History Literature / ThePrincessBride

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The entire life of Inigo Montoya from ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' is a massive TakeThat to the classic "I live only for revenge" character/plot.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The entire life of Inigo Montoya from ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' is a massive case of reality ensuing with the classic "I live only for revenge" character/plot.

In a plot against the throne, Buttercup is kidnapped by the criminal trio The Sicilian Crowd (so called because two's company and three's a crowd), consisting of Vizzini (the mastermind), Fezzik (the dumb muscle) and Inigo Montoya (the world's greatest fencer, traveling to avenge his father) -- but their steps are hampered by a mysterious man in black who seems determined to stop them at all costs. The subsequent adventures are madcap, iconic and brilliant.

The book uses a FramingDevice with the author [[AdaptationDistillation "abridging"]] an older story in order to turn a very satirical (and rather cynical) adult novel by the Florinese author S. Morgenstern into the adventure tale for children [[DirectLineToTheAuthor that he remembers his father reading to him as a kid]].

The even newer edition for the 30th anniversary contains additional commentary about the film, as well as everything contained in the 25th anniversary edition, resulting in three forewords. One more foreword and the 'Good Parts' version will be thicker than Morgenstern's original version!

* AffectionateNickname: Humperdinck calls Queen Bella "Evil Stepmother," or E.S. for short, because the only stepmothers he knew were the [[WickedStepmother evil ones]] from fairy tales. And yes, it ''is'' an affectionate nickname; he's quite fond of her.

* AltarDiplomacy: The ailing King and Queen of Florin want to marry Prince Humperdinck to the Princess of Guilder to forge an alliance between the two rival countries. Humperdinck breaks off the engagement when it turns out during a banquet that his fiancee is [[BaldWomen congenitally bald]], and comments that he'd always planned to just conquer Guilder instead.

*** Gerald Thibault D'Anvers was a famous fencer, mathematician and alchemist, who attempted to created a "new" fencing based on geometric principles.

*** Camillo Agrippa was another proponent of geometric fencing, and is also credited with creating "modern", thrust-centric fencing.

* AnachronismStew: The setting is "before Europe", yet "after America" and before the invention of the word "glamour." Also, there is a mention of Australia being populated entirely by criminals, and Westley is described as wearing blue jeans. Oh, and stew is older than everything, except taxes. In-universe William Goldman states that this drove his editor bonkers, and had to explain that S. Morgenstern was being satirical (and put them in to let a savvy reader know the story's fiction).

* AsYouKnow: [[PerfectPoison Iocaine]] comes from Australia, as "everyone knows".[[note]]There is no such thing as iocaine, though we're pretty sure there really is an Australia.[[/note]]
* AuthorFilibuster: Parodied; the original version[[note]]which does not in fact exist[[/note]] was apparently riddled with these, but the 'editor' didn't realize until adulthood because his father only told him 'the good bits' as a child. The editor promptly cuts all of them from his annotation, as they apparently completely bog the novel down in irrelevant minutiae and pompous tangents, but his descriptions of them are entertaining in their own right -- for example, the editorial on the removal of chapter 3: 56 and a half pages to cover Queen Bella inviting Princess Noreena to meet Prince Humperdinck, including travelling both ways, out of which fifty pages are spent describing the two of them packing and unpacking their luggage.

* BaldWomen: Prince Humperdinck briefly considers marrying a princess of Guilder, but angrily rejects her after a sudden breeze blows off the hat she wears and reveals her to be bald.[[note]]It's implied he did this on purpose, because he really wanted a war with Guilder.[[/note]]

* TheBigGuy: Fezzik. It's been his condition since childhood; when his father tried to teach him to box in order to defend himself against his mean schoolmates, Fezzik accidentally broke his father's jaw. When he boxed for sport, he found single opponents to lack any challenge, so he would fight entire groups at a time.

* BitsOfMeKeepPassingOut: Inverted and PlayedForLaughs as it takes a while for Miracle Max's cure to fully take effect on Westley, and Inigo and Fezzik have to carry him around while StormingTheCastle as bits of him are "waking up" one at a time.

* BullyingADragon: Vizzinni actually ''physically'' threatens Fezzik, which will gives one an idea of just how cowed Fezzik is by him.

** "True love is the greatest thing in the world, except for cough drops." It's repeated multiple times by characters at multiple levels of reality, as if everyone knows this is self-evidently true.

