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Inigo Montoya
The antagonist of The Princess Bride, Prince Humperdinck is the evil prince of Florin. He's shaped like a barrel and loves to hunt, so when King Lotharon's health begins to go downhill, he and Count Rugen construct the Zoo of Death. The Zoo allows Humperdinck to hunt in the comfort of his own backyard rather than traveling the world. Humperdinck also loves war and desperately wants to rule Guilder, Florin's neighbor. He agrees to take a wife when King Lotharon's health takes a turn for the worse, and Count Rugen is able to talk him into marrying the beautiful Buttercup. Because Humperdinck wants power above all else, he hires Vizzini to kidnap and kill Buttercup and blame it on Guilder, as pretense to start a war. He shows that he's a clever and thoughtful villain when Vizzini is unsuccessful, as he easily figures out how to use the fact that Buttercup's popularity skyrockets after her kidnapping to manipulate the emotions of the populace. Because he's jealous that Buttercup still loves Westley, he enjoys torturing Westley with Count Rugen. Westley ultimately outwits Humperdinck and is able to escape with Buttercup. Goldman and Morgenstern, however, note that Humperdinck doesn't die or give up: he continues to pursue Westley and Buttercup for the foreseeable future.
Prince Humperdinck Quotes in The Princess Bride
The The Princess Bride quotes below are all either spoken by Prince Humperdinck or refer to Prince Humperdinck. 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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Chapter 5 Quotes
This was just like any other hunt. He made himself think about the quarry. It did not matter if you were after an antelope or a bride-to-be; the procedures held. You gathered evidence. Then you acted. You studied, then you performed. If you studied too little, the chances were strong that your actions would also be too late.
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Chapter 6 Quotes
It's one of my biggest memories of my father reading. I had pneumonia, remember, but I was a little better now, and madly caught up in the book, and one thing you know when you're ten is that, no matter what, there's gonna be a happy ending. They can sweat all they want to scare you, the authors, but back of it all you know, you just have no doubt, that in the long run justice is going to win out.
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“Westley dies,” my father said.
I said, “What do you mean, ‘Westley dies’? You mean dies?”
My father nodded. “Prince Humperdinck kills him.”
“He's only faking thought, right?”
My father shook his head, closed the book all the way.
“Aw shit” I said and I started to cry.
“I'm sorry,” my father said. “I'll leave you alone,” and he left.
“Who gets Humperdinck?” I screamed after him.
He stopped in the hall. “I don't understand.”
“Who kills Prince Humperdinck? At the end, somebody's got to get him. Is it Fezzik? Who?”
“Nobody kills him. He lives.”
“You mean he wins, Daddy? Jesus, what did you read me this thing for?”
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Prince Humperdinck Character Timeline in The Princess Bride
The timeline below shows where the character Prince Humperdinck appears in The Princess Bride. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One: The Bride
...King Lotharon, is technically in charge, but he's very old and senile. His son, Prince Humperdinck, is the real ruler. He only trusts Count Rugen, whom he made a count as...
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Chapter Two: The Groom
Back in the story, Morgenstern writes that Prince Humperdinck is shaped like a barrel and is pure muscle. The only thing he loves is...
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One afternoon, Prince Humperdinck is near the end of a fight with an orangutan. The creature is finally beginning...
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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...
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...Princess Noreena's hat blows off. She puts it back on, but it's too late: Prince Humperdinck saw that she's bald and angrily storms out of the hall.
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Queen Bella runs after Prince Humperdinck, who declares that he's not going to marry a bald princess and have people talking...
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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 able to marry...
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Chapter Four: The Preparations
...passed. In the original Morgenstern, however, this is the longest chapter and details how Prince Humperdinck declares Buttercup a princess to appease some persnickety nobles. The new miracle man works on...
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Chapter Five: The Announcement
...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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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...
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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...
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When Prince Humperdinck gets to the place where Fezzik and Westley fought, he sees that Westley won and...
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...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...
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...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...
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Prince Humperdinck quietly tells Count Rugen to put Westley in the fifth level of the Zoo of...
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Chapter Six: The Festivities
...days of wedding festivities, but Goldman says that the only important bits are that Prince Humperdinck starts being nice to Buttercup, relations with Guilder sour, the people idolize Buttercup more than...
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...to die. 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...
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...next 60 days of partying. Unfortunately, King Lotharon starts to go downhill and dies. Prince Humperdinck becomes king 45 days before the wedding and suddenly becomes wise as he studies how...
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...of Goldman's father reading him the book: he knew it couldn't be right that Prince Humperdinck and Buttercup got married. This upset Goldman's father and he ended their reading session for...
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With 50 days until her wedding, Buttercup knocks on Prince Humperdinck's door and tells him that she made a mistake: she loves Westley and knows that...
