Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Reboot Series)

"you came across me so many times and yet you never saw me. Silva, Le Chiffre, Greene, and all the women you've lost in your life, Vesper Lynd for example, he didn't tell you about her? She was the big one... and of course your beloved M, gone forever. Me! It was all me, James. It's always been me: the author of all your pain!"

- Blofeld confessing that he's responsible for Bond's recent tragic bereavements and reveals his cunning side before capturing him in North Africa.

"Franz Oberhauser died twenty years ago, James, in an avalanche alongside his father. The man you're talking to now, the man inside your head, is Ernst Stavro Blofeld."

- Blofeld revealing his true name to Bond during the latter's painful torture

Ernst Stavro Blofeld (previously known as Franz Oberhauser) is the main antagonist of the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, acting as the leader of the titular organization. He is James Bond's foster brother and archenemy, being responsible for the latter's recent losses ever since the James Bond series rebooted with 2006's Casino Royale, thus he is the true primary antagonist of the reboot series.

He is portrayed by two-time Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, who also portrayed Hans Landa, Mandrake, Bert Hanson and Walter Keane.

History and Childhood
Franz Oberhauser was the son of Hannes Oberhauser and Trudi Blofeld-Oberhauser, and he knew James Bond as a child. When Bond's parents died in a climbing accident, James was comforted and adopted by Hannes, who instructed his son to treat James like a brother. Unfortunately, Franz grew to secretly scorn James, believing his father loved Bond more than him. At one point, Hannes and Franz were involved in an avalanche in which both of them were apparently killed. However, in truth, Franz killed his father out of jealousy and after having been proclaimed dead, he adopted his mother's maiden name.

As the years went by, Blofeld went on to form a mysterious but infamous terrorist organization known as SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Under his leadership, the organization became an extremely powerful group that survived through its complete anonymity to the world, staging many terrorist attacks throughout the years. Through the shadows along with several SPECTRE agents (such as Le Chiffre, Vesper Lynd, Mr. White, Dominic Greene, Raoul Silva, and Quantum, which happens to be a subsidiary of SPECTRE, Blofeld had secretly staged personal tragedies to James while continuing on executing more attacks around the world, gaining more and more powerl.

Events of the film
Franz first appears briefly at the funeral of Marco Sciarra (one of his assassins) and James partly spots him, though without recognizing his former brother. Oberhauser later appears at the SPECTRE meeting in Rome, where, after allowing Bond a short, brutal insight of SPECTRE, he exposes James, who was eavesdropping on the meeting. James makes his escape after a car chase with Mr. Hinx, a SPECTRE assassin.

Following the suicide of Mr. White, who grew disillusioned with Franz's ruthless way of leading the organisation including approving the killing of women and children, James and Mr. White's daughter Dr. Madelline Swann head to a Moroccan hotel called L'Americain, where they find coordinates to Franz's main facility in the Sahara desert. While travveling there, the pair once more encounters Hinx and after a brutal fight they are able to kill the assassin. James and Swann arrive at the facility, but Franz has awaited their arrival. He reveals that he plans to take control of the world's intelligence systems through the Nine Eyes program developed by Max Denbigh (the head of the Joint Intelligence Servies and one of SPECTRE's agents) and that he had arranged the '00 section to be shut down, using Denbigh's influence for doing so. Franz confessed that he and SPECTRE were secretly behind the actions of Le Chiffre, Lynd, White, Greene, Silva, and Quantum. He would later go on to reveal surveillance footage of Mr. White's suicide, driving a spike between Bond's and Swann's relationship. He then has his men knock out Bond.

Upon awakening, Bond finds himself strapped to a surgical chair. Franz then tortures Bond with a technological surgery machine, emotionally tormenting him with the deaths of everyone he loved while having Swann witness the torture, much to her distraught. He also confesses that he killed their father out of jealousy against James and that he no longer goes by the name Franz Oberhauser anymore, having created the Alter Ego Ernst Starvo Blofeld after the supposed demise of Franz Oberhauser. He attempts to lobotomize James, but Swann, who has been given an exploding watch by Bond, uses the device to destroy the machine and seemingly killing Blofeld. Bond and Swann escape the facility before it blows up, killing the majority of Blofeld's men in the process.

