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I'm sorry, but people are in danger and I can help them. That's the truth of it, and that's all that matters. And if that means me having to do the Department's job for them, then that's what I have to do.
~ Alex to Jack
Yeah, but fear and panic aren't the only emotions. What about hope? Or love?Friendship? Seems kind of lonely.
~ Alex Rider to Yassen Gregorovich

Alexander "Alex" Rider is the titular main protagonist of the Amazon Prime thriller series of the same name, based on the books by Adam Horowitz. He is the son of the late John and Helen Rider, the nephew of the late Ian Rider, the best friend and foster son of Jack Starbright, the best friend of Tom Harris, the boyfriend of Kyra Vashenko-Chao, and the former love interest of Sabina Pleasance.

In Season 2, after his experiences with The Department, Alex suffers from PTSD and driven from the death of his family members. He also has a complicated relationship with Scorpia assassin Yassen Gregorovich, who killed killed Alex's uncle Ian and sent him down the path of becoming a spy while at the same time was friends with Alex's father and saved his life more than once.

In Season 3, after SCORPIA is taken out for good, Alex returns to a normal life and begins a romantic relationship with Kyra Vashenko.

Personality[]

Initially, Alex was a normal teenage boy in England; he went to school, had a best friend in Tom Harris, and had crushes on girls. He would also laugh, and was more relaxed, rebelling like going to parties when grounded or stealing Tom's phone back after it was confiscated from him in class. However, after his uncle's death, Alex became withdrawn, depressed, and distant. However emotionally traumatized, Alex found himself being forced into infiltrating Point Blanc Academy, where he became fast friends with James Sprintz and a girl named Laura. He is also very strong-willed, withholding torture from both Wolf's team and Dr. Greif after his cover is blown. Another distinguishing thing about Alex is his being snarky, relentless, and highly opinionated. He uses sarcasm to make his enemy reckless enough to make a terrible mistake. Alex is a very selfless and caring individual as well, being unwilling to abandon the children imprisoned in Point Blanc and insisting on Mrs. Jones let him join K-Unit in infiltrating the institute.

However, following the events of Point Blanc, Alex suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was mainly haunted by Yassen Gregorovich, enough that he started almost seeing him everywhere he went. He found himself brought back into the spy world again when Yassen posed as an electrician and bombed Sabina's home, nearly killing her father in the process. However, unlike the first time, Alex was driven to help people in danger and became more eager to join the spy game again, this time he was driven to stop whatever Damian Cray and Gregorovich were planning. Unfortunately, Alex became more reckless with his need to prove himself to MI6, even foiling their plans to capture Simon Marriat (albeit accidentally). When it became clear that no one would help him, Alex took it upon himself to investigate Cray and "do the Department's job for them" and investigate Damian Cray's game "Feathered Serpent" especially if it meant saving people's lives. Even though Blunt convinced him that he was delusional because he still suffered from visions that Yassen was haunting him, Alex's suspicions of Gregorvich were proven correct when he saw the man assassinate Simon Marriat in cold blood. When Alex confronted Yassen, he met his gaze with a piercing glare, exuding unwavering confidence. He was intelligent enough to put two and two together with Simon's warnings and Yassen killing him made him realize the two were working together.

He temporarily grew disillusioned with the Department when Julia Rothman manipulated him into thinking Jones ordered the hit that killed John Rider on Albert Bridge. During his time as a scorpia agent, Alex still retained his compassion, insisting to Yassen that love and friendship are emotions that can be used in a positive way and insisting that there are better ways than killing someone. He still retained his sarcasm and snarky antics, calling Yassen "no fun" and "seven" when they were training and openly mocking Nile in front of his training peers. After learning the truth of his father's and mother's deaths, Alex restored his trust in MI6 enough to let Jones, Blunt and Smithers help him escape from CIA custody. Alex became more determined to bring down SCORPIA and Julia Rothman for ordering the hit. He smiles at the possibility of becoming a spy again as the series ends.

