Inigo Montoya is a fictional character in William Goldman's 1973 novel The Princess Bride. In Rob Reiner's 1987 film adaptation he was portrayed by Mandy Patinkin. In both the book and the movie, he resided in the fictional country of Florin.
Inigo Montoya was a Spanish master fencer who devoted his entire life to avenging his father's murder. When Inigo was a child, he saw his father, a swordmaker, die at the six-fingered hand of a nobleman who had ordered a sword but, upon its completion, did not recognize the artistic value of the sword (this being the reason Inigo's father accepted the order in the first place), and offered a much lower price than agreed for the sword. Inigo's father refused to hand over the sword, and the nobleman killed him, leaving the sword. Inigo challenged the man to a duel, but was easily defeated. The nobleman left him alive but disfigured, scarring him on both cheeks. Inigo swore revenge, taking his father's blade and, over the next 15 years, mastering swordsmanship and searching for his father's killer. He planned out an elaborate revenge fantasy over the years, that eventually evolved into a simple greeting with which he would meet the man he hated: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
By the time he was an adult, however, he began to fear that he would never fulfill his quest, and sank into depression and alcoholism. It was in this sorry state that the criminal Vizzini found and recruited him into his gang of thieves, along with the giant Fezzik, who quickly became his best friend.
The three were hired by Prince Humperdinck to kill his beautiful fiancée, Buttercup, and take her body to the frontier of Florin's rival nation, Guilder, so that Humperdinck could blame the Guilderians for her murder and declare war. The three criminals sailed with an unconscious Buttercup to the "Cliffs of Insanity," planning to throw her to her death. Just before they arrived, however, Inigo spotted another small ship following them, belonging to the Dread Pirate Roberts. The notorious pirate followed them up the cliffs, where Vizzini cut the rope, leaving the "man in black" hanging on the side, with approximately a 1000-foot drop below him. Vizzini commanded Inigo to wait behind and kill the intruder, but Inigo helped him up and gave him time to rest, hoping that the ensuing duel would test his skill after many years without a challenge. They both began the duel left-handed, seeking greater challenge, but switched hands and discussed which fencing masters they had studied as they fought. The man in black not only challenged Inigo, but beat him after an exhausting duel. Inigo's opponent spared him, however, out of respect for a true master swordsman.
Inigo retreated to Florin and relapsed into a drunken wreck. He snapped out of it a few weeks later, however, after being reunited with Fezzik, who nursed him back to health and told him that the six-fingered man was Count Rugen, Humperdinck's most trusted advisor. He also learned that the man in black was in fact Westley, Buttercup's true love, who had not been killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts as thought, but captured, and later became the new Dread Pirate Roberts.
Inigo sought Westley to help him get his revenge. In the movie, he and Fezzik found him in the Pit of Despair  where he lay dead, having been tortured to death by Rugen. In the book, before they found Westley, they entered a false entrance to the Zoo of Death, where Prince Humperdinck does all his hunting. This entrance led them down four levels of the Zoo, each progressively more dangerous. The friends save each other through skill, trickery, and teamwork, finally arriving at the fourth level. Here, Fezzik's dumb luck saves them from death when he runs screaming, breaking through a door without turning the knob, where a highly venomous spider lay waiting to attack. On the fifth level, Westley lays dead by the Machine, which had sucked out his lifeforce. They brought him to Miracle Max, the king's former Miracle Man, to be brought back to life. After Westley was resurrected, the three invaded Humperdinck's castle to stop the planned wedding. In the ensuing chaos, Inigo finally came face-to-face with Rugen and uttered the words he had waited his whole life to say (he becomes so excited at the opportunity that he repeats the words verbatim several times). Rugen then fled, and seriously wounded Inigo with a dagger as he pursued. Rugen recognized him by the scars, and taunted him as he prepared to deliver the killing blow. Just then, however, Inigo felt a surge of strength and fought back until he finally pinned Rugen against a wall and forced Rugen to debase himself, promising him money, power, and anything he wished in the world, before running his father's sword through the murderer's heart, uttering the words, "I want my father back, you son of a bitch." In the book, Inigo actually starts to cut out the Count's heart, saying "You took mine when I was ten, I want yours now." Being a coward, Count Rugen dies quickly of fear, before Inigo can actually remove his heart. Inigo limps his way to the room where Westley, Buttercup, and Prince Humperdinck are. Moments later, he escaped on four white stallions with Fezzik, Buttercup, and Westley, who, in the movie, offered Inigo the mantle of Dread Pirate Roberts.
Iñigo Montoya is also a fictional Scottish scientist and philosopher featured in José Báez Guerrero's 1996 novel "Ceroles", published in the Dominican Republic in Spanish. Dr Montoya is author of "Propinquity of Self", an essay on the "involutive character of religion" quoted in Ceroles.
Now where's my sticker?
Originally Posted by mild seven
