Ziva David

Ziva David (surname pronounced dah-VEED) affectionately called Ziver by Gibbs. a former Israeli Mossad officer and former NCIS Special Agent as well as the daughter of Eli David and Rivka David, the sister of Tali David, the half-sister of Ari Haswari, the girlfriend of former fellow NCIS agent Anthony DiNozzo Junior, the ex-girlfriend of Michael Rivkin and Ray Cruz as well as the mother of Tali David-DiNozzo.
In September 2005, after the death of NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd at Ari's hands, Ziva arrived at NCIS Headquarters and after killing Ari to protect NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, ended up joining the NCIS Major Case Response Team, serving as an liaison officer between Mossad and NCIS, a role she served for nearly four years up until May 2009 when after the death of her ex-boyfriend, Michael Rivkin, Ziva left NCIS, returning to Mossad where she worked on a mission that resulted in her being captured and tortured by Saleem Ulman. She got the position because of her friendship with former NCIS Director Jennifer Shepard. 
After her former NCIS teammates discovered her still alive, having originally believed she was dead, Ziva returned to the United States in September 2009 and later chose to resign from Mossad for good that same month, ultimately re-joining the NCIS team as a Probationary Agent, a position she held until she was promoted to full-time NCIS Special Agent in September 2011 and for two years worked as an agent before she resigned alongside DiNozzo and fellow NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee, an event that occurred in May 2013, the three doing so to protect Gibbs from a political vendetta.
Unlike DiNozzo and McGee who later re-joined the agency after Richard Parsons' investigation into Gibbs was dropped altogether, Ziva later returned to her native Israel, resigning from NCIS for good and leaving her position vacant until November 2013 when NSA analyst Eleanor Bishop joined the team, officially replacing Ziva.
Sometime after DiNozzo had returned to the United States, Ziva discovered she was pregnant and later ended up giving birth to a daughter she named Tali, the two living in relatively peace until May 2016 when the farmhouse they resided in was attacked, leaving Ziva's fate unknown while her daughter was found alive and brought to the United States, ultimately going to live with her father who resigned from NCIS that same time to go search for Ziva.
Eventually, in 2019, it was revealed that Ziva was still alive, having gone undercover, embarking on a mission to find out the group responsible for the attack on the farmhouse. She later arrived in the United States, reuniting with Gibbs, Ducky, Palmer, Vance, and McGee while also meeting Nicholas Torres, Kasie Hines, Jacqueline Sloane, and Eleanor Bishop for the first time. With their help, Ziva was able to remove the threats against her and her family with the leader, Sarah or Mira Sahar Azam or "Sarah" or Sahar dying at Gibbs's hands in December 2019. Before returning to Tony and Tali, Ziva stayed to help Gibbs and the team find Phineas when he runs away after Gibbs tells him that his mother was killed. After Phineas is found safe and reunites with his Aunt Micki Kaydar and Uncle George Kaydar, Ziva is escorted to the airport by Jimmy. 
With the threats having ended, Ziva then bid farewell to her NCIS teammates and later returned to Paris, France, finally reuniting with DiNozzo and Tali.
==Biography==
===Pre-Series===
Born in Beer Sheva, Israel on November 12, 1982, Ziva was the daughter of then Mossad Deputy Director Eli David and his wife, Rivka David. 
She also had an older half-brother, Ari Haswari, and a younger sister, Tali David. According to flashbacks in Enemies Domestic, Rivka took both of her daughters with her and left Eli in 1991 when Ziva was nine. When Ziva was thirteen years old, her parents divorced, presumably due to the fact that Rivka refused to forgive Eli for cheating on her with Orli Elbaz. 
At sixteen years of age, Tali died in a Hamas suicide bombing, leaving Ziva completely devastated with Ziva also seeking revenge for her sister's murder. Every year on Tali's birthday Ziva would go to the opera to honor her sister as she was a talented singer and loved being onstage. 
After she turned 18, Ziva served in the Israeli Army as is compulsory for all eligible Israeli citizens and she subsequently joined Mossad, choosing to do so of her own free will.
During her time in Mossad, Ziva became highly valued for her skills which presumably included assassination and hand-to-hand combat. She also worked on the orders of her father, presumably conducting various missions on Eli's orders.
Ziva met and befriended Michael Rivkin who in turn became Ziva's partner and boyfriend for some time with the two presumably working on missions together. She also conducted missions with Namir Eschel who was believed to have been killed until Ziva later saw him in Shalom (episode).
===NCIS Season 3===
Ziva made her debut appearance in the Season 3 premiere episode, "Kill Ari Part 1". She became the newest team member after the death of Agent Todd. 
