Hello. My name is Count Rugen. I killed your father. Prepare to die.
My proposal for novel Prince Humperdinck did surprisingly a lot better than I was initially anticipating. So it would make sense for me to target the next most heinous character in the story, and he happens to be standing right next to him.
The Work[]
The Princess Bride is a 1973 fantasy novel by the late William Goldman, combining the elements of romance, adventure, comedy, drama, and fairy tales. It stars the farm boy Westley and the fair maiden Buttercup living in the kingdom of Florin, and the two have fallen madly in love. But tragedy strikes when Westley's ship is sunk by pirates and he presumably perishes. Buttercup sinks into despair and vows to never love again. That is until she is kidnapped to be wed to the main villain, Prince Humperdinck.
Who is Count Rugen[]
Count Tyrone Rugen is the Grand Vizier of Florin and right-hand to Prince Humperdinck. He works with the prince in his plot to have Buttercup killed so they could frame the nearby kingdom of Guilder to start a war with them. What you need to know about Rugen is he's a cruel sadist who takes pleasure in watching people suffer, even writing a book on the subject of pain and torture. He also has a sixth finger on his right hand (it'll come in handy later). His grand invention is a torture device called "The Machine" that sucks the life out of people.
Twenty years before the events in the novel (and film adaptation), Rugen requested a special sword to equip to fit his six-fingered hand from a town swordsmith Domingo Montoya. Once the sword was finished, Rugen attempted to bribe Domingo into buying it at only one-tenth of the price. Domingo refused due to Rugen's disapproval of the hard work invested in the weapon. Unpleased, Rugen promptly used his new sword to stab Domingo straight through the heart. Having witnessed his father's death, an eleven-year-old Inigo challenged Rugen to a duel. Rugen taunted the vain attempt and declined the duel, choosing to spare Inigo (not out of mercy but to remember the murder of his father forever). But he instead gave something to remind the boy of the "incident"; scars on both his cheeks. Since that day, Inigo swore vengeance against the six-fingered man who took his father's life.
Years later, Rugen assists Humperdinck in tracking down Buttercup after his plan to have Vizzini assassinate her was inconceivably foiled by Westley, who survived his ship sinking and took the identity of the Dread Pirate Roberts. When they find them at the edge of the Fire Swamp, Buttercup agrees to surrender herself, only if Humperdinck does not hurt Westley. Humperdinck applies and has Rugen escort Westley back to the kingdom while he and Buttercup return to the castle to be married. However, Humperdinck instead orders Rugen to take Westley to his special dungeon, the Pit of Despair. Westley sees through the deception and fights back, but Rugen knocks him out.
Now here's where the novel differs from the events of the movie. In the film, Rugen automatically connects Westley to the Machine to drain a year of his life away. But in the novel, the torture is drawn-out to last weeks. Before using the Machine, Rugen forces Westley through multiple tortures, such as flailing, walking on hot coal, and placing his hands in boiling oil. Westley only endures the immense pain by thinking of Buttercup. Once it was time to use the Machine, Rugen demonstrates its power by using it to torture a dog to death before leaving Westley tied overnight with the Machine in sight to help "anticipate" the event before inflicting complete pain onto Westley, taking sadistic amusement watching him in agony. Later on, when Humperdinck uses the Machine himself to torture Westley to death after Buttercup taunted him with her love of Westley, Rugen was against raising it up to 50. Not out of standards like in the film, but because you can't torture a dead body.
Once the day of the wedding comes, Inigo and Fezzik, having served as Vizzini's servants, come to Westley's rescue and revive him with the help of Miracle Max. Inigo also identifies Rugen as the man responsible for his father's death. As Westley and Fezzik cause a commotion to distract the wedding, Inigo confronts Rugen and this time manages to convince him into a duel. Rugen first has the upper hand and lobs a knife into Inigo's belly, taunting him of failing to complete his life's goal. But this makes Inigo mad and he fights back against Ruben, managing to overtake him and even cut his cheeks. In a last ditch effort to save himself, Rugen cowardly offers to give Inigo anything if he lets him live. Inigo replies he wants his father back and jabs his sword through Rugen's heart, finally avenging his father after twenty years.
Mitigating Factors[]
None. While the film version remains standard, the novel gives us a closer in-depth glance onto Rugen's character by seeing his murder of Domingo and not simply discussed offscreen, and a torture affair lasting for weeks. Not to mention animal cruelty just to demonstrate his grand contraption.
In the film, Rugen has two factors that are nullified in the original book. First is his possible friendship with Humperdinck. Never elaborated in the novel, he is simply following orders and nothing else. Second, he shows some standards when he was against Humperdinck turned the Machine up to 50 to torture Westley to death when the max he would do is only five. Now, he was still against the idea in the novel, but only because once Westley dies, there would be no fun in torturing a corpse.
Heinous Standards[]
Just as bad as Humperdinck, if not worse. Rugen stands out in a seemingly light-hearted fantasy for his remorseless killing of Inigo's father, his horrific tortures of Westley, and using an innocent dog to demonstrate his torture machine.
Verdict[]
Yes to the six-fingered man who killed Inigo Montoya's father.