Why did Wesley recover so suddenly?

Question

During the break in to the castle towards the end of A Princess Bride Wesley cannot walk or move other than turn his head, speak and occasionally move his fingers. However he seems to suddenly recover enough limb power to walk/crawl to Buttercup's bed. A few minutes after that he is able to stand and hold a sword. He is then apparently fine with jumping from a window and riding a horse.

Why does he go the entire break in with little recovery but as soon as the other characters leave he seems to recover fully in about 10 minutes?

"I've always been a fast healer" -Wesley on the castle wall. — CBredlow, Sep 01 '16 at 21:20
@CBredlow Why does he take the entire break in to be able to move at all then? — Bellerophon, Sep 01 '16 at 21:22
its also possible that more time passed in buttercup's room than we saw on-screen. and that he was playing possum a bit. — KutuluMike, Sep 01 '16 at 21:25

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 01 '16 at 21:33

You're giving his healing more credit than it deserves.

He doesn't jump out the window. He's literally sitting on the sill and then just leans and falls out.

He stands and holds a sword... for a matter of perhaps 30 seconds, after which, he very nearly falls over again.

He travels/crawls to the royal suite... where he ends up in bed motionless until the aforementioned standing up.

Before this, the most he can manage is lolling his head around in vague directions, and being carried.

In short, he's capable of short bursts of action that any normal person would be capable of, so long as he has plenty of recovery afterwards. Even then, it looks like most of this is based on sheer nerve and willpower, not his physical strength.

In the novel, it's actually made out to be worse, as there's a section that briefly alludes to Westley "relapsing" and collapsing on his horse after they've managed to get away from the castle.

Why did Wesley recover so suddenly?

1 Answers1