* ComicallySerious: Goldman's son is completely SarcasmBlind and has ''no'' sense of humor, saying "Boy are you stupid" when Goldman cracks a joke and takes it seriously.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Played straight, but it only works for Fezzik, and with a caveat. In his past, Fezzik used to fight people one-on-one for money. Audiences got bored of the [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp battles]] so Fezzik started taking on more and more people; and found that if he changed his strategy a little bit, it wasn't much harder than fighting single people. During his fight with the Man in Black, Fezzik realizes that his years of fighting groups have left him confused as to how to fight one person. He adjusts his strategy, but by that point, it's too late.
* ContemptibleCover: There exists a mass-market paperback edition that came out about two years after the book's first release in 1973. [[http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Princess-Bride.jpg The cover art]] depicts a nearly-nude woman surrounded by skulls, snakes, tentacles and other horrifying objects. Apparently, not only did the artist not read the book beforehand, he must not have even seen a ''plot summary''.

* CostumePorn: Spoofed, with the narrator describing how he cut from the "original version" entire chapters describing Buttercup's wardrobe. It also went on for a dozen pages talking about each and every hat Princess Noreena owns.

* {{Discontinuity}}: The entire faily tale was supposed to be completely fictional, but later anniversary editions of the book have forwards in which William Goldman goes to Florin and Guilder to visit the exact places where events took place - which have become popular tourist spots. [[invoked]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: It's implied that Humperdinck's main motive for wanting a war with Guilder is outrage that Guilder would offer him a bald princess as a bride (nevermind that it was Florin that sought the marriage with Guilder and not the other way around). In reality, Humperdinck just loves war and wants to pick a fight.
* TheDragon: Count Rugen is Humperdinck's second in command and his co-conspirator. During the final showdown, however, Rugen [[DirtyCoward fails rather badly at his job]].

* ExactWords: When Inigo goes home to see his mentor after training for years in swordplay he asks him to evaluate if he he qualifies as a master swordsman or meeds more training. The mentor tells him he does not, but quickly clarifies that it's because Inigo is so far above a master that he can only be called a wizard.

* FlawExploitation: How Vizzini is able to bully both Fezzik and Inigo even thought either could kill him in a nanosecond -- both are terrified of being alone again, and Vizzini rescued both from that.

-->'''Man in Black:''' What you do not smell is called Iocaine powder. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid and is among the more deadly poisons known to man.\\

* FramingDevice: The novel is framed as an abridged version of a much larger original work which the narrator had read to him as a child.

-->'''Humperdinck:''' Iocane. I'd bet my life on it. And there are the princess's footprints. She is alive, or was an hour ago. If she is otherwise when I find her, I shall be very put out.
* GentleGiant: Fezzik is happiest when he's just making up rhymes with his buddy Inigo. He has no ill will towards people, but fights because it's the only thing he knows how to do well.

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: The InUniverse William Goldman allows himself to be seduced by younger, hot women and enjoys it. Subverted in that Karl becomes a hag in his eyes when she informs him that Stephen King is doing the abridgement of ''Buttercup's Baby''.

* GoodStepmother: Prince Humperdinck calls his stepmother evil because supposedly, all fairy tale stepmothers are; in reality she's very nice and the most beloved person in the kingdom, perhaps second only to Buttercup.

* HairstyleMalfunction: A potential bride for Humperdinck visits, bringing along her hugely famous collection of hats. Unfortunately for her, a high breeze blows through the dining hall while she's there and her hat comes off to reveal her (heretofore hidden) baldness. Humperdinck decides to go to war with her country for no other reason than his embarrassment and outrage at being offered a bald princess (despite the fact that the princess visited to be examined as a potential bride on his invitation).

* IceQueen[=/=]DefrostingIceQueen: Buttercup goes from one to the other and back again throughout the story. She starts out cold, then defrosts when she realizes she's in love with Westley, then freezes up again after he's murdered by pirates, then defrosts ''again'' when he shows up. When Humperdinck catches them coming out of the Fire Swamp, she agrees to leave with him to save Westley's life, freezing up once more with despair, but later thaws when she realizes she made a huge mistake.

* IncendiaryExponent: Since they only have two able fighters against eighty guards, the plan for StormingTheCastle involves setting Fezzik on fire (he's wearing a holocaust cloak, which keeps him safe) in order to frighten them off.
* InterClassRomance: Buttercup gets made princess of a tiny area so that Prince Humperdinck can marry her. This also puts her socially above Westley, who used to work as her father's farmhand before becoming a pirate.