Since the Moroccan base was just one node in a wider network, James and Swann head back to London, where they conspire with M, Q, Bill Tanner, and Moneypenny to arrest Denbigh and stop the Nine Eyes program from going online. However, on the way James is captured by several of SPECTRE's agents and taken to the derelict ruins of the old MI6 headquarters. Though James manage to kill the SPECTRE agents, he ventures inside the ruins, eventually finding Blofeld who has survived his base's explosion, but his face is hideously scarred (reminiscent of Donald Pleasence's incarnation in You Only Live Twice) and his eye is blinded. James tries to shoot Blofeld, only to have his bullets held at bay by the bullet proof glass placed between them. James approaches Blofeld, who reveals the disfiguring scar in his face which he got during Bond's escape. Bond sarcastically comments the scar, but Blofeld states that his physical scar will heal as opposed to Bond's emotional scar. He then reveals that he has kidnapped Swann and left her somewhere in the building which is elaborately rigged with explosives. Blofeld gives James two options: either die in the explosions while trying to save Swann, or to save himself but leave Swann to die, living with the pain and guilt for the rest of his life. Blofeld then enters a helicopter which hovers over the river Thames to allow Blofeld to watch James die trying to save Swann. However, James succeeds as he and Swann escape seconds before the building explodes. In the meantime, Q manages to shut down Nine Eyes while M manages to finish off Denbigh, who ends up falling down to his death several stories below.

Final Showdown and Defeat
"Finish it...Finish it!."

- Ernst's last words to Bond before he's put under arrest for his crimes

Believing Bond to be dead, Blofeld attempts to leave, unaware that Bond and Swann are pursuing him in a speedboat. After a climactic chase, Bond manages to shoot down the helicopter's fuel tanks, sending it crashing onto Westminster Bridge, severely wounding Blofeld's leg and killing his two pilots. Blofeld tries to crawl away from the wreckage, but is held at gunpoint by an arriving Bond. Realizing now that he can't escape alive, Blofeld maniacally demands to be finished off, but Bond refuses to kill him, knowing that it's not worth it. Stating he is out of bullets, Bond holsters his gun and walks away with Swann, leaving Blofeld to be arrested and incarcerated by the British Secret Service for his crimes against humanity, which Blofeld accepts with resignation.

Personality
Blofeld was an unpredictable, dangerous, and utterly ruthless megalomaniac of the most diabolical kind. He was unbelievably resourceful, and could access vast amounts of weaponry, technology, organizations and illegal activities - in other words, he was able to create and control SPECTRE. He was an exceptionally calm and reserved person and addressed any and all problems with an insidiously relaxed attitude, even if he was helpless while being held at gunpoint.

He was also extremely intelligent, but in all of the worst ways. He was a master of psychological warfare and could intimidate people with his very presence. His intelligence made him an unbelievable strategist and enabled him to outwit practically any opponent. His genius made him far-seeing and cunning to a fault, and he knew all of the details of his opponents' moves, right down to placing a bulletproof sheet of glass between him and James Bond in their final confrontation.

Blofeld was also intensely sadistic and malicious, describing himself to James Bond as the author of all your pain. Throughout the film, he plays cruel and elaborate games with James's mind concerning his past and the people he has lost his entire life - Vesper, M, his parents, etc. Blofeld also possessed little self-preservation, despite his sophisticated manner. Even when finally held at gunpoint by James, he over-confidently goaded him to pull the trigger, though James decides to spare him, knowing that he's not worth it.

