RETROspective: Why is it called ‘The Princess Bride’ anyway?

So I went to go see The Dark Knight Rises at the local IMAX, and it was awesome, of course. But I got there way early, so I spent a good deal of time talking about the film with my companions. One of the girlfriends posited that she didn’t think Anne Hathaway was right for the role of Catwoman, and she could think of so many better actresses. When I then pressed her to name five, she couldn’t think of any. I then stated that she was pretty good in The Princess Diaries and Havoc. This then lead to a discussion about whether Anne Hathaway should be considered a Disney princess. I say that by definition she is, but it’s a technicality. She played a princess in a Disney movie, hence Disney princess. However, everyone kept saying The Princess Bride when they meant The Princess Diaries (it was far too early, we went to the first showing on Saturday, and the IMAX is a hour away). It was at this point that my mind was blown, because it was then that we realized, there is no princess in The Princess Bride.

Not technically a princess. She’s also not really a bride either.

A princess is usually defined as the daughter of royalty (i.e. her father was a king and/or her mother was a queen) or someone who marries a prince. Well we know the first one isn’t true. It is clearly established that Buttercup is a simple common farmgirl. So she isn’t a princess by blood. But what about by marriage? Here is where it gets tricky. She was clearly the intended betrothed of Prince Humperdinck. But as Westley so pointedly comments at the end of the film, the marriage never occurred because they skipped the “I do” part. Humperdinck’s original plan was to never actually marry Buttercup. That is why he hired Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo Montoya to kidnap her in the first place, with the intention of them killing her and blaming the death on the neighboring country of Guilder so Humperdinck could start a war with them. Humperdinck only changed his plan after he encountered Westley, to actually marrying Buttercup and then killing her in her sleep afterwards and blaming it on spies from Guilder. So even at best, had things worked out, Buttercup would have only been a princess for a matter of a few hours. But even that didn’t happen. Westley was able to save the day, defeat the evil Prince Humperdinck, and make off into the morning sunrise with Buttercup before she ever married. Therefore, at no point in the movie is Buttercup ever actually a princess, hence the name The Princess Bride is something of a misnomer. Sure, I get what they are going for. “The Intended Princess” or “The Almost Princess Bride”, while more technically correct, don’t have the same ring to it and kind of spoil the ending. It doesn’t change the fact that it isn’t entirely an accurate title. Still one of the greatest comedies of all time, but it doesn’t actually contain any princesses.

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook