Ziva David
From The NCIS Database, a Wikia wiki
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| Ziva David | |
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Female |
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Côte de Pablo |
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Current Character- 101 Episodes |
Ziva David (pronounced dah-VEED) is a former Israeli Mossad agent. Previously assigned to NCIS as a liaison for Mossad, Ziva is now a probationary NCIS agent, pending her becoming a U.S. citizen. When Ziva first appears, she is trying to stop Gibbs from killing her half brother, Ari Haswari, who was attempting to kill Gibbs' agents. In the end she kills Ari and takes Kate's place at NCIS; Ari had killed Kate Todd.
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[edit] Background
Special Agent Ziva David was a Mossad agent from Israel sent to NCIS following the murder of Special Agent Caitlin Todd by a rogue Mossad operative named Ari Haswari. She was Ari's control officer and half-sister; they shared the same father, who was the Deputy Director of Mossad (he has since been promoted to Director). During the episode "Kill Ari Part 2", NCIS Special Agent Gibbs is cornered by Ari, but then Ziva emerges and kills Ari. After Ari's death, she asked to be assigned as a liaison for Mossad at NCIS, where she subsequently joined Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs' team, even though Gibbs opposed this at the time.
Ziva is Jewish, though the episodes' plots rarely draw attention to this, and it is only lightly touched on during the series. However, in the episode "Tribes", she does clearly state in a Muslim mosque that she is Jewish during an investigation of a Marine's death. While Ziva remarks that pigs' feet "are not kosher", she clearly does not observe the dietary laws (she is seen eating non-kosher food during other episodes). She is consistently seen wearing the Star of David on her necklace, but does not appear to follow Orthodox Jewish strictures (for example, she works on Saturdays). De Pablo describes the character as someone who is "completely different from anyone else on the show" and that because "she's been around men all her life; she's used to men in authority. She's not afraid of men."
When her younger sister, Tali, was killed in a Hamas suicide bombing, Ziva was already a Mossad operative at the time and states that she was in the Israeli army for an unspecified time, whilst claiming that no one recruited her, that she volunteered for Mossad.
In the episode "Blowback", when confronting Goliath on the plane about Aries, Ziva reveals she is a Scorpio.
Ziva speaks at least seven languages fluently: English, Hebrew, Spanish, Arabic, Turkish and French, including Belgian French. She is also able to speak basic German, Italian and Russian. A running gag in the series is Ziva frequently misusing, misunderstanding or just completely mangling American slang, cultural references, and colloquialisms. On one of these occasions, however, she excuses it by saying "I speak five languages," creating a slight inconsistency.
In the episode "Judgment Day Part 2 (episode)", Ziva's liaison position was terminated under the orders of newly appointed Director Vance following the death of Director Shepard. In the episode "Last Man Standing", she returns to NCIS. Leon Vance, the newly appointed Director, asked Ziva's father if she could return.
Ziva and Tony DiNozzo often try to outdo each other in verbal and physical competitions. Ziva taunts Tony in much the same way Caitlin Todd did before she was killed. Some aspects of Ziva's personality disturb him, such as the fact that she sleeps with a gun in her hand, which he learned on an undercover assignment as married assassins in the episode "Under Covers".
In the episode "Shalom", Ziva learns that the Mossad, apparently on her father's orders, has been spying on her for several months; the surveillance reveals that Tony has been visiting Ziva at her apartment at least once a week for the past 3 months. Donald Bellisario, the now former writer and producer of the show, commented that throughout Season 4, Ziva realizes her feelings for Tony, and this later becomes apparent to others when she often expresses concern for him, as in the episodes "Angel of Death" and "Bury Your Dead".
In Season 5, Ziva continues to bait Tony with her loaded comments, talking about soulmates in the episode "Designated Target". This season showed hints that Tony may return some of those feelings to Ziva, when he exhibits signs of jealousy when she hooks up with a witness in the episode "Recoil". In the episode "Judgment Day (Part 2)", Tony and Ziva have a conversation about Jenny and Gibbs' 'inevitable' relationship while working together in Paris.
In the episode "Last Man Standing", Ziva is working undercover in Morocco after her liaison position with NCIS is terminated by Director Leon Vance. After Gibbs notices an unconscious Ziva on the news following an explosion where she was working, it is revealed that Vance had deliberately sent Ziva back to Israel in order to help uncover a mole within NCIS itself. Ziva's father, Mossad Director Eli David is introduced shortly before Ziva returns to the United States, seemingly having a friendship with Director Vance.
