Count Lippe
SeanIsTheOnlyOne
Posts: 408MI6 Agent
I've just reread TB and I noticed something that disturbed me a little bit.
Blofeld decides to delay the operation because of what happened to Lippe at Shrublands.
But does the letter really have to be posted by Lippe himself to make the plot succeed ? His job mainly consisted in approaching Petacchi and convincing him to hijack the plane with the missiles onboard. From the moment the pilot accepts this mission, Lippe can be replaced by any other agent introducing himself as the new contact.
I don't get why it is so important for Blofeld to make Lippe THE man who is in charge to post the letter. It's not like if this job couldn't be done by another person. The only thing you need is giving Petacchi the stuff before the flight.
Does anyone see my point ?
Comments
the Shrublands section of Flemings book seems almost entirely unrelated to the rest of the plot, so I'm not surprised the two parts don't quite hang together logically.
We know the main plot was devised between Fleming, McClory et al as an early film project, then when the film fell through Fleming novelised what they had come up with. I don't think Shrublands was part of that, I think it was something new Fleming added to get the book up to 200pgs. I believe it was based on one of his own personal experiences over the last year (as his own health was failing) and if it didn't get turned into part of Thunderball maybe it would have ended up as a short story?
I seem to recall the Blades section of Moonraker was similar, as that book also started as a film project.
@caractacus potts the thing is the Shrublands section could have been relevantly related to the rest of the plot, no matter who wrote what. Blofeld tells the other SPECTRE members about Lippe's incident three days before the initial posting date. Why waiting for a full recovery while someone can replace the guy to finish the job without any schedule delay ? There's something I don't get here.