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England is about to learn the cost of betrayal - inflation adjusted for 1945.
~ Trevelyan revealing his plan to destroy England's economy
Closing time, James! Last call!
~ Trevelyan threatening to kill Bond
Good luck with the floor, James. I set the timers for six minutes...the same six minutes you gave me. It was the least I can do for a friend.
~ Alec Trevelyan to James Bond.

Alec Trevelyan, formerly known as 006 and now known as Janus, is the main antagonist of the 1995 live action film GoldenEye. He was an ex-MI6 agent turned cyber-terrorist and was formerly James Bond's best friend, thus being practically unique amongst Bond's adversaries.

He was portrayed by Sean Bean, who also played Sean Miller in Patriot Games and John Ryder in The Hitcher.

Biography[]

Staging His Death[]

File:TrevelyanDeathStaged.png

Alec is seemingly captured.

In 1986, Trevelyan betrayed the British Secret Service during a mission with James Bond. The two friends and agents infiltrated an Arkhangelsk chemical weapons facility, with the orders to blow it up. The two agents managed to sneak into the main chamber of the facility, facing exceptionally small resistance. James was concerned but Alec claimed that half of everything was mere luck. Unfortunately for Bond, Alec triggered an alarm just moments later. With Russian soldiers advancing onto them, Alec provided cover while Bond set the explosives, with Alec telling Bond to set the timer to six minutes. After setting the charges, Bond did not hear anything from his colleague and peeked out of his cover, seeing that Alec had been captured by the Russian General Ourumov, who threatened to shoot Alec should Bond not surrender.

However, Alec urged Bond to finish the job and blow them all to hell, knowing fully well that Bond would not leave his friend behind. After resetting the charges to three minutes instead of six, Bond left his cover, but Ourumov seemingly shot Alec nonetheless. The Russian soldiers opened fire at Bond, who swiftly took cover behind a gas tank. Unable to shoot at Bond due to the risk of hitting the gas tanks, the soldiers were forced to watch Bond leave the room, still dragging the gas canister with him. Bond eventually managed to escape the facility as it exploded, believing Trevelyan to be dead. 

In truth, Alec had only staged his death together with Ourumov, intending to simply walk out of the facility after Bond's planned death. However, due to Bond resetting the charges, Trevelyan had much less time to leave than he expected and was caught in the explosion, burning the right side of his face.

After his "demise", Trevelyan formed a criminal organization and took on the alias Janus, named after the two-faced Roman god. In 1995, he sent his henchmen Xenia Onatopp and Ourumov to steal a Tiger helicopter and then a powerful satellite weapon called GoldenEye from a Russian military bunker facility with the help of computer programmer Boris Grishenko. They then destroy the facility so as not to leave any clues of the crime, unaware that another computer programmer Natalya Simonova had survived. Bond is then sent to investigate Janus' criminal organization.

Revealing himself to Bond[]

By the way, I did think of asking you to join my little scheme, but somehow I knew that 007's loyalty was always to the mission — never to his friend. Closing time, James. Last call.
~ Alec revealing his true colors to Bond.

To find Janus, Bond meets crime boss Valentin Zukovsky in Russia. Although not knowing Janus' identity, Valentin reveals to Bond that Janus' is a Lienz Cossack. Through his criminal ties, Zukovsky manages to reach out to Janus and tells him to meet Bond at the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg. Janus sends Onatopp to dispose of Bond but Bond manages to overpower her and forces her to bring him to Janus.

Onatopp drives Bond out of the city, into an open field where all kinds of statues are stored. Spotting the Tiger helicopter amidst the statues Bond journeys towards it. While Bond walks through the ruins he is approached by Janus who reveals himself to be Alec Trevelyan. Not believing his eyes, Bond lowers his weapon. Trevelyan sarcastically asks whether Bond would like to make his typical witty comeback, but Bond is too shocked.

File:JanusReveal.png

Janus reveals himself to Bond.

Calling Bond "Her Majesty's loyal terrier", Trevelyan reveals that he had grown tired of fighting for the Crown only to return home and find that everything he risked his life for had changed. He then tells Bond to drop his gun, stating that he is insulted that Bond really thinks that he had not expected Bond's every move.

Shocked, Bond lowers his gun. He tells Trevelyan that he trusted him and asks how the MI6 screening missed that his parents were Lienz Cossacks. Trevelyan reveals that MI6 knew of his heritage, explaining that while his parents survived the British betrayal and Stalin's execution squads, his father couldn't let himself or his wife live with the shame of letting their people die, which led him to kill her and himself. MI6 then took in Trevelyan, expecting that the six-year-old boy would not remember his parent's deaths. Trevelyan also blames Bond for his disfigured face, as Bond reset the timers. Bond claims that he did so to save him, but Trevelyan responds that he didn't want Bond to save him but to die for him. He casually mentions that he initially wanted to ask for Bond to join him, but deep down he knew that Bond would be loyal to his country and not to his friend. Furious and disappointed, Bond then tries to shoot Trevelyan, but is shot with a sleeping dart by one of Trevelyan's hidden henchmen.