Season 6 also shows signs of feelings between Ziva and Tony becoming less subtle. Ziva and Tony admit to Gibbs that they miss each other, albeit nonchalantly in the episode "Last Man Standing". When Ziva accompanies Gibbs onto the USS Seahawk as part of an investigation, she notices Tony has three pictures of her in a bikini pinned up in his room. They also share some tense moments on board together. The banter between them remains the same, but particularly in the episode "Nine Lives", Tony shows an interest in Ziva's vacation to Israel despite the fact that she's only just returned. Upon finding a picture of a man on her desk, Tony's interest is deepened, not knowing that the man in the picture was Ziva's Mossad partner. Tony also tells her to have a good trip (Nisiya Tova) in Hebrew demonstrating his need to win her over. In the episode "Cloak", when placed in a war game, Tony attempts to save Ziva from being shot (not knowing the bullets were fake) by guards who were confronting them. In doing so, Tony is set upon by the guards. When Tony was knocked unconscious in the fight, Ziva assaulted the guards before being knocked unconscious. They share an angry conversation in the elevator later on in the same episode, where Tony accuses Ziva of disobeying Gibbs' orders by engaging in combat. Defending her actions, Ziva more or less reveals that she only fought because she saw that Tony was injured. They both reveal that they are "tired of pretending". Tony explains that he is talking about the mole hunt, which required the team to withhold information from each other, but Ziva states no such modifiers. In the following episode "Dagger" Tony reveals he has knowledge of a tattoo Ziva has in an intimate place on her body.
The episode "Dagger" shows Ziva's empathetic side towards children. When Agent Lee's sister is left an orphan at the end of the episode, she and Tony look after her in the NCIS building. Ziva is shown taking care of Amanda at her desk, watching over as she draws, while Tony brings her breakfast. As Gibbs explains to Amanda that her sister would not be coming back, Ziva is shown to be emotionally affected by it. Tony notices that Ziva is upset but instead of approaching her, he glances at her sympathetically.
In the episode "Road Kill", Tony asks Ziva to go to a midnight screening of Goodfellas with him, but she declines, instead, to practice her air guitar, an idea suggested by Tony.
In the episode "Silent Night", Ziva and Tony were shown to be following a Vietnam veteran at a War Memorial. Although Ziva has been teasing Tony about a former flame who has since remarried to a metro detective, she asks him if he ever regrets not having a wife and children around Christmas. Tony avoids the question and makes an excuse to leave.
In the episode "Aliyah", Ziva is called home to Israel where her father Eli David, the head of Mossad, says that he does not know if he can trust her and wants her to remain in Israel. Ziva tells Gibbs she does not trust Tony and can not work that way. Hence, she stays in Tel Aviv with her father and Mossad. The episode ends with a cliffhanger in which Ziva is being tormented by her captors. Believed dead in the episode "Truth or Consequences", Ziva is nonetheless found alive and rescued by Tony and McGee, Gibbs killing Saleem Ulman himself.
In the episode "Reunion", Ziva talks to McGee, and he asks her why she was avoiding Tony. Later, Ziva catches Tony in the men's washroom and apoligizes to him for saying that she could not trust him. She showed some of her feelings for him by kissing him on the cheek. At the end of the episode, Ziva is accepted back into NCIS. surprising both McGee and Tony, however, Tony, seems happy about it. Soon after Ziva resigned from Mossad informing her father,Director David via e-mail. She also submitted paperwork to officially become an NCIS agent, which was eventually accepted.
[edit] Relationships
[edit] With other agents
[edit] Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo
Ziva taunts Anthony DiNozzo in much the same way Caitlin Todd did before she was killed. Some aspects of Ziva's personality disturb and even intimidate DiNozzo, such as the fact that she sleeps with a gun in her hand, and her ability to sneak up on him without his knowledge. Tony holds a higher rank than Ziva, but as Ziva is more lethal, more skilled, and better trained, they have a cat-and-mouse relationship, albeit with an unspoken attraction between them.
In Season 3's Under Covers, Ziva and Tony are sent undercover as murderous assassins Sophie and Jean-Paul Rauniere and simulate having sex convincingly enough that the FBI agents who have them under surveillance believe that they really are having sex, multiple times. This topic comes up several episodes later in Boxed In when Tony comments that they had not consummated the relationship. The situation is somewhat unclear, however, since in an interview with Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly for ET; de Pablo states that she thought they did at least once.
In Season 4's Shalom Ziva learns that Mossad, apparently on her father's orders, has been spying on her for several months; the surveillance reveals that Tony had been visiting her at her apartment at least once a week for the past 3 months, leading to suggestions that the two have become intimate. She neither confirms nor denies the implication in the episode, however it is established later in season 4 that no apparent romantic link exists between them. The reason for his frequent visits are unrevealed as yet.
