The Princess Bride: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

People fill the Great Square in Florin City to see Buttercup for the first time. At noon, Prince Humperdinck steps onto a balcony, addresses the crowd, and introduces Buttercup. Now 21, Buttercup is extremely beautiful thanks to her hairdressers and lady's maids who keep her hair and skin glowing. After a moment on the balcony, Buttercup asks to walk among the people. Humperdinck starts to refuse, but lets her go. The crowd parts to let her walk through and she lets the people touch her. She doesn't know that three people in the crowd have plans to kill her, and that the man in black is also watching.

Later in the day, Buttercup saddles up Horse for her daily ride. Though she's not a great thinker, she decides there's no harm in thinking if she keeps her thoughts to herself. She feels moved by her experience walking among the people, and she realizes she doesn't like Prince Humperdinck since he's never around. She decides that she has two questions: whether it’s wrong to marry without liking your partner, and if so, whether it’s too late for her to do anything about it. Buttercup tells herself to be satisfied with her beauty, riches, and power, and to make peace with the lack of love.

About a half an hour away from the castle, Buttercup runs into a strange-looking trio. A Sicilian with a humpback (Vizzini) explains that he and his companions, a giant (Fezzik) and a Spaniard (Inigo), are circus performers looking for a nearby village. Vizzini leaps at Buttercup, touches her neck, and she passes out almost immediately. She wakes up in a boat and listens to the men talk. Fezzik suggests they kill Buttercup now as Vizzini leaves scraps from a Guilderian military uniform on the dock and insists that Buttercup's body must end up on the Guilder frontier. Fezzik mumbles that he's not stupid and just wants to know what's going on. Vizzini assures Fezzik that he's actually stupid.

Inigo suggests that they tell Buttercup that they're kidnapping her for ransom, but Vizzini declares that she's awake and has been listening for a while. Buttercup thinks that Vizzini is a conceited mind reader, and Vizzini verbally affirms these thoughts. He then proceeds to say that her body must be found dead on the Guilder frontier and touches Buttercup's neck again so that she passes out.

Buttercup wakes up and without even blinking, she dives into Florin Channel. Both Fezzik and Inigo refuse to dive in after her and Vizzini listens carefully for the sounds of her swimming. Inigo notes that the sharks will get Buttercup and at this, Vizzini starts to tell Buttercup about how vicious the sharks are and threatens to pour blood in the water to draw them near. She starts to hear fish sounds as Vizzini promises that if she comes back, she'll die painlessly. Vizzini cuts his arm, catches blood in a cup, and prepares to throw the blood in the water. He throws it, and the sharks go mad.

Goldman interrupts and says that Goldman's father told him at this point in his storytelling that the sharks don't eat Buttercup. Young Goldman had acted offended by this, but Goldman tells the reader he was actually scared. As a kid, he says, he didn't reason that it's way too early in the narrative to kill off Buttercup, and assures the reader that she doesn't die here.

Returning to the narrative, Buttercup hears the sharks thrashing and “beeping” and thinks that this is the end. Luckily for her, the moon comes out and Fezzik drags her back into the boat. He gently wraps her in a blanket and explains that Vizzini will kill her later. Vizzini shushes Fezzik, but Buttercup tells Vizzini that she thinks that he's not smart and that Fezzik is smart. Vizzini crows that his plan worked, as women scream when scared. Buttercup points out that she didn't scream and Vizzini hits her. Fezzik stands up for her, but Vizzini scares him into silence and points ahead to the Cliffs of Insanity, which rise up a thousand feet. They're the most direct route between Florin and Guilder, but everyone usually goes around them.

Buttercup is confused, as she's never heard of secret passages through the Cliffs and thinks her captors can't climb them. Inigo asks if anyone could be following, something Vizzini deems is “inconceivable.” Inigo points out that there's a small black boat behind them and suggests that it's a local fisherman. Vizzini decides that the man in black is definitely not following them. He becomes anxious as Fezzik observes that the black ship is gaining on them. Buttercup decides she's very afraid of the man in black.