* ItsQuietTooQuiet: This saves Fezzik and Inigo's lives when they have to deal with a door guarded by a lethal spider in the Pit of Despair. To wit, Fezzik is so scared by this false sense of security, he simply rams the door, allowing Inigo to simply stomp the spider before it can bite.
* KarmaHoudini: Played with regarding Prince Humperdinck. He suffers no physical harm at all in the final confrontation, but his reputation lies in ruins and his cowardice is revealed. Yellin does free him soon afterward, whereupon he manages to make one last bid to prevent Wesley from escaping, but thanks to a fortuitous intervention by a certain pirate crew, even that fails.

** A major theme of the book, and the subject of at least one plot-interrupting AuthorFilibuster. As the very last lines of the book state, "Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all."

* LookBehindYou: Vizzini does this at the conclusion of his IKnowYouKnowIKnow filibuster to distract the Man in Black from his PoisonChaliceSwitcheroo.
* MarriageOfConvenience: Buttercup to Prince Humperdinck, which he argues is a practical matter of him needing an heir and a wife whose appearance he won't be embarrassed by at court (his parents' pick, the princess of Guilder, was {{bald|Women}}), and he's willing to lift her and her family out of poverty for it. [[spoiler:Actually, he plans to murder her and frame Guilder as a PretextForWar.]] She goes along with it because she believes Westley to be dead, and neither expect love out of it.

* MetafictionalDevice: Used, lampshaded and parodied ''everywhere.'' The "original" book doesn't actually exist as a discrete piece of literature, and serves as a prop for (in-story) Goldman to play off for additional humor.

* MrFanservice: Buttercup starts noticing how hot "Farm Boy's" bod is. Westley later says he got ripped so that she would notice him. There's a ''reason'' the TagLine for the book is "A Hot Fairy Tale".

* NeverBareheaded: Princess Noreena of Guilder is never seen without one of her many hats. After a sudden breeze blows one off, it turns out [[BaldWomen she has good reason]].

** Made more explicit in the “Buttercup’s Baby” sequence; Goldman says that Morgenstern became obsessed with Florinese foliage, writing about them extensively in his novels in an attempt to convince the country of Florin to stop cutting down trees. Replace “foliage” with “architecture”, and you have the real life motivation for the writing of Literature/TheHunchBackOfNotreDame, which had been left in a state of disrepair by the French when Hugo wrote his novel.

* OnlyMostlyDead: The TropeNamer, though the film popularized it. Westley actually starts out as Mostly Dead but slips to Nearly Dead.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: While describing his experiences with and as the Dread Pirate Roberts, Westley very carefully omits any mention of the unsavory acts he must have committed as said pirate.

* {{Postmodernism}}: Trying to sort out the metatextual structure of the book is enough to make your head spin. In the book Goldman claims he first encountered the original novel (which doesn't exist) when his father read it to him as a kid. He found it terribly boring, and after reading it himself as an adult... he still found it terribly boring but with plenty of good bits so he decided to make an abridged version where he left out all the boring bits. Narrator-Goldman repeatedly interjects during the book, briefly describing what happened during the boring parts he left out. At the end of the book [[spoiler:it suddenly stops just before the final resolution, where Goldman says he's not sure what happened next, but he says he ''thinks'' there was a happy ending.]]

* PsychicStatic: How Westley is able to defeat physical torture -- by thinking of Buttercup. Before he's subjected to The Machine, Rugen informs him he ''knew'' that Westley was "taking his mind away." This finally unnerves Westley. [[spoiler:The Machine gets past all of his defenses and pains him ''for real''.]]

* QuicksandSucks: Except it's not quicksand. The stuff Buttercup falls into in the book is called 'snow sand,' and is rather like baby powder in consistency. As the narrative explains, quicksand is wet and kills by drowning, while snow sand is dry and powdery and kills by suffocation.
* RagsToRoyalty: Humperdinck can't marry a commoner, so Buttercup gets ennobled. The story explains how she had to attend royalty school for three years, and was given the title of Princess of Hammersmith ("a little lump of land attached to Lotharon's holdings").
* [[ViewersAreGeniuses Readers Are Geniuses]]: Invoked. The original text (which doesn't exist) was a political satire that required the reader to have several university degrees to find funny instead of boring. This is the fun parts boiled out of that.

* ScheherezadeGambit: Westley's relationship with the previous Dread Pirate Roberts is that he will "most likely kill him in the morning". He says this for a number of years before finally becoming fast friends.

* SlaveToPR: The Dread Pirate Roberts works ''hard'' to maintain his reputation as a murderous bastard. You don't have to fight as often if people surrender their valuables in order to avoid certain death.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Buttercup. Her beauty is enough to get her promoted to future queen, except the Prince threatens to kill her if she refuses. And [[spoiler:he's planning to kill her anyway.]] In fact, if she were slightly less beautiful, the whole conflict wouldn't have happened.

