- “In Canis Corpore Transmuto”
- ―The inscription on the ring
The Borgia Ring is an enchanted ring with the power to turn a person into a dog and plays an important role in the original Shaggy Dog films.
Background[]
The ring once belonged to a ruthless woman named Lucrezia Borgia who cast love spells on men she liked and when she got bored with them, turned them into dogs according to the 1994 remake. In the original films, there are two paintings of Lucrezia Borgia wearing the ring and with a sheepdog beside her.
The inscription "In Canis Corpore Transmuto" means "Wolf body transmutes" in Latin (Though according to the film The Return of the Shaggy Dog it translate "Into Dog Body Transform").
Physical appearance[]
There have been many different versions of the ring throughout the original films. From The Shaggy D.A. to The Return of the Shaggy Dog, it is an ancient Egyptian beetle talisman (aka a scarab) in the center that glows and has the inscription written on the back.
In the 1994 remake the ring is a bronze dragon holding an amber jewel in its wings and like the one with the beetle on it, it glows.
Appearances[]
The Shaggy Dog[]
The ring accidentally ended up in the hands of Wilby Daniels. When he found it he read the inscription a couple of times and turned into a big shaggy dog. The curse on him often came and went but his chance of curing it forever would require an act of bravery which he fulfilled when he rescued a girl named Franceska from kidnappers.
The ring only appears at the beginning of the original film and once it's returned to the museum, it's never seen again. However, in the 1994 remake, it makes two appearances, at the beginning like the original and at the near end as police evidence.
The Shaggy D.A.[]
The ring is a museum exhibit that becomes stolen and once again turns a now adult Wilby into a shaggy dog when someone reads the inscription. However the transformation only lasts for a couple hours.
The ring first comes in possession of Tim the Ice Cream Man and gives it as a gift to his girlfriend Katrina but loses it after being baked inside a cherry pie. It's recovered by the police and John Slade gains possession of the ring after his right hand man Raymond tells him about Wilby turning into a dog. Slade uses the ring to his advantage to eliminate Wilby and the more he reads the inscription the longer he stays as a dog. However against the warnings, when someone recites the inscription too often the curse would fall upon him and be lifted from the original cursed one. Slade violated this warning by attempting to doom Wilby Daniels, only to have the curse transferred to him as he has now become a bulldog.
Trivia[]
- It is rumored that the real Lucrezia Borgia was in possession of an actual ring but unlike the one in the films, the one she possessed contained poison and used it frequently to poison drinks.
Gallery[]
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