Nevertheless, beneath all the flirting and teasing, Ziva and Tony obviously care very much for each other. In Season 4's episode Dead Man Walking Tony is surprised to see Ziva falling in love with the dying Lt. Roy Sanders, but he was supportive of her during the entire experience. In a later Season 4 episode In The Dark, there is a reversal of roles as Ziva encourages Tony to fight for what he loves after overhearing a conversation between Tony and his girlfriend Jeanne Benoit. Furthermore, throughout the fourth season, Ziva shows great concern for Tony regarding his frequent disappearances and his claims that he is visiting doctors' offices for tests. She initially worries that he may be having a medical problem related to his exposure to Y. pestis in Season 2's SWAK. However, even after it is revealed that Tony has been visiting the hospital to see his medical doctor girlfriend, Ziva still seems perturbed by Tony's constant secrecy. In one of the final episodes of Season 4, Ziva become increasingly concerned after Tony doesn't answer her phone calls and comments to Ducky that "he [Tony] has his voicemail on, just like always when he's with her!" Ducky identifies the jealously in her voice and comments that she is like "a mother with a toddler or perhaps a woman with a wayward lover." Although Ziva denies the suggestion that she is in love with Tony, her increasing interest in his relationship and her concern at his absence would appear to indicate that Ducky was correct and Ziva has romantic feelings for Tony.
Towards the end of the fourth season, Ziva and Tony have an increased number of scenes dripping with sexual tension and their mysterious attraction to each other. Interviews with Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly have also alluded to the fact that the two agents are attracted to each other, more specifically that Ziva has feelings for Tony, and that this attraction could be mutual.
In Season 5 Ziva's romantic feelings towards Tony appear to be very strong. In the episode "Designated Target" Ziva questions Tony about soul mates. However, later in that season, Ziva's feelings toward Tony appear to have become more platonic. In the Season 5 finale, "Judgement Day (Part 2)," Tony and Ziva have a conversation about Jenny and Gibbs' "inevitable" relationship while working together in Paris.
Season 6 also shows signs of feelings between Ziva and Tony becoming more obvious. Ziva and Tony admit to Gibbs that they miss each other, albeit nonchalantly in the first episode. When Ziva accompanies Gibbs onto the USS Seahawk as part of an investigation, she notices Tony has three pictures of her in a bikini pinned up in his room (these pictures were taken during Judgement Day Part 1). They also share some tense moments on board the ship. The banter between them remains the same, but in "Nine Lives," Tony shows an interest in Ziva's vacation to Israel, which she takes despite the fact that she's only just returned to the United States. Upon finding a picture of a man on her desk Tony's interest deepens, not knowing that the man in the picture was Ziva's Mossad partner. Tony also wishes Ziva a safe trip (Nisiya Tova) in Hebrew, demonstrating that he took the effort to learn at least that phrase in her native language. In episode 8 ("Cloak"), Ziva and Tony are placed into a war game whereupon they are arrested and assaulted by security personnel. They both rise to each others' defense physically--though they need to do so because Ziva broke orders not to engage and the soldiers attacked them en masse. They share a moment in an elevator where Ziva admits that she only fought the guards out of impulse. They both admit they are 'tired of pretending', while Tony means he is talking about the mole hunt and lying to each other, Ziva makes no such modifiers.
In Season 6 episode "Dagger," Agent Lee's sister Amanda is left an orphan at the end of the episode; Ziva and Tony look after her in the NCIS building. Ziva is shown taking care of Amanda at her desk, watching over her as she draws; while Tony brings her breakfast. Tony notices that Ziva is upset but instead of approaching her, he glances at her sympathetically. In "Road Kill" Tony asks Ziva to go to a midnight screening of "Goodfellas" with him, but she decides to practice her air guitar instead.
The last 2008, Season 6 episode, "Silent Night," shows the NCIS team working through Christmas. At one point Ziva and Tony were following a Vietnam veteran who stopped at the Vietnam War Memorial. Although Ziva has been teasing Tony about a former flame who has since remarried to a metro detective, she asks him if he ever regrets not having a wife and children around Christmas. Tony avoids the question and makes an excuse to leave.