===NCIS Season 4===
===NCIS Season 5===
===NCIS Season 6===
At the beginning of the season, she is back working for Mossad after her liason position was terminated after what went down in the season 5 finale and death of former NCIS Director Jennifer Shepard. It is also later revealed that this was a decision Director Leon Vance made to split up the team so that Gibbs could identify a mole. In the last episode of the season she leaves the team after suggesting she can't trust Tony since she is unsure if he is telling the truth about him having no choice in killing her boyfriend Michael and she chooses to stay in Tel Aviv and continue on the mission that Michael had been working on. Her commitment to the team and to NCIS is questioned by many and her motives for becoming an NCIS Agent. In the last seconds of the season, she is held captive and tortured for information about NCIS in Somalia. 
===NCIS Season 7===
===NCIS Season 8===
===NCIS Season 9===
Ray Cruz, Ziva's on-again off-again boyfriend, proposed to her in A Desperate Man. She told him she had to think about it. At the end of the episode she rejected his proposal after Gibbs had it confirmed by the CIA that Cruz violated orders when he killed Barry Norton on US soil. 
===NCIS Season 10===
In Shabbat Shalom (episode) her father Eli David is assassinated, and she is struggling with grief and anger because of their complicated relationship.
===NCIS Season 11===
In Past, Present, and Future (episode) Ziva confirms she won't be coming back to NCIS, and stays in Israel.
===NCIS Season 12===
===NCIS Season 13===
In Dead Letter (episode) / Family First (episode), the team finds out Ziva was killed when the farmhouse she lived in got destroyed.
=== NCIS Season 16 ===
In She (episode), Eleanor Bishop finds a note that reveals that Ziva is alive. Later on, in Daughters (episode) Ziva reveals to Gibbs that she is alive.
=== NCIS Season 17 ===
Ziva comes back to help Gibbs fight Sahar in the episodes Out of the Darkness (episode), Into the Light (episode), and The North Pole (episode), and in episode In The Wind (episode) Ziva delays her departure to Paris to help Gibbs find Phineas.
===Alternate Reality===
In the episode Life Before His Eyes (episode), in one alternate reality, Ari Haswari never killed Kate Todd which ultimately saw the main NCIS team staying the same composed of Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, and Kate. With Kate having survived being shot, she was saved from death thanks to Gibbs spotting Ari in the distance, prompting him to order McGee to call in air support which in turn later caused Ari to flee after his position was compromised. Presumably, after taking time off, Kate later returned to active duty and got married to Tony. As such, Ziva never arrived at NCIS nor did she ultimately kill Ari or join the NCIS team as a NCIS/Mossad Liaison, later becoming an NCIS Special Agent. In fact, the Ziva of that reality remained a member of Mossad and also the Kidon Unit. She was eventually arrested, possibly during a sting of some sort ,or for illegally operating within the United States and was brought to NCIS with DiNozzo personally conducting the interrogation. Following that, Ziva's fate is unknown but it's possible that she was either imprisoned for being an illegal, foreign operator in the United States or sent back to Israel and Mossad by mutual agreement between parties associated with both NCIS and Mossad.
==Occupation==
Prior to joining Mossad, Ziva served for at least 18 months or quite possibly three years in the Israeli Army although what she specifically did remains unknown.
After her military service ended, she later joined Mossad and also the Kidon Unit, becoming the Control Officer to Mossad agent Ari Haswari, her half-brother.
During her time in the Kidon, she met Michael Rivkin who became her partner and boyfriend as well as Namir Eschel with all three conducting various missions together.
Following Ari's death, Ziva eventually joined the NCIS team as a liaison officer for Mossad with Ziva operating with NCIS as well, a role she served for four years although she later returned to Israel following events in the Season 6 finale episode, Aliyah (episode).
Having been rescued from Somalia, Ziva chose to resign from Mossad for good in September or October 2009 and she ultimately became an NCIS Probationary Agent.
Two years later, Ziva was promoted from Probationary Agent to full-time, official NCIS Special Agent which occurred in September 2011. She held this position on the team up until her own resignation from NCIS in May 2013 which was brought about by Richard Parsons's investigation into NCIS and Gibbs.
Following her resignation, Ziva, now a civilian returned to Israel, presumably resulting in her severing her ties with the United States and she ultimately chose to remain there despite Tony attempting to convince her to return to the States.
Presumably, up until her own apparent death, Ziva remained a citizen of Israel and it's not known if her citizenship and her ties with the States remained intact or if they had been taken back as a result of her choosing to leave NCIS for good and ultimately return to Israel.
