Beatrix Kiddo
Encyclopedia
Beatrix Kiddo, primarily known as "The Bride", is a fictional character
and the protagonist
in the movie Kill Bill
by American director Quentin Tarantino
. She is portrayed by Uma Thurman
and was selected by Empire Magazine as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
", is 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 (Gordon Liu
), she served at the right hand of Bill
(David Carradine
), her boss and lover, a position that provoked the furious envy of Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah
).
Kiddo, a master of the Tiger/Crane style of kung fu, is the only Viper to learn the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique", a method of killing a person by quickly striking five pressure point
s around the heart with the fingertips. After the victim takes five steps, the heart explodes and he/she falls dead. Pai Mei supposedly refused to teach this technique, which was said to be "the deadliest blow in all of martial arts", to Bill or anyone else. Kiddo's determination wins his respect, however, and he teaches her the forbidden technique - a secret that Kiddo withholds from Bill until they meet for their final showdown.
Kiddo is first seen on the day of her wedding rehearsal in rural Texas
, living under the name "Arlene Machiavelli", having previously left Bill and abandoned the Vipers. Bill finds her, however, and gate-crashes her wedding rehearsal with the other Vipers and murders everyone inside. Bill then shoots her in the head, leaving her in a seemingly irreversible coma
. She remains comatose for four years, during which she is repeatedly prostituted and rape
d by an orderly named Buck (Michael Bowen
).
Shown being bitten by a mosquito
whose sting starts to mysteriously revive her as she lies comatose, she then awakens slowly as she is simultaneously about to be violated by one of Buck's "clients." Even though weakened by atrophy
, she kills the would-be rapist and then Buck, before beginning a mission of revenge on the other Vipers.
She then travels to Okinawa, where she convinces the legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzō (Sonny Chiba
) to come out of retirement and forge a katana
for her. After getting the sword, Kiddo arrives at the "House of Blue Leaves" where she faces O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu
).
Kiddo encounters Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus
) in a washroom, where she recognizes her cellphone's "Auld Lang Syne
" ringtone, and remembers her from the El Paso
massacre. Kiddo captures her and brings her to O-Ren Ishii, where she cuts off her left arm and challenges O-Ren to a duel. O-Ren Ishii, the Crazy 88 gang and Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama
) fight Beatrix; however, Beatrix defeats the Crazy 88 and Gogo. The Bride then faces off against O-Ren, climaxing
in a dramatic swordfight in a snow covered garden.
After killing O-Ren, Kiddo then torture
s Sofie Fatale for the locations of the rest of the members of the Vipers. She then sends her rolling down a hill to a hospital
for medical attention so she could live on and tell Bill what had transpired, and that Kiddo is still alive.
Kiddo then finds Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox
), who had renounced her life as a hired killer and started anew in a quiet suburban neighborhood with her husband and daughter. Kiddo shows up at her doorstep and engages her in a brutal fight. However, during the fight, Green's daughter Nikki comes home from school, and Kiddo is unwilling to kill Green in front of her child. Green tries to apologize for what she had done, but Kiddo is implacable. Green shoots at her with a handgun
concealed in a cereal box, but misses and Kiddo quickly throws a knife at Green, killing her.
Nikki goes to the kitchen just in time to see Kiddo kill her mother. Kiddo tells the girl that it was not her intent to kill Green in front of her; and that if the young girl wishes to avenge her mother's death when she grows up, Kiddo would be waiting.
The film then returns to where Vol. 1 left off. After killing Vipers O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green, Kiddo goes after Budd (Michael Madsen
), Bill's brother. Laying in wait underneath Budd's trailer, she charges in the front door only to be shot in the chest by Budd with a shotgun
loaded with rock salt
, so as not to kill her. He sedates her and calls Elle Driver, Kiddo's arch-rival within the Vipers, to bargain a price for Kiddo's Hanzo sword. Budd and an accomplice then take her to a graveyard and bury her alive. During her imprisonment, she recalls her rigorous training sessions under the tutelage of the martial arts master, Pai Mei. Using one of the many techniques she learned from him, Kiddo breaks open the casket and goes back to Budd's trailer where he lies dead, having been bitten by a black mamba
hidden in the suitcase Driver brought that contained the money for the sword. Driver, still in the trailer after Budd's death, engages Beatrix in a brutal battle, in which Driver reveals that she had killed Pai Mei as revenge for tearing out her eye. Enraged, Beatrix tears out Elle's other eye, leaving her completely blind
, and leaves Driver locked inside the trailer with the angry black mamba still inside. Beatrix then pursues her final target, Bill.
When she finds him, from information provided by Esteban Vihaio (Michael Parks
), she discovers that their daughter, B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine
), whom she presumed had died in utero
, is alive and well. They spend the evening together as a family until B.B. goes to bed, and then Bill and Kiddo settle their differences; Bill explains his reasons for trying to kill her (being angered at her leaving him) and argues that she could only be a killer. Kiddo, under truth serum, admits that she left because she wanted their daughter to have a life away from killing and that the only way B.B. would have gotten that was to leave Bill.
