Bulgarian attack on Bond's bomb

The Bulgarian bombing attempt at Royale is an assassination plot that fails through a reversal in its own execution: the bomb kills the two men carrying it rather than James Bond, who survives. The attack begins in public and leaves Bond exposed to the blast, but its aftermath reveals a staged deception involving two bombs, a third conspirator, and an intermediary whose link to Le Chiffre cannot be proved.

Background and Target

The attack first intrudes on an ordinary conversation. Bond is with Mathis when the nearby plate-glass window suddenly breaks and the explosion’s force jolts them; the ensuing panic sends people rushing for the door. Mathis tells Bond to remain where he is, then runs through the empty window frame to the pavement. The unfinished conversation gives way to the immediate fact of an attack, while Bond’s presence at the scene establishes him as its apparent target.

A second encounter makes the threat visible before it is understood. As Bond approaches the Hôtel Splendide, he notices two small men standing beneath a tree across the boulevard. Their matching dark suits and straw hats make them look incongruous in the holiday resort, while the red and blue camera cases hanging from their shoulders supply the detail that distinguishes them. Bond considers their weapons and possible cover, but a plane-tree trunk partly blocks his view just as one man handles a case.

The Explosion

The blue-case carrier appears to activate something in the case. A flash and explosion knock Bond down despite the protection of the tree. When he manages to raise himself, he is dazed; the nearby trees have been stripped or charred, two have fallen across the road, and a smoking crater marks the boulevard. The two men in straw hats have disappeared in the blast. The scene’s decisive reversal is plain: the apparent bombers are not simply escaping after an attack; they too have been destroyed.

Mathis treats Bond as the intended target, although the exact mechanism is not yet known. After Bond describes what he saw, Mathis says the bomb was meant for him and suggests that the men intended to throw it before taking cover behind their tree. He suspects a fault in the plan and orders the police to protect Bond from questioning, direct attention toward a supposed dispute between Bulgarian Communists, and search for a third Bulgarian who may flee toward Paris. The red and blue cases, Mathis insists, must be investigated rather than dismissed as incidental props.

The Plot Revealed

Vesper later reports what the investigation has established. The third Bulgarian was caught on the road to Paris in a Citroën, where he had picked up two English hikers as protective cover. At a roadblock, his poor French prompted the patrol to ask for his papers; he drew a gun and shot one of the motor-cycle patrol before the other stopped him from killing himself. Taken to Rouen, he gave an account of the operation.

The men belonged to a pool of saboteurs and thugs kept in France for such assignments. They had been offered two million francs to kill Bond, and the agent who briefed them assured them that following instructions would make capture impossible. The plan, as Vesper explains it, depended on a smoke bomb concealing the real explosive: the Bulgarians decided to set off the smoke device first and throw the other bomb from within the cloud. Bond had seen the assistant press the lever on the false smoke bomb, but the two devices went off together. The tactic intended to hide the attack instead destroyed its perpetrators.

Aftermath and Significance

The surviving Bulgarian had waited behind the Splendide to collect his two companions. Seeing the result, he assumed they had mishandled the operation. Police recovered fragments of the unexploded red bomb and confronted him with them; he then realized that his companions had been tricked and were meant to die alongside Bond. His account thus changes the meaning of the red and blue cases: what had looked like a paired set of attack equipment belonged to a plan in which the bombers themselves were expendable.

The plot’s sponsorship remains unresolved. Vesper says there is no evidence linking the operation to Le Chiffre: an intermediary assigned the job, perhaps one of Le Chiffre’s guards, but the surviving man does not recognize Le Chiffre’s name. The attack therefore establishes a serious threat to Bond without proving who ordered it. Its consequences are both practical and narrative: the third conspirator is captured, Mathis’s inquiry exposes the attackers’ deception, and suspicion surrounding Le Chiffre remains possible but unconfirmed.