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Personality: Napoleon Solo is ambitious, charming, greedy, and incredibly emotionally detached. Essentially, he's the perfect thief. And also the perfect spy.

It didn't take long for Napoleon to realize there was a market to be conquered in the wake of the war. In the span of eight years he amassed enough of a reputation as an art thief to inspire the creation of a multi-national task force specifically to put an end to his endeavors. He not only created a successful criminal career for himself, he also managed to become fluent in five new languages over the course of that time. All for personal gain and ambition, as there has been no evidence that he had any outside motivation for doing so.

Even after the CIA caught him, Solo continued to excel, becoming arguably the CIA's best and most effective agent: all the while keeping a lucrative enough side business to warrant the occasional truffle purchase for his risotto. His handlers are aware, but turn a willingly short-sighted eye to his antics because of his effectiveness and value. Though he definitely continues to push the parameters when it suits him. All in all, what he does, he does for himself. He recognizes his responsibilities, but he chooses to accomplish them in his own way and his own time: and continues to be successful enough to be allowed his illusion of freedom.

Solo likes to be comfortable and elite, he knows all the right brands and exactly how to dress for the part and the occasion. He has an eye for the finer things, recognizing the label of a gold chain or a belt at a glance, and knowing which tie will work best with a suit.

He is also incredibly charming, quick with a smile and a clever greeting, a casual remark, and a thinly veiled pickup line. He's not hard on the eyes, by any means, and he wields this like any other weapon in his arsenal, setting both women and men at ease or on edge as it suits him. He can easily control and direct a conversation, with a quick quip or a string of sarcastic narratives or even a calming explanation. He easily exudes whichever character he's playing, though every face is still a little bit of himself: sarcastic, smart, flirtatious, arrogant, playful... and no small amount a complete jackass.

He is deeply self-aware and just as detached from his emotions because of it. This is evident in the way that any insult, true or false, directed at him is mostly met with a range of dismissal from a blank-faced acceptance to a nearly wicked smile, and countered with either exactly what the other party needs to hear to go on their way or to counter-attack with such clinical vehemence that the other storms off in defeat. Even in defeat he seeks to control the situation, when drugged he chooses where he will pass out; when tortured, he does his damnedest to control exactly how much he reacts, opting for just short of complete silence.

Solo doesn't really have friends. He's not an open book, he's not interested in making any ties that bind, and he's not particularly keen on others' expectations of him. He likes to collect things, but it's just as much a dragon's greed as anything: he sees the value in things that other people value and uses it against them, or to win their favor and trust. (Such as a gaudy bracelet from one wealthy matron to another, or an extremely sentimental keepsake, kept until just the right moment.) While he appreciates art, appreciates beauty, they're both tools to accumulate wealth, and wealth is freedom. Money buys him trinkets and trifles and truffles and little ways here and there to keep himself in the manner in which he prefers to live; even while essentially an indentured servant to the CIA, he still thieves on the side to pad his pockets.

Solo prefers the circuitous route: while not opposed to going in guns blazing and while not opposed to violence on principle, he will still endeavor to find a way around, a way unseen. He prefers stealth and anonymity, and this bodes very well for both a thief and a spy. As a thief, it assists him in, well, stealing. It's much easier when it can be done completely unnoticed. As a spy, it lends to falling into character: setting himself aside just as much as it takes to be convincing as whatever cover he's assumed that day or that mission.

Which isn't to say he won't take his pleasure even then. He's a hedonist, really, and his file will tell you he's a "serial womanizer" whatever that means. He doesn't get emotionally attached, what's the point, what with his constant state of anonymity and travel and lack of desire for commitment? He's not a cad about it, and if a woman isn't interested, he'd move on without a single slight against her. There are plenty of women willing to dally a little while and go home in the morning, and he absolutely endeavors to make sure they enjoy their time spent with him. Playing the part of an American business man abroad definitely has its perks.

He's not completely heartless, however. He doesn't show a tendency to harm for no reason, nor retaliation without sufficient reason. In fact, at one point, he almost leaves Illya behind to uncertain circumstances, but clearly has a moment. Maybe not a moment of conscience so much as a desire to level the playing field, but all the same, he goes back for the other half of his presently forced partnership and saves him from drowning. The two manage to get along much better in tandem from that point onward. Solo is nothing if not adaptable and enigmatic and capable of successful partnerships: he may prefer to work alone, but he can make the situation work for his own ends more often than not.

He has a remarkable resilience to psychological matters: at one point it is explained to him exactly why he is bound to an electric chair, that it is purely for the pleasure of his torturer. And not once does Solo give him any satisfaction in it, barely making a sound, only reacting in ways that were completely unavoidable due to the very physical nature of the torture. It's unclear whether he will carry any particular trauma from the experience, but he seems to store it away methodically and forcefully almost immediately.

In the interest of not talking in circles for pages on end, though I am absolutely happy to, let it be known that Napoleon Solo will always look out for his own skin first, his own goals, his own ambitions. He lives for his own pleasure. But a certain German spitfire and a surly Russian may have gotten under his skin more than he realizes.