Flandry and Tachwyr
They meet first when they are both very junior, then on several occasions as they rise through the ranks, although we are shown only two such occasions. They reach the very highest ranks but do not meet then.
Flandry and Aycharaych
They meet when they are members of their respective delegations to Betelgeuse. Flandry must learn first that Aycharaych is a universal telepath, then that he is the spearhead of Merseian Intelligence. They meet several times. Flandry even captures Aycharaych once but the latter is included in a prisoner exchange. They have a final confrontation on Chereion.
Bond and Rosa Klebb
SMERSH was in the background in Casino Royale and is Bond's main opponent in Live And Let Die but he finally confronts its Head of Operations, Rosa Klebb, only at the very end of his fifth novel, From Russia, With Love.
Bond and Ernst Stavro Blofeld
SPECTRE replaces SMERSH as the collective villain but Bond does not confront its founder and chairman, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, until a third novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. On that occasion, they are both in different identities and Bond initially thinks that the Count cannot be Blofeld because his appearance is so different from his photograph.
Fleming's long build-up to the first meetings with Klebb and Blofeld is superb.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed and relished Flandry's meetings or confrontations with Aycharaych. Esp. the one, during the civil war after Josip died, when Flandry was startled by how Aycharaych immediately quoted from a poem of Elizabeth Barrett Browning alluded to by the Terran.
Ad astra! Sean
"Villain" depends on which side you're on.
ReplyDeleteSure. That's why I'd like to read a novel or a series about a Cavalier and a Roundhead, both heroes. Examples can be multiplied.
ReplyDeleteMind you, Blofeld is simply a master criminal, a murderer and a potential mass murderer, not anyone's hero. Klebb is personally vile. I would not support any regime that put someone like her in charge of "Death to Spies."
ReplyDeleteWell, certain organizations tend to promote bad people, because they're the ones who can do certain things without going nuts. Or more nuts than they already are.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the Time Patrol would employ Nazis to ensure that the Holocaust happened on schedule.
ReplyDelete