Scrooge McDuck

Scrooge McDuck is a fictional character created by artist Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company's comic books. Scrooge is the uncle of Donald Duck, and is likely meant to be a caricature of Andrew Carnegie. The first member of the Clan McDuck to appear in the comics, Scrooge's name was based on Ebenezer Scrooge, a character from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

Scrooge's personality

Personality traits

Scrooge is arguably the richest duck in the world, rivaled by Flintheart Glomgold, John D. Rockerduck and, less prominent, the maharaja of the fictional country Howdoyoustan, having worked his way up the financial ladder from humble immigrant roots to fantasticillionaire status. He keeps his wealth in a massive money bin overlooking the city of Duckburg. A shrewd businessman and noted tightwad, his hobbies include diving into his money like a dolphin, burrowing through it like a gopher, and throwing coins into the air to feel them fall upon his skull. He is also the richest member of The Billionaires Club of Duckburg, a society which includes the most successful businessmen of the world and allows them to keep connections with each other. Glomgold and Rockerduck are also influential members of the Club.

Related Topics:
Duck - Flintheart Glomgold - Maharaja - Fictional country - Dolphin - Gopher - Business

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Keeping all one's money out of circulation is not the best investment strategy. This was addressed in the short cartoon "Scrooge McDuck and Money", first released on March 23, 1967. There, Scrooge stated to his nephews that the money in his bin is but a percentage of his total wealth. The rest is generally known to be invested in a worldwide financial empire. Comic books have stated that the money bin contains currency of personal significance to Scrooge, including the first dime he ever earned, also known in the stories as his "Number One Dime."

Related Topics:
Scrooge McDuck and Money - March 23 - 1967

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Both as a businessman and as a treasure hunter, Scrooge is noted for his need to set new goals in addition to those he has already achieved and face new challenges in addition to those he has already successfully faced. As Carl Barks described his character, for Scrooge there is "Always another rainbow". The phrase later provided the title for one of Barks' better known paintings depicting Scrooge. Periods of inactivity between adventures and lack of serious challenges tend to be depressing for Scrooge after a while; some stories depict this phase to have negative effects on his health. In extended periods of a lack of activity, including his retirement between 1942 and 1947, Scrooge is depicted as even suffering from symptoms of clinical depression.

Related Topics:
1942 - 1947 - Clinical depression

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Education

Scrooge is not formally educated, as he quit school at an early age. However, he has a sharp mind and is always ready to learn new skills.

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Due to his secondary occupation as a treasure hunter, Scrooge has become something of a scholar and an amateur archaeologist. Starting with Barks, several writers have explained how Scrooge becomes aware of the treasures he decides to pursue. This often involves periods of conducting research in various written sources in search of passages that might lead him to a treasure. Often Scrooge decides to search for the possible truth behind old legends, or discovers obscure references to the activities of ancient conquerors, explorers and military leaders that he considers interesting enough to begin a new treasure hunting expedition.

Related Topics:
Scholar - Archaeologist

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As a result of his research, Scrooge has collected an extensive personal library which includes many rare written sources. In Barks' and Rosa's stories, among the prized pieces of this library is an almost complete collection of Spanish and Dutch naval logs of the 16th and 17th centuries. Their references to the fates of other ships have often allowed Scrooge to locate sunken ships and recover their treasures from their underwater graves. Mostly self-taught as he is, Scrooge is a firm believer in the saying "knowledge is power".

Related Topics:
16th - 17th centuries

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Morality and beliefs

As a businessman, Scrooge often resorts to aggressive tactics and deception. He seems to have gained significant experience in manipulating people and events towards his own ends. As often seen in stories by writer Guido Martina and occasionally by others, Scrooge is noted for his cynicism, especially towards ideas of morality when it comes to business and the pursuit of set goals. This has been noted by some as not being part of Barks' original depiction of the character, but it has since come to be accepted as one valid interpretation of Scrooge's way of thinking.

Related Topics:
Guido Martina - Cynicism - Morality

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However, Scrooge does seem to have a personal sense of honesty that offers him an amount of self-control. As a result, Scrooge can often be seen contemplating his course of action, while divided between adopting a ruthless pursuit of his current goal and using tactics which he considers more honest. In times, he can sacrifice this goal in order to remain within the limits of this sense of honesty. Several fans of the character have come to consider these depictions of him as adding to the depth of his personality, because based on the decisions he takes Scrooge can be both the hero and the villain of his stories. This is one thing he has in common with his nephew Donald Duck, and a main difference they both have with the generally ethical Mickey Mouse. Scrooge's sense of honesty also makes him different from his rival Flintheart Glomgold, who places no such limitations on his own actions.

Related Topics:
Hero - Villain - Donald Duck - Mickey Mouse

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Scrooge has a fairly nasty temper and rarely hesitates to use violence against those who provoke his anger; however, he seems to be against the use of lethal force. On occasion, he has even saved the lives of enemies who had threatened his own life but were in danger of losing theirs. According to Scrooge's own explanation, this is in order to save himself from feeling guilt over their deaths; he generally awaits no gratitude from them. Scrooge has also expressed his belief that only in fairy tales do bad people turn good, and that he is old enough to not believe in fairy tales.

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