* SpeedSmartsAndStrength: The trio of baddies who kidnap Buttercup is initially comprised of Vizzini (the mastermind, representing Smarts), Fezzik (a giant strongman, representing Strength), and Inigo (a master fencer, representing Speed).

* TapOnTheHead: The Dread Pirate Roberts to Inigo (swordhilt) and Fezzik (stranglehold), Count Rugen to Westley (swordhilt), and Fezzik to the albino (fist).

* UnInstallment: The "reunion scene". When Buttercup and Westley are reunited, there's an editor's note explaining that for one reason and another the book doesn't include a detailed depiction of their reunion, but you can write in to the publisher to be sent a copy. People who did write in instead received a letter explaining that the Morgenstern estate had frowned on this, and the publisher needed to keep in good with the Morgenstern estate to avoid messing up the film rights/the US's trade ties with Florin/Goldman's chances of being allowed to "adapt" the sequel (the letter was updated from time to time with a new excuse). The then-current text of the letter was included in the 25th Anniversary Edition.

** To wit: Narrator Goldman talks about a wife and kid he doesn't have in real life (not to mention as saying the story is actually satirical non-fiction). Narrator Morgenstern says that the story happened before Europe but after America. Narrator Father never informed his son that the story came from a historical text and he skipped over all the (lengthy) boring parts.)

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Buttercup -- though at first she's only in the top twenty. The first couple of chapters are in fact a lengthy parody of the trope, as the narrator somehow has access to a list of "Who was the most beautiful woman in the world at any given time," and on what qualifications, pays careful attention to Buttercup's rise through the ranks, and even gives anecdotes on what happened to the ''previous'' holders of the title (in order: chocolate, smallpox, and [[SelfFulfillingProphecy wrinkles brought on by worrying about how to hold on to the title of "World's Most Beautiful Woman.]]") In the end, despite the beauticians working on her while she's Humperdinck's fiance, it's her maturity and sadness that puts her over the top.

* WhamLine: In the FramingStory, Goldman being told "Creator/StephenKing is doing the abridgement."

** Made more explicit in the “Buttercup’s Baby” sequence; Goldman says that Morgenstern became obsessed with Florinese foliage, writing about them extensively in his novels in an attempt to convince the country of Florin to stop cutting down trees. Replace “foliage” with “architecture”, and you have the real life motivation for the writing of TheHunchBackOfNotreDam, which had been left in a state of disrepair by the French when Hugo wrote his novel.

* {{Postmodernism}}: Trying to sort out the metatextual structure of the book is enough to make your head spin. In the book Goldman claims he first encountered the original novel (which doesn't exist) when his father read it to him as a kid. he found it terribly boring, and after he read it himself as an adult he still found it terribly boring but with plenty of good bits so he decided to make an abridged version where he left out all the boring bits. Narrator-Goldman repeatedly interjects during the book, briefly describing what happened during the boring parts he left out. At the end of the book [[spoiler:it suddenly stops just before the final resolution, where Goldman says he's not sure what happened next, but he says he ''thinks'' there was a happy ending.]]

* AsYouKnow: [[PerfectPoison Iocaine]] comes from Australia, as "everyone knows".[[note]]There is, of course, no such thing in reality. Meaning iocaine, not Australia.[[/note]]

* LivingLegend: The Dread Pirate Roberts is a mythical pirate. Fezzik earns a reputation as a brawler whose arms are completely tireless. Prince Humperdinck can hunt ''anything'' down.

* SparingTheAces:
-->"May my hands fall from my wrists before I kill an artist like yourself," said the Man in Black. "I would as soon destroy da Vinci."
::He's speaking to Inigo.

* SparingTheAces: "May my hands fall from my wrists before I kill an artist like yourself," said the Man in Black. "I would as soon destroy da Vinci." He's speaking to Inigo.

* SparingTheAces: The Man in Black would no sooner kill a genius than shatter a stained glass window.

* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: [[spoiler:Inigo gets his revenge, but he spent all his adult life in pursuit of it. What should he do?[[note]]Westley recommends piracy, suggesting that Inigo would make a great Dread Pirate Roberts.[[/note]]]]

* RememberedTooLate: Max remembers after the heroes leave that the potion will only make Westley fully fit for 40 minutes.

