A swordsman with a rapier faces a cloaked figure at the top of a stone staircase in a moonlit castle courtyard, a fallen torch burning.

Original artwork, not a still

Inigo Montoya

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

— The Princess Bride · 1987

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

It is a revenge speech that took twenty years to say, rehearsed so often that Inigo recites it to the Man in Black before they duel. The payoff comes when he finally says it to Count Rugen, the six-fingered man, and the repeated phrase lets the audience say it along with him. It is among the most quoted lines in cinema, usually followed by a joke about dying, and fans still shout the second sentence at anyone who has wronged them.

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In context

Spoilers for The Princess BrideShow the scene

Inigo first recites it to the Man in Black atop the Cliffs of Insanity, explaining that a six-fingered man murdered his father when he was eleven, and that he has studied fencing ever since so he can one day say exactly this. The payoff comes in the castle, when he finally corners Count Rugen and repeats it, louder each time, until Rugen begs him to stop saying that. Inigo makes him offer money, power and anything he asks for, then tells him he wants his father back and kills him.

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