Giving credence to the Rosie Carver character from LALD

Hi all,

I realise scouring these forums and reading official Bond literature that Rosie Carver is often considered to be one of the worst written characters in the series since her mannerisms and behaviour destroy any belief in her being a CIA agent. However I think we may have got it all wrong and she is simply a misunderstood character and I would like to try to give an explanation to improve how she can be interpreted as a character.

When Bond first arrives in San Monique, he is surprised to learn that “Mrs Bond” has already checked into their newly upgraded holiday bungalow. When Bond first encounters Rosie, he has no idea who she is. If she really was a CIA agent, why would Leiter not have already told Bond that there was a contact there to meet him? It is implied that Quarrel Jr is already Bond’s contact on the island so the fact that she mentions she works for the CIA is a complete lie. But why does she do this?

It’s obvious that she is not in the bungalow when Bond arrives and someone (possibly also Rosie) has planted bugs in the bungalow to listen to Bond’s conversations. When Bond goes to take his bath, the wall panel is slid back and the snake enters down the wall. Could it be possible that Rosie is the one who is releasing the snake at that moment to kill Bond? Think about it – she kind of gets hysterical later over the hat and the scarecrows so is it hard to imagine that she is one of those voodoo supporters that we see in the beginning of the film? Snakes are shown in the opening scene as well as during Bond’s fight against Baron Samedi so it is possible that she is a snake handler and knows which snakes are poisonous.

After she releases the snake, there is the mix-up with Whisper entering the bungalow. I assume here that Whisper was unaware that Rosie was planning to kill Bond at that moment which is why he enters when he does. Rosie possibly does not see Whisper until after he leaves the bungalow. When she eventually enters the house, she is holding a revolver in case Bond is still not dead yet from receiving his supposed snake bite. She could also be holding the gun in order to shoot the snake as she would know that it was already in the bungalow. Bond then disarms her which she doesn’t anticipate and so from that moment on she makes up a nonsense story on the spot that she works for the CIA in order to cover her tracks. The reason that she comes across as totally unconvincing is that she wasn’t meant to be caught by Bond and assumed he would be dying on the floor once she entered the house.

Her reactions to the snake and the hat could be that she knows that Bond has rumbled her and she starts to act a bit hysterical to make Bond think that she is a naive girl who wouldn’t cause any trouble. In particular her reaction to the hat could be that she realises that if she does not fulfil her task of killing Bond, she will be killed by the voodoo clan. Bond then tells Rosie that he wants to find the spot where Baines’s body was found so she has a tidbit of information to lure Bond into another trap.

Bond discovers the card at the breakfast table. I believe this card was sent not by Solitaire but by one of the other voodoo gang members to remind Rosie that if she didn’t fulfil her task, she would be outcast. Bond then says he needs to organise getting a car and then says he will see her in the lobby. There is a cut to her looking from behind the screen while taking a shower. Could it be at that moment she contacts Kananga to fill him in on what happened the night previously and mentions that Bond wants to go to the spot where Baines’s body was found? Kananga then tells her to guide Bond to the island so they can set the trap to finally kill Bond.

Rosie seems to want to go to the other boats when they arrive at the harbour possibly having been told to get in one of the boats since the guys there would also be in on the plan to kill Bond. The fact that she confronts Quarrel Jr with a revolver is evidence that she mistrusts this unknown guy and thinks that he is not in on the plan. She probably thinks that once they arrive on the island she can have him arrested and then lead Bond into the mountains into the trap. Once Bond reveals that he knows Quarrel Jr, she decides not to take any further action since she is unaware of how much Bond knows of her and the whole setup at that moment.

A few minutes later we cut to Kananga who says that Rosie has been more efficient that he anticipated. He also says that Rosie know what to do. So this is evidence that he obviously had some communication with Rosie beforehand about bringing Bond to the island. So I theorise that she called Kananga in the morning when Bond went to get the rental car to set up the plan to lure him to the island. She and Bond then make out for some time along by the river. Her reaction to seeing the scarecrow could be that she knows that Kananga now knows that she has been found out by Bond and won’t be led into the trap.

So what was the trap? My theory: To kill Bond through natural causes. Either make him fall to break his neck or get bitten by another snake. Why? Because killing Bond in this way would reduce the possibility of making the death seem like foul play was involved.

But why was Rosie shot and not Bond? My guess is that the police (under Kananga’s influence) could frame Bond for her murder which would lead to Bond being arrested and the MI6 being exposed as having foreign agents in a country where they were not welcome. Her death could also be explained as possibly being shot by a supposed local who fired at her for supposedly trespassing on private land. Killing Bond in the same way would lead to more suspicion that Kananga was up to something which would mean more agents would be sent to the island to investigate.