Warning: This post contains spoilers for No Time To Die.
One of the most interesting scenes in James Bond's nemesis Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) accidentally predict the end of Daniel Craig's final 007 movie chapter. The scene was shown heavily as part of the marketing for the 25th James Bond movie, with the newly-caged villain and head of Spectre threatening Craig's retired spy with the revelation of a secret that would be "the death" of him. That much pinned suspicion on Léa Seydoux's Madeleine Swann, who Bond broke up with in the opening act after Blofeld's evil machinations inspired memories of Bond's broken trust with Vesper Lynd.
In another universe, the villain of No Time To Die may have been Waltz's Blofeld, especially as he was the center of Craig's entire five-movie arc (at least retrospectively by Spectre's events). But the divided nature of Spectre's reception probably put paid to that suggestion before it even got off the mark with Rami Malek's Safin stepping into his stead. Perhaps that is why Safin's plan includes wiping out the entire organization, as if in response to the tepid response to Daniel Craig's penultimate Bond movie? Either way, Blofeld was demoted to a Hannibal Lecter-like role consulting Bond and Madeleine from inside his prison about Safin's motivations.
Blofeld's screen-time is surprisingly limited, but as the No Time To Die trailers confirmed, he did get to taunt Daniel Craig's James Bond with Madeleine's life-changing secret: "When her secret finds its way out, it will be the death of you." And while his claim that it would ruin his life was oddly undone by the reveal that the secret was in fact Mathilde Bond, 007's secret daughter, there is something to be said for the prediction. His ominous portent could be read two ways: either in metaphorical , as a suggestion that Mathilde's existence would be the "death" of everything he knew to that point. That perhaps isn't as negative as it may initially appear, since Craig's Bond is clearly a deeply unhappy figure. On the other hand, if you read Blofeld's warning literally, it suggests that he knew that Madeleine's secret would lead to Bond dying, which is exactly what happened at the end of No Time To Die.
Because there's no revelation that Blofeld was pulling Safin's strings from the grave all along (which might have made things make more sense), there's no possible way that he could have known for sure that Bond was going to die. So how could Blofeld make such a firm prediction, on which No Time To Die's marketing was heavily stacked? Perhaps it should be read as the awareness of a supremely intelligent manipulator, who knew the threat posed both by Safin and his world-ending poison. After all, Blofeld somehow managed to find out about Madeleine Swann's child when neither Bond nor MI6 were able and she was consciously off the grid to protect her. It's very possible that he knew that Bond being in Safin's crosshairs and Safin's interest in Madeleine could only lead one way.
More pertinently even, Blofeld knew Bond on a personal level. They were brothers. He knew that Bond's vulnerabilities were emotional ties to other people, which Vesper Lynd's betrayal and death uncovered and which was the basis for all of Bond's inter-personal and relationship decisions. He was promiscuous because he was lonely, but cut ties because it made him vulnerable, and the idea of him being tied to a family immediately made him weaker. Blofeld could have simply been goading Bond with the knowledge, knowing that he would inevitably lose his edge or make himself an easier target: and while the outcome in No Time To Die's ending is accurate, the reason for his death is more complex. Bond chooses to die out of weakness but does so in a show of strength that few others could manage.
