Madstunts

Question: What exactly happens in the opening? I'm assuming Blofeld is the one Bond kills, but what was the point of it? Was it just to answer the question about what happened to him? And why was his face not shown?

Answer: The producers of the film had a falling out with Kevin McClory, who had the rights to the character of Blofeld. They decided to kill off Blofeld to show McClory that the films could manage fine without the character. Obviously, without McClory's permission they couldn't go so far as to say that the guy in the wheelchair is actually Blofeld, otherwise they'd get into legal bother, so they just left it to fans to assume that's who it is.

Madstunts