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Theory: Silva is M's son?


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#1 coco1997

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 12:06 AM

The Secret James Bond Missed in 'Skyfall'

 

You will remember that the plot revolves around the destruction wrought by Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a former MI6 agent who is angry at M (Judi Dench) for allowing him to be arrested in Hong Kong and then rot in prison rather than arranging an exchange. Now, everybody knows that Silva’s name is an anagram (“a rival soul”) -- but that’s not the anagram I mean.
 

The key anagram is the cryptic message Silva sends to M shortly before all mayhem breaks loose: “THINK ON YOUR SINS.” The language is so highly stylized that I was certain, from the time the words appeared on the screen of M’s laptop, that there was a message hidden within. In the car on the way home after the film ended, I was already scribbling anagrams on a piece of paper. But I couldn’t solve it, even with the help of the Internet Anagram Server, until I remembered three bizarre aspects of the movie. (Here are the spoilers.)
 

First, why on earth did the screenwriters go to the trouble of telling the audience that Silva had been arrested in Hong Kong and was thought to be still languishing in prison there rather than, say, transferred to the Chinese mainland, as a British spy likely would be? Second, why was Silva’s enmity toward M so intimate and full of moments of appalling grief? And third, why, after vowing revenge -- and spending the entire film seeking it -- did he find himself in the climactic scene unable to kill her?

These clues came together, and the anagram was solved:


THINK ON YOUR SINS
 

became
 

YOUR SON ISNT IN HK
 

Suddenly, it all made sense. Silva, thought to be in Hong Kong, was M’s son -- adopted, possibly, but undeniably her son. (Why adopted? Because otherwise we can make no sense of M’s comment to Bond that orphans make the best recruits. Yes, Bond was an orphan, but the poignancy and faraway gaze as M says the words tell us she is thinking of somebody else.)

 

Once we see that Silva is her son, the steeliness with which she sacrifices agents at the beginning of the film (including, we believe, Bond himself) becomes more fundamental to her character. She has been steely because that is how she survives the memory of what she has done. Without the knowledge that she let her own son rot in prison for the sake of the Secret Intelligence Service, her death at the film’s end seems more contrivance than tragedy.
 

Immediately after the film’s release, as audiences tried to understand the emotional weight of the final scene, there were whispers in the blogosphere that we were meant to believe that Silva was M’s son. But none that I have found mentioned the key clue: the anagram on M’s laptop.
 

That, then, is my theory of what was left on the cutting-room floor: The anagram was meant to be translated for us and the family connection between Silva and M made explicit. If the filmmakers have a response, I’d love to hear it.

Interesting theory. What do you make of it?



#2 Armand Fancypants

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 12:14 AM

If that is indeed an intentional anagram, Silva thinks of himself as M's son anyway so... this isn't exactly bringing something else to the table. It's the M/Agent relationship, nothing more.



#3 AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 04:38 AM

Silva might've seen himself in his deranged mind as M's real biological son, but I doubt that was how things were. In reality it probably was a mere M/Agent relationship.


Edited by AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän, 13 November 2013 - 04:39 AM.


#4 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 07:58 AM

Since it is never implied in the movie, it´s not relevant.  

 

Maybe it was an idea in previous script drafts but considered too on the nose to use (since the M-Bond relationship already was very maternal, another son coming in would have made this film much too much of a family drama).



#5 Jim

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 08:10 AM

Amusing theory; the anagram is especially entertaining.



#6 Dustin

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 11:46 AM

Fun idea. If true it was probably a leftover from some early stages of the production and changed after concerns about how such a storyline would be received. For me SKYFALL's villain always was M, but many fans don't agree at all and see her as just doing her job, while Silva had the insolence not to die after taking cyanide and turning on his authority figure, very naughty. Revealing Silva as M's son - and admitting she betrayed him for her own career - would have made a more forgiving reading of her character nearly impossible. I suppose it would not have sat well with many viewers, probably for the best it was left ambiguous. This way we can still interpret the film to our hearts content. Have to admit the anagram is convincing. Would the proper phrase not be THINK OF YOUR SINS?

#7 sharpshooter

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 12:30 PM

If that is indeed an intentional anagram, Silva thinks of himself as M's son anyway so... this isn't exactly bringing something else to the table. It's the M/Agent relationship, nothing more.

