Grandma/Ludwig/House of Mouse

[sigvald@duckburg.dk]

bi442 at lafn.org (Rob Klein) wrote:
>
> For example. It does NOT seem possible or logical to me
> that Ludwig is a "true" or close uncle of Donald. This is
> (1) because of his advanced age; and 
> (2) because he was virtually unknown to and by his
> "relatives" in Duckburg, upon his arrival.
>
> I feel that he could be Donald's Great Uncle (which English 
> speaking people would refer to as "Uncle", almost never
> referring to that difference. He is old enough to be in
> Scrooge's and Grandma's generation.

Please notice that Grandma is supposed to be almost half a
generation (ca. 12 years) older that Scrooge.

But as you are saying - Ludwig IS apparently of the same generation
as Scrooge, but most likely a few years younger (born sometime in
the 1870's) and thus of the SAME AGE as Scrooge's sister Matilda
(born 1871).

> In my opinion, Donald is too young to be the son of his
> younger sister

Whose sister? Ludwig’s sister? Scrooge’s sister?

Anyway females can give birth almost up to 50 - so there
is no biological contradiction what-so-ever in Barks'
version of the Family Tree.


> or the brother of Ludwig's son-in-law.

??? Donald has no brother...


> If either were true, Ludwig would not have been unknown
> to Donald and most of the other Duckburg Ducks. I am, myself
> an immigrant. My parents were both immigrants. We still have
> very strong ties to family in our previous countries.
> This normally lasts AT LEAST ONE GENERATION, but often TWO!
> I just cannot believe a family member of such a close 
> relationship would be unknown or only "heard of" by the
> first generation born in the new country.

1) This is Disney Comics family relations - not a real family
we are dealing with.

2) This is very special family with a very special history.
Remember that the sisters apparently left Scrooge in 1930.
Matilda may have moved to Europe and met Ludwig there.
They wouldn't keep any contact with Scrooge because of the
incident in 1930. The only other relative left in Duckburg
would then be the young Donald (who seems to have been
raised at Grandma Duck's farm), Donald's sister Della
may also have grown up at the farm - we don't know.


> If Donald's parents were born in USA, and their parents were the
> immigrants from Austria, that makes it only more likely
> that Ludwig is a more distant relation than first uncle.

TO MUCH has been written by TO MANY artists about Donald's
family to even consider such a theory.


> The reality is, that most often, Disney story writers do
> NOT research exaustively, what the (supposed) "Official"
> line is on relationships of secondary characters. We are
> destined to ALWAYS have some contradictions.

Exactly! That's why I have choose to present one particular
version in my WEB-pages about this - the Barks/Rosa version.

Sigvald :-)