Inigo Montoya

Íñigo Montoya is a character in William Goldman's 1973 novel "The Princess Bride." In Rob Reiner's 1987 film adaptation he was portrayed by Mandy Patinkin. In both the book and the movie, he resided in the fictional country of Florin.

Character background

Íñigo Montoya is a Spanish fencer and assistant to Vizzini. His father Domingo was a great swordmaker, but remained obscure because he disliked dealing with the rich and privileged. When a six-fingered nobleman, Count Rugen, asked him to forge a sword to accommodate his unusual hand, Domingo poured his heart and soul into the project. When Rugen returned, he reneged on his promised price, and thus Domingo refused to sell him the sword, proclaiming that the sword would now belong to Íñigo. Angered, Rugen killed Domingo. Ten-year-old Íñigo witnessed the crime and challenged Rugen to a fight, wherein Rugen easily disarmed Íñigo, spared his life and allowed him to keep the sword, but scarred his face as a deterrent to further displays of bravery.

Devastated by the loss of his father, Íñigo devoted his entire life to becoming a great swordsman in order to avenge his father. His training is larger-than-life in that it includes tutelage under the most skilled and savage fencing masters of his time, breaking of rocks with his bare hands, and other exaggerated disciplines. After years of training, Íñigo had become the greatest swordsman of his generation, and the only living man to hold the rank of "wizard" (a fictional fencing rank above "master").

His original elaborate fantasies of revenge eventually evolved into a simple greeting: "Hello. My name is Íñigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die". When he finally confronts Rugen, he repeats the line and continues repeating it throughout the duel.

Another memorable quote from the movie, which is often used in popular culture, is Íñigo's response to Vizzini's usage of the word "inconceivable" as an expression of surprise, indicating that Vizzini considered something impossible (while, in fact, his imagination was simply too limited to "conceive" of it).After hearing Vizzini repeatedly misuse the word in this way, Íñigo turns to him and says:"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

In the story

Unable to find his father's killer and fearing that he would never fulfill his quest, Íñigo sank into depression and alcoholism before the criminal Vizzini found him. Vizzini, Íñigo, and a Turk named Fezzik were hired by Prince Humperdinck to kidnap and kill the "princess bride", Buttercup. Subsequent events led to Íñigo's duel with the "Man in Black", an extended sequence in both the book and the movie, in which both contestants begin fencing left-handed and eventually convert to their dominant right hands as the contest intensifies. Íñigo is then knocked unconscious by the "Man in Black" (Westley). When he regains consciousness, he enters the thieves' quarter of a major city, depressed that he had been beaten and becomes a useless drunkard once more. Eventually, Fezzik finds him and somewhat forcibly helps him regain his health. They eventually rescue the "Man in Black" from the Zoo of Death ("Pit of Despair" in the movie; in either case a torture chamber) and take him to the magician called Miracle Max, who rescues him from his state of near-death. Toward the end of the film, Íñigo joins the Man in Black to fight Humperdinck and fulfills his vow of revenge by killing his father's murderer. At the end of the movie, having avenged his father and thus no longer in "the revenge business", Íñigo becomes the "Man in Black"'s successor as "The Dread Pirate Roberts". The novel ends with Íñigo's wounds reopening while he is on the run from the Brute Squad, leaving his future in doubt.