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Dear Sara,

From time to time, I hear people proclaiming, “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Why do they say this? I know for a fact that none of them are named Inigo Montoya, I am fairly certain I haven’t met any of their fathers, let alone killed them, and I am not going to prepare to die just because someone tells me I should. To be fair, none of these people have attempted to kill me, but it’s a little unnerving. What’s going on?

Thanks,
Sally G.



Dear Sally,

These people are likely quoting from the 1987 film THE PRINCESS BRIDE, directed by Rob Reiner and written by William Goldman, in a fairly faithful adaptation of his novel, published in 1973. The speech is given – more than once – by the character of Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya, played by Mandy Patinkin. Inigo is seeking the six-fingered swordsman who, as one might surmise from the dialogue, killed Inigo’s father. Inigo repeats the phrase in preparation for the day when he finds the villain, who turns out to be Count Rugen, played by Christopher Guest, who is henchman to the equally vile Prince Humperdinck, portrayed by Chris Sarandon. When Inigo confronts Rugen, he gives the speech once again and kills his father’s murderer. A word of warning: if you have killed anyone who might have been a father, it is possible that someone saying to you “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die” is indeed named Inigo Montoya and preparing to duel with you to the death. To be on the safe side, don’t kill anybody.


-Sara Bellum




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Sara Bellum

Sara Bellum

Editor at Buzzy Multimedia Publishing
The name's Sara Bellum, and I'm the editor-at-large here at BuzzyMag - the hostess with the mostess, if you will. I like to think that my first calling is fighting crime and delivering a heaping dose of sweet, sweet justice to all manner of thugs, miscreants, hoodlums, ruffians, and ne'er-do-wells, but unfortunately, violent vigilantism doesn't exactly pay big bucks these days.

Times are tough, my friends, and I've got bills to pay, so I decided to put my encyclopedic knowledge of all things sci-fi & fantasy-related to use to help me land a day job. To tell you the truth, it's kind of a nice change of pace. My manicures have been lasting a bit longer lately.