Le Chiffre

"You know, I never understood all these elaborate tortures. It's the simplest thing... to cause more pain than a man can possibly endure.... And of course, it's not only the immediate agony, but the knowledge... that if you do not yield soon enough... there will be little left to identify you as a man. The only question remains: will you yield, in time?"

- Le Chiffre, about to torture James Bond.

Le Chiffre is the main antagonist in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale. He is Albanian by birth, and his alias is French for "The Cypher." His one notable physical feature was a defective tear duct, which could cause him to cry blood. Le Chiffre works for a mysterious group called Quantum, and he helps to make money for terrorists by investing millions of dollars and forcing stock market shifts through terrorist acts. It is implied that he profited off the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

He was portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen, who also portrays Hannibal Lecter in the NBC television series Hannibal.

Airline Scheme
Le Chiffre's first scheme presented in the movie is an attempt to make money for Quantum by investing $101,206,000 that terrorist Steven Obanna had entrusted to Quantum by investing it in an airline company called SkyFleet. His plan was to gamble on the stock by purchasing put options and then ordering the destruction of their new prototype plane. The destruction of the plane was foiled by MI6 agent James Bond, who had come across the plot while investigating what turned out to be some of Le Chiffre's underlings. Le Chiffe lost his total investment, and to save his own skin, he set up a high stakes hold 'em poker tournament at a casino in the Balkan nation of Montenegro.

The Poker Tournament
MI6, who knew Le Chiffre was funding terrorism but couldn't prove it, dispatched Bond to Montenegro to compete in the exclusive tournament, because he was known as the best card player in the agency. Recognizing the threat that Bond posed, Le Chiffre tried to poison him on the first night of the tournament, but Bond managed to save himself with a defibrillator. Later that night, Obanna and some of his underlings visited Le Chiffre, threatening his life and that of his girlfriend Verlanka if he didn't get his money back. The next night, Bond ended up winning the tournament with the help of CIA agent Felix Leiter. He sent the money into an account with a password known only to him. In a last act of desperation, Le Chiffre kidnapped Bond's treasury contact and love interest Vesper Lynd. Le Chiffre may have been unaware of it, but Lynd was in fact a reluctant double agent for Quantum trying to secure her boyfriend's safety. He managed to capture Bond, and took him to a ship nearby. Le Chiffre wanted Bond's account password, so he tortured him by flagellating his testicles with a weight attached to the end of a rope. When Bond refused to give in easily, Le Chiffre threatened to castrate him. However, Mr. White, Le Chiffre's immediate superior in Quantum, broke into the room and shot Le Chiffre in the head; partly for having made a deal with Vesper Lynd to save Bond's life in exchange for the money, but also because Le Chiffre could no longer be trusted.