At the end of their conversation, a fight ensues where Kiddo fatally strikes Bill using the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique". As Bill dies, the two forgive each other and make their peace. He then walks 5 steps and falls to the ground, dead. The Bride then disappears with B.B. in the middle of the night. The next morning, she lies on the bathroom floor of the hotel that she and B.B stayed in after she fled Bill's villa, crying and laughing at once. The two then drive off into the sunset to begin a new life.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
and the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
in the movie Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
by American director Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
. She is portrayed by Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
and was selected by Empire Magazine as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
Beatrix Kiddo's past
The Bride, codenamed "Black MambaBlack mamba
The black mamba , also called the common black mamba or black-mouthed mamba, is the longest venomous snake in Africa, averaging around in length, and sometimes growing to lengths of...
", is a former member of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad
Deadly Viper Assassination Squad
The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad is a group of fictional characters in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.It is a reference to Buddhism's "Five Poisons": see .-History:...
", an elite, shadowy group of assassins
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
. A formidable, ruthless warrior trained under martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
master Pai Mei (Gordon Liu
Gordon Liu
Gordon Liu is a Chinese martial arts film actor. He became famous for playing the lead in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and its sequels...
), she served at the right hand of Bill
Bill (Kill Bill)
Bill is the fictional titular character for whom the movie Kill Bill is named. In the film, he is the leader of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, which included his brother, Budd . Bill's codename is Snake Charmer...
(David Carradine
David Carradine
David Carradine was an American actor and martial artist, best known for his role as a warrior monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, which later had a 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues...
), her boss and lover, a position that provoked the furious envy of Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Christine Hannah is an American film actress. After making her screen debut in 1978, Hannah starred in a number of Hollywood films throughout the 1980s, notably Blade Runner, Splash, Wall Street and Roxanne and Kill Bill.-Early life:Hannah was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Susan...
).
Kiddo, a master of the Tiger/Crane style of kung fu, is the only Viper to learn the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique", a method of killing a person by quickly striking five pressure point
Pressure point
A pressure point in the field of martial arts refers to an area on the human body that may produce significant pain or other effects when manipulated in a specific manner...
s around the heart with the fingertips. After the victim takes five steps, the heart explodes and he/she falls dead. Pai Mei supposedly refused to teach this technique, which was said to be "the deadliest blow in all of martial arts", to Bill or anyone else. Kiddo's determination wins his respect, however, and he teaches her the forbidden technique - a secret that Kiddo withholds from Bill until they meet for their final showdown.
Kill Bill Vol. 1
These events are described in chronological order. The film's sequence varies.Kiddo is first seen on the day of her wedding rehearsal in rural Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, living under the name "Arlene Machiavelli", having previously left Bill and abandoned the Vipers. Bill finds her, however, and gate-crashes her wedding rehearsal with the other Vipers and murders everyone inside. Bill then shoots her in the head, leaving her in a seemingly irreversible coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
. She remains comatose for four years, during which she is repeatedly prostituted and rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d by an orderly named Buck (Michael Bowen
Michael Bowen (actor)
Michael Bowen is an American actor. Films he has appeared in include Jackie Brown, Magnolia, and Less Than Zero. Bowen also had a recurring role as Danny Pickett on the ABC television series, Lost....
).
Shown being bitten by a mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
whose sting starts to mysteriously revive her as she lies comatose, she then awakens slowly as she is simultaneously about to be violated by one of Buck's "clients." Even though weakened by atrophy
Atrophy
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...
, she kills the would-be rapist and then Buck, before beginning a mission of revenge on the other Vipers.
She then travels to Okinawa, where she convinces the legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzō (Sonny Chiba
Sonny Chiba
, also known as Sonny Chiba, is a Japanese actor, singer, film producer, film director and martial artist.Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience.- Early life :Born in Fukuoka, Fukuoka,...
) to come out of retirement and forge a katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
for her. After getting the sword, Kiddo arrives at the "House of Blue Leaves" where she faces O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu
Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal , and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda.-Early...
).
Kiddo encounters Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus
Julie Dreyfus
Julie Dreyfus is a French actress.Dreyfus, who speaks fluent Japanese, French, and English, is well known in Japan, where she made her TV debut on a French-language lesson program on NHK's educational channel in the late 1980s, and has appeared on the TV show Ryōri no Tetsujin as a guest and...
) in a washroom, where she recognizes her cellphone's "Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
" ringtone, and remembers her from the El Paso
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
massacre. Kiddo captures her and brings her to O-Ren Ishii, where she cuts off her left arm and challenges O-Ren to a duel. O-Ren Ishii, the Crazy 88 gang and Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama
Chiaki Kuriyama
is a Japanese actress, singer and model. She is best known in the West for her roles in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Volume 1 and the Japanese film Battle Royale .- Biography :...