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Prince Humperdinck kisses Buttercup's cheek and sends her away to write her letter. He decides he's going...
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Count Rugen begins to torture Westley that night while Prince Humperdinck watches. Rugen studies pain carefully and so he's thrilled to have this opportunity. He begins...
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When he gets back to the castle from torturing Westley, Prince Humperdinck finds Buttercup waiting for him. She needs help writing her letter to Westley, which in...
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Prince Humperdinck starts to struggle under all the pressure to rule, start a war, and look like...
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...finally dies when Count Rugen sees that the dog is dead. He races to Prince Humperdinck and tells him that the Machine works. Slowly, Humperdinck thinks about his answer. He knows...
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Five days 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...
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...with poison, and then Fezzik explains that Count Rugen is in the castle with Prince Humperdinck, sealed inside in case of another attack by Guilder. Inigo tries to figure out if...
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Fezzik points out that either way, Westley/Roberts is gone because Prince Humperdinck banished pirates for fear of another attack or kidnapping attempt by Guilder. Inigo reminds Fezzik...
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At dusk, Buttercup goes to see Prince Humperdinck. She knocks several times and hears him yelling inside. He finally lets her in. Yellin...
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After Yellin leaves, Buttercup tells Prince Humperdinck to stop lying to her, as she knows the ships were never sent to find...
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...the rest of the chapter, but Goldman refused. Goldman's father then told him that Prince Humperdinck kills Westley next, and, in the end, Humperdinck lives. This shook Goldman to the core...
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Back in the story, Humperdinck runs to the Zoo of Death and startles Count Rugen when he bursts in. He...
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...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 the albino to deal with...
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Chapter Seven: The Wedding
...finds that the door is unlocked. Inigo thinks that this doesn't make sense, as Prince Humperdinck should of course lock up his beloved Zoo of Death. Morgenstern explains this door is...
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...calls Max a liar, and shrieks that Westley said “true love.” She says that Prince Humperdinck was right to fire him and at this, Inigo points out that Westley's true love...
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Meanwhile, Prince Humperdinck summons Yellin. Yellin is so fed up with Humperdinck's nonsense that he has a resignation...
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Prince Humperdinck is stumped, as he'd planned on installing Yellin as the leader of Guilder after the...
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Buttercup knows that Westley is coming, so she's not upset to learn that Prince Humperdinck is moving up the wedding. The couple is kneeling in front of the Archdean of...
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Chapter Eight: Honeymoon
...away in pursuit of Count Rugen. At the same time as they're sneaking in, Prince Humperdinck hurries the old and nearly deaf Archdean along in his service. Buttercup knows that Westley...
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King Lotharon and Queen Bella arrive at the chapel just after the ceremony. Prince Humperdinck asks them to escort Buttercup to his chambers, as he needs to go deal with...
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...and running. Westley suggests to Buttercup that she can become a widow just as Prince Humperdinck enters with a pair of muddy boots. Humperdinck grabs a sword and says they'll fight...
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Pleasantly, Westley tells Prince Humperdinck that if he puts down his sword, Westley will tie him up and run away...
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Westley's eyes roll and he crumples. Prince Humperdinck goes for his sword, but Westley opens his eyes again and the look in them...
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...says he's out of ideas but Buttercup approaches Yellin. She commands Yellin to go save Humperdinck and says that she's the queen. At this, the brutes all race into the castle....
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...only learned while abridging that Morgenstern didn't end the book this way. Morgenstern writes that Humperdinck begins to chase them, Inigo's wound reopens, Westley goes downhill, and Buttercup's horse throws a...
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Buttercup’s Baby: An Explanation
...of material about Westley's terrible childhood and how King Lotharon went to Miracle Max after Humperdinck's birth, as he knew Humperdinck was a monster and wanted Max to change that. This...
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Buttercup's Baby: 2. Inigo
...who insisted that Morgenstern includes symbolism in this passage that indicates that Inigo learns that Humperdinck plans to kidnap Westley and Buttercup's first child, and so Inigo has to race to...
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Buttercup's Baby: 3. Buttercup and Westley
...to be together while they ride away on the white horses with Fezzik and Inigo. Humperdinck is in pursuit and things start to go wrong. Goldman inserts himself to draw attention...
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...the troubles he's having in trying to think of a solution. At this moment, Prince Humperdinck shoots an arrow right at Fezzik's heart.
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Going back in time a few minutes, Prince Humperdinck, Yellin, and the brute squad sneak quietly towards their quarry. Humperdinck notices how beautiful the...
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...approaches Westley and Buttercup and says that they need to leave the ship, as Prince Humperdinck's armada is after them. Westley asks Fezzik if he was tired after carrying three people...
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...roar. Westley calmly says that the whirlpool has them and that they need to escape Humperdinck by getting to One Tree Island, which is in the middle of the whirlpool. Humperdinck...
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