Together with Natalya, Bond is then strapped inside the Tiger helicopter. Trevelyan sets the helicopter to shoot its missiles at itself but Bond is able to eject both of them out of the helicopter before it explodes.

Bond's Escape[]

Bond and Natalya are soon taken into custody by Russian soldiers. However, while Ourumov manages to flee with Natalya, Bond escapes and enters a tank, driving it through St. Petersburg in pursuit of Ourumov. Ourumov eventually manages to enter Trevelyan's converted missile train which drives off almost immediately. Inside, Trevelyan thanks Ourumov for the "gift", as Natalya is now in his custody and unable to reveal his plans. However, he reveals his anger about Bond's escape. He then approaches Natalya, telling her that he and Bond "shared everything". He attempts to rape her, but Natalya breaks free and slaps him. They are then interrupted when Bond drives his tank on the rails, intending to derail the train. Trevelyan orders a henchmen to keep the train at full speed, to ram Bond's tank. However, Bond uses the tank to shoot at the train, killing the driver as well as blasting the front cabin. The unmanned train crashes into the tank and derails, knocking everyone inside off their feet.

AlecOnatop

Alec shortly before escaping.

After a short moment of dizziness, Trevelyan realizes what's going on. He crouches towards his gun but Bond steps on it, forcing him backward. Although he is unarmed, Trevelyan is not impressed, stating that Bond has no way to escape and that he has the only bargaining chip, Natalya. He orders Ourumov to bring her to them and the general enters the cabin with Natalya at gunpoint.

Bond tries to drive a wedge between Trevelyan and Ourumov by revealing that the former is a Lienz Cossack. Ourumov is startled and Bond uses this to swiftly turn around and shoot him in the head. However, this gives Trevelyan and Onatopp the second they need to flee from the train wreckage and lock all doors. Trevelyan and Onatopp then escape in a helicopter. While they fly off, he uses a walkie to contact Bond and tell him that he rigged the train with explosives. After gleefully telling Bond that he set the timer to the same six minutes Bond gave him, he cuts the connection, leaving Bond and Natalya behind.

After hacking the computer inside the train and finding the location of Trevelyan's base, Natalya and Bond manage to leave the train before it explodes. They set out to Cuba to stop Trevelyan's plot.

Base attacked[]

You know, James, I was always better!
~ Alec during his fight with Bond.

While flying over a lake while searching for the base, Bond's plane is shot by a missile that comes straight out of the lake and crashes into the forest. After the crash, Alec sends Onatopp in a helicopter to search for survivors. She is defeated and killed by Bond, who now knows that Alec's base is located inside the lake.

File:AlecFacesBond.png

Bond is brought before Alec.

At the base, Alec tells Boris to heave the base out of the lake in order to start the operation. Grishenko claims that the satellite would be in range in 6 minutes so it is too early to prepare the dish and he is not ready, but Alec angrily orders him to do it anyway. After the base has emerged, Alec hands Boris the GoldenEye, threateningly telling Boris that it better be working. While Boris makes the final preparations, Alec is handed a tablet by one of his henchmen and watches footage of Bond and Natalya sneaking onto the base. He sends his men to deal with Bond and orders Boris to have the GoldenEye satellite target London.

With the base at high alert, Bond is forced to shoot many of Alec's men while advancing to the main control room. Providing a distraction to allow Natalya to flee in order to hack into the system, Bond gives himself up after activating a hidden explosive charge near a gasoline tank. Bond is brought before Trevelyan who examines Bond's belongings. Remembering Q's tricks, he takes Bond's watch and examines it and deactivates the explosive charge Bond had planted. Being kept a prisoner at the base's main chamber, Bond watches the nearby computer screens and realizes that Alec intends to hack into the Bank of England to transfer all the money electronically, moments before setting off the GoldenEye and thus erasing every trace of the transaction. Alec reveals that his plans are far greater than that since the GoldenEye will also erase the bank's financial records and destroy the United Kingdoms economy, all to satisfy his revenge for his family's demise.

Eventually, Natalya is also captured and brought before Alec. Boris is delighted to see Natalya but she furiously headbutts him, attacking him until she is restrained by guards. At that point Bond spots Boris' habit of spinning a pen when he is nervous. Alec then sends Boris back to his computer to check whether Natalya has done any harm hacking before she was captured. Big-mouthed, Boris brags that Natalya does not have his skills and would be unable to hack into the GoldenEye but is proven wrong when an alarm goes off, stating that GoldenEye is about to reenter earth's atmosphere which would cause the satellite burn up upon re-entry. Boris tries to hack back into the system while furiously clicking the pen. Unbeknownst to Boris, Bond had exchanged Boris' pen with his own explosive one and thus Boris accidentally arms the pen. Bond senses an opportunity and knocks down Boris, who drops the pen near the gasoline canister, causing it to blow up. Fueled by the gasoline and the explosive charge Bond set earlier, the explosion destroys almost the entire control room.

File:AlecHangs.png

Alec, only held by Bond.

