# Bond and Blofeld **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469 "2017-09-16T15:25:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/1 "2017-09-16T15:25:45Z")
Bond met Blofeld face-to-face in _You Only Live Twice_. But in _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_, Blofeld doesn’t recognise him. Yes, both characters were played by different actors; but in the series, Bond is Bond and Blofeld is Blofeld. They should have known each other. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/2 "2017-09-16T15:34:53Z")
Possible evidence for the “James Bond is a role” theory – it’s a code-name that various different agents have used in succession. (There was a charming allusion to that theory in a Marvel Comic – made by the “new” Nick Fury!) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/3 "2017-09-16T15:53:29Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Possible evidence for the “James Bond is a role” theory – it’s a code-name that various different agents have used in succession. Heck, it was jokingly implied in _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_, when Lazenby/Bond says “This never happened to the other fellow,” a fourth-wall reference to Sean Connery. The two movies (_You Only Live Twice_, _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_) are in reverse order compared to the novels: _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_ (1963 Novel): Bond is chasing Blofeld, who he has never met, after the events of a previous novel, _Thunderball_. Along the way, he meets Tracy and goes undercover in the Swiss allergy clinic to see if the mysterious proprietor is Blofeld. Tracy is later killed, Blofeld escapes. _You Only Live Twice_ (1964 Novel): Bond has pretty much fallen apart after Tracy’s death, has blown two recent missions, is on the verge of being discharged when M assigns him to the Japan station. Bond, rather implausibly, finds out that the head of the Japanese Secret Service is fretting about a foreigner who is creating a minor embarrassment for the Japanese government and enlists Bond to take the foreigner out. Bond recognizes the picture of “Guntram Shatterhand” as Blofeld and accepts the mission for personal revenge. By reversing the order but also wanting to retain elements from the novels (_OHMSS_ is especially accurate to its source, _YOLT_ rather less so), the movies just created a plothole for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/4 "2017-09-16T15:53:40Z")
Writing error I guess. They instantly recognize each other in the next film, _Diamond Are Forever_, although Bond is played by the original actor, and Blofeld is played by a new actor … I mean, the prior ally, I mean, that prior ally died, but still … got better, and regrew his leg. So … Perhaps they weren’t yet as invested in the lets run this as a series theme. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/5 "2017-09-17T00:19:20Z")
Unless I’m mistaken, Blofeld knows Bond isn’t the real genealogist immediately the minute he sees him but keeps him around to humor him before capturing him. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/6 "2017-09-17T12:21:16Z")
The solution is obvious. When the movie was made, people didn’t genuflect to the God of Continuity and didn’t fear the holy wrath of fanwank. It was a different time, when people judged movies on what was on the screen in front of them, and not on a completely different film. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/7 "2017-09-17T14:07:55Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Unless I’m mistaken, Blofeld knows Bond isn’t the real genealogist immediately the minute he sees him but keeps him around to humor him before capturing him. In the movie, yes. He gets some detail of Blofeld’s lineage wrong, but Blofeld strings him along just for the fun of it. In the book, Bond’s cover is blown by another agent recognizing him during his first interview with Blofeld. Again, he strings Bond along just for kicks. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/8 "2017-09-18T17:35:17Z")
Going back to the original question and those two specific movies, let’s remember that James Bond had been disguised to pass for Japanese (or for a mixed parentage) so he could live with the Ainu people in YOLT. While the book goes into much greater detail about the process, it’s obvious that some steps were taken that might have rendered him not-so-easily-recognized in their subsequent encounter. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/9 "2017-09-18T18:09:19Z")
Boy, next you’re gonna want to know how it is that Professor Moriarty can still be alive and committing crimes in **The Valley of Fear** when we know that Watson first even learned of his existence in **The Final Problem** , and Moriarty had gone of the edge at Reichenbach Falls at the end of that story, before there was any opportunity for the events of Valley of Fear to take place. Great villains _always_ come back. And what they can do and what they know is determined by the immediate needs of the story. Blofeld was supposed to die at the end of _Diamonds are Forever_, but they ran out of money and time, so it was left ambiguous. Then he was supposed to be that bad guy in _The Spy Who Loved Me_, but they found they didn’t have the rights to the name, so he became Stromberg. Then they killed off a bald bad guy with a white cat at the start of _For Your Eyes Only_, but you know he wasn’t really dead. even though they’re separate continuities, Blofeld showed up again in _Never Say Never Again_, and in \* S.P.E.C.T.R.E.\*. I think they did it just so Christoph Waltz could play him. He’ll be back, just like Moriarty and Lex Luthor and The Joker. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/10 "2017-09-18T18:36:06Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Great villains _always_ come back. It’s not a matter of Blofeld coming back. The writers can always contrive a way for that to happen. What I’m talking about is that Bond and Blofeld knew each other by sight, and yet Blofeld didn’t recognise Bond. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/11 "2017-09-18T18:39:03Z")
Well Bond \*is \*a master spy, after all, and in disguise in both books/movies. It’s not unreasonable that he could keep his identity hidden. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/12 "2017-09-18T19:11:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It’s not a matter of Blofeld coming back. The writers can always contrive a way for that to happen. What I’m talking about is that Bond and Blofeld knew each other by sight, and yet Blofeld didn’t recognise Bond. You didn’t quote my next sentence, though: > [@](#): > > And what they can do and what they know is determined by the immediate needs of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bond-and-blofeld/796469/13 "2017-09-18T19:24:50Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Well Bond \*is \*a master spy, after all, and in disguise in both books/movies. It’s not unreasonable that he could keep his identity hidden. And Blofeld is a master criminal who would instantly see through any disguise Bond may adopt. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > You didn’t quote my next sentence, though: Obviously the writers can write anything. That’s how Blofeld keeps coming back. But it’s hard to say that Blofeld doesn’t recognise Bond in a business suit, just because the last time he saw him, Bond was wearing a kilt. It would be like not recognising Arnold Schwarzenegger because he’s wearing [Groucho glasses](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51joe7Jx9fL._UX425_.jpg).