Beatrix Kiddo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kill Bill Character | |
|---|---|
.JPG/275px-The_bride_(kill_bill).JPG) The Bride fights the Crazy 88 |
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| Beatrix Kiddo | |
| Alias | The Bride, Black Mamba, Arlene Machiavelli, Mommy |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Ex-assassin |
| Affiliation | Formally DVAS |
| Location |  United States |
| Children | B.B. (Daughter), |
| Filmography | |
| First appearance | Volume 1 |
| Last appearance | Volume 2 |
| Portrayed by | Uma Thurman |
| Created by | Q & U |
Beatrix Kiddo, (played by Uma Thurman) also known as The Bride, is a fictional character in Quentin Tarantino's movie Kill Bill.
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[edit] Beatrix Kiddo's past
The Bride, codenamed "Black Mamba", was a former member of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad", an elite, shadowy group of assassins. A formidable, ruthless warrior trained under martial arts master Pai Mei, she served at the right hand of Bill, her boss and lover, a position that provoked the furious envy of the other Vipers, especially Elle Driver, who was also Bill's lover.
Kiddo, a master of the Tiger/Crane style of kung fu, was the only Viper to learn the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique", a method of killing an assailant by quickly striking five pressure points around the heart. Pai Mei refused to teach this technique, which was said to be 'the deadliest blow in all of martial arts', even to Bill. Apparently Beatrix's determination won his respect and he taught her everything, including that, making her the only living person (Elle killed Pai Mei) to know this particular technique.
[edit] Kill Bill Vol. 1
Kiddo abandoned the dangerous life of an assassin after she learned she was pregnant with Bill's child. She found out about it during the mission that became her final one and told the assassin who was sent to kill her about it, thus saving her own life and her baby's. Kiddo then faked her own death and hid in rural Texas under the name "Arlene Machiavelli" and got engaged to a young man named Tommy Plympton. Bill found her, however, and gate-crashed her wedding rehearsal with the other Vipers and murdered everyone inside. Bill then shot her in the head, leaving her in a seemingly irreversible coma. She remained comatose for four years and six months, during which she was repeatedly prostituted and raped by an orderly named Buck.
Awakening just as one of Buck's "clients" was about to violate her, she killed the would-be rapist and then Buck, before beginning a mission of revenge on the other Vipers. She first traveled to Okinawa, where she convinced the legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzō to come out of retirement and forge one of his peerless katana for her. After getting the sword, Beatrix (wearing a yellow motorcycle jump suit) arrived at the "House of Blue Leaves" where she faced O-Ren Ishii.
Beatrix encountered Sofie Fatale in a washroom, where she recognized her cellphone's Auld Lang Syne ringtone, and remembered her from the El Paso massacre. Beatrix captured her and brought her to O-Ren Ishii, where she cut off her left arm, as a means of both seeking revenge on her for her presence at the massacre in El Paso and showing Ishii her intentions for a duel. O-Ren Ishii sent a few of the Crazy 88 gang and Gogo Yubari to fight and kill Beatrix; however, Beatrix killed Gogo and most of the Crazy 88 severely injuring the rest, after which she told them to leave, but also ordered that their dismembered limbs be left as they belong to her now just as her arm belonged to Pai Mei. Johnny Mo then arrived with dozens of the Crazy 88 who were then dispatched by O-Ren Ishii to deal with Beatrix. The Bride used her skill with the katana to defeat the henchmen before turning her attention to O-Ren, climaxing in a dramatic swordfight in a snowy garden.
After killing O-Ren, Beatrix then tortured Sofie Fatale for the locations of the rest of the members of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad". Beatrix then sent her rolling down a hill to a hospital for medical attention so she could live on and tell Bill what had transpired, and that Beatrix was still alive.
Beatrix Kiddo then found Vernita Green, who had renounced her life as a hired killer and started afresh in a quiet suburban neighborhood with a new husband and daughter. Beatrix showed up at her doorstep and engaged her in brutal hand to hand combat. However, during the fight, Vernita's daughter Nikki, came home from school, and Beatrix was unwilling to kill Vernita in front of her child. Vernita tried to apologize to Beatrix, but Beatrix was implacable. Thinking quickly, Vernita shot at Beatrix with a handgun, but missed. Beatrix quickly threw a knife at Vernita, killing her.
Nikki went to the kitchen just in time to see Beatrix kill her mother. Beatrix told the girl that she was sorry for killing her mom in front of her, and that if the young girl wished to avenge Vernita's death when she grew up, Beatrix would be waiting.
[edit] Kill Bill Vol. 2
After killing Vipers O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green, Beatrix went after Budd, Bill's brother. Budd shot her in the chest with a shotgun loaded with rock salt, then buried her alive in order to collect a bounty from her old rival, Driver. She escaped, however, and went back to Budd's trailer where he lay dead, having been bitten by a black mamba, with Driver standing over him. Driver engaged her in battle, and revealed that she had killed Pai Mei as revenge for tearing out her eye. Enraged, Kiddo tore out Elle's other eye and left Driver in the trailer with the black mamba in the middle of the desert. She then pursued her final target, Bill.
When she found him, from information provided by Esteban Vihaio, she discovered that their daughter, B.B., whom she presumed had died in utero, was alive and well. They spent the evening together as a family until B.B. went to bed, and then Bill and Kiddo settled their differences; Bill explained his reasons for trying to kill her, while she admitted she couldn't be happy as anything other than a warrior except, perhaps, as a mother.
At the end of their conversation, a brief fight ensued where Kiddo fatally struck Bill using the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique". As Bill died, the two forgave each other and made their peace. The Bride then disappeared with B.B. in the middle of the night. Next morning a relieved Beatrix watched cartoons with her daughter, after previously being seen crying whilst lying on the bathroom floor, a stuffed animal in her arms.
[edit] Popular culture
- Beatrix's yellow jumpsuit is a callback to the yellow jumpsuit worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death.
- Beatrix's three inch punch she uses to escape being buried alive is taken from a demonstration of the one inch punch performed by Bruce Lee at the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships.[citation needed]
- In the popular online fighting game, American Dad vs. Family Guy, Lois wears Beatrix's signature yellow jumpsuit and uses the Hanzo sword.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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