"Thats a bit of an odd attitude given that she herself killed Ari and was, at least in part, responsible for Rivkin's death and Tony's brush with it."

"Neat question.

Thinking back through the episodes, two come to my mind that may illustrate Ziva's darkest fears.


In Shalom (4.01), Ziva's phone call to Gibbs (asking him to come back and help her prove she wasn't a terrorist) was interesting. She was calm and stable up until Gibbs asked her what she thought he could do from 3000 miles away. "Save me?" she asks, with a desperate quiver in her voice. I think her terror in this call was a fear of rejection by Gibbs, rather than a fear of being hunted by the FBI, CIA, NCIS and Mossad.

In Recoil (5.16), Ziva is very shaken by her near-death experience (the killer's shot grazes her temple). She was afraid that her instincts had been wrong, and that a mistake in judgement will lead to her death.

So: I think the greatest fears we've seen so far are a fear of rejection by a father-figure, and a fear of mistaken judgement at a critical time.

Anyone else have ideas?"

"Its a nice idea but the show has repeatedly shown us Ziva's feelings on full display. She has repeatedly been shown to act on her feelings and to be ruled by them."