==Personality==
Initially, Ziva was portrayed as an aloof and private girl, having been skilled with knives, firearms, and many kinds of weapons and martial arts. She received cold looks from the rest of the team out of grief for the passing of Kate and her relations to Ari Haswari. As the seasons progress, the team becomes kinder towards her and she opens up a bit more, and would invite them over for dinner at her house.
Ziva is shown to be the face of many running gags in the series, such as her overly fast driving, which she learned from her mother, causing passengers to want to drive out of fear, and her poor understanding of many American phrases and concepts, which could imply a rather naive side to her.
==Physical Appearance==
Ziva is a young Israeli woman with a slim but fit build, and long dark brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin.
When she first arrived at NCIS, she wore a jacket with a single t-shirt underneath along with combat trousers and boots. She also wore a bandanna as well.
Upon joining the main NCIS team, Ziva's dress style remained the same for a year although she was occasionally seen wearing skirts or high heels, usually in the office or sometimes on the field, especially during a undercover assignment but usually wears trousers and normal shoes as well.
For Season 3 and 4, Ziva often wore a sports watch similar to what McGee would wear during Season 6 but at the beginning of Season 5, Ziva later changed her watch and start wearing a silver watch quite similar to what her predecessor had worn and she would continue wearing it until her resignation in the Season 10 finale episode.
Ziva originally had long curly black or brown hair that hung down past her shoulders and in addition to wearing it down, she often tied her hair up into a ponytail. 
In later years, she often kept her hair up in a single plait.
She also tied her hair up when she was out in the field, processing a crime scene or in a stand-off with a suspect with the hair often being placed into a single bun which was often visible underneath Ziva's own NCIS cap.
Ziva also usually parted her hair to either the left or right side of her face, leaving her earrings visible.
In NCIS Season 10, Ziva's hair was presumably dyed light brown with some small blonde highlights visible with the hair itself often hanging past Ziva's shoulders, sometimes even coming close to landing on her desk. The hair later even came to hanging past down her shoulders, nearly being elbow-length.
In addition, Ziva also stopped wearing her hair in a plait, instead choosing to either have it hanging down, covering her ears or tied up and by the time of her final appearance, had opted to leave her hair down altogether instead of usually up in a ponytail with her hair hanging past her shoulders although as before, the right side of her hair hung down, nearly covering her face while the left side was placed back behind her left ear or vice versa.
During her time on the NCIS team, Ziva was also seen wearing a gold Star of David pendant that she hung around her neck.
She wore this for the first six years of her employment with Mossad before she lost it after being captured by men loyal to Saleem Ulman with Salem himself ripping off the pendant in the last few seconds of the NCIS Season 6 finale episode, Aliyah (episode).
Upon returning to America, Ziva went about two or three episodes without wearing the Star of David pendant before she received a newer version of her original pendant although unlike its predecessor, the new pendant Ziva later wore seemed to be lighter with the Star of David itself often reflecting when caught in light.
During the rescue mission in Afghanistan, Ziva donned the traditional gear similar to what the Marine team wore. She also carried a Colt M4A1 Carbine.
Like her NCIS colleagues, Ziva's main weapon was a SIG-Sauer P228 and her back-up weapon was a Smith & Wesson Model 340PD.
==Abilities==
As a former operative with the Israeli Mossad, Ziva was highly skilled in interrogation, performing assassinations or shootings and could hold her own in hand-to-hand combat.
After six or seven years working for NCIS, Ziva also gained the ability to process a crime scene all by herself, collect any physical evidence and she could even interrogate any suspects she interviewed without having to resort to physical violence or torture to get the information she needed, making her a valuable asset to both the NCIS agency and also the NCIS Major Case Response Team.
=== Hand to Hand Combat ===
One of Ziva's primary skills as a Mossad operative was hand-to-hand combat.
On many occasions, she demonstrated that she was exceptionally skilled at holding her own in battle, especially against someone else who had undergone hand-to-hand combat training as well, and due to her training with Mossad, Ziva was able to either lethally or non-lethally incapacitate any opponent.
In the Season 8 episode Dead Reflection (episode), Ziva fought Commander Nelson Tunney and was capable of holding her own against the rogue Commander, easily besting Tunney, allowing him to be arrested.
In the Season 9 episode Newborn King (episode), Ziva managed to successfully incapacitate two members of a Russian mercenary group who had been hired to kidnap a pregnant Marine Corps Lieutenant.
In the Season 10 episode Revenge (episode), Ziva fought against Ilan Bodnar and was finally able to kill him by throwing him off a ship.
=== Firearms ===
Ziva was skilled in the use of firearms, second only to Gibbs, a former Marine sniper.
