Hierarchy of SPECTRE in the Classic Film Continuity
Aristidus Twain
Posts: 1MI6 Agent
Hello! I'm new here, and new to James Bond fandom in general, but I don't do things halfway and I thought I'd start by showing the results of a little bit of research I did.
As we know, in the films' classic continuity, Ernst Stavro Blofeld's rank within SPECTRE was Number 1 and Emilio Largo's was Number 2. Based on this, I think it very likely that members' numbers reflect their rank within SPECTRE. Moreover, it would stand to reason that once a member died, he is replaced by the member directly under him, who thus takes on the deceased's old number.
This allowed me to create a chart of SPECTRE hierarchy per film. Each film column shows the ranks at the beginning of the film, with the symbol † indicating which characters are dead by the end of the film. Characters whose presence in the film is certain are shown in plain text, whereas those whose presence I can only infer from their role in other films are in italics. It is here: https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/f/ff/SPECTRE_Hierarchy_Chart.pdf/revision/latest?cb=20170406095506 in PDF.
I also took the liberty of assigning numbers to two characters whose rank within SPECTRE was not clarified. The first is Dr. No, who, to be in charge of such a large and expensive base (and allowed to propose James Bond with a place within SPECTRE), had to be a member of the Inner Circle, and probably a high-ranking one at that. The second one is Irma Bunt. She is the only other high-ranking SPECTRE agent seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and appears to work in close coordination with Blofeld himself; in the books, I'm told she was even implied to be Blofeld's mistress, though considering her physical appearance in the films, I find that somewhat unlikely to be true in that continuity as well. At any rate, all this makes me quite certain that she is actually Blofeld's new Number 2 after Emilio Largo's death.
I also somewhat wanted to find a room for Fiona Volpe in there; she seems to have a similar positiont o Helga Brandt, who was explicitly said to be a numbered SPECTRE member. However, I wasn't sure where to put her. I suppose she could be one of the various question marks left in the chart.
Two things of interest: the number of SPECTRE's inner circle in the novels was 21. That information is not necessarily canon to the film, but, to my surprise, it fits surprisingly well with my calculations' results; the lowest rank I got was Helga Brandt's, who was apparently Number 18 during the events of Doctor No. Moreover, if you use that info, then the number of remaining living SPECTRE members after Diamonds Are Forever is actually thirteen — no wonder Blofeld's last plan failed so miserably in For Your Eyes Only.
What do you think?
As we know, in the films' classic continuity, Ernst Stavro Blofeld's rank within SPECTRE was Number 1 and Emilio Largo's was Number 2. Based on this, I think it very likely that members' numbers reflect their rank within SPECTRE. Moreover, it would stand to reason that once a member died, he is replaced by the member directly under him, who thus takes on the deceased's old number.
This allowed me to create a chart of SPECTRE hierarchy per film. Each film column shows the ranks at the beginning of the film, with the symbol † indicating which characters are dead by the end of the film. Characters whose presence in the film is certain are shown in plain text, whereas those whose presence I can only infer from their role in other films are in italics. It is here: https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/f/ff/SPECTRE_Hierarchy_Chart.pdf/revision/latest?cb=20170406095506 in PDF.
I also took the liberty of assigning numbers to two characters whose rank within SPECTRE was not clarified. The first is Dr. No, who, to be in charge of such a large and expensive base (and allowed to propose James Bond with a place within SPECTRE), had to be a member of the Inner Circle, and probably a high-ranking one at that. The second one is Irma Bunt. She is the only other high-ranking SPECTRE agent seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and appears to work in close coordination with Blofeld himself; in the books, I'm told she was even implied to be Blofeld's mistress, though considering her physical appearance in the films, I find that somewhat unlikely to be true in that continuity as well. At any rate, all this makes me quite certain that she is actually Blofeld's new Number 2 after Emilio Largo's death.
I also somewhat wanted to find a room for Fiona Volpe in there; she seems to have a similar positiont o Helga Brandt, who was explicitly said to be a numbered SPECTRE member. However, I wasn't sure where to put her. I suppose she could be one of the various question marks left in the chart.
Two things of interest: the number of SPECTRE's inner circle in the novels was 21. That information is not necessarily canon to the film, but, to my surprise, it fits surprisingly well with my calculations' results; the lowest rank I got was Helga Brandt's, who was apparently Number 18 during the events of Doctor No. Moreover, if you use that info, then the number of remaining living SPECTRE members after Diamonds Are Forever is actually thirteen — no wonder Blofeld's last plan failed so miserably in For Your Eyes Only.
What do you think?
Comments
Firstly, in the books Irma Bunt is more than implied to be Blofeld's mistress. They're living together as husband & wife by YOLT (and by implication before that) - whether they're legally married or not Fleming doesn't go into, but they're certainly claiming to be. And her physical appearance in OHMSS the film is pretty close to the book (it's an excellent piece of casting).
Fiona Volpe isn't given a number in TB (Blofeld refers to her as the "execution branch" or at least a member of it) but Fatima Blush*, her analogue in NSNA, is Number Twelve. Of course, NSNA isn't canon but that's all the information we're given.
Lastly, in TB the novel the SPECTRE members' numbers rotate: at the time of the events in TB Blofeld is actually Number Two and Largo is Number One.
Hope that is of interest!
* "Fatima Blush" was the character's name in earlier drafts of what became TB.