History Fridge / ThePrincessBride

* Vizzini demonstrates his FatalFlaw, arrogance in his own intelligence, within the first few words he speaks to the Man in Black. The Man in Black could've just as easily placed the goblets side by side and let Vizzini choose effectively at random, but that would've probably clued him in that something was up. By placing the goblets in front of himself and Vizzini, even making a show of swapping positions for a moment while he's doing it, the Man in Black leads Vizzini into thinking it's a more classic scenario about being clever enough to figure out which goblet is poisoned and which one isn't. The Man in Black recognized by simply leading Vizzini in a particular direction, his arrogance would keep him from considering alternatives to his own conclusion. While Vizzini tried to puzzle out which goblet had the poison by working with what he knew about the Man in Black, said man had already been doing the same to Vizzini before they had even begun the challenge and used it to his advantage against him. Effectively, the Man in Black won the moment he placed the goblets down.

* In ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', at the very end, the Grandson asks the Grandfather to come back and read the story again. The Grandfather replies, "As you wish," which seems very sweet but not particularly dramatic--until you remember what was said earlier: "When he said 'As you wish,' what he meant was '' 'I love you.' ''"

* After Inigo Montoya got his HeroicSecondWind, he took control of the duel so thoroughly that he was able to give Count Rugen ''exactly the same wounds'' Rugen gave him.

* For all Vizzini's bragging, he's not particularly intelligent, having notable holes in his vocabulary (exclamations and nautical terms). He keeps blathering on about his intellect, but Inigo's nearly as intelligent without effort (and quickly calls him on it in the TropeNamer YouKeepUsingThatWord). How appropriate, then, that his {{Catchphrase}} is "Inconceivable!" -- not "impossible" or "unlikely," but literally, "who could have thought of that?" (This is probably what Inigo meant when he told Vizzini the word doesn't mean "what you think it means.") He asks this even when he himself is engaged in the same actions he's astounded at.

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets very upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean [[TheBadGuyWins he wins]]? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" Later, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by Westley--whose goal, after all, was never to kill him, just to rescue Buttercup from him.

* While we're given neither indication nor explanation of what exactly the iocane powder's effect was to kill Vizzini in a short amount of time after he drank it (Fridge Horror in and of itself given that he drops dead mid-laughter, no choking, gagging, or anything), for Westley to have spent "the last few years" building up an immunity, he must have put his body through '''''serious hell''''' to get there, likely involving making ''very'' small doses since it took only half the volume of the powder's container, a rod the size of his hand, to kill a man in under a minute (since he had to poison two wine cups with it).

** Furthermore, [[ForegoneConclusion of course]] Inigo wins, even with his injuries. He's done nothing but practice sword-play since their original meeting. It's an honest-to-god case of VillainForgotToLevelGrind. Rugen's only shot at winning was killing him when his cheap shot briefly broke Inigo's stride, but after that? The fight was over.

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets very upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" Later, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by Westley--whose goal, after all, was never to kill him, just to rescue Buttercup from him.

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets real upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" Later, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by Westley--whose goal, after all, was never to kill him, just to rescue Buttercup from him.

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets real upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" Later, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by Westley (whose goal, after all, was never to kill him, just to rescue Buttercup from him).

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets real upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" Later, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by the heroes (whose goal, after all, was never to kill him, just to rescue Buttercup from him).

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets real upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" Later, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by the heroes (whose goal, after all, was never to kill him).

* When the grandfather comes to the part where Inigo and Fezzik find Westley apparently dead, the boy gets real upset and asks the grandfather, "Who kills Humperdinck?" to which the grandfather replies, "Nobody kills him. He lives." The boy exclaims, "You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa, what did you read me this thing for?" By the end, we learn that the grandfather was [[ExactWords literally correct]] that Humperdinck lives at the end. The boy never considered that Humperdinck would physically survive but still be defeated by the heroes (whose goal, after all, was never to kill him).

* Before their duel Inigo tells The Man In Black that "There's not a lot of money in revenge." Only later do we learn that The Man in Black is the Dread Pirate Roberts, who is actually Wesley and Roberts is a LegacyCharacter. In the end Wesley suggests that Inigo become the new Roberts. Roberts' ship is called the ''Revenge'' and there is indeed a ''lot'' of money in there.

* Wesley notes that Vizzini has a "dizzying intellect," which could be read as a StealthInsult, implying that his convoluted reasoning is just InsaneTrollLogic.

* While we're given neither indication nor explanation of what exactly the iocane powder's effect was to kill Vizzini in a short amount of time after he drank it (Fridge Horror in and of itself given that he drops dead mid-laughter, no choking, gagging, or anything), for Wesley to have spent "the last few years" building up an immunity, he must have put his body through '''''serious hell''''' to get there, likely involving making ''very'' small doses since it took only half the volume of the powder's container, a rod the size of his hand, to kill a man in under a minute (since he had to poison two wine cups with it).

* While we're given no indication nor explanation of what the iocane powder did to kill Vizzini so quickly (Fridge Horror in and of itself given that he drops dead mid-laughter, no choking, gagging, or anything), for Westley to have spent "the last few years" building up an immunity, he must have put his body through '''''serious hell''''' to get there, likely involving imbibing very small doses of the stuff since it took only half the volume of a rod the size of his hand to kill a man in under a minute (since he used the contents to poison two wine cups).

