The Princess Bride Scenes 11-15 Summary

Scene 11

  • The grandfather takes a quick break from narrating our story to make sure his grandson isn't overly nervous about Buttercup potentially becoming fish food. The kid insists he's hanging in there, and our narrator continues.

Scene 12

  • Fortunately for Buttercup, she does not have a date with Davy Jones. Fezzik, the giant, bats away one particularly nasty-looking eel and hauls Buttercup out of the water. She isn't too traumatized, however, to lob another insult in Vizzini's direction as he's tightening her bonds. There's never a bad time for a good burn.

Scene 13

  • The next morning, as their pursuer gains on them, the captors and their captive are fast approaching the Cliffs of Insanity. We've seen them, and we can vouch. They look pretty insane.
  • The gang disembarks and readies themselves to climb up a rope that conveniently leads from there to the top of the cliffs. Eh, we'll give Vizzini the benefit of the doubt; maybe he planned ahead. He does seem like a forward-thinking guy.
  • Fezzik is indeed strong, and starts climbing the rope with everyone else hanging on for dear life. The pursuer, the mysterious Man in Black, proves he's no hack himself when it comes to rope climbing, and starts to gain on them.
  • Vizzini and Co. make it to the top first, but not by much. They just barely have enough time to cut the rope loose before the Man in Black reaches the summit. Of course, even though the rope is severed and falls to the ocean below, our unknown stranger somehow manages to catch himself while falling down the side of a sheer cliff. We don't recommend trying that at home.
  • Fezzik and Vizzini take the princess and move along, leaving Inigo behind to dispose of the Man in Black with his uber-hyped swordplay skills. He's pretty good but not good enough. The Man in Black spares Inigo's life, which is good, because his accent is really fun to listen to.

Scene 14

  • Seeing that the Man in Black has bested his swordsman, Vizzini takes the princess, this time leaving Fezzik to take care of his new nemesis by means of brute strength.
  • This doesn't work out any better, however, as the MIB (no relation to Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones) manages to leap onto Fezzik's back and strangle him (non-lethally) from behind.

Scene 15

  • Meanwhile, the prince and his men are searching for the kidnapped princess, and it turns out this Humperdinck character can track like a bloodhound.
  • He correctly surmises what went down with Inigo at the top of the Cliffs, then follows the MIB's footprints, which are leading in the direction of Guilder.
  • He admits there's a possibility they could be walking into a trap, but he doubts it. After all, there wasn't anything in his horoscope about that this week.