Do they suit their names?
As far as I recall, we decided to name our new pet rats after William Goldman characters before we actually met them. If there had been two, they might have ended up as Butch and Sundance.
After we met them, what with there being three of them, Inigo, Fezzik and Vizzini from The Princess Bride seemed a good fit.
I believe The Housemate’s logic was that the brown rat was the first out of the cage and very brave, so she was Inigo. The grey rat was bigger than the others and stuck close to Inigo, so she was Fezzik. The white rat was small and hiding in the corner doing her own thing, not being friendly towards us, so she was Vizzini.
Having now known them for a year and a half, do their names still suit them?
In The Princess Bride, Vizzini is a mean and ruthless Sicilian criminal genius hired for his brains. Inigo is a loyal but drunk Spanish fencing master hired as a swordfighter who is on a revenge quest, and Fezzik is a kind and loyal but mighty Turkish wrestler hired for his strength, being a giant, who has a conscience.
|
Vizzini - criminal genius? |
Vizzini is by far the smallest, so that follows. The Housemate thinks Vizzini doesn’t like him, because sometimes she bites him, so she does possibly have some evil in her, like her namesake and he was certainly hot-headed and she can be volatile. However she is the most active, which would be a more ‘Inigo’ trait. She's also very sweet and needs the most reassurance, which I guess is maybe a 'Fezzik' trait?
|
Fezzik - mighty wrestler?
|
Fezzik is the biggest and has only grown bigger, so that follows. She is probably the strongest and also the most destructive, so again that’s right. And she is also a massive pushover and the bottom of the pecking order, which again seems right. She's also the least social and I think that probably isn't right for the character, though I don't know if that would make her more of a 'Vizzini' or 'Inigo'. However, when it comes to working out how to solve a puzzle, Fezzik has had the most success, which would make her a bit of a ‘Vizzini’. Fezzik can be very sulky, and also completely bonkers, which are more like 'Inigo'.
|
Inigo - vengeful fencing master?
|
Inigo tends to win her fights, so that is the right trait for her character. When I tried to train them, Inigo picked it up the best, which I guess would be right for a swordsman. She is also the most curious and brave, so that follows. However, Inigo is the friendliest, so that probably makes her more of a ‘Fezzik’, although she tyrannises the other rats, so that is a more ‘Vizzini’ trait.
Now, if Goldman's Fezzik was always stealing paper in order to build nests, that would be right. If instead of a battle of logic, Goldman's Vizzini had challened the man in black to see who could fit the most food in their gob, that would be spot on. And if the line was 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to be licked' then we'd be talking.