# Pulp Fiction mystery solved **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543 "2018-11-15T04:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/1 "2018-11-15T04:02:26Z")
The band aid on Marcellus Wallace’s head covers the wound where someone sucked out his mono. And THAT’S the shiny thing in the briefcase ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/2 "2018-11-15T04:11:22Z")
Mojo Goddaammit. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/3 "2018-11-15T09:32:24Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Mojo Goddaammit. Ha! I liked it better when it was mono. Like he had some wacky alternative medicine practitioner suck out the Epstein–Barr virus as if it were snake venom, and then spit it into the briefcase for containment. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/4 "2018-11-15T11:56:59Z")
It’s pretty obvious why the band-aid is there and I’m amused at the convoluted efforts people go through to try to justify it. It’s there so the audience can immediately identify who he is when Bruce Willis sees him in the crosswalk. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/5 "2018-11-15T12:44:12Z")
I heard this years ago. Except it was his “soul” not “mojo”. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/6 "2018-11-15T12:49:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s there so the audience can immediately identify who he is when Bruce Willis sees him in the crosswalk. I never noticed it when he was in the crosswalk. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/7 "2018-11-15T13:10:07Z")
Mononucleosis is not treated _that_ easily. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/8 "2018-11-15T13:22:05Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It’s pretty obvious why the band-aid is there and I’m amused at the convoluted efforts people go through to try to justify it. > > It’s there so the audience can immediately identify who he is when Bruce Willis sees him in the crosswalk. So I don’t know if I’ve been whooshed, but if you don’t [immediately recognize this as Marcellus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DCTCZcFkPs#t=40s), the .2 sec you can maybe see the band-aid isn’t going to help. The RL explanation from Tarantino is that Ving Rhames had cut himself shaving the morning they shot the bar scene (“Fuck pride.”), so he had a band-aid on. They kept it after that for continuity. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/9 "2018-11-15T14:04:05Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > They kept it after that for continuity. …and so you could see there was a wound where someone (Fabienne? Butch?) sucked out his mojo with a giant syringe. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/10 "2018-11-15T15:00:19Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > …and so you could see there was a wound where someone (Fabienne? Butch?) sucked out his mojo with a giant syringe. It was Mia. Who else could catch him with his guard down? She didn’t know what it was, she just did as she was told. The guys that took it (in the room) were just dumb-assed college kids that found a book in the library about removing souls, and thought it would be funny. Like Bart Simpson selling his soul, they didn’t actually believe they really had his soul, at least before it started glowing. Then they were just holding it for ransom. The book was “left” for them by the Devil himself. So that explains why Vincent and Jules were immune to the bullets - they were on a mission from God. But when Vincent was looking to murder Butch, God’s protection was not there any longer. One day, Pulp Fiction will be seen as one of the most religious films of all time. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/11 "2018-11-15T15:31:21Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Mononucleosis is not treated _that_ easily. Drilling a hole in someone’s head to suck out their innards is _easy_?? Maybe easy for the doctor, but the patient might disagree. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/12 "2018-11-15T15:43:00Z")
It’s a nice theory and all, but I thought it was well established by Tarantino that it was diamonds in the briefcase. He just thought it would be cooler not to show them and to leave it a mystery. And I never knew Marcellus Wallace’s bandaid was a mystery. He had a freshly shaven head, so I just assumed he cut himself shaving. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/13 "2018-11-15T17:01:38Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > And I never knew Marcellus Wallace’s bandaid was a mystery. He had a freshly shaven head, so I just assumed he cut himself shaving. A badass like Marcellus wouldn’t have a bandaid. Makes him look weak. You can only throw so many of your people out of windows to emphasize your badassedness before you run out of people. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/14 "2018-11-15T17:12:36Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > A badass like Marcellus wouldn’t have a bandaid. Makes him look weak. You can only throw so many of your people out of windows to emphasize your badassedness before you run out of people. I kind of think it makes him look strong. Only a weak man would worry about looking weak. A truly strong man would flaunt the band-aid. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/15 "2018-11-15T17:17:13Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I kind of think it makes him look strong. Only a weak man would worry about looking weak. A truly strong man would flaunt the band-aid. Then why not a Hello Kitty bandy-aid? That’d make Chuck Norris back up and rethink his moves. Besides, Marcellus never struck me as being bright enough to muster that sort of wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/16 "2018-11-15T17:32:03Z")
“Never let them see you bleed.” Or put a bandaid on your owie. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/17 "2018-11-16T18:02:24Z")
Also, Vincent rejected the miracle and did not change his life, unlike Jules ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/18 "2018-11-16T18:33:55Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > It’s a nice theory and all, but I thought it was well established by Tarantino that it was diamonds in the briefcase. He just thought it would be cooler not to show them and to leave it a mystery. Do you have a cite for this? Everything I’ve read suggests the briefcase was never anything more than a MacGuffin. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/19 "2018-11-16T18:44:08Z")
It was Tony Rocky Horror who sucked out Marcellus’s mojo/soul. You don’t think he threw him out the window just for giving Mia a foot massage do you? I give my grandmother a foot massage. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543/20 "2018-11-17T02:43:00Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Drilling a hole in someone’s head to suck out their innards is _easy_?? Maybe easy for the doctor, but the patient might disagree. Y’know trepanation has a long and NOT respected history and tradition… –G! Mom: You need more brownies like you need a hole in the head! Me: So I can have some? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fiction-mystery-solved/824543.md?page=2)