Alec dispatches a guard to kill Boris if he fails to decrypt Natalya's code, and then sets off to hunt down Bond, who has decided to sabotage the antenna hanging over the base. Their duel starts with a convoluted shootout, but eventually both men's rifles are empty. Bond pursues Trevelyan across the area above the antenna, when Trevelyan ambushes him and attacks in the confined space. A brutal fist fight erupts between them, and they both seem surprisingly evenly matched. Trevelyan narrowly wins. Breathlessly, he holds Bond at gunpoint, rasping to him that "he was always better". Before he can shoot however, Bond kicks open a trap door underneath him and drops down onto the antenna. Running out of bullets, Alec follows him and both men continue to fight, eventually leading to Alec hanging over the edge of the antenna with 007 grabbing his foot. Smugly, Trevelyan replies his catchphrase "For England, James?" but James responds "No, for me," before letting go of his former friend, knowing he was too dangerous to be left alive. Trevelyan fell screaming onto the dish a long way below, surviving but mortally wounded. Paralyzed from the fall, Trevelyan can do nothing to save himself as the antenna explodes and collapsed onto him, crushing him to death.

Personality and Abilities[]

Trevelyan is a calculating criminal mastermind. He seems to have always been a sociopath, so much that even when he was six years old and recruited to MI6 his only desire was to destroy it as Trevelyan was the son of Lienz Cossack parents who sided against the Soviets during World War II. After the war, the Cossacks attempted to surrender to the British, who then sent them back to Russia where Joseph Stalin had many of them executed. Trevelyan's parents survived the execution squads, but the survivor's guilt proved too much, causing his father to kill his wife and himself. Trevelyan blamed the British for his parents' deaths, and even in his adult years he still held to his grudge.

Despite this, Trevelyan does seem to have a sort of friendship with James Bond, as the two had been on numerous missions together, shared everything and Trevelyan once considered inviting Bond on his plans. But after he disrupted Trevelyan's plans to stage his death by setting the explosive timers to three minutes instead of six, it left the right side of his face burned and disfigured, thus further fueling his vendetta.

He is bitter and resentful; despite it being nine years since he received his scar, Trevelyan's anger did not settle. When leaving Bond and Natalya to die in a train rigged with explosives, Trevelyan gives the two, "the same six minutes [Bond] gave [Alec]", meaning they had three minutes. Trevelyan then quips that "it was the least he could do for a friend.".

Trevelyan is a master of psychological warfare; he delivers several cutting remarks to Bond during their brawl on top of the satellite dish and mocks him on how many men he has killed and how many women are deceased because of him, a veiled reference to Bond's wife Teresa, who died in the previous movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It was particularly effective because very few people have such knowledge of Bond's personal life, and coming from a man Bond once considered a close friend, it allowed it to cut deep. Alec was also a capable marksman and a bloody brawler, able to hold his own against 007 and came close to actually killing him. Alec is a mastermind who was able to orchestrate the GoldenEye project, blackmail Boris Grishenko into serving him, and convincing a high ranking general in the Russian Military (General Ourumov) into betraying his country, displaying his skill in manipulation.

Despite his considerable flaws, Trevelyan is a sophisticated and intelligent man who speaks with a broad vocabulary, and remains cool under pressure. However, he only truly lost his sensitive and enthusiastic nature at the climax of the film, where he finally pitted himself against James Bond.

As a former MI6 agent, Trevelyan is a master of weaponry and hand to hand combat, and has his own trademark weapon, a Davis Mp.4 k-9d Mk.9 automatic pistol. He is able to estimate and factor in his former friend's moves, as when he realized that Bond had rigged the control room with explosives and then deactivated them with Bond's watch which was actually a detonator. Even when he was at the mercy of an enraged Bond, Alec still didn't beg for his life and smugly repeated his line "for England, James?" Only for 007 to reply "No, for me" and lets him fall to the ground below. Trevelyan barely survives, only to die seconds later when the satellite dish crashes down on him.

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Trivia[]

  • The late Alan Rickman and Anthony Hopkins were initially offered the role of Trevelyan, but both turned the offer down. Reportedly, Trevelyan was originally written as an older character and as a mentor for Bond, and most likely would have been a direct survivor of the British betrayel of the Lienz Cossacks instead of the being the child of one, before Sean Bean's casting facilitated the need to make him a younger character.
  • Trevelyan's death scene is considered the greatest death of a Sean Bean character in any film.
  • Alec Trevelyan is the first in a hugely developing series of villains in the James Bond franchise with proper motivations and genuine personalities as opposed to megalomaniacal lust and are considered the more modern and realistic than previous main antagonists.
  • Trevelyan is featured as the main antagonist of Goldeneye 007, the 2010 video game that adapted Goldeneye into Daniel Craig's rebooted Bond universe, voiced by Elliot Cowen. As Trevelyan's original desire for revenge for the death of his Lienz Cossack parents was no longer feasible in the modern day (As he would have been considerably older than he was in the original film), his motivation was changed to being disgusted by the current economic system, feeling that the efforts of soldiers like him and are all done in the interest of bankers. It was also implied that Trevelyan had founded Janus during his time as an MI6 agent, rather than him establishing the organization after his supposed death.
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