As the group reaches the Cliffs, Vizzini leaps and grabs a rope that's affixed to something at the top of the cliffs. He orders his companions to prepare so that if the man in black is following them, they can cut the rope before he can use it to climb up. Inigo lifts Buttercup onto Fezzik's shoulders, ties himself to Fezzik's waist, and then Vizzini clings to Fezzik's neck. Fezzik begins to climb, feeling confident in his abilities. While lots of things scare him, he knows his arms are strong and tireless.

Vizzini is afraid of heights, so he distracts himself by thinking about the man in black, who is indeed getting closer. He tells Fezzik to go faster and Inigo compliments Fezzik's climbing. Vizzini becomes even more frantic when Fezzik says that the man in black is now climbing the rope, and he appears to be climbing just as fast as Fezzik. Finally, Fezzik reaches the top. He remarks that it's a shame to kill such a skilled climber, but Vizzini unties the rope and it flies off the edge of the cliff. Inigo points over the cliff: the man in black let go of the rope and is now hanging onto the rocks. Vizzini is fascinated; he loves studying death and dying and is excited to see this man die. However, the man starts to climb. Vizzini deems this inconceivable, which annoys Inigo since it's clearly happening.

Vizzini angrily tells Inigo that the man in black isn't following them and then tells him to stay behind and kill the man. After Fezzik, Vizzini, and Buttercup leave, Inigo lies on his stomach and watches the man climb. He's in awe of the man's climbing strategy and wonders who this man could be. He thinks it's a pity to have to kill him, but reasons that he must follow orders. He pulls out his six-fingered sword to practice.

The narrator steps back in time to offer Inigo's backstory. Inigo is born in Arabella, Spain, which is a small and impoverished village in the mountains. Despite his poverty, Inigo is a happy child and adores his father, Domingo Montoya. Domingo is a sword maker, but everyone who wants a masterpiece of a sword goes to Madrid to visit Yeste, who's famous and an excellent sword maker as well. However, when Yeste gets an order he knows he can't complete, he accepts the order and visits Domingo to talk him into making it for him. Inigo loves Yeste's visits. Domingo always tries to refuse Yeste, but he changes his mind when Yeste threatens suicide. When Yeste leaves he always asks Domingo to come back to Madrid to work with him, but Domingo always refuses.

One day, as Inigo is making lunch for his father, a nobleman knocks on the door and asks for the “genius” Domingo Montoya. Domingo tries to insist that he's no genius and can't make swords, but he grows excited when the nobleman reveals that he has six fingers. This means a real challenge for Domingo, as the balance of a conventional sword would be wrong for six fingers. The noble insists on leaving one piece of gold as a down payment, lets Domingo take his measurements, and agrees to return in a year.

Domingo spends the year working feverishly. One day he's solved all his problems; the next, he regrets taking the job. He refuses to sleep and only eats when Inigo forces him. One night, Inigo wakes up and sees that Domingo has finished the sword. When the nobleman returns, he's not convinced the sword is worth paying for. Domingo gives the sword to Inigo, insults the nobleman, and the nobleman kills Domingo immediately. Inigo screams. As the nobleman starts to ride away, Inigo lifts the six-fingered sword and challenges the nobleman to a duel. The nobleman agrees, disarms Inigo immediately, and then cuts a vertical line down each side of Inigo's face. Inigo lives with Yeste for two years and then runs away, leaving a note that he “has to learn.”

Yeste makes swords for the next ten years and grows very fat and rich. At that point, Inigo returns. He explains that he's spent the last ten years learning to fence and now, he needs to know if he's ready to take on the six-fingered man. He gives Yeste a rundown of his training regimen for the last ten years, which included sprinting, squeezing rocks, and skipping. Inigo says that he's been preparing so that he can fight and kill the nobleman who killed Domingo. They go to Yeste's courtyard and Yeste spends hours giving Inigo imaginary situations. Finally, Yeste declares that Inigo is no master: he's a wizard, and he's capable of killing the six-fingered nobleman.

The next morning, Inigo begins to hunt for the six-fingered man. He doesn't think it's going to be hard, but after five years, he starts to drink to excess and three years later, he barely practices because he's bored and drunk. This is when Vizzini finds him and recruits him for his criminal organization. The two of them and Fezzik become feared names, and this is why Inigo does whatever Vizzini asks of him.

