Clan McDuck

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The Clan McDuck is a fictional family in the style of a Scottish clan, from which a great number of Walt Disney Company's comic book characters held their origin.

According to Don Rosa's timelines the Clan is known since 122,^[1] when an, as of yet, unnamed member of the clan sold stone to the construction crew of Hadrian's wall. The most famous members of the clan are Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck.

This has been expanded on in the Italian Disney comic universe in the story Storia e gloria della dinastia dei paperi (History and glory of the Duck Dynasty)^[2][3]. According to it, the clan was founded during the 1st century BC by Pah-Peh-Rheo, an Egyptian, who had become a Roman citizen as Petronius Paperonius. Originally following a campaign of the Roman Army to Britain, he eventually decided to settle in Caledonia (the Roman name for Scotland) among the populations of the Picts.

Donald, his sister Della Thelma Duck and her children Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck are descendants of the Clan through their maternal line of ancestry.

Contents 1 Family tree 2 Literary origins 3 The Seat of Clan McDuck 4 Tartan of Clan MacDuck 5 Motto of Clan McDuck 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Family tree

Main article: List of members of the Clan McDuck

This family tree is based on Don Rosa's Duck/McDuck/Coot Family Tree,^[4] and shows the McDucks from the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the most famous McDucks that did not appear in Rosa's tree are Scrooge McDuck's half-brothers Gideon McDuck and Rumpus McFowl.

"Dirty" Dingus McDuck

Molly Mallard

Pothole McDuck

Fergus McDuck

Downy O'Drake

Jake McDuck

Scrooge McDuck

Matilda McDuck

Hortense McDuck

Quackmore Duck

Della "Dumbella" Thelma Duck

Unknown

Donald Duck

Hubert "Huey" Duck

Deuteronomy "Dewey" Duck

Louis "Louie" Duck

[edit] Literary origins

In the early 1950s Carl Barks was in his second decade of creating comic book stories starring Donald Duck and his various relatives. He had personally created several of the latter, Scrooge McDuck and Gladstone Gander being the most notable among them. But the exact relation between them was still somewhat uncertain. Carl decided to create a personal version of their Family tree. To better define their relations he added several previously unknown relatives. Carl never intended to publish this family tree as he had created it for personal use.

In 1981 Carl was well into his retirement but his stories remained popular and had gained him unexpected fame. He had given several interviews and answered questions about his personal views on the characters and their stories. Among other subjects, Carl described his early version of the family tree. Rough sketches of the tree were published in a number of fanzines. Fans of the characters were pleased for the background it added to them. At this point Mark Worden decided to create a drawing of this family tree including portraits of the characters mentioned. Otherwise Mark made few changes to the tree, most notably adding Daisy Duck as Donald's main love interest. His illustrated version of the tree was published at first in several fanzines and later in the Carl Barks Library. The later was a ten-volume collection of his works in hardcover black-and-white edition.

In 1987 Don Rosa, a long-time fan of Carl Barks and personal friend of Mark Worden, started creating his own stories featuring Scrooge McDuck and his various associates. His stories contained numerous references to older stories by Carl as well as several original ideas. After several years he gained a fanbase of his own. In the early 1990s Egmont, the publishing house employing Don, offered him an ambitious assignment. He was to create the definitive version of Scrooge's biography and a family tree accompanying it. This was supposed to end decades of contradictions between stories which caused confusion to readers. The project was to become The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The family tree accompanying it was first published in Norway on July 3, 1993.

In the process of working on Scrooge's biography, Don studied Barks' old stories mentioning his past. Then he added several ideas of his own. Among them were biographical information for Scrooge's supporting cast. In a way Scrooge's biography was also their own biography.

[edit] The Seat of Clan McDuck

Main article: McDuck Castle

The seat of Clan McDuck is McDuck Castle. According to The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck,^[5] the castle was built in 400 AD.^[6] It is located in Dismal Downs, somewhere in Rannoch Moor (a non-fictional location in Scotland). The nearest village is the fictional MacDuich. The McDuck family occupied it continuously until 1675,^[7] and reoccupied it in 1885.^[8]

[edit] Tartan of Clan MacDuck

Two tartan patterns are registered with the House of Tartans, MacDuck, and MacDuck Final version (note spelling variation: MacDuck vs. McDuck).^[9] These were created and registered by the Walt Disney Corporation, the MacDuck Final version in 1942, and MacDuck in 1984. Both tartans are non-fiction in nature and are available as bolts of cloth or finished kilts and other garments.

Some sources state Disney created the MacDuck Final version with Scrooge McDuck in mind.^[10] This is unlikely, as Scrooge McDuck made his first appearance in 1947, in the story Christmas on Bear Mountain.

[edit] Motto of Clan McDuck

Scrooge McDuck' gravestone epitaph reads "Fortuna Favet Fortibus." This is the best candidate for a clan motto.^[11] Translated into English, it means "Fortune Favors the Brave" (or "Bold," or "Strong").

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Carl Barks' stories
• Don Rosa's Scrooge McDuck chart
• Castle McDuck: The Clan McDuck seat.
• Dismal Downs: The Clan McDuck lands, where the castle is located.
• Rannoch Moor: The region where Dismal Downs is located; a real location in Scotland.

[edit] External links

• Various Duck family trees with commentary.