This is the perfect thread to ask my question! Has Don Rosa ever explained why Scrooge moved to the "Christmas on the Bear Mountain" mansion after he retired when the United States entered WW2? (I am writing a Life of Scrooge chapter 11B for my own amusement and I would like to end it with Scrooge moving into the mansion.)
In Life & Times chapter 11, we're told that he thinks there's no-one worthy of inheriting or managing his fortune. By this point, Scrooge seems pretty depressed, so it would make sense that he would like to isolate himself from the rest of society. The reason for this could be because he ruined his relationship with his family, or that he has become the richest in the world and doesn't have a goal to reach anymore. However, these two happened at least 10 years before his move to the mansion, so while those may be contributing factors, they probably aren't the main reason.
I don't think we have ever been given a "canonical" explanation for his move, but since it happened in 1942, I image it was somehow related to USA joining the war. I have also been toying with the idea of writing some fan-fiction story about this backstory-era, but I'm not aware of more concrete reasons than "the war". Maybe it had an effect on the economy that in turn affected Scrooge? I don't know, that's just speculation.
My take is that, since every single coin is a memory, he doesn't want to be around them anymore, because it's become too painful. It reminds him of a past where he had friends, family, and motivation, but he has lost all these things.
My take is that, since every single coin is a memory, he doesn't want to be around them anymore, because it's become too painful. It reminds him of a past where he had friends, family, and motivation, but he has lost all these things.
This is a good point, but once again - why did it take him more than ten years to realize that? I guess the question is, what was the straw that broke the camel's back? Something in 1942 made him think "Okay, I can't take this anymore. I've had enough. I'm moving into the mountains". What was it? Why then and not sooner?
I'm sure Rosa has written about this, but I forget where...
FWIW, in Part 12 Scrooge's age seems to play quite a big role in how he feels. A cranky old man... In Rosa's continuity, 1942 would see Scrooge's 75th birthday. Maybe he just figured enough was enough and called it a day?
I'm sure Rosa has written about this, but I forget where...
FWIW, in Part 12 Scrooge's age seems to play quite a big role in how he feels. A cranky old man... In Rosa's continuity, 1942 would see Scrooge's 75th birthday. Maybe he just figured enough was enough and called it a day?
Yeah, I think age might have something to do with it. 75 is a significant milestone. Maybe it was at his nonexistent 75th birthday party that Scrooge realized just how sad and alone he was and finally decided to call it quits.
No matter what I say or do, know that Jesus loves you.
Also, 75 is an age where, well, you start seeing people you knew dying all around you, and sometimes you can't help but think "Maybe I'm next." Maybe Scrooge heard of the death of someone (or several people) he knew long ago, and that did it. Sorry for the gloomy topic, but I've seen it occur often enough in real life.
I'm sure Rosa has written about this, but I forget where...
FWIW, in Part 12 Scrooge's age seems to play quite a big role in how he feels. A cranky old man... In Rosa's continuity, 1942 would see Scrooge's 75th birthday. Maybe he just figured enough was enough and called it a day?
Yeah, I think age might have something to do with it. 75 is a significant milestone. Maybe it was at his nonexistent 75th birthday party that Scrooge realized just how sad and alone he was and finally decided to call it quits.
IMO, if you're going to fill in something like that, you'd best turn it into some kind of adventure. Some kind of journey that makes him realize he's at the end of the line.
I've always found the 1942 date a curious one. I know Scrooge was trying to prevent Scrooge from being a war profiteer, but Rosa is enough of a history buff to realize that the war started in 1939, right? And that there were a couple of other wars his businesses must have been involved in (1914-18?). He doesn't like to think of Scrooge making deals with morally dubious types off-screen, but given the spread of his businesses, that's pretty much inevitable.
Let your imagination run! I developed a whole spin-off universe from a single remark in "City of Golden Roofs". About how things had changed since Scrooge sold recordings of "The Baggage Coach Ahead" at the St. Louis world's fair. After all, the main thing established in the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is how Scrooge spent decades as a prospector. How he learned to hold his own in the world of business has never been explained.
Last Edit: Apr 9, 2020 19:17:48 GMT by That Duckfan
Yeah, I think age might have something to do with it. 75 is a significant milestone. Maybe it was at his nonexistent 75th birthday party that Scrooge realized just how sad and alone he was and finally decided to call it quits.