Back in the present, Inigo paces on the edge of the cliff and asks the man in black if he could go faster. The man in black suggests that Inigo help him, but refuses to trust that Inigo isn't going to sabotage him until Inigo swears on Domingo Montoya's soul. Inigo pulls the man in black up. As the man rests, he explains that Inigo has “baggage of much value” but refuses to say more about why he's following Vizzini. Inigo hopes that this man is a real master.

The man in black declares that he's ready to fence and they begin. Inigo and the man in black start with their swords in their left hands as Inigo thinks that this will make things fairer, since he's not actually left-handed. The man in black fights well until Inigo backs him into a corner, but then, the man puts on a magnificent assault and backs Inigo up to the cliffs. All of Inigo's attempts to block the man in black fail until he switches his sword into his right hand and then backs the man in black into corners again. After a few minutes, the man in black reveals that he too is right-handed and Inigo is shocked and a bit scared. In the open, the man in black disarms Inigo. The man in black knocks Inigo out, ties him up, and runs after Vizzini.

Fezzik looks behind him and sees that Inigo's been beaten. He's very sad, as Inigo's the only one who doesn't laugh about Fezzik's love of rhymes. He points this out to Vizzini, who angrily spits that Inigo must've been unfairly beaten. Fezzik doesn't dare argue and pays strict attention, as Vizzini hates it when Fezzik thinks. Vizzini tells Fezzik to untie Buttercup and then catch up with them after killing the man in black. Fezzik rubs Buttercup's ankles to wake them up and then panics: he can't fence. Vizzini patiently tells Fezzik to throw a rock at the man's head but loses his temper when Fezzik suggests that that's not sportsmanlike. As Vizzini and Buttercup race away, Fezzik practices his aim with huge rocks and waits.

Going back in time, the narrator explains that while Turkish women are famous for having large babies, Fezzik was an unusually large baby. He weighs 85 pounds by the time he's a year old and is shaving in kindergarten. The other kids are scared to death until they realize that he's scared of them, at which point they started to bully him. Fezzik rhymes their taunts in his head and runs away crying.

One day, Fezzik's mother and Fezzik's father sit Fezzik down and tell him that they're going to teach him to fight. Fezzik cries and insists he doesn't want to fight, but he makes a fist. His mother praises him as a “natural learner.” Fezzik refuses to hit his father and on his first punch, he misses. The second one lays Fezzik's father out flat and breaks his jaw. After Fezzik's father is healed a bit, he and Fezzik's mother chat with Fezzik again and tell him that they're going to train Fezzik to be a famous fighter. Fezzik bursts into tears and spends the next three years training hard. His parents have the time of their lives; Fezzik is miserable and scared.

Right before Fezzik's first match, he refuses to go in the ring. Fezzik's mother and Fezzik's father are worried that they're pushing him too far, as he is only nine years old, but they threaten to leave him alone forever if he doesn't fight. This is Fezzik's greatest fear, so he enters the ring. The other fighter seems like he's going to win until Fezzik grabs him and lifts him overhead. He puts the fighter down while complimenting the fighter's skills, but the crowd boos Fezzik and his parents out of town.

Fezzik's mother and Fezzik's father drag Fezzik all over Turkey. At every stop, he wins fights and then gets booed out of town. The family heads to Greece and then to eastern Europe and Asia, where the same thing happens. Fezzik's parents die in Mongolia. He hitches rides with passing caravans and during this time, he learns that if he fights groups, people don't boo him. He joins a circus and loves having friends until one day, audiences start booing him again: he's gotten too good. Fezzik cries that night and thinks of his beloved rhymes and the next day, the circus fires him. Alone in the middle of Greenland, Fezzik sits on a rock. Vizzini finds him there, promises to protect him from the boos, and for this reason, Fezzik does whatever Vizzini asks of him.

Back in the present, Fezzik waits until the man in black is closer and, remembering his parents' insistence on playing fair, he throws a rock so that it lands about a foot away from the man's head. The two men regard each other and Fezzik says that now, they should fight man to man with no weapons. The man in black agrees and Fezzik feels bad for having to kill such an honorable and skilled man. When the fight starts, Fezzik lets the man in black feel as though he has a chance before trying killing moves. The man in black, however, escapes all of them. By the time Fezzik realizes what he's doing wrong, the man in black has him around the neck and chokes him until he blacks out. The man in black runs after Vizzini.