* To explain how intelligent he supposedly is, Vizzini tells the Man in Black that he regards Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates as "morons." It turns out that part of how the Man in Black is able to defeat him in the end is that he never considers the Man in Black built up an immunity to poison--a practice first documented by an Ancient Greek king (Mithridates). If Vizzini had been more open to the knowledge of the Ancient Greeks, he might have caught on to the Man in Black's ace-in-the-hole. This reveals the central flaw in Vizzini's boast: he thinks intelligence is demonstrated by disparaging the wisdom of others, rather than learning from it.

* For all Vizzini's bragging, he's not particularly intelligent, having notable holes in his vocabulary (exclamations and nautical terms). He keeps blathering on about his intellect, but Inigo's nearly as intelligent without effort (and quickly calls him on it in the TropeNamer YouKeepUsingThatWord). How appropriate, then, that his {{Catchphrase}} is "Inconceivable!" -- not "impossible" or "unlikely," but literally, "who could have thought of that?" He asks this even when he himself is engaged in the same actions he's astounded at (which is probably what Inigo meant when he said the word doesn't mean "what you think it means").

* For all Vizzini's bragging, he's not particularly intelligent, having notable holes in his vocabulary (exclamations and nautical terms). He keeps blathering on about his intellect, but Inigo's nearly as intelligent without effort (and quickly calls him on it in the TropeNamer YouKeepUsingThatWord). How appropriate, then, that his {{Catchphrase}} is "Inconceivable!" -- not "impossible" or "unlikely," but literally, "who could have thought of that?" He asks this even when he himself is engaged in the same actions he's astounded at.

* Humperdinck's whole plot is to kill Buttercup and frame Guilder for it to start a war. While our heroes escape, the plan has been thwarted, and Humperdinck has been left humiliated and broken, there's still nothing preventing him from trying the same trick again. Even if he doesn't, he's still the de facto ruler of Florin and will soon be the actual king. How will the nation fare under his direct leadership?
** For that matter, he doesn't need to alter his plans much. Few people, if any, witnessed Buttercup's escape, while the daring raid itself had several guards who could confirm the Dread Pirate Roberts' attack. All he has to say is Guilder hired Roberts to kill Buttercup (and him, to make himself a hero), with Rugan as a casualty. Any plans that don't rely on Rugan can proceed apace.

* There's a gag where Rugen's assistant in the Pit of Despair is introduced with a raspy voice, until a few seconds later when it turns out he just needed to clear his throat. This might be the grandfather trying to give the character a unique voice, but realizes he can't do the rasping without hurting his throat, so he quickly switches to a cockney accent.

* When Inigo first confronts Rugen, it's right after Inigo effortlessly dispatches three guards who tried to rush him. Rugen responds to this display of badassery by [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere running away]]. At first Rugen looks like a DirtyCoward, but he's showing his tactical sense. Trying to fence in a narrow hallway risks getting backed into a corner, and just accidentally bumping the wall can interrupt his movement and leave him vulnerable. Rugen selects his own ground to fight--a key element of a good defense--running through the castle (that Inigo isn't familiar with) and selecting a large hall with plenty of room to maneuver. He then shows another key element of a good defense, setting an ambush, by waiting for Inigo to enter and throwing a knife into his belly. Rugen isn't a coward, he's a true CombatPragmatist.

* Humperdinck has a reputation for being a great tracker, and he shows this off during the search for Buttercup's captors. But in fact, he already knows about the swordsman and the giant, ''because he hired them.''

* When Wesley and Buttercup first reunite, both have reluctantly taken roles as villains, Wesley as the Dread Pirate Roberts and Buttercup as the fiancee to Prince Humperdinck. This is reflected in the color of their clothes, red and black, which are often associated with evil.
** Despite this, everything about the Man in Black tells the audience he's a hero, not the villain that Buttercup expects him to be. He is merciful and gracious to Inigo and Fezzik, sparing them when they would likely have killed him. While he does kill Vizzini, he keeps to the duel to do so, not using the opportunity presented when Vizzini sheathes his dagger.

* Although Wallace Shawn is clearly not Sicilian (as Rob Reiner notes in the director's commentary), it's possible that what we're seeing is the grandson's interpretation of the story. He might not know what a Sicilian looks like.
** Likewise, he might not know what an authentic Spanish accent sounds like.

** Additionally, the grandfather pointedly skips scenes at his grandson's request.

* Several guards escape the attack on the castle, most notably when Fezzik feigns being the Dread Pirate Roberts. Given that several of Humperdink's guard die during the battle (including [[TheDragon Count Rugen]]) and Buttercup spirited away, Humperdinck's in no position to attack Guilder anymore -- the Dread Pirate Roberts is too infamous a threat now for the people to stand for it!
** We also see no special evidence of Humperdink's planning ability. While we do see signs he's capable of hunting and rhetoric, but by all appearances Rugan is the more clever of the two. Without Rugan's backing and coming off a monumental personal humiliation, Humperdink's natural cowardice may prevent him from such a fight -- he isn't certain of victory anymore.