The Old Castle's Secret
Encyclopedia
The Old Castle's Secret is a Donald Duck
story written by Carl Barks
. Besides having status as one of Barks' best stories, The Old Castle's Secret is also notable for being Donald and Huey, Dewey and Louie
's first treasure hunt with their uncle, Scrooge McDuck
.
. The treasure once belonged to Sir Quackly McDuck, but both the treasure and its owner disappeared during the siege of 1057. The Clan has been searching for the treasure for centuries but Scrooge, the last of the McDucks, believes that he can finally locate it thanks to an X-Ray machine that can look behind/through the castle's walls. Finding the treasure proves to be the easy part of the mission. But they have to face a mysterious ghost that steals the treasure from them and repeatedly tries to dispose of them. They can't see it but they can see its shadow; the shadow of a skeleton. During this, Scottie, the caretaker of the castle, seems to have been murdered by Sir Quackly, and Scrooge, Donald, and the Nephews are trapped on a locked battlement. Huey, Dewey, and Louie escape by swinging across into the deeper part of the surrounding moat, but can't get in. However, they then remember the tale of Sir Swamphole McDuck, who sealed the dungeons (due to it being too costly to run a real dungeon)and find a secret passageway into the dungeons and castle through his fake grave site,(while his skeleton was located inside of his armor)which was made if there was a need of emergency evacuation of the castle. Meanwhile, Scrooge and Donald are miserable on the battlement, and Donald is shocked when Scrooge reveals he has a gun(which can shoot the lock and unlock the door), where Scrooge(embarrassed)first tells Donald to give him, "a good, swift, kick!". While in the dungeon, the Nephews find the treasure box, but are nearly attacked by the ghost, and find the other way out of the dungeon; the pillar that Sir Swamphole's armor is resting on is actually a door. Scrooge, Donald, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie(who have found the invisibility spray) give chase to the ghost through the swamp(who can be seen since he's covered in mud), and the Nephews and Donald tackle him to the ground, retrieving the treasure box. At the end of the tale the ghost is revealed to be a thief who was impersonating Scottie(who had died of old age years before) using a special spray-like formula that made him invisible but did not prevent his skeleton from casting a shadow. After that, Donald then takes all of the kids's credit(who didn't realize the invisibility spray even existed). Enraged, the kids then trick Donald into thinking the spray is a mosquito repellent, where they then make him completely invisible (save his butt and legs), and sarcastically state, "Why, Uncle Donald, why are you surprised? We thought you knew everything!", much to Donald's embarrassment and fury.
The story marks the second appearance of Scrooge in a story but the first where he acts as the leader in a treasure expedition, a theme that Barks would later use often and is currently considered traditional for an Uncle Scrooge story. It introduces the Clan McDuck, giving a family history to the characters that would later be expanded by both Barks and his "successors" and firmly setting the character's origin in Scotland
, a homeland where a number of later stories would take place. Dismal Downs itself has been used as a setting for other stories and its history and architecture expanded.
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
story written by Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
. Besides having status as one of Barks' best stories, The Old Castle's Secret is also notable for being Donald and Huey, Dewey and Louie
Huey, Dewey and Louie
Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are a trio of fictional, anthropomorphic ducks who appear in animated cartoons and comic books published by the Walt Disney Company. Identical triplets, the three are Donald Duck's nephews. Huey, Dewey, and Louie were created by Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro, and first...
's first treasure hunt with their uncle, Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
.
Plot
Scrooge McDuck, in his second appearance, recruits his nephews to search for a family treasure back in Dismal Downs, the old castle of The Clan McDuck, built in the middle of a swamp in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The treasure once belonged to Sir Quackly McDuck, but both the treasure and its owner disappeared during the siege of 1057. The Clan has been searching for the treasure for centuries but Scrooge, the last of the McDucks, believes that he can finally locate it thanks to an X-Ray machine that can look behind/through the castle's walls. Finding the treasure proves to be the easy part of the mission. But they have to face a mysterious ghost that steals the treasure from them and repeatedly tries to dispose of them. They can't see it but they can see its shadow; the shadow of a skeleton. During this, Scottie, the caretaker of the castle, seems to have been murdered by Sir Quackly, and Scrooge, Donald, and the Nephews are trapped on a locked battlement. Huey, Dewey, and Louie escape by swinging across into the deeper part of the surrounding moat, but can't get in. However, they then remember the tale of Sir Swamphole McDuck, who sealed the dungeons (due to it being too costly to run a real dungeon)and find a secret passageway into the dungeons and castle through his fake grave site,(while his skeleton was located inside of his armor)which was made if there was a need of emergency evacuation of the castle. Meanwhile, Scrooge and Donald are miserable on the battlement, and Donald is shocked when Scrooge reveals he has a gun(which can shoot the lock and unlock the door), where Scrooge(embarrassed)first tells Donald to give him, "a good, swift, kick!". While in the dungeon, the Nephews find the treasure box, but are nearly attacked by the ghost, and find the other way out of the dungeon; the pillar that Sir Swamphole's armor is resting on is actually a door. Scrooge, Donald, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie(who have found the invisibility spray) give chase to the ghost through the swamp(who can be seen since he's covered in mud), and the Nephews and Donald tackle him to the ground, retrieving the treasure box. At the end of the tale the ghost is revealed to be a thief who was impersonating Scottie(who had died of old age years before) using a special spray-like formula that made him invisible but did not prevent his skeleton from casting a shadow. After that, Donald then takes all of the kids's credit(who didn't realize the invisibility spray even existed). Enraged, the kids then trick Donald into thinking the spray is a mosquito repellent, where they then make him completely invisible (save his butt and legs), and sarcastically state, "Why, Uncle Donald, why are you surprised? We thought you knew everything!", much to Donald's embarrassment and fury.
Analysis
The story is usually referred to as one of Barks' most memorable for a number of reasons. The plot borrows elements of horror and mystery stories, favorites of Barks, such as the old and mostly abandoned castle with dark halls, hidden dungeons and crypts, ancestors' skeletons buried inside the castle, the old McDuck cemetery with the graves of entire generations of the main characters' ancestors, the misty swamp, the threatening "ghost" and the eminent danger that the characters feel around them. Barks put an effort into the details of every panel so that they gave a sense of melancholy suitable for this rather moody story and he used pictures of old Scottish castles as drawing references to add to the story's realism. It is considered among his best drawing efforts.The story marks the second appearance of Scrooge in a story but the first where he acts as the leader in a treasure expedition, a theme that Barks would later use often and is currently considered traditional for an Uncle Scrooge story. It introduces the Clan McDuck, giving a family history to the characters that would later be expanded by both Barks and his "successors" and firmly setting the character's origin in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, a homeland where a number of later stories would take place. Dismal Downs itself has been used as a setting for other stories and its history and architecture expanded.
External links
- The Old Castle's Secret in Carl Barks guidebook