Kill Bill: Vol. 2 - Characters & Cast

Initially driven by a burning desire for revenge against those who wronged her and took her unborn child, her motivation undergoes a profound shift upon learning her daughter is alive. Her primary motivation then becomes ensuring her daughter's safety and future, which necessitates the completion of her mission to eliminate all threats from her past life.

In "Vol. 2," The Bride's arc evolves from a pure revenge-seeker to a protective mother. Her journey is one of endurance and rediscovery. After the initial bloodlust of "Vol. 1," she confronts the more emotionally complex and personal relationships from her past. The discovery that her daughter, B.B., is alive becomes the catalyst for her transformation. Her ultimate goal is no longer just to kill Bill, but to reclaim her daughter and her future. The final scene of her crying on the bathroom floor, repeating "thank you," shows the immense emotional release of completing her violent quest and finally being able to embrace her new life as a mother.

His motivation for the massacre is revealed to be a twisted form of jealousy and possessiveness; he couldn't accept Beatrix leaving him and their life for a normal man. He sees her as a "natural born killer" and her attempt at a different life as a betrayal of her true self and of him. In the end, his motivations seem to include a desire to understand why she left and to face the consequences of his own "over-reaction."

Bill is revealed in full in this volume, not as a monstrous villain, but as a complex, charming, and philosophical antagonist. His arc is one of a man grappling with the consequences of his own actions, driven by a possessive love and a broken heart. He appears to have spent the years raising their daughter with a strange mix of paternal care and assassin's logic. His final confrontation with Beatrix is one of resignation and a strange sort of reconciliation. He accepts his death with a sense of fatalistic grace, acknowledging her superiority as a warrior and finally letting her go.

Budd's primary motivation appears to be a weary self-preservation mixed with a sense of fatalism. He has pawned his legendary sword and seems to have little ambition beyond getting through the day. His decision to sell The Bride's sword to Elle for a million dollars is a desperate grasp at a better life, but it ultimately leads to his demise.

Budd's arc is one of decline and regret. Once a deadly assassin known as Sidewinder, he now lives in a squalid trailer, working as a bouncer in a strip club. He is the only member of the squad who seems to carry the weight of their past deeds, expressing that The Bride deserves her revenge and that they deserve to die. Despite this, he still acts to save himself, albeit in a pragmatic, non-glamorous way. His arc ends ignominiously, not in a warrior's duel, but through the treachery of Elle Driver, a victim of his own greed.

Elle's motivations are driven by a venomous cocktail of jealousy, ambition, and cruelty. She resents Beatrix for being Bill's favorite and, as is revealed, for earning Pai Mei's respect. Her actions are consistently self-serving and sadistic, from attempting to kill a comatose Beatrix in the hospital to murdering Budd for his sword and money.

Elle Driver's arc is one of pure, unadulterated villainy and bitter rivalry. She harbors a deep-seated hatred and jealousy for Beatrix, stemming from their shared history with both Bill and Pai Mei. Unlike the other characters, she shows no remorse or complexity beyond her sadism and ambition. Her arc culminates in a brutal, claustrophobic trailer fight where her own treachery against Pai Mei is revealed, leading to her being blinded by Beatrix and left to an ambiguous but grim fate with a black mamba.