Appearance[]

Alex is a young British male with blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes. He's mostly seen wearing sweaters, jeans and sneakers when not in his school unform. In the first two episodes of Season 1, his hair is short and gelled back until Episode Three, where he gets a hair cut, thus giving him bangs. However, like his civilian form, he has his hair combed over the right side of his head. In seasons 2 and 3, Alex allowed his hair grow out.

He's currently 17 years old.

Powers and abilities[]

  • Detective Skills/Criminology: He could also see through the lies of Mrs. Jones, Mr. Blunt and agent Crawley, finding it suspicious that his uncle died in a car crash because Ian was the stickler on the road.
  • Espionage: Alex is a skilled spy in spite of his young age. He tracked down his uncle's car by pinging Tom's phone with the Find my Phonex App and finally trailing Smoking Mirror. However when Alex was following Smithers, the agent warned Alex that his surveillance needed a little work.
  • Gadgetry
  • Leadership/Tactics: Alex inspired his friends James Sprintz and Kyra Vashenko-Chao to not only breaking out but also helping him rescue the children from Point Blanc's prison cells. A few months later, he inspired Tom and Kyra to help him foil Damian Cray's plans of launching missiles and starting a nuclear war, and also convince the other students in SCORPIA to let him take the lead in Invisible Sword.
  • Firearms
  • Marksmanship: Alex's marksmanship was mainly considered sloppy, usually in regards to his stance, as he missed every target when in the shooting range. However, in the finale Alex successfully fired a bullet at the Invisible Sword and had a bullet grazed Nile's cheek in a similar fashion to John when saving Yassen eighteen years ago.
  • Skilled Combatant: As a child, Alex learned Karate. In Season 1, he managed to subdue most of the Department's agents while infiltrating their secret HQ. However, in Season 3, during his attempts to get a water bottle from Yassen, Alex was unable to defeat Yassen due to the man's far superior combat training and experience.
    • Krav Maga: Alex is is especially skilled in Krav Maga due to Ian preparing his nephew for this life as a spy.
    • Hand to Hand Combat
  • Agility: Alex, having undergone extensive combat training, demonstrated remarkable agility and skill, particularly evident when he ascended the school roof in an attempt to retrieve Tom's phone. During this daring endeavor, he successfully evaded gunfire from Yassen Gregorovich, a highly proficient assassin. His ability to dodge the bullets was primarily attributed to his strategic use of the catwalks, which he manipulated to create instability, thereby disorienting Yassen and causing him to miss his shots.
  • Indomitable willpower: Alex is one of the most determined and strongest minds alive, withstanding torture, questioning save interrogation. He is rarely intimidated and doesn't submit that easily. He was sissy adamant on getting information from Yassen on how the man knew his father. Due to his sarcasm, Alex is also able to get underneath people's skins by trying to exploit there weaknesses.
    • Interrogation resistance: As a child, Alex's uncle taught Alex how to resist people under questioning, even if he's tortured. When he was held captive by Wolf's team, Alex sang. Alex was also able to resist the effects of Dr. Greif's truth serum, partly by confusing the experience with the previous kidnapping and shouting gibberish related to that.
  • Skilled thief: Pickpocketing: Alex possesses the skills to pick pockets as during In the interrogation scene, he discreetly stole a paperclip.
    • Lock picking: Alex is able to pick pocket and pick a lock with a paperclip. During the interrogation scene, Alex palms the paperclip, which he used it to picked his handcuffs and escapes
  • Survivalist: Alex may be able to withstand physical punishment, as he miraculously survived being hit by a snow plow and only escaped with a mold concussion.
  • Singing: Alex uses singing to about annoying anyone whenever he is under interrogation.
  • Empathy: Alex is capable of compassion and understanding, as he empathized with Kyra when her parents were killed by agents of SCORPIA due to his uncle and biological parents' deaths and could potentially have felt empathetic to Parker because both their father figures were killed by Yassen Gregorovich. According to Yassen Gregorovich and Nile, Alex's compassion is a sign of weakness and emotion can get in the way in their line of work. However, Alex's compassion persists, as he points out that love and friendship is a better emotion in comparison.
  • Escapology: Alex is able to escape from prisons and dangerous situations. During his interrogation under Wolf, Alex managed to escape the building after picking his lock on his handcuffs.

