In 1973, William Goldman (presenting the story as an abridged version of a longer work by the fictitious S. Morgenstern) published his hit fantasy-romance-comedy novel The Princess Bride. While the book maintained considerable popularity for the next 14 years, its adaptation to film in 1983 by Rob Reiner catapulted it lasting and legendary fame, with The Princess Bride (1983) remaining a beloved staple movie in the fantasy genre to this day. three generations and counting have now fallen in love with the romance of Wesley and Buttercup, the endearing characters and enduring friendship of Fezzik and Inigo Montoya, and the cast of wacky-yet-occasionally-truly-terrifying supporting characters, villains and monsters they encounter as they relentlessly pursue their respective goals (true love, starting a war with the neighboring country, killing the six-fingered man who killed their father, torture, miracles, “mawwiage”, or otherwise).
In this beloved film full of snappy and quotable dialogue, however, one phrase stands out as both an overarching representation of the film’s message, and a quote that has been adopted into fandom culture both around The Princess Bride and in broader nerd culture and fantasy spaces— Wesley’s statement of devotion to Buttercup, “As you wish.”
From the first appearance of “As You Wish” early in the film, The Princess Bride makes it clear that this is a phrase with layered meanings. Initially, it appears to be nothing more than a simple, polite response to Buttercup’s demands when Wesley was a worker on her family’s farm. The narrator, however, makes sure to tell us that Wesley, already deeply enamored by her, filled those three words with the love he did not yet feel able to voice. Only when Buttercup begins to feel the same, and gives Wesley a task (fetching the water jug hanging directly over her head) that is clearly only meant to bring the two of them into close proximity, does the true meaning of “As You Wish” become clear to her.
The phrase takes an entirely new meaning in its second appearance— now, it is a signal. Buttercup, deep in mourning after learning that Wesley was killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts, reacts with disgust and hatred as the very same pirate abducts (or, re-abducts) her from the clutches of the treacherous Vizzini and his team. Unbeknownst to Buttercup, her re-abductor is actually Wesley himself, having gained the trust of the Dread Pirate Roberts before eventually inheriting the title. As Buttercup shoves him down a steep incline in rage over the death of her true love, Wesley shows his true identity with a shouted “As You Wish”, causing her to immediately understand the situation and throw herself down after him. The simple phrase that gained a second meaning due to Wesley & Buttercup’s history became a way for them to identify each other.
In the latter half of the film, “As You Wish” is notably absent from Wesley & Buttercup’s story. After a tearful reunion in which Wesley promises Buttercup that he will always find her, followed quickly by Buttercup’s recapture by her betrothed Prince Humperdink and Wesley’s imprisonment by Humperdink’s sinister Count Rugen, their love story shifts, revolving around Wesley’s determination to return to Buttercup against all odds and Buttercup’s unshaking faith that he will do so. However, the phrase makes a final appearance at the film’s end, changing its meaning once again— in The Princess Bride film, the story is framed within the narrative of a grandfather reading a book (the novel version of The Princess Bride, with authorship correctly attributed to S. Morgenstern) to his sick grandson, and, when asked if he will come back and read it again, the grandfather replies “As You Wish”.
This final occurrence of the phrase shifts its meaning once again, in more ways than one — while this instance does differ from those inside the story in that it is an expression of familial love rather than romantic, the biggest and most significant shift is that it is outside the story at all. By placing “As You Wish”, one of the more iconic quotes from The Princess Bride’s fantasy romance, in the mouth of a character who exists decidedly outside of the story’s fantasy and inside something at least akin to our “real world”, The Princess Bride allows some of the story’s magic, wonder, and wild hope to slip out into our more mundane reality.
Perhaps this final crack in the Fourth Wall is, alongside the film and novel’s enduring devoted following among fantasy fans, is why the phrase “As You Wish” still holds such meaning to fans even 39 years later (39 years of no new content at that- a fact which cast and fans alike seem perfectly happy with). The Princess Bride fandom is, after all, known for its positive atmosphere, emotional openness, belief in love and hope, and direct interaction— verging, in a rarity for fan spaces, on true community— with the movie’s cast — remote script reads were performed by the movie’s original cast during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, and the actors, despite these roles being decades old, remain open and comfortable sharing truly emotional moments with fans. Of course, in such a community, the phrase that first introduced audiences to Wesley and Buttercup’s true, enduring, death-defying love would, like the lovers themselves, persist.