Yes, I agree. "Ah well, mother's calling."



#8 Dustin

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Posted 13 November 2013 - 05:47 PM

The only new bit - new at least insofar as I haven't heard about it before - is the anagram. It would be great if that was confirmed or debunked for good one day. Such is the stuff urban Internet legends are made of.

#9 Guy Haines

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Posted 14 November 2013 - 11:47 PM

Not her son, I think, but Silva is a man obsessed with her, which for a Bond villain is quite unusual and disturbing. He was "her favourite", and she betrayed him. The references to "mommy" and "mother". The age gap. There are hints of another movie, "The Manchurian Candidate", except it was the other way around - the mother obsessed with the son. Quite peculiar.

 

But in this particular film - and that's why, in spite of Sam Mendes being signed for Bond 24, it will not, I think, be "Skyfall revisited" - M is central to the story. The professional "mother" figure for Bond. Quite a different one for Silva. M's death causes Bond a moment of profound grief, although the surroundings would have contributed - memories of a more personal loss. But he's soon over it.

 

It does make you wonder, though - would the story have worked with a male actor as M?



#10 indy_chic

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Posted 18 November 2013 - 04:29 AM

Amusing theory; the anagram is especially entertaining.

 

 

Certainly entertaining! :)

 

I think if he really was M's son, either he or M would have mentioned something about it in his final scene with her, right before Bond steps in. That whole scene between them was very intense.



#11 seawolfnyy

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Posted 18 November 2013 - 04:10 PM

An interesting theory, but not one that holds much water. I could believe that the "THINK ON YOUR SINS" is meant to be an anagram, but not that Silva is biologically (or even adopted) M's son. If anything, his relationship would be like the one M had with Bond, that it's maternal. So in a sense, yes Silva is M's "son," but only as much as Bond is her son.



#12 Binyamin

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Posted 18 November 2013 - 10:32 PM

Yes. One of the main points about Silva is that he has a skewed obsession with M and sees her as his mother -- but the twist of him actually BEING her son adds absolutely nothing to the plot or characters, and would actually make him look MORE sane, not less.



#13 AMC Hornet

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Posted 19 November 2013 - 03:09 AM

Of course Silva was M's son. So was Bond, making them brothers - just like Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. I expect James and Tiago (Spanish for James) even roomed together at Eton.

 

After all, Isn't Austin Powers where EON gets all its ideas (Pleasance's Blofeld is clearly a ripoff of Dr. Evil, Bond and M going back in time was from both TSWSM and Goldmember, etc.)?

 

Last word.



#14 hilly

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Posted 19 November 2013 - 02:23 PM

I did think, for one moment, when I saw Skyfall for the first time, "Oh dear God, please don't let this be the case...."

Thankfully my fears were mis-placed

#15 Walecs

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Posted 19 November 2013 - 07:42 PM

Of course Silva was M's son. So was Bond, making them brothers - just like Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. I expect James and Tiago (Spanish for James) even roomed together at Eton.

 

After all, Isn't Austin Powers where EON gets all its ideas (Pleasance's Blofeld is clearly a ripoff of Dr. Evil, Bond and M going back in time was from both TSWSM and Goldmember, etc.)?

 

Last word.

 

Don't forget Oddjobs and Largo, which are ripoffs of RandomTask and Number 2, but I think this time we'd have to blame Fleming rather than EON.



#16 dtuba

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Posted 19 November 2013 - 11:18 PM

Of course Silva was M's son. So was Bond, making them brothers - just like Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. I expect James and Tiago (Spanish for James) even roomed together at Eton.

 

After all, Isn't Austin Powers where EON gets all its ideas (Pleasance's Blofeld is clearly a ripoff of Dr. Evil, Bond and M going back in time was from both TSWSM and Goldmember, etc.)?

 

Last word.

Brothers eh? I was not particularly creeped out by Silva's fondling of Bond ("What makes you think this is my first time?") beforehand, but now I am. Thanks for that. ;)



#17 AMC Hornet

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Posted 20 November 2013 - 02:59 AM

We aims to please.



#18 Iceskater101

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Posted 25 November 2013 - 02:47 AM

Hmm this is interesting. I just watched Skyfall today and I just don't really see the evidence for this. I mean, I assumed the "mommy's calling" line was just because Silva was deranged and over obsessing over M. Or he thought of her as his second mother not his actual mother.