IMO, if you're going to fill in something like that, you'd best turn it into some kind of adventure. Some kind of journey that makes him realize he's at the end of the line.
I've always found the 1942 date a curious one. I know Scrooge was trying to prevent Scrooge from being a war profiteer, but Rosa is enough of a history buff to realize that the war started in 1939, right? And that there were a couple of other wars his businesses must have been involved in (1914-18?). He doesn't like to think of Scrooge making deals with morally dubious types off-screen, but given the spread of his businesses, that's pretty much inevitable.
Let your imagination run! I developed a whole spin-off universe from a single remark in "City of Golden Roofs". About how things had changed since Scrooge sold recordings of "The Baggage Coach Ahead" at the St. Louis world's fair. After all, the main thing established in the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is how Scrooge spent decades as a prospector. How he learned to hold his own in the world of business has never been explained.
After all, the main thing established in the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is how Scrooge spent decades as a prospector. How he learned to hold his own in the world of business has never been explained.
That's a pretty good point! I had always wanted Don Rosa to make a chapter 8/D to the Life of Scrooge series, taking place between Hearts of the Yukon and The Billionaire of Dismal Downs, starting with Scrooge learning that he is a millionaire in December 1899 (as seen in Last Sled to Dawson in a flashback) and ending with him becoming a billionaire before going back to Scotland. This was a pivotal period in Scrooge's life and definitely would have deserved a bonus chapter.
Also, 75 is an age where, well, you start seeing people you knew dying all around you, and sometimes you can't help but think "Maybe I'm next." Maybe Scrooge heard of the death of someone (or several people) he knew long ago, and that did it. Sorry for the gloomy topic, but I've seen it occur often enough in real life.
Relatedly, in my headcanon, learning of Hortense's death in 1947 is what prompted Scrooge to break his self-imposed exile and reach out to her surviving descendants, setting up the events of "Christmas on Bear Mountain (all pre-1947 references to "the boys' grandmother" is to Hortense, not Elvira, and it's Hortense we see in "Donald Duck's Best Christmas"). He could never reconcile with her, but deep down hoped to get to know the family she left behind (in his own way).
After all, the main thing established in the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is how Scrooge spent decades as a prospector. How he learned to hold his own in the world of business has never been explained.
That's a pretty good point! I had always wanted Don Rosa to make a chapter 8/D to the Life of Scrooge series, taking place between Hearts of the Yukon and The Billionaire of Dismal Downs, starting with Scrooge learning that he is a millionaire in December 1899 (as seen in Last Sled to Dawson in a flashback) and ending with him becoming a billionaire before going back to Scotland. This was a pivotal period in Scrooge's life and definitely would have deserved a bonus chapter.
That's pretty remarkable. In my headcanon spin-off, that's exactly when Scrooge first meets my OC, who at that time travels around North America with a mobile photography booth. He talks a triumphant Scrooge into posing for a picture, for publicity's sake. (It's meant to evoke the Rosa portraits.) But when Scrooge then finds out he's supposed to pay for that photo -- a full ten cents! -- he bolts from the scene, setting in motion a chain of events that leads to a chase across the harsh Arctic landscape. Eventually everything is worked out and they find themselves in Nome, Alaska Territory, which in 1899 was the site of a new gold rush. (It's never sat right with me that Scrooge, who's such an American hero, made his fortunes in Canada.)
As a side note, I've always thought of the 1920s as being the decade in which Scrooge finally becomes a billionaire and reaches "untold riches" level of wealth. That's a little out of necessity: Barks seems to initially have conceived of Scrooge as a Gilded Age robber baron, given all the references to things being "seventy years old" in the 1940s and 50s. Scrooge was created as improbably old not by mistake, but because he was modeled after the likes of Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan, and Vanderbilt -- all of whom had been long dead by 1947. Barks wanted to evoke Scrooge's past as a frontiersman before that, but he never had any specific dates in mind. However, "Back to the Klondike" has gained such a cult status among fans (Don Rosa among them) that the timeline has shifted toward Scrooge being a nobody until the late '90s. That leaves him "merely" fifty years to gain unimaginable wealth, and I'd like to give him some time to find a sure footing in international business -- roughly until 1912.
Coming back to the topic of this thread: in The Magic Hourglass, we get a glimpse of Scrooge's domestics. Everything is decorated with dollar signs.