) fight Beatrix; however, Beatrix defeats the Crazy 88 and Gogo. The Bride then faces off against O-Ren, climaxing
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
in a dramatic swordfight in a snow covered garden.
After killing O-Ren, Kiddo then torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
s Sofie Fatale for the locations of the rest of the members of the Vipers. She then sends her rolling down a hill to a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
for medical attention so she could live on and tell Bill what had transpired, and that Kiddo is still alive.
Kiddo then finds Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox
Vivica A. Fox
Vivica Anjanetta Fox is an American actress and television producer. She is best known for her roles in the films Independence Day, Set It Off, Soul Food, Why Do Fools Fall In Love,Kill Bill and Juwanna Mann....
), who had renounced her life as a hired killer and started anew in a quiet suburban neighborhood with her husband and daughter. Kiddo shows up at her doorstep and engages her in a brutal fight. However, during the fight, Green's daughter Nikki comes home from school, and Kiddo is unwilling to kill Green in front of her child. Green tries to apologize for what she had done, but Kiddo is implacable. Green shoots at her with a handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
concealed in a cereal box, but misses and Kiddo quickly throws a knife at Green, killing her.
Nikki goes to the kitchen just in time to see Kiddo kill her mother. Kiddo tells the girl that it was not her intent to kill Green in front of her; and that if the young girl wishes to avenge her mother's death when she grows up, Kiddo would be waiting.
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Vol. 2 expands on the circumstances of Kiddo's shooting. Bill finds her on the day of her wedding rehearsal and pretends to give her his blessing; moments later, however, he leads the Vipers in massacring the wedding party in the chapel and shooting Kiddo on the side of her head, seemingly killing her, but that puts her in an an indefinite coma.The film then returns to where Vol. 1 left off. After killing Vipers O-Ren Ishii and Vernita Green, Kiddo goes after Budd (Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
), Bill's brother. Laying in wait underneath Budd's trailer, she charges in the front door only to be shot in the chest by Budd with a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
loaded with rock salt
Halite
Halite , commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride . Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities...
, so as not to kill her. He sedates her and calls Elle Driver, Kiddo's arch-rival within the Vipers, to bargain a price for Kiddo's Hanzo sword. Budd and an accomplice then take her to a graveyard and bury her alive. During her imprisonment, she recalls her rigorous training sessions under the tutelage of the martial arts master, Pai Mei. Using one of the many techniques she learned from him, Kiddo breaks open the casket and goes back to Budd's trailer where he lies dead, having been bitten by a black mamba
Black mamba
The black mamba , also called the common black mamba or black-mouthed mamba, is the longest venomous snake in Africa, averaging around in length, and sometimes growing to lengths of...
hidden in the suitcase Driver brought that contained the money for the sword. Driver, still in the trailer after Budd's death, engages Beatrix in a brutal battle, in which Driver reveals that she had killed Pai Mei as revenge for tearing out her eye. Enraged, Beatrix tears out Elle's other eye, leaving her completely blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
, and leaves Driver locked inside the trailer with the angry black mamba still inside. Beatrix then pursues her final target, Bill.
When she finds him, from information provided by Esteban Vihaio (Michael Parks
Michael Parks
Michael Parks is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in almost fifty films and has made frequent TV appearances, but is probably best known for his work in recent years with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith as well as the 1969 television series Then Came...
), she discovers that their daughter, B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine
Perla Haney-Jardine
Perla Haney-Jardine is an Brazilian-born American actress. She is best known for her role in Kill Bill Vol. 2 as B.B., the four-year-old daughter of Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo and Bill.-Personal life:...
), whom she presumed had died in utero
In Utero
In Utero is the third and final studio album by the American grunge band Nirvana, released on September 13, 1993, on DGC Records. Nirvana intended the record to diverge significantly from the polished production of its previous album, Nevermind...
, is alive and well. They spend the evening together as a family until B.B. goes to bed, and then Bill and Kiddo settle their differences; Bill explains his reasons for trying to kill her (being angered at her leaving him) and argues that she could only be a killer. Kiddo, under truth serum, admits that she left because she wanted their daughter to have a life away from killing and that the only way B.B. would have gotten that was to leave Bill.
At the end of their conversation, a fight ensues where Kiddo fatally strikes Bill using the "Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique". As Bill dies, the two forgive each other and make their peace. He then walks 5 steps and falls to the ground, dead. The Bride then disappears with B.B. in the middle of the night. The next morning, she lies on the bathroom floor of the hotel that she and B.B stayed in after she fled Bill's villa, crying and laughing at once. The two then drive off into the sunset to begin a new life.