In the episode "Legends: Part One", Ziva received a phone call from another Mossad Agent, named Michael Rivkin who was in Washington, D.C. for an as yet undisclosed purpose, Rivkin wished to meet Ziva. In order to avoid any questions about the call Ziva lied to Tony and told him, that she had a lead on the case. While, meeting with with Rivkin the following conversation occured between Ziva and Rivkin. Rivkin: Your father sends his love. Ziva: What else does my Father send? Rivkin: Me. Tony calls Ziva during her meeting and the conversation continued as follows. Rivkin: DiNozzo? Ziva: I would not lie to him, Michael. Rivkin: A small lie only. In response to Ziva's evasions Tony begins to pry into Ziva's affairs in order to learn more about her recent history, Tony goes to see Dr. Mallard seeking information about Ziva's time in Israel after the team was dissolved because he is suspicious of her behavior. Ducky, tells Tony that Ziva was on assignment in Morocco and that she was almost killed. Tony reviews the footage of the assignment, which reveals that the man who was her partner in Mossad, of whom she has photograph, was present in Morocco. Tony asked Abby to run a facial recognition search. The search reveals that his name is Michael Rivkin, and that he is affiliated with Eli David, Deputy Director of Mossad. In response to this revelation Tony deletes the results of the search and tells Abby not to say anything. Tony attempts to elicit information about Rivkin from Ziva by inquiring casually after Rivkin asking if he was in Washington. Ziva replied that he was not in D.C. any longer. He is trying to determine how loyal she is to NCIS without getting her in trouble with the director or with Gibbs.
In "Legends: Part Two" after ostensibly discovering the nature of Rivkin's mission in Los Angeles, and his connections with Ziva. Ziva and Tony met in conference with Gibbs, Macy and McGee via MTAC. Gibbs asked her directly if she knew Rivkin which, she answered affirmatively. Ziva's lack of openess with Tony on the subject of Michael Rivkin and her unwillingness to alter her stance by inferring that she would answer only to Gibbs on this subject strained their relationship to a degree. Although, both Gibbs and Tony are willing to do what is necessary to prevent Ziva from being hurt as demonstrated in the conclusion of "Legends Part Two" and "Semper Fidelis."
In episode 6.24 "Semper Fidelis." a picture of Ari, Ziva and Tali together was broken during Tony's attempt to detain and arrest Michael Rivkin.
[edit] Special Agent Timothy McGee
Ziva and McGee are friends. When she first moved to the United States, McGee showed her the best routes to work. Although she often joins Tony in teasing McGee, Ziva also has been shown to stick up for him against Tony as well.
[edit] Abby Sciuto
Early in the series Ziva was sometimes at odds with Abby, leading at one point to a slapfight due to Ziva's comments about the possible death scenario of Agent Gibbs. However, soon after this, they are able to put their differences aside and become friends.Tony is put in charge and makes them hug and he says now a big french kiss but is punched hard by Abby and Ziva. It is revealed in Season 6 Episode 3 that Abby and Ziva are good friends when Abby puts her up at her apartment for an undisclosed amount of time while Ziva's is being fumigated. They also planned on going to a spa together
[edit] Donald Mallard
Ziva has a close relationship with Donald Mallard, perhaps made upon Ziva saving his life from a rogue forensic anthropologist in Silver War. In Season 4's Witch Hunt, she was shown confiding in him over a pot of tea as he offered her comfort when she needed it.
[edit] Director Jenny Shepard
Director Shepard was the one who introduced Ziva to Gibbs in Season 3's Kill Ari (Part 1) In the beginning, it is revealed that Ziva had saved Director Shepard's life. They had worked anti-terrorism together before Ziva joined NCIS.
[edit] Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Of all her relationships with the team, Ziva and Gibbs' has undergone the most growth. Initially, Gibbs was very distrusting towards Ziva as she was Ari Haswari's control agent. Ziva also bore the brunt of Gibbs' anger after Caitlin Todd was murdered. After Ziva killed her own half brother Ari in order to save Gibbs' life, they shared a secret; Gibbs and Ziva are the only two who know that she killed Haswari. There is still tension, however, that continued up until the conclusion of the third season episode "Silver War" when Ziva saved Ducky's life.
Season 4's "Hiatus" shows how much Ziva is affected when Gibbs is critically injured in an explosion and awakes with memory loss. In "Hiatus (Part One)," Ducky unintentionally chastises Ziva for not asking which hospital Gibbs was taken to after the explosion; upsetting her when he implies that Ziva does not care for Gibbs like the rest of the team does. She also finds herself being slapped by Abby when she comments about Gibbs' possible death scenario. Ziva is shown in the bathroom following this, extremely upset by the fact that they think that she does not care. In the second part of this episode, Ziva visits Gibbs at hospital in the night and begs him to remember. When he becomes angry, Ziva uses his hand to slap the back of her head, causing Gibbs to remember himself within his team. He remembers that Ziva saved his life and that she had killed her brother to do it while Ziva breaks down and cries into his arms. He remarks that he owes her later on in the episode.