The man in black comes upon Vizzini at a beautiful spot with a view of Florin Channel. He has a picnic set out and holds a knife to Buttercup's throat and refuses to let the man explain what he wants. Vizzini says that he must kill Buttercup and he cannot allow the man to take Buttercup from them. The man challenges Vizzini to a battle of wits and Vizzini gleefully accepts. He pours the wine per the man in black's request and the man pulls out iocane powder, an odorless, tasteless poison. The man in black turns away to put poison in one of the goblets and then places a goblet in front of himself and Vizzini.

Vizzini is thrilled. He talks through his reasoning as to why the man in black might have put the iocane in each goblet and as he does, the man starts to get nervous. Finally, Vizzini says he's deduced where the poison is. A strange look comes over his face and he points into the distance. The man in black turns to look and when he turns back around, the two men drink from their own goblets. Vizzini starts laughing and admits that he switched the goblets but then keels over, dead. The man in black frees Buttercup and explains that he's built up immunity to iocane; both cups were poisoned. She's terrified of him as he pulls her along the mountain path.

After a while, Buttercup offers to pay the man in black whatever he wants to release her. The man laughs and says that a woman's promise is worth nothing. He then pulls Buttercup off the path and threatens to hurt her if she doesn't keep up. The man lets Buttercup rest after a few minutes, refuses to explain where he's taking her, and taunts her when she insists that Prince Humperdinck will find her. Buttercup insists that Humperdinck isn't her love; she explains that she's loved before but doesn't love Humperdinck. The man in black slaps her for “lying” and then drags her along. He lets her rest every now and again, but they run until dawn.

At dawn, the man in black points out Prince Humperdinck's armada coming after them. The man pulls Buttercup along the edge of a massive ravine and they argue about whether or not Buttercup is heartless for abandoning her first love. As the man in black watches the ships, Buttercup shoves him and he falls down the ravine. From the bottom, she hears “as you wish.” She realizes that the man is Westley and throws herself down the ravine after him.

From one of the ships in the armada, Prince Humperdinck studies the Cliffs of Insanity and sees that someone climbed 700 feet with a rope and the top 300 feet without a rope. He commands Count Rugen to split up the armada and ready “the whites,” his four massive identical horses. He rides bareback and switches between the four of them so that they don't get tired. As soon as his ship lowers the gangplank, Prince Humperdinck is off. He reaches the top of the cliff and discovers the footprints of two master fencers. He finds some blood, but not enough to indicate that someone died. When Rugen catches up, Humperdinck shares his findings and then races off, following the footprints of the victor.

When Prince Humperdinck gets to the place where Fezzik and Westley fought, he sees that Westley won and notices Buttercup's footprints. He races away, leaving Count Rugen in the dust, and Rugen catches up when Humperdinck stops to inspect Vizzini's body. On foot, Humperdinck follows Westley and Buttercup's footprints until he gets to the top of the ravine. He notes to Count Rugen that both Buttercup and her captor fell, but he finds it odd that someone as smart and as skilled as Westley didn't know that the ravine opens into the Fire Swamp.

In an aside, Morgenstern notes that his wife feels cheated because he didn't include a reconciliation scene on the floor of the ravine between Westley and Buttercup. Goldman cuts in and explains that Morgenstern's original is filled with comments about his wife and what she thinks, but he cut most of them because it doesn't add much. In this case, Goldman says he agrees with Mrs. Morgenstern and so he wrote his own reunion scene. His editor, Hiram, thought this pushed the boundaries of what an abridgement should entail, so it's not included, but the publishing house agreed to send the reunion scene to any reader who sends them a postcard requesting it. Goldman implores the reader to write in, if only to cost the publishing house money since they refuse to properly advertise his books.

Returning to the story, Morgenstern says that he didn't include a reunion scene because Westley and Buttercup deserve privacy, what they said was boring, and no information of import was shared. Regardless, the lovers make up and Westley explains that he tried to tell Buttercup not to come after him when he fell, as they can't get back out before it's too late. Buttercup insists that she's not stupid and Westley insults her intelligence. They apologize to each other and then run along the bottom of the ravine.