She was capable of wielding and using any firearm that comes into her possession with incredible skill and was a sharpshooter as well as a terrific marksman, her shots capable of killing an opponent if she chooses.
=== Languages ===
Ziva can speak a total of ten languages- Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Pashto, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
=== Lock picking ===
Ziva was skilled in lock picking, a skill that helped her and her NCIS colleagues gain access to a locked building such as a house or a warehouse.
==Relationships with NCIS Colleagues==
===Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo===
They start of as enemies because of lack of trust after her half-brother killed DiNozzo's former partner. They soon for a partnership in the field, which shows them to work effectively together and filled with loyalty. They trust one another and are friends after a while. They tease one another and have a lot of fun on each others expense. They annoy one another, but at the same time respect each other. 
During several intimate moments, the two came close to revealing how they felt, but held back most of the time as they did not want to ruin theirs and the team dynamic. They have kissed as a part of an undercover operation early on in their partnership, and people bought their act. They never had much screen time after becoming romantic, but in season 7 and in later seasons, hints were dropped about them getting closer even though it might not have been all the way. It is always clear that Tony found Ziva attractive, and Ziva one time admits that Tony is not bad looking as well. They might have stepped over the line in Jet Lag (episode) when they both confronts one another about lying about sleeping on the couch in a hotel room they shared, meaning they both slept in the bed. Their romance is slowburning and teasing for the whole series.
===Leroy Jethro Gibbs===
In Aliyah (episode) it is revealed by Ducky that she was the team member that GIbbs started to trust the soonest. This was because Ziva killed her own half-brother Ari to save Gibbs's life. They both trusted one another and had a close relationship from the start. They trust one another and care about eachother, viewing them as family. He also started to call her "Zivers" after a while and she viewed him as a second father figure. They have a similar relationship to showing emotions and have a hard time discussing feelings. 
===Jennifer "Jenny" Shepard ===
It is revealed that Ziva and Jenny met each other before they joined NCIS.
===Timothy "Tim" McGee===
When Ziva first joined NCIS, she and McGee needed to take a little time to get used to each other. It was rough at first but it got better as time went by. Ziva and McGee do love each other as friends very much, and they do whatever they can to help each other when they need it. It is revealed in the Season 17 episode Out Of The Darkness that Ziva is like a sister to McGee, implying that their relationship and friendship is very close.
===Abigail "Abby" Sciuto===
Ziva and Abby sometimes get into arguments, but they both understand what the past was like for each other. Either way, Ziva and Abby get along well most of the time.
===Donald Mallard & Jimmy Palmer===
Even if Ziva doesn’t always understand the concepts of the autopsies, she still has a strong bond with both Dr Donald Mallard and Dr Jimmy Palmer. She views them as family, just as she does with her other NCIS colleagues.
===Leon Vance===
Ziva and Leon have immense respect for each other a lot of the time, especially during the time when Leon’s wife Jackie and Ziva’s father Eli were both murdered.
==Relationships with Family==
===Eli David===
She had a conflicted relationship with her father while she was a Mossad Agent, because her father was both her father and her boss at the same time. It is clear that they love each other even though their relationship is strained at times. After what went down in season 6 and 7, she quit Mossad and became a full time NCIS Agent, which angered her father and alienated them from one another. She stopped trusting her father, feeling he had been using her and that he had betrayed her. She is actually closer to Gibbs than her own father in the later seasons. His death, does affect her though, as he was the last living member of her family. 
===Ari Haswari===
===Tali David===
She loved her little sister, who unfortunately died in a suicide bombing in Ziva's teens. She choose to name her daughter after her. Ziva and her siblings where close during her childhood, but they all ended it with different fates.
=== Tali David-DiNozzo ===
Ziva has one daughter, Tali. She was born in Israel in 2014. 
==Relationships with Mossad Colleagues==
===Michael Rivkin===
=== Eli David ===
=== Ilan Bodner ===
==Trivia==
*In Semper Fidelis it's revealed that Ziva's address in 2009 was 3558 Volta PL. N.W. Washington, apartment 234.
*The only main characters on the mothership she never met were Caitlin Todd, Alexandra Quinn, Clayton Reeves, Alden Parker and Jessica Knight.
*Tony DiNozzo named one of his fish after her.
==Appearances==
For a more detailed list, see Ziva David/List of Appearances.
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Category:Israelis in NCIS
Category:Recurring Characters in NCIS
Category:Main Characters in NCIS
Category:Mossad Officers in NCIS
Category:NCIS Agents in NCIS
Category:Former NCIS Members in NCIS