* AuthorFilibuster: Parodied; the original version[[note]]which does not in fact exist[[/note]] was apparently riddled with these, but the 'editor' didn't realize until adulthood because his father only told him 'the good bits' as a child. The editor promptly cuts all of them from his annotation, as they apparently completely bog the novel down in irrelevant minutiae and pompous tangents, but his descriptions of them are entertaining in their own right -- for example, the editorial on the removal of chapter 3: 56 and a half pages to cover Queen Bella inviting Princess Noreena to meet Prince Humperdinck, including travelling both ways, out of which pages are spent describing the two of them packing and unpacking their luggage.

* TheThreeTrials: Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo challenge the Man in Black in wits, strength, and swordsmanship, respectively.
* TrueCraftsman: Domingo Montoya has the highest standards for himself and the swords he makes. He could be wealthy and renowned, but he doesn't want to make swords that will only be trophies for stupid elites. He is ecstatic at the prospect of making a sword for a six-fingered master fighter - but changes his mind when the six-fingered man sees only a product to buy, not a work of art. Domingo leaves his final sword - and a masterpiece of steel - to his son, Inigo.

* AuthorFilibuster: Parodied; the original version[[note]]which does not in fact exist[[/note]] was apparently riddled with these, but the 'editor' didn't realize until adulthood because his father only told him 'the good bits' as a child. The editor promptly cuts all of them from his annotation, as they apparently completely bog the novel down in irrelevant minutiae and pompous tangents, but his descriptions of them are entertaining in their own right -- for example, the editorial on the removal of chapter 3: 56 and a half pages to cover Queen Bella inviting Princess Noreena to meet Prince Humperdinck, including travelling both ways, out of which roughly fifty of which are spent describing the two of them packing and unpacking their luggage.

* AuthorFilibuster: Parodied; the original version[[note]]which does not in fact exist[[/note]] was apparently riddled with these, but the 'editor' didn't realize until adulthood because his father only told him 'the good bits' as a child. The editor promptly cuts all of them from his annotation, as they apparently completely bog the novel down in irrelevant minutiae and pompous tangents, but his descriptions of them are entertaining in their own right -- for example, the editorial on the removal of chapter 3: 56 and a half pages of Buttercup packing her luggage.

* BloodKnight: Humperdinck. He loves killing, period. He has no interest in ruling the country, and would rather instigate a war instead. Heck, he's first met breaking an orangutan's back.

The book uses a FramingDevice with the author [[AdaptationDistillation "abridging"]] an older story in order to turn a very satirical (and rather cynical) adult novel by the Florinese author S. Morgenstern into the adventure tale for children [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis that he remembers his father reading to him as a kid]].

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Invoked. See AuthorFilibuster -- the supposed original version of the book is, in fact, nonexistent.

* NeutralFemale: Buttercup is useless until the end, where she manages to [[spoiler:drive off the ''entire Brute Squad'' by standing up in the saddle and declaring, "[[AC: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I -- am -- the -- queeeeeeeeeeeen!!!!!]]]]"]][[note]]Buttercup sheepishly says afterward that it was technically untrue since Queen Bella was still alive, but bellowing "I AM THE PRINCESS!" wouldn't have the same tone of authority.[[/note]]

* WhoAreYou: Inigo screams this at The Man in Black when the latter is showing he has better skills than even a ranked wizard at swordsmanship.[[note]]"Wizard" is the rarefied level even above "master".[[/note]]

* WickedStepmother: Utterly averted with Queen Bella, who has an excellent relationship with her stepson the Prince. Humperdinck calls her "Evil Stepmother" (or E.S. for short), but entirely in jest.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Humperdinck can't marry a commoner, so Buttercup gets ennobled. The story explains how she had to attend royalty school for three years, and was given the title of Princess of Hammersmith ("a little lump of land attached to Lotharon's holdings").

* RagsToRoyalty: Buttercup is elevated from a back-country farm girl to a princess by royal decree.

* EvilAlbino: The Keeper of the Zoo of Death. However, he's more of a PunchClockVillain -- he even offers to perform a MercyKill on Westley before Count Rugen can get to use the Machine on him.

* HiddenDepths: The chapter devoted to Inigo goes into his romance with a noble's daughter. Goldman invokes the trope, saying he was glad S. Morgenstern did the chapter because in the original ''The Princess Bride'', he was a one-note Revenge Man with no other motivation. He suspects S. Morgenstern felt the same way.

* NeutralFemale: Buttercup is useless until the end, where she manages to [[spoiler:drive off the ''entire Brute Squad'' by standing up in the saddle and declaring, "[[AC: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis I -- am -- the -- queeeeeeeeeeeen!!!!!]]]]"]]

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: See AuthorFilibuster -- the supposed original version of the book is, in fact, nonexistent.