Editing Clan McDuck (section)

== The seat of Clan McDuck ==
[[File:McDuck Castle.jpg|thumb|right|250px|McDuck Castle in ''[[The Old Castle's Other Secret or A Letter from Home]]'' (2004) by [[Don Rosa]].]]

The [[Family seat|seat]] of Clan McDuck is '''McDuck Castle''' (alternately called '''Castle McDuck''') which is located in Dismal Downs, somewhere in [[Rannoch Moor]], a non-fictional [[moorland]] area in north-central Scotland approximately 100 miles (160 km) north of [[Glasgow]]. The nearest village is the fictional MacDuich. The castle usually appears in good condition considering its great age. However, in the Barks story "Hound of the Whiskervilles" (1960) the castle is in ruins.

The comics continuity does not establish when McDuck Castle was built, but it first appears (on the fictional timeline) in 946 when the [[Saxons]] laid siege to it. For many centuries the castle served as the home of the [[Scottish clan chief|clan chief]]. In 1675, the McDucks were run out of the castle due to the depredations of a "monstrous [[Black dog (folklore)|devil dog]]" in Dismal Downs, later discovered to be a plot by the rival Clan Whiskerville.<ref name="Last">{{cite book
| last1 = Rosa
| first1 = Don
| author-link1 = Don Rosa
| year = 2009
| chapter = [[The Last of the Clan McDuck]]
| title = [[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]
| volume = 1
| location = Los Angeles
| publisher = [[BOOM! Kids]]
| page = [https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofscr00donr/page/10 10]
| isbn = 978-1-60886-538-3
}}</ref> At this time, many of the McDucks moved to the village of MacDuich and to [[Glasgow]]. Even after their departure, the clan still owned the castle and continued to pay the taxes by pooling their incomes. By 1885, only Fergus and Jake McDuck remain to pay the taxes, but their combined income is not enough, causing [[the Crown]] to auction it off. Scrooge then buys the estate, allowing his family to reoccupy the castle. He also hires local [[Dogfaces (comics)|dogface]] Scottie McTerrier as caretaker.<ref name="New Laird">{{cite book
| last1 = Rosa
| first1 = Don
| author-link1 = Don Rosa
| year = 2009
| chapter = [[The New Laird of Castle McDuck]]
| title = [[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]
| volume = 1
| location = Los Angeles
| publisher = [[BOOM! Kids]]
| page = [https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofscr00donr/page/95 95]
| isbn = 978-1-60886-538-3
}}</ref> Sometime after Scottie's death, Scrooge's sister Matilda becomes caretaker.<ref name="Other Secret">{{cite book
| last1 = Rosa
| first1 = Don
| author-link1 = Don Rosa
| year = 2005
| chapter = ''[[The Old Castle's Other Secret or A Letter from Home]]''
| title = [[Uncle Scrooge]] '''''No. 324'''''
| publisher = [[Gemstone Publishing]]
| isbn = 0-911903-76-3
}}</ref>

In the ''[[DuckTales (1987 TV series)|DuckTales]]'' continuity, Castle McDuck was built by Scrooge's great-great grandfather '''Silas''' who incorporated the castle into an existing [[Druid]] [[stone circle]] to save on construction costs. This story would date the castle itself to about the 18th century. The Druids, seeking revenge on the McDucks for taking away their sacred meeting place, scared the clan away using trained phosphorescent hounds. Years later, Scrooge returns with Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby and uncovers the mystery. Scrooge befriends the Druids and partners with them to turn Castle McDuck into a tourist attraction. Scrooge plans to give a share of the profit to the Druids as [[Reparations (transitional justice)|reparations]] for desecrating their stone circle. The story is loosely based on the Barks story "Hound of the Whiskervilles", which was in turn loosely based on ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]''.<ref>{{Cite episode| title =The Curse of Castle McDuck| episode-link=List of DuckTales (1987 TV series) episodes#Season 1 (1987–1988)| series =DuckTales| series-link =DuckTales (1987 TV series)| date =19 October 1987| season =1| number =26}}</ref> In the [[DuckTales (2017 TV series)|2017 ''DuckTales'' series]], the castle is Clan McDuck's ancestral home, as in the comics, and is protected by the spirits of the McDuck ancestors buried there. Scrooge used part of his fortune to purchase and restore the castle as a home for his parents, but because he used discount druid stones, his parents were cursed with immortality and bound to the castle, which appears only once every five years.<ref>{{cite episode|title=The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!|series=DuckTales|series-link=DuckTales (2017 TV series)|airdate=2017-08-04|season=1|number=21}}</ref>

The castle appears in the Carl Barks stories ''The Old Castle's Secret'' (1948) and ''Hound of the Whiskervilles'' (1960) and in the Don Rosa stories ''[[The Last of the Clan McDuck]]'' (1992), ''[[The New Laird of Castle McDuck]]'' (1993), ''[[The Billionaire of Dismal Downs]]'' (1993) and ''[[The Old Castle's Other Secret or A Letter from Home]]'' (2004). Other comic book authors have also used the castle, such as Andrew Galton, Dave Angus, and [[Vicar (cartoonist)|Vicar]] in ''The Crying Monster'' (1982). In the 1987 TV series ''[[DuckTales (1987 TV series)|DuckTales]]'', McDuck Castle appears in the episode [[List of DuckTales (1987 TV series) episodes#Season 1 (1987–1988)|"The Curse of Castle McDuck"]]. In the [[DuckTales (2017 TV series)|2017 ''DuckTales'' series]], the castle is the setting of the episodes [[List of DuckTales (2017 TV series) episodes#Season 1 (2017–18)|"The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!"]] and [[List of DuckTales (2017 TV series) episodes#Season 3 (2020–21)|"The Fight for Castle McDuck!"]]