10 Things That Make No Sense About The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride didn’t do well when it was first released but is now a cult classic. Here are things about the movie that just don’t make sense.

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The Princess Bride, when released in 1987, didn’t do very well in theaters. As a fairy tale film, its mish-mash of genres made it particularly difficult to market. However, luckily, the film has now achieved cult classic status, with plenty of memorable quotes that thousands remember. Though some elements didn’t age well, the film’s acting, direction, and story are all to be praised for how well done they are.

However, as an adaptation where the author wrote the script, there are a few connections that got dropped along the way. Therefore, here are ten things that don’t quite make sense about The Princess Bride.

10 Vizzini’s Rant

Goldman’s novel was “abridged” from a longer version of The Princess Bride by a man named Morgenstern. When Goldman read it as an adult, he realized that his father had cut out all the boring sections when he read it aloud to his son when he was young, such as a fetch quest Inigo and Fezzik take on for Miracle Max, for example.

Therefore, while it’s possible that real-world countries are mentioned more in the “full” version of the novel (which doesn’t actually exist), Vizinni mentioning Australia doesn’t make any sense in-universe. Australia wasn’t actually discovered until the 1600s, so a medieval country like Florin likely wouldn’t have even heard of it yet.

9 Only Mostly Dead?

After Westley is tortured by Count Rugen and is brought to Miracle Max by Inigo and Fezzik, Miracle Max says that it’s lucky he’s only “mostly dead”. Even in the fanciful country of Florin, it really makes no sense to be only partly alive just because of love. Most other elements of the story are at least rooted intangible things, so this is something new to contend with.

It doesn’t help that Westley and Buttercup’s relationship is meant almost as a parody of true love; for most of the time that they are together on screen, they aren’t actually getting along.

8 The King and Queen

In The Princess Bride, despite Humperdink only being the prince, he seems to be the one in charge. When Buttercup walks with the Queen and the King, said ruler comes across as merely dreamy and as though he isn’t listening. How does he not realize what kind of awful person – and King – Humperdink is? What is stopping him from actually stepping up and ruling?

The Queen isn’t given any possible health problems as reasons for her absence in the plot; why isn’t she helping Buttercup or counseling her son away from murder, for instance?

7 Buttercup’s Attitude

And for that matter, why doesn’t Buttercup see Humperdink for who he is from the beginning? It seems only to hit her when she recovers Westley. Of course, since Humperdink is forcing her into marriage, there isn’t that much she could do on a large scale, but it seems there are different ways of rebelling in smaller ways that she could have used.

Buttercup’s agency is very underutilized in the film, and that’s a disappointment, honestly, as it’s an element that didn’t age well.

6 How Will They Get Away In Time?

This is a question that plagued readers of the novel as well, especially as when the novel ends, Humperdink and his men are actively chasing the foursome.

However, in the film, Humperdink is still tied to the bed when the heroes leave through the bedroom window. Still, it’s assumed he freed himself and gave chase. Hopefully, those four white horses were able to move quickly…

5 Count Rugen’s Sixth Finger

It’s a major plot point in Inigo’s subplot that Count Rugen has an extra finger: it indicates that this is the man who killed his father. However, other than that, extra fingers are usually signs of witchcraft, but Humperdink appreciates him and doesn’t drive him away as he did Miracle Max before the story started.

One has to wonder why. What exactly does he see in Rugen that he doesn’t in anyone else? It makes sense that it must be Rugen’s study of pain, considering that Humperdink himself is planning to murder his fiancee and start a war over it.

4 Humperdink and Rugen Not Confirming Orders

After the fuss that Humperdink and Rugen make over having Westley killed, as well as the pain machine, it’s ridiculous that neither of them goes down to the pit to make sure Westley is actually dead.

Ultimately, he’s able to get away and ends up humiliating Humperdink before getting away, along with Buttercup. Westley is also the one who is able to identify the sixth-fingered man for Inigo to take his revenge on.

3 The Man in Black

After Westley reveals himself to Buttercup, he goes into some detail about how he became the Dread Pirate Roberts. However, he doesn’t discuss just how he found her after she was kidnapped by Vizzini, Inigo, and Fezzik.

How did Westley know to follow Vizzini’s group specifically to get to Buttercup? Of course, it’s lucky that he did, otherwise, Buttercup likely would be dead, but it’s never specifically answered.

2 Four White Horses

In the novel, it’s mentioned that Humperdink rides four white horses, and that’s why Fezzik is able to find them so easily at the end so the group can get away. However, in the film, they just show up, fairly conveniently. Where exactly did they come from?

The same can be said of the holocaust cloak that Fezzik finds at Miracle Max’s; why would he have a cloak in Fezzik’s size, anyway?

1 Princesses

Why is Buttercup the Princess Bride? After all, she grew up on a farm, and clearly isn’t a princess at the beginning, though she’s addressed as one later while still only being Humperdink’s betrothed, and not his wife.

That’s another missed adaptation connection. In the novel, Humperdink makes her the princess of a small area simply by decree, so that he won’t be marrying a commoner. This doesn’t explain why a line explaining this didn’t make it into the narration, though.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/the-princess-bride-things-make-no-sense/