Dread Pirate Roberts

The Dread Pirate Roberts is a fictional character in the novel The Princess Bride and its film adaptation.
Role in The Princess Bride
At the beginning of The Princess Bride, the only thing known concerning the Dread Pirate Roberts is that he never leaves captives alive.
It is revealed during the course of the story that Roberts is not one man, but a series of individuals who periodically pass the name and reputation to a chosen successor. Everyone except the successor and the former Roberts is then released at a convenient port, and a new crew is hired. The former Roberts stays aboard as first mate, referring to his successor as "Captain Roberts", and thereby establishing the new Roberts' persona. After the crew is convinced, the former Roberts leaves the ship and retires on his earnings.
Westley, the hero of The Princess Bride, is on a voyage to seek his fortune when his ship is captured by the Dread Pirate and reported dead. While the other passengers are weeping and offering bribery for their lives, Westley simply asks Roberts to please not kill him. The "please" arousing his interest, Roberts asks, "Why should I make an exception of Westley then explains his mission to get enough money to reunite himself with Buttercup. Westley's description of Buttercup's beauty intrigues Roberts to the point that he hires Westley as a personal attendant. While Roberts is continually impressed with Westley's work, he continues to keep Westley's future in doubt by saying each night "Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning." After about three years, Roberts and Westley have grown close, and Roberts promotes Westley to his second-in-command. Shortly after that, Roberts reveals to Westley that the guise of the "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a nom de guerre that he has inherited. In the film adaptation, Westley relates Roberts's confession to Buttercup as they travel to the Fire Swamp:
Westley goes on to explain that the method works because Roberts's notorious reputation inspires overwhelming fear in sailors. Ships immediately capitulate and surrender their wealth rather than be captured, a fate they imagine to be certain death. A pirate operating under his own name is said to be incapable of such infamy: "No one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley." He is also known for saying "Life is pain."
Retirement
In both the movie and the novel, Westley indicates that he plans to retire after reuniting with Buttercup. In the movie, he suggests that Inigo Montoya might succeed him. However, in the novel, no mention is made as to who is to succeed Westley as the Dread Pirate Roberts. Ironically, at their first meeting, Inigo Montoya tells Roberts that "There's not a lot of money in revenge," but Roberts' ship is named Revenge, and it is that ship which makes him rich. In the first chapter of Buttercup's Baby (the supposed sequel to the novel), which is included in the 25th anniversary edition of the book, Goldman refers to 'Pierre', who is in charge of the pirate ship Revenge during Westley's absence and next in line to become the Dread Pirate Roberts. By the end of the chapter, Westley and his companions leave the ship again, presumably leaving Pierre once again in charge; but no mention is made of an official transfer of the title of Dread Pirate Roberts.
Holders of the title
Holders of the title Dread Pirate Roberts include:
* The original Roberts, retired fifteen years in Patagonia at the time Ryan picked Westley to be the next Dread Pirate Roberts.
* Clooney, the original Roberts' first mate (only in the novel).
* Cummerbund
* Ryan
* Westley, who presumably retires shortly following the end of the novel.
* Inigo Montoya, who presumably inherits the title from Westley (movie version).
* Pierre, who is in line to assume the title after Westley (novel version).
Neither Clooney nor Pierre exist in the movie continuity, thus making Westley the fourth incarnation of Roberts and Inigo Montoya the supposed fifth one.
Popular culture
*The 2004 remake of the computer game ' has the character of Bart Roberts saying "Fear the dread pirate Bart Roberts!" The default name of the player's first ship is also Revenge, Roberts' ship.
*The default crew charter of the MMO computer game ' references the Dread Pirate Roberts as the greatest pirate ever.
*The John Hiatt song "Only the Song Survives" contains the lines "well don't you remember / they put a patch on your eye / like dread pirate Roberts / you looked so unplanned"
*The Transformers character Cannonball is an homage to the Dread Pirate Roberts—he is a space pirate who is the 10th Cannonball in a line of pirates named Cannonball who each train a replacement. Under a protected section of the Hasbro website, he is even referred to as the "dreaded pirate" Cannonball in homage.
*The replacement of a character over time, so as to appear to be the same successful person, was originated by Lee Falk with his seminal superhero comic The Phantom.
*The puzzler Bookworm Adventures includes a boss in its Arabian Nights world called Dread Pirate Al-Robarts.
*Kingdom of Loathing contains an homage, where you can help someone called Dread Pirate Bob.
*In King's Bounty there is an enemy called "Dread Pirate Rob".
*In NCIS Tony references it, when they find out Kamul is just another alias, and that other people have been using the name Kamul just like people used the name Dread Pirate Roberts in Princess Bride.
*While there is no direct reference to the Dread Pirate Roberts, there is a character with a similar concept named "Christopher Chance" in Human Target. Chance is a bodyguard who got the title from the person who trained him, who got it from the person who trained him, and so on.
*A similar tradition exists in Rurouni Kenshin where the current master of the title character's martial arts school inherits the name of the previous master after that person's death. In addition, the previous master traditionally dies in the course of teaching the style's ultimate technique. Kenshin broke this tradition.
*Dread Pirate has been both a character kit in Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition and a Prestige Class in Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition.
* The reality show producer Clark Dungaree in the show Ugly Americans is the third in a succession of Clark Dungarees.

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