Quotes

 * "Welcome, James. It's been a long time...and, finally, here we are! What took you so long? Cuckoo!" - Blofeld's malevolent greeting to James Bond in the SPECTRE meeting at Rome
 * "The Kartenhoff, the oldest in human possession. The very meteorite which made this crater. Think about it: so many years up there - alone, silent - building momentum until it chose to make its mark on Earth... a huge unstoppable force." - Blofeld comparing his power over SPECTRE to that of the meteorite he stored inside his North Africa facility
 * "When the needle hits the point right here in the brain, you can't recognize no one! You will not remember her because she will be another face on your grave." - Blofeld to Bond while torturing him
 * "I can't tell you how I'm waiting for this. All of us here together, a reunion! I'm so glad you also came, dear Madelline.... you were just a girl when I saw you for the first time. I came to your home once to see your father. Shall we?" - Blofeld meeting Bond and Madelline in the facility
 * "Information is all, is it not? For example, you must know by now that the 00' program is officially dead, which leads me to speculate exactly why you came. So, James, why did you come? (Bond: I've come to kill you.) And I thought you came here to die." - Blofeld confronts both Bond and Swann in the SPECTRE desert facility in Northern Africa
 * "Whereas you couldn't see what's right in front of you. You came across me so many times and yet you never saw me... a nice pattern developed: you interfered with my world, I destroyed yours." - Blofeld after Bond mocked him for being a visionary
 * "This is important. I want you to learn something; The things that bring people together out of horror... beauty." - Blofeld moments before Bond is knocked out
 * "A man lives inside his head; that's where the seed of his soul is. James and I were both present recently when a man was deprived of his eyes and the most astonishing thing happened, didn't you notice? He wasn't there anymore. He had gone even though he was still alive, so this brief moment between life and death, there was nobody inside his skull. Most odd..." - Blofeld's speech while torturing Bond
 * "You probably know that James here lost his parents when he was young. But did you know that it was my father who helped him through this difficult time? Over the course of two winters he taught him to ski and climb and hunt. He sewed the wounds of the poor little blue-eyed orphan, asked me to treat him as a brother... my little brother." - Blofeld revealing his past life with Bond to Swann
 * "You know what happens when a cuckoo hatches inside another bird's nest?  Well, this cuckoo made me realize that my father's life had to end. Anyways, he is responsible for the path I took. So thank you, cuckoo!" - Blofeld telling Swann of the true reason why he killed his father
 * "He dies not knowing who you are. The daughter of an assassin, the only one who could have understood him. Shame..." - Blofeld to Swann, before continuing his torture of Bond
 * "Let's look around you, James. Look! This is what's left of your world. Everything you ever stood for, everything you believed in - a ruin!" - Blofeld to Bond in the destroyed MI6 headquarters
 * "My wounds will heal... what about yours?" - Blofeld in his final showdown with Bond after the latter comments on his scar
 * "I've really put you through it, haven't I? But, that's brothers for you; they always know which buttons to press." - Blofeld to Bond before pressing the explosives timer button
 * "Goodbye, James Bond!" - Blofeld in his helicopter, believing Bond to have died while saving Swann from the rigged MI6 building

Trivia

 * This version of Blofeld differs from the original in that he has a closer connection to Bond, being his foster brother.
 * Ironically enough, Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series (who is a parody of Blofeld) was revealed to being Austin Power's brother in the third film Austin Powers in Goldmember.
 * It was speculated before the film's release that Christoph Waltz was to play Blofeld, though that rumor was denied by Waltz. However, he does play Blofeld in the film.
 * His father, Hannes Oberhauser, first appeared in the short story Octopussy, as his death is the reason Bond gets involved in tracking down Dexter Smythe, the story's antagonist.
 * This version of Blofeld is similar to the reboot versions of Khan (from Star Trek), Tirek (from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), and the Joker (from the Dark Knight trilogy), since all are given a different origin (except Khan, as the reboot of Star Trek is set in a parallel alternate timeline) and, while all four end up imprisoned, the original Blofeld, Khan, Tirek, and Joker died.
 * In order to create Blofeld's hideous scar over his face, the film's producers used CGI Animation in order to do it.
 * He is the only main villain in a Bond film (Mendes series) that doesn't die at the ending of the film.