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"Secrets are my life."

Alfred Borden was a magician's assistant, and later a stage magician under the name "The Professor". Although not a great showman, reserved and calculative, he was one of the greatest technical magicians in the world, certainly in London. Throughout the course of the film, Alfred and Freddy Borden would take turns on playing Alfred Borden/The Professor and Bernard Fallon. Borden was very quick and insightful, as he could spot and work out other magicians' tricks with relative ease. His fundamental belief in magic was that the boundaries should constantly be pushed forward, onto new heights.

Biography[]

Borden worked as an assistant to Milton, along with Robert Angier and his wife Julia McCullough.

During the performance of a water cell trick, Angier's wife drowned as she couldn't untie the rope around her wrist. Angier blamed Borden for using the wrong type of knot, although he claimed not to remember which knot he had used. Milton's career ended and Borden started his own show, with both him and Freddy Borden swapping roles between himself and ingénieur Bernard Fallon. Albert, one of the Borden brothers, fell in love and married Sarah.

Angier tried to sabotage Borden's acts, shooting him with a real bullet during a "bullet catch" trick. This resulted in Alfred Borden losing two fingers, and in order to preserve cover he cut two fingers off of Freddy. To get Angier back, Frederick ruined a disappearing bird trick of his. Borden then decided to launch his career defining trick at The Strand Theatre, "The Transported Man", using himself and Freddy.

Olivia Wenscombe then came to work as Borden's assistant, and she ended up falling in love with Freddy. The two had to juggle their lives to see each other's lovers, and realised she was initially sent by Angier to steal their secret. She gave his diary to Angier, who then captured Freddy (dressed as Fallon) and traded his life for the key to the encryption. That evening, it is Freddy who wanted to celebrate, but this caused more strain on his relationship with Sarah. Not knowing her husband, Alfred, was played by both Albert, her real husband, and his twin, Freddy, she took up drinking because of the dishonesty in the relationship. Sarah knew at times he was her loving husband, and at other times he didn't love her at all, but that's what made the relationship more painful. She ended up hanging herself in his study.

Angier then returned to London with "The Real Transported Man", using technology he had got from Nikola Tesla. The Borden brothers agreed to end their own Transported Man trick and leave Angier alone. However, curious as to how it worked, Freddy could not help but investigate backstage. Freddy was arrested for murdering Angier, who has set it up to frame Borden. He was sent to prison and executed, while Albert visited him dressed as Fallon. He then tracked down the real Angier who was revealed to be Lord Caldlow, and shot him. He revealed his secret, before burning Angier's machine and all the corpses it had created.

Personality []

Spoilers ahead. 

  • Alfred Borden: Alfred is the most sympathetic. He is reserved and calculative. He loves his wife and daughter. He is also quiet and unassuming, and a terrific magician.  He is often associated with the INTJ MBTI personality type.
  • Frederick "Freddy" Borden: Freddy is Alfred's twin brother, and much more impulsive. He is selfish, obssessed with besting Angier, and quite uncaring in regard to his brother's needs. Freddy only wishes to advance stage magic and upstage Angier. In addition, he appears to be less skilled than his brother, more of a hanger on, required for certain tricks. That said, he was deeply sorry for the damage he caused to Alfred's marriage, and his daughter. When he finds Angier drowning, he immediately rushes to his rescue, calling for him to hold on despite their past rivalry.  He is often associated with the ISTP MBTI personality type.
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