Solitaire is a fictional character in the James Bond novel and film Live and Let Die. In the film, she was portrayed by Jane Seymour. In Ian Fleming's novel Live and Let Die, Solitaire is a psychic whose powers are tied to her virginity, and she is initially an unwilling participant in Mr. Big's scheme. The novel concludes with her preparing to recuperate with Bond, with the implication that their relationship will become physical, and her psychic powers are not definitively lost. In the film, Solitaire is a supporting antagonist and henchwoman to Mr. Big (Kananga), but she defects to Bond's side after being persuaded by him. She also loses her virginity to Bond, but in the film, this act results in the loss of her psychic powers, which complicates her situation.
In a relative rarity for the James Bond franchise, there is little difference between the film and novel in the treatment of Solitaire's basic character and role. The 1954 novel Live and Let Die reveals that her real name is Simone Latrelle, that she is of French stock, and she was born in Haiti; the name "Solitaire" (an near-oronym of her real name) is given to her by the Haitians because of her apparent exclusion of men from her life. The only physical difference appears to be that Solitaire is stated to have blue-black hair; she also possesses pale skin reminiscent of the tropical planter class. When James Bond meets her she is twenty-five years old and described as "one of the most beautiful women Bond had ever seen." On a later occasion Bond describes her as looking "rather French and very beautiful." At their first meeting, in the presence of Mr. Big, she comes across as superior, cold, and disdainful, an attitude reflected by her face, which Bond finds beautiful partly because of its lack of compromise and its hint of both cruelty and command. Once Solitaire has escaped from Mr. Big, she immediately becomes warm, open, and passionate towards Bond. Despite her obvious Gallic-Haitian heritage, there is no mention of her having any French accent.