Ziva looks up to Gibbs as a leader and often restrains herself from resorting to her assassin background in situations where Gibbs would not approve. Gibbs often uses this background to their advantage, however, by choosing Ziva to interrogate certain suspects. When Gibbs' sees Ziva being wheeled into an ambulance following an explosion in Morocco during the opening of Season 6, he becomes very worried and gets in touch with her in Israel, revealing that he misses her. Prior to their parting at the conclusion of "Aliyah" Gibbs told Ziva to take care of herself and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
In Episode 7.02 Reunion, Ziva admitted to Gibbs that she was under orders from Director David to gain his trust and kill Ari in the process. Ziva confided on Gibbs that she volunteered for the mission in order to protect Ari. Gibbs replied "You killed Ari, your own brother, and you lied to me Ziva." Ziva having revealed this long held secret confided to Gibbs her feelings on the subject of her Ari's death and her family saying “I would have lied to you, he was my brother. You were nothing. You were right about Ari. He is gone. Eli is dead to me and the closest thing I have to a father is accusing me….”'okay. When the bodies of aboard the Damocles were recovered Mossad attempted to make Ziva the scapegoat for the death of Staff Sergeanr Daniel Cryer, USMC At the conclusion of episode 7.04 entitled "Good Cop, Bad Cop." after he heard the rest of Ziva's story Gibbs whispered "welcome home." Following investigation in to Ziva's role in the events aboard the Damocles Director Vance reconsidered, an exonerated Ziva's application to join NCIS approving it after initally rejecting it. Director Vance handed the approved application to Agent Gibbs who in turn transmitted it to Ziva, whom he called "Probie."
[edit] Michael Rivkin
Ziva and Rivkin were part of the same mission in Morocco. During, this time a relationship developed between the two of them. Ziva acknowledged that she to an extent loved Rivkin, but that she had not yet ascertained the depth or the strength of her feelings toward him at the time of his death. A fact she admitted to DiNozzo in "Aliyah." Although, she was forced to question whether what existed between them was real in light of revelations made by her father during, his interrogation of DiNozzo.
[edit] Family
[edit] Eli David
During her partnership with DiNozzo, Director David assigned Mossad agents to follow her. Ziva's attitude towards him is to a degree one of ambivalence in the sense that she percieves that her father primarily views her first and foremost as a Mossad Agent, as illustrated by his conversation with NCIS Director Vance at the conclusion of "Last Man Standing" in which, he called Ziva the sharp end of the spear. This fact was in reinforced by Ziva in episode 6.25 "Aliyah" when she told Gibbs that only Director David and herself had the power to authorize a kill order. Since, her rescue Ziva has not spoken with her father at any great length because, as she pointed out to Gibbs "Eli is all but dead to me." Eli had someone spy on Gibbs when Ziva offically resigned from Mossad
[edit] Ari Haswari
Ziva's relationship with her elder half-brother was extremely close. Ziva served as Ari's control officer and liasion with Mossad. Ziva initally attempted to shield Ari from Gibbs' efforts to capture or kill Ari. It was only when Ari attempted to kill Gibbs that Ziva realized that Ari had become a traitor. She was forced to kill Ari to save Gibbs' life. After his death Ziva accompanied Ari's body back to Israel for burial. However, it was later stated by Vance that Eli ordered her to kill Ari as way to get rid of a traitor and to earn Gibbs respect at the same time; it has yet to be confirmed by ziva. It is also revealed inseason 7 episode 4 that Eli sent someone to kill Ziva.
[edit] Talia "Tali" David
Not much is known of Ziva's relationship with her sister. Tali was killed in a suicide bombing when she was sixteen. Ziva was a Mossad officer prior to this event. It should also be noted that Ziva volunteered to be a Mossad officer rather then being recruited.
[edit] Others
[edit] Lt. Roy Sanders
Lieutenant Sanders was a nuclear inspector, who was poisoned by one of his partners via radioactively contaminated cigars, leading to a slow death. He formed a bond with Ziva when the team was investigating his murder in Dead Man Walking, and she visited him at the hospital regularly. She recognized him by his orange watch cap he wore while running. Ziva can be seen in later episodes wearing his orange watch cap. In fact, in the picture of the Simpsons N.C.I.S parody, she is wearing a seemingly identical cap.
[edit] Triva
- In Deep 6 her character is named Lisa.
