The Princess Bride

by

William Goldman

Count Rugen Character Analysis

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:
Fact vs. Fiction  Theme Icon
).
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.)

Related Characters: William Goldman (speaker), Westley/Farm Boy/The Man in Black, Count Rugen
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
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.”

Related Characters: Count Rugen (speaker), William Goldman, Westley/Farm Boy/The Man in Black
Related Symbols: The Zoo of Death
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:
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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:
Fact vs. Fiction  Theme Icon
).
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.)

Related Characters: William Goldman (speaker), Westley/Farm Boy/The Man in Black, Count Rugen
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
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.”

Related Characters: Count Rugen (speaker), William Goldman, Westley/Farm Boy/The Man in Black
Related Symbols: The Zoo of Death
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis: