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Prince Humperdinck
In the story of The Princess Bride, Rugen is Prince Humperdinck's evil sidekick. He's a hulking man who has six fingers on his right hand and was given his title as a birthday present. Though Inigo doesn't figure out who Rugen is until many years later, Rugen brutally murders Domingo, Inigo's father, when Inigo is ten years old. Inigo carries the six-fingered sword that Domingo made for Rugen. In the present, Rugen does whatever he can to support Prince Humperdinck, including scouting for possible brides and affirming whatever he says. After he and Humperdinck catch Westley, Rugen reveals that in addition to being Humperdinck's right-hand man, he's also an academic who's interested in pain. He tells Westley that he's written several scholarly articles on pain and hopes to write a book with what he learns from studying what happens to Westley in the Machine. The Machine is something that Rugen has been working on for ten years; it's a silly-looking device composed of many suction cups and a dial. It is, however, lethal and horrifying—the suction cups suck years of life out of a victim. True to his scientific nature, Rugen is very annoyed when Humperdinck uses the machine to kill Westley, as he will no longer be able to experiment with the different pain levels the machine is capable of delivering. Though he doesn't recognize Inigo at first, Rugen inexplicably runs from him after Inigo breaks into the castle. Rugen begins his fencing match with Inigo in the lead, but Inigo manages to pull ahead and cut out Rugen's heart. Rugen dies of fear before Inigo can finish the job.
Count Rugen Quotes in The Princess Bride
The The Princess Bride quotes below are all either spoken by Count Rugen or refer to Count Rugen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Quotes
When I was twenty-six, my first novel, The Temple of Gold, was published by Alfred A. Knopf. (Which is now part of Random House which is now part of R.C.A. which is just part of what's wrong with publishing in America today which is not part of this story.)
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Chapter 6 Quotes
“I'm very interested in pain,” the Count said, “as I'm sure you've gathered these past months. In an intellectual way, actually. I've written, of course, for the more learned journals on the subject. Articles mostly. At the present I'm engaged in writing a book. My book. The book, I hope. The definitive work on pain, at least as we know it now.”
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Count Rugen Character Timeline in The Princess Bride
The timeline below shows where the character Count Rugen appears in The Princess Bride. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition
...The two begin looking through the letters and photo albums, but then Willy says that Count Rugen killed Inigo. He reads out of a notebook labeled “The Princess Bride diary,” which contains...
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Chapter One: The Bride
...the first rich man stops to look at her ride and he mentions Buttercup to Count Rugen .
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...very old and senile. His son, Prince Humperdinck, is the real ruler. He only trusts Count Rugen , whom he made a count as a birthday present. Rugen's wife, the Countess, buys...
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...is out there and after a minute, Buttercup joins them. She's also awed and watches Count Rugen and the Countess, along with their procession, go by on the road. The procession turns...
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Count Rugen asks to speak to Buttercup about the cows. She suggests that Rugen speak to Farm...
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Chapter Two: The Groom
...travel the world to hunt, but once King Lotharon's health started to decline, Humperdinck and Count Rugen built the Zoo of Death. It's five underground levels full of creatures to hunt. The...
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...end of a fight with an orangutan. The creature is finally beginning to weaken as Count Rugen interrupts and tells Humperdinck that he has news. Prince Humperdinck cracks the orangutan's neck, killing...
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Chapter Three: The Courtship
Prince Humperdinck, Count Rugen , King Lotharon, and Queen Bella meet in the council room to discuss Humperdinck's marriage....
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...back forever. He insists that he'll conquer Guilder sometime and this alliance isn't even necessary. Count Rugen steps forward and asks if Humperdinck would be interested in a commoner who can't hunt....
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At dawn, Count Rugen and Prince Humperdinck ride to the hill by Buttercup's farm. Humperdinck isn't sure he'll be...
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Chapter Five: The Announcement
...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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Prince Humperdinck quietly tells Count Rugen to put Westley in the fifth level of the Zoo of Death as Buttercup approaches....
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Chapter Six: The Festivities
...Westley reasons that he's probably going to be killed, but given that Prince Humperdinck and Count Rugen are healing him first, they're going to torture him. Westley starts to prepare his brain...
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Count Rugen begins to torture Westley that night while Prince Humperdinck watches. Rugen studies pain carefully and...
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...of Spinning Ticks. It takes them four hours to finish the letter. The next day, Count Rugen uses Spinning Ticks on Westley. Perplexingly for Humperdinck, Rugen doesn't seem happy about their progress....
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...it's a wild dog in the Machine) but it's horrifying. The sound finally dies when Count Rugen sees that the dog is dead. He races to Prince Humperdinck and tells him that...
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Buttercup knocks on the door and asks if there's any news from Westley. Count Rugen assures her that Westley will come for her. He asks if such a powerful man...
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Count Rugen explains that life is pain and that anticipation intensifies pain. For this reason, Rugen says...
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The next evening, Westley tells Count Rugen that he didn't sleep well. Rugen records this and explains that he's going to record...
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...before the wedding, Yellin waits with his brute squad to listen to Prince Humperdinck speak. Count Rugen is unusually preoccupied, as he's trying to figure out how best to suck away the...
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...dead. Fezzik makes Inigo some tea and a snack and mentions that the six-fingered man, Count Rugen , is in Florin City. Inigo faints again. Fezzik draws a hot bath and holds...
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...They discuss that Westley somehow killed Vizzini, probably with poison, and then Fezzik explains that Count Rugen is in the castle with Prince Humperdinck, sealed inside in case of another attack by...
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...and he believes that Prince Humperdinck hired Vizzini to do so. He also notes that Count Rugen is probably lying about Westley's whereabouts since he's a known killer. Inigo begins to lead...
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Back in the story, Humperdinck runs to the Zoo of Death and startles Count Rugen when he bursts in. He shouts at Westley that Buttercup somehow still loves him. He...
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Back in the fifth level of the Zoo of Death, Count Rugen declares Westley dead. Prince Humperdinck leaves. Annoyed that he lost his interesting subject, Rugen tells...
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Chapter Seven: The Wedding
...a miracle because Westley has a big family, as he thinks his desire to kill Count Rugen won't go over well. Max accuses Inigo of lying, pulls out a huge bellows, and...
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...quickly that they have about a half hour to sneak in, steal Buttercup, and kill Count Rugen . He says that there's only one castle gate guarded by 100 men, and they...
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Chapter Eight: Honeymoon
...a plan to meet up after stopping the wedding, Inigo races away in pursuit of Count Rugen . At the same time as they're sneaking in, Prince Humperdinck hurries the old and...
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Inigo is so startled when Count Rugen runs that Rugen is able to make it through a doorway before Inigo does anything....
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In a different part of the castle, Inigo apologizes to Domingo and Count Rugen remembers who Inigo is. Inigo hears both his father and MacPherson yelling at him in...
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Buttercup's Baby: 2. Inigo
...20. Inigo is still wandering the world training to fence so he's prepared to kill Count Rugen and avenge Domingo. He's been in Iceland and the tropics but now, he's in Italy...
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...Inigo what he wants most in the world. When Inigo says he wants to kill Count Rugen , Piccoli screams that what Inigo really wants is an end to the pain he...
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...different parts of his dream are until finally, she comes at dusk and asks about Count Rugen . Inigo fences for her and she asks what he plans to do to support...
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