the sheer weight of survivor's guilt stemming from Tracy's murder plus the endless other friends and lovers who died on Bond's watch.

CmdrAtticus

By the time Bond met Tracy, he was tired of trying to track down Blofeld and was getting generally burned out by his job. It's why he didn't have to put a lot of thinking into his decision to marry her...it just gave him another reason (and the best of all) for getting out of the soul sucking spy game. When she was killed, it only threw him further into depression and not caring about his job. M got tired of his attitude and sent him to Japan in YOLT because it was a "soft" job. If he couldn't do well on it he was probably going to force retire him. Finding Blofeld and killing him may have helped him emotionally for a very brief moment, but then he suffered the amnesia and brainwashing and attempted killing of M.. By the time he was sent after Scaramanga, he was pretty crippled as an effective agent and M. knew he would either get killed (in which case it was no longer his problem) or he would shape up and succeed. The problem is that even though he did succeed he never recovered from his loss of Tracy or Vesper.

' At the same time, he knew, deep down, that love from Mary Goodnight, or from
any other woman, was not enough for him. It would be like taking "a room with
a view." For James Bond, the same view would always pall.'

It's a flat out cynical, depressing attitude. He gave up on the idea he could be happily married and settled down because even when he tried to do it with Tracy it ended tragically. Had he left the spy game and then got into a relationship, he would have stood a better chance. As long as he was a 00, he led to dangerous a life for any woman to be a part of.

AlphaOmegaSin

I think in the new Novel (Solo) Bond talks about Tracy for a short while.

jimmyunderscorebond

There are extreamly brief moments in DAF when bond seems
Slightly upset. When bond and M talk about diamonds, I think one
Of them mentions wedding rings, this is instantly followed by a split
second awkward silence. When bond is in Amsterdam and he talks to money
penny, a similar conversation is also followed by a quick awkward silence.