 

interesting theory..



#19 ChrissBond007

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Posted 08 December 2013 - 08:34 PM

That anagram certainly is interesting, as is the theory on M's line about ''orphans making the best recruits''. Since it's nowhere confirmed we can assume that Silva isn't M's son, but there are moments in Skyfall that make you think.

 

Like some have said here, it was probably because of Silva's obsession with M and that he saw her as a mother figure. Then again I felt M was pretty quiet about him, like there would be more to the story than we get to know in the movie. The only time she actually talked about him was the brief moment with Bond where she told a bit about his past as a MI6 agent. 


Edited by ChrissBond007, 08 December 2013 - 08:37 PM.


#20 Dustin

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Posted 08 December 2013 - 08:54 PM

I would think keeping the entire theme somewhat ambiguous is the best way a film like SKYFALL - intelligent genre fiction with a massive appeal to the popcorn-seasoned audience - can play its cards. There is plenty of room for interpretation, yet no viewer has to acknowledge anything else but a series of more or less entertaining scenes. You can welcome or ignore any controversial element as you please, it doesn't affect the film's overall appeal (or lack thereof).

#21 Guy Haines

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Posted 13 December 2013 - 02:12 PM

The problem I have with the "Silva was M's son" idea is M's avowed belief that "orphans make the best agents". Bond was an orphan. Silva claims to have been a much better agent than Bond. Was he an orphan as well? Surely he was background checked when he joined MI6? (Admittedly, in real life British Intelligence hasn't always double-checked the references of some of its star players - Harold "Kim" Philby for example.) Silva's story about his grandmother's island suggests he had family in his youth, but maybe, like Bond's, they all died too.

 

One wild idea comes to mind though - supposing Silva was the product of a 1960s "fling" between the woman who would become M and a foreign agent? Too late for a termination, the child is adopted into a Spanish or Portuguese family and forgotten about - but as he grows up, the child discovers the truth and follows his real mother into MI6?

 

Far fetched, I know. I think it more likely Silva was a brilliant but disturbed individual with no family link to M but who came to regard her as a mother figure in a very warped way.



#22 AMC Hornet

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Posted 13 December 2013 - 03:55 PM

Will Logan have to ensure that there is no chance of any ambiguation in his next screenplay?

Or is erroneous interpretation likely to happen anyway, among the literal-minded?

Bond introduced Q to Pam as his uncle in LTK, and Felix introduced himself as Bond's brother from Langley in CR. Bond also referred to Leiter as 'Uncle Felix' in LALD Does that mean...?



#23 FlemingBond

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Posted 16 January 2014 - 03:59 PM

no he wasn't her son.

Silva was obsessed with her. Which means there's probably something in his background, either family problems or just general mental problems.



#24 Connerybond

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Posted 09 February 2014 - 12:11 PM

I agree with Silva's obsession, but doubt he was her son.  Certainly a good discussion point.



#25 Iceskater101

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 04:30 PM

Or another way to think about it would be that maybe he calls her "mommy" because she was like his mother. I mean we can say that with Bond and M's relationship, that it's a tough love parenting relationship so maybe that's what Silva and M had before Bond was in the picture.



#26 Dustin

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 05:28 PM

It's pretty evident that SIS - and particularly Dench-M - adopted a policy of recruiting individuals whose emotional makeup is impaired by some kind of loss and whose moral authorities could therefore easily be replaced by characters of SIS' choosing, namely their handlers and direct superiors. Even back in the day of Fleming's originals M was depicted as a father figure, a character Bond trusted and respected beyond the limits of an ordinary boss/employee relationship. Figures. When one is sending a man to settle one's personal vendetta (the Havelock case in FYEO) it's unlikely you send for just any guy; you send for somebody you can rely on, and rely on not to ask stupid questions. In the world of SIS having this kind of authority is essential. It's strange that this basic and obvious procedure comes as a surprise for some. Silva just expresses what is seldom questioned in the genre, that the bosses also hold emotional leverage over the men and women they control. It's seldom acknowledged in the genre - and rarely in a positive context, see for example THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE - but it's nonetheless something we subconsciously knew all along.

#27 jamez007

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Posted 28 February 2014 - 12:12 PM

I think its a good idea but i dont think silva would be Ms son .Well know one know except the writers really