Possessions[]

Alex shooting with a gun
  • Guns: Alex rarely uses guns, instead using his wits to escape from dangerous situations. He used a gun during combat training and threatening Tulip Jones (under the belief she killed his father). Alex used a gun again by firing a bullet at the Invisible Sword. He also grazed Nile's cheek in a similar fashion to John when saving Yassen eighteen years ago.

Relationships[]

Family[]

  • John Rider † - Father
  • Helen Rider † - Mother
  • Ian Rider † - Uncle

Allies[]

  • Alex's Team
  • Jay Harris
  • Yassen Gregorovich - Situational Ally, Savior and Former Handler
  • K-Unit
    • Wolf
    • Fox
    • Eagle
    • Snake
  • MI6
  • Simon Marriott/Smoking Mirror
  • Sabina Pleasance
  • Steph - Classmate
  • Aisha - Former Love Interest

Enemies[]

  • Point Blanc Academy †
    • Hugo Greif † - First Archenemy
    • Eva Stellenbosch † - Attempted Killer and Attempted Victim
    • Alex Rider Clone † - Doppelganger and Attempted Killer
    • Sasha clone - One-sided Crush
    • James clone
    • Other Clones
  • Fiona Friend
  • Martin Willby
  • Laura Kellner
  • Damian Cray † - Former Captor and Attempted Killer
  • SCORPIA
    • Julia Rothman † - Former Superior and Third Archenemy
    • Nile † - Attempted Killer

Gallery[]

Promotional Images[]

Season 1[]

1.01 Lies[]

1.05 Secrets[]

1.07 Incursion[]

1.08: Truth[]

Season 2[]

2.03 Mirror[]

Season 3[]

3.03 Enemy[]

3.04 Recruit[]

Trivia[]

  • Alex is commonly a diminutive form of the name Alexander, which originates from the Greek Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros). This name is derived from the words αλέξειν (aléxein), meaning "to ward off, keep off, turn away, defend, protect," and ἀνδρός (andrós), the genitive form of ἀνήρ (anḗr), which translates to "man." Therefore, the meaning of the name can be interpreted as "defender, protector of man."
  • Jack and Tom were the first to know Alex was a spy.
  • He hates anchovies (especially on pizza).
  • Alex's uncle, Ian, was indirectly preparing Alex for spying with training exercises that were disguised as childhood games. This includes how Alex was withstanding interrogation in episode 2. In that instance, Alex and in order to annoy his interrogators.
  • Unlike the books, where Alex is reluctant to be a spy, he is slightly more motivated to being one in the series and even decides to being one again at the end of Season 3; only this time it would be his call.
    • In season 2, he urges Mrs. Jones and Alan to let him get back in the game. Due to Blunt's darker personality traits being toned down for the TV series, the man shows more concern for Alex's well-being than his book counterpart, so he dismissed him. He even shows hints of remorse of having used Alex to stop the Damian Cray when Tulip calls him out on how he treated Alex.
  • Due to Yassen staying alive at the end of Season 2, he acted as Alex's mentor and handler in Season 3 when the boy grew temporarily disillusioned with The Department until Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones revealed the true circumstances of his parents' deaths by dying in a plane crash with a bomb planted on it.
  • Alex has two love interests: Sabina Pleasance and Kyra, the former who couldn't handle Alex's life as a spy and latter of whom begins an romantic relationship with.

Navigation[]

Series
Alex Rider TV Series Logo
Characters
Alex Rider (Amazon Prime), Tom Harris (Amazon Prime), Jack Starbright (Amazon Prime), Tulip Jones (Amazon Prime), Alan Blunt (Amazon Prime), Derek Smithers (Amazon Prime), John Crawley, Ian Rider, John Rider, Sabina Pleasure (Amazon Prime), Yassen Gregorovich (Amazon Prime), Kyra Vashenko-Chao, Zeljan Kurst, Helen Rider
Groups
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