Oberyn Martell, known as The Red Viper of Dorne, is one of the more popular characters from the fourth season of Game Of Thrones, and his sudden departure in the final episodes of the season frustrated and shocked those TV viewers who hadnt yet read the books. Of course, those who had read the books were fully prepared for the unfortunate and graphic nature of the Vipers demise after a furious duel with the huge and sadistic knight Gregor Clegane, aka The Mountain, in the episode appropriately entitled The Viper And The Mountain. What was interesting to anyone, however, were the number of allusions to another duel from fantasy: between the Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya and the six-fingered Count Rugen in the classic 1987 movie The Princesss Bride. Like Oberyn Martell, hellbent for a decade on avenging his sister, Inigo Montoya is a man obsessed with revenge throughout the course of his life, who finally receives a chance to kill the hated man who murdered his beloved father when he was a boy. When he finally meets him, face to face, the Spaniard utters the immortal line: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die, a line hes rehearsed for years and which he repeats, over and over like a mantra, throughout the ensuing swordfight. Oberyn, another romantic hero whos a dab hand in a duel, has a similar refrain in his fight with the Mountain: You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children, repeated over and over in an attempt to force a confession from the brute. Even the accent is similar, a clear callback to the classic of three decades earlier. Sadly, the Vipers duel doesnt end as happily as Inigos. While Montoya gets his man and rides off into the sunset to become the new Dread Pirate Roberts, Martell gets his confession shortly before having his skull crushed in grisly fashion.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