Westley soon realizes that they're headed straight for the Fire Swamp, but he says nothing in order to avoid scaring Buttercup. Morgenstern breaks off to explain that Fire Swamps are misnamed; they're normal swamps, just with lots of sulfur that bursts into flame. He also says that the Florin/Guilder Fire Swamp is odd because it has R.O.U.S.s (rodents of unusual size) and it has Snow Sand, which is dry and suffocates people. In particular, this swamp is used to threaten children in Florin and Guilder, which is why Buttercup is so terrified of it. A half an hour behind Buttercup and Westley, Prince Humperdinck sees the footprints leading into the swamp. He sets off to the other side in case they make it through.

Westley leads Buttercup through the swamp. They both decide that the swamp isn't as bad as they've been told, but suddenly Buttercup disappears into Snow Sand. She does what Westley told her to—spread out on her back like she's trying to float in water—but starts to panic. Westley drops his sword, ties himself to a tree with a vine, and dives in after her. He thinks that the most difficult part of this rescue will be convincing his grandchildren that it actually happened when he discovers that the vine isn't long enough. He lets go, finds a skeleton wrist, and then finds Buttercup's foot. He kicks until he finds the vine and then pulls them both out. Westley clears Buttercup's nose and mouth of the sand.

Buttercup sobs for a bit and then is back to normal, but she refuses to follow Westley until he tells her why they have to get through the swamp. He agrees to tell her while they walk and says that on the far side, they'll find the Revenge, the Dread Pirate Roberts's ship. Buttercup is shocked as Westley explains that he's the Dread Pirate Roberts, even though Roberts has been a pirate for 20 years and Westley has been gone for three. Westley says that when Roberts attacked his ship, he told Roberts all about Buttercup, which piqued the pirate’s interest. Roberts decided not to kill Westley.

Westley notices the first R.O.U.S. as he says he spent the next year working 20 hours per day and learning everything he could about sailing, piracy, and fencing. At the end of the year, the Dread Pirate Roberts told Westley that he wanted to retire and leave him the Revenge, so he sent Westley to capture a Spanish ship as practice. At this point Buttercup notices the R.O.U.S.s. The ship had no fear of Westley and Westley did poorly. Later, Roberts called Westley to his office and told him a secret: his name is actually Ryan, and the original Roberts had been retired for 15 years. When the first Roberts realized that the name alone is what scares people, he devised a plan to change crews at the same time as he passed the name onto his first mate, just as Ryan now plans to do with Westley.

Westley assures Buttercup that they'll be okay, since he's the Dread Pirate Roberts and she's almost a queen. He doesn't notice her standoffish tone because a R.O.U.S. leaps at him and bites his shoulder. Two more pile on. Morgenstern tells the reader that R.O.U.S.s are pure rats, weigh 80 pounds, and go into a shark-like frenzy at the smell of blood. Westley rolls into a flame spurt, which distracts the rats, and throws his knife into one of the R.O.U.S.s. The others start to eat the injured R.O.U.S. as Westley shouts for Buttercup to help him pack and bandage his shoulder to hide the blood smell. Westley is able to fight off the rest of the R.O.U.S.s with his sword and after six hours, they make it out of the swamp.

At dusk, Westley and Buttercup reach the edge of the swamp. They can see the Revenge in the distance, but Count Rugen and Prince Humperdinck are right there to meet them. Westley refuses to surrender as he watches the armada chase his ship away, but Buttercup asks Humperdinck if he'll promise to not hurt Westley if they surrender. He agrees. Westley accuses Buttercup of betraying him, but she says she'd rather they live than be in love.

Prince Humperdinck quietly tells Count Rugen to put Westley in the fifth level of the Zoo of Death as Buttercup approaches. She takes Humperdinck's hand and the two walk away. Westley watches her go and when Rugen approaches, he notes that he's certainly not going to be allowed to go free. Rugen clubs Westley. Just before Westley loses consciousness, he notices that Rugen has six fingers on his right hand.