We’ve got all the little-known facts about The Princess Bride handled, but a recent Facebook post from Astronauts in Trouble author Larry Young uncovered a dimension of the movie we’d never considered. Young sat down for a recent viewing of The Princess Bride with his young son, who came up with a perfect fan theory about the Dread Pirate Roberts that beats the Sherlock same-plot theory.
So it’s the first day of Winter Vacation, and the best way to start it off is to watch THE PRINCESS BRIDE. At the end, when Fred Savage asks Peter Falk to come back and read it again tomorrow and he has a little twinkle in his eye and replies “As you wish,” Walker turned to me and said, “Oh, right; he’s the last Dread Pirate Roberts and he’ll give the mask to his grandson tomorrow” AND YOU BLEW MY GODDAMN MIND LITTLE DUDE
YES THIS IS SO GREAT. Of course there’s more to the grandfather saying “as you wish” than just joking about the book. And now Fred Savage can become the next Dread Pirate Roberts and follow Cary Elwes and Peter Falk in the grand tradition of growing badass mustaches. (Hat-tip to Mark Espinosa for coming up with the above image!)
Nice!
I love this!
This is news? Seriously, that idea is what I and most of my friends thought the first time we saw the movie decades ago. It’s obvious there’s something behind the twinkle in the grandfather’s eye with him saying “As you wish.” No mind blown here.
“It’s obvious there’s something behind the twinkle in the grandfather’s eye…”
He isn’t just making a joke about the book, the point of the grandfather saying “as you wish” is that it is established in the story that the phrase translates directly to “I love you.” He’s had a nice day bonding with his grandson, and as he leaves he tells him he loves him.
This in no way invalidates the theory, obviously.
Love it :)
Except that Westley was saying “As you wish” to Buttercup LONG before he became Roberts. There’s no connection between “as you wish” and DPR except for the fact that Westley became DPR. So there’s no indication that the phrase would necessarily become part of the DPR tradition to be handed down. It’s left implied that Inigo was going to become the next DPR — would he start saying “as you wish”? It’s a very friendly and loving thing for a dreaded pirate to be known for saying. “Prepare to die” is more likely to be HIS incarnation’s catchphrase. And the grandfather doesn’t say THAT to the grandson. ;)
I’m with JeantheSquare — it’s just code for “I love you” (which is explicitly said near the beginning of the story). The pirate idea is cute but I don’t think it stands up to even the smallest amount of fan-geek-over-analysis. ;)
This is almost the exact same headline as on io9. Weird.
This si a dumb theory. Sorry, if this blew your mind, then it doesn’t take much to impress you.
The twinkle in his eye, as stated above, is because he is saying, “I love you.”
“As you wish” has nothing to do with Roberts and there is no evidence to back up this insane theory except the ramblings of a little kid who missed the point.
If my son or daughter said that, I would ground them for missing the point of a beautiful movie.
If we are just pulling theories straight out of our asses, then remind me to tell you about my theory about Fred Savage is actually the secret love child of Fezzig and Inigo.
Also, it’s implied that Inigo becomes Dread Pirate Roberts.
Inigo has no idea about “As you wish.”
Boom. Kid’s theory is snuffed. Moving on.
To me the as you wish implied that the story was an embellished version of the storyteller’s(i.e. the grandfather’s) own experience.
As cool as it would be to have the mask passed on, A) as mentioned in an earlier post the next Dread Pirate was implied to be Inigo and B)Fred Savage at the time was a bit too young to be learning to swashbuckle for a living.
This theory does not in any way work, If he had said “Goodnight Grandson, sleep well, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning”, then perhaps this theory might work.
Well, maybe not DPR, but since Wesley retired to marry Buttercup it could imply that his family is descended from them as reproduction is the unspoken spectre of TRUE LOVE.
But a sequel with Fred as TDPR would be cool, in a way, if they got the right writers.
(If I can trust Wikipedia, Goldman’s not dead yet, and Reiner’s still around)
Too bad Westley and Buttercup are both blond and unlikely to produce a dark haired kid like Fred.
Okay I love this theory,
To the neigh sayers:
Westley trained under Ryan (who inherited the Name Roberts) for 5 years. there could of been a lot of stories told during that that time. Westley would have trained Inigo Montoya for at least a year Passing on to the title of Roberts. But during the training it seems reasonable he would fill in the gaps of the story to Inigo.
The title is passed from Master to Pupil, not father to son. But that does not mean that Master and Pupil could not be related.
Also “S. Morgenstern” the author of the book, does not exist in real life. So he could have been one of the Dread Pirate Roberts in this Mythos. Or this World History. I actually think it was Inigo, he was a scholar after all.
The only question is what would the Dread Pirate Roberts do in the modern world? And could Fred Savage pull it off?
1) Not completely sure.
2) yes Fred Savage can pull off a charming bad guy.