M is for Master or Mother?

M is the head of the British Secret Service.  Even though the service has been known as MI7 and MI6, this service has importance for Britain on the world stage.  M has been developed as a leader similar to Churchill but with naval efficiency and organization.  M seems to fulfill the role of a stern parent to Bond, almost acting as a replacement to Bond’s dead parents.  M expects both his staff and agents to be ready when duty calls.  M may be tough and rough on the outside but he has solid judgment.  He understands Bond’s unique skills and extreme talents but has to tolerate Bond’s unorthodox methods and worldly lifestyle.  M is very loyal to his 00 field agents and treats Bond as his top agent.

M’s novel character was developed by Ian Fleming out of several figures from his past.  M may have a tough exterior but he does have a softer side with a love for painting.  M is a pipe smoker and a member of the British gentlemen clubs and remains a dedicated bachelor.   M is a combination of Rear Admiral John H. Godfrey who was Fleming’s own commanding officer in Naval Intelligence during WWII, and Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming who was the head of the Secret Service.  Sir Mansfield likes to sign documents with a single letter.  Mansfield used “C” for himself so Fleming started addressing letters to his own mother with the letter “M.”  M’s real name was indicated in the last Bond novel as Sir Miles Messervy KCMG.

The first eleven motion pictures kept M very close to the vision of Ian Fleming.  He mentions in Dr. No that he has helped drop the number of 00 deaths in the field.  Even though M is a male in the earlier films, M becomes a female in Golden Eye which has one of the best descriptions of Bond as a “sexist, dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War” which indicates that she will be looking at transforming Bond.  This new M is Oxford educated, married and has older children.  Just as M has transformed, she helps to relaunch Bond into the 21^st century.  M is now a symbol of normality missing in Bond’s life. She is the professional symbol of MI6 with the moto that “regret is unprofessional.”

The female version of M ends her role tragically in Skyfall.  After so much work helping to guide Bond into the new century, M finds herself in trouble after losing a hard drive with all the names of Nato secret agents working inside global terrorist organizations.  M makes Eve Moneypenny take a high risk shot, hitting and presumably killing Bond.  Acting professional to the end, she is asked to step down a few months later.  After a direct attack at MI6 headquarters, the healed Bond returns to M.  M has to break the rules, looking the other way to get Bond declared fit for active service.   M and Bond return to Bond’s childhood home of Skyfall to battle villain Silva to the end.  During the battle, M uses Bond’s Walther PPK but misses the shot getting wounded.   She has a final one on one dealing with Silva where she is fatally wounded in a chapel on the estate.  Bond ends up killing Silva and has a chance to hold M in his arms as she dies.  The final words of M were “at least I got one thing right.” This may refer to her role in helping Bond’s transformation into an agent worthy of the new century.   After M’s tragic death, a new M arrives as a controlling (but also very supportive to field agents) character named Gareth Mallory.  Bond will always remember his mother M through her bequeath of her repaired Royal Doulton Union Jack British Bulldog which always rested on her desk when she was M.