|
| “ | That champion shall have the honor- no, no- the privilege, to go forth and rescue the lovely Princess Fiona from the fiery keep of the dragon. If, for any reason, the winner is unsuccessful, the first runner-up will take his place.... and so on and so forth. Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. Let the tournament begin. | „ |
| ~ Farquaad addressing his knights. |
| “ | Princess Fiona.... she's perfect. | „ |
| ~ Farquaad on Fiona – his most famous quote. |
| “ | Mirror, mirror, on the wall, is this not the most perfect kingdom of them all? | „ |
| ~ Farquaad to Magic Mirror, parodying The Evil Queen from Snow White. |
Lord Maximus Farquaad also simply referred to as Lord Farquaad, is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 5th full-length animated feature film Shrek, the first installment of the franchise of the same name, and the 2003 short film The Ghost of Lord Farquaad.
He is the oppressive, vain, and cruel supreme ruler of the lordship Duloc who introduces his motives in the first part by capturing and relocating fairytale creatures, so that he could find the magic mirror. Once he did, he asked if Duloc, the place where he ruled, was the perfect kingdom, but as he was not a king, Duloc was not a kingdom, so he tried to marry Princess Fiona to become king. He is very opprobrious, despicable and abhorrent, so he loathes creatures of any kind and sought to relocate the fairytale creatures to Shrek's swamp. He attempts to cut a deal with Shrek by promising to remove the fairy tale creatures from his swamp if Shrek could bring Fiona to him, as he wanted to marry her.
He was voiced by John Lithgow, who also played Burke in Blow Out, Lord John Whorfin in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, B.Z. in Santa Claus: The Movie, Earl Talbot Blake in Ricochet, Eric Qualen in the 1993 film Cliffhanger, Jean-Claude in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Arthur Mitchell in Dexter, Lamar Blackburn in The Accountant, Carter Nix and Carter Nix, Sr. in Raising Cain, Fergus Hobart in Pitch Perfect 3, and Shaw Moore in Footloose. In the video game adaptation of the film, he was voiced by André Sogliuzzo. In the musical, he was portrayed by Christopher Sieber. In the Korean dub, he was voiced by Byung-Kwan Kim, who also voiced Judge Claude Frollo in the Korean dub of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In the Italian dub, he was voiced by the late Oreste Rizzini. In the Hungarian dub, he was voiced by the late Tamás Végvári, who also voiced Tzekel-Kan in the Hungarian dub of The Road To El Dorado and Shere Khan from Disney's The Jungle Book 2.
Appearance[]
Lord Farquaad is a short man (whose stature has been a constant source of humor throughout the film), with shoulder-length black hair. He also wears a red and white suit, with a huge hat and very long black boots. During his attempted "wedding" with Fiona, he wore a white wedding dress.
Personality[]
Lord Farquaad is the ruthless, deceptive, ill-tempered, egotistical, and iron-fisted ruler of Duloc. He is an extremely prideful, oppressive, power-hungry, and cruel tyrant who doesn't hold value in anyone but himself. However, despite his villainy, Farquaad does not see himself as a monster and when this was brought up to him by the gingerbread man named Gingy, he dismissed it and even went as far to call him and the rest of fairytale creatures “monsters”, even viewing them (in his own words) as “poison to his perfect world”, which makes him completely xenophobic, contemptuous and individualistic at once. Farquaad also suffered from a Napoleon Complex and felt the need to overcompensate for his diminutive stature (which is a constant source of humor throughout the film) by being extremely despotic, domineering, authoritative and controlling.
Other examples of this are the perspective trick used when he's first introduced, Shrek's comment on the towering height of the castle of Duloc, his own visage plastered on the village of Duloc, confirming his apparent narcissism disorder, and in his grave where the statue of Farquaad was portrayed as being taller than the dragon that slaughtered him. Farquaad is an insensitive and uncompromising perfectionist who saw that everything had to be done his way and the only way for Duloc to become perfect was to exile all of the fairytale creatures. Farquaad's one and only dream was to become the official ruler of Duloc which pushed him to levels of manic absurdity. However, to do this, he needed a princess, so the only reason that he decided to propose to Fiona was out of pure lust for power and her appearance, not for her personality or soul.
Farquaad is also very sadistic and manipulative, as evidenced while he was torturing Gingy by severing his legs and torturing him further by repeating the line "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man.". He also threatened to draw and quarter Shrek and Fiona until they would beg him for death. Although in the first film, where he was grossed out by Fiona's grotesque appearance, he might have actually developed real feelings for her as after his demise as he flirted with her while she was on the raft and he wanted her to become his undead queen, so he could rule the underworld. In the comic adaptation, however, he reveals that despite being still disgusted by Fiona's appearance, he needs her simply because she still has royal blood necessary (according to Farquaad) to become king of the underworld. When he thought she was dead, he called her his angel though this could've been an act for power after all.
He is also very work-shy and neglectful, as evidenced by him not wanting to save the princess himself, so he arranged a tournament of knights to battle for the honor, though this might also be because he was too afraid to risk his own life and take his chances with a volcanic castle inhabited by a ginormous dragon. To be fair, he is incredibly short in stature, so he was likely unable to do so. Farquaad is also shown to be quite discourteous, cocky, obnoxious and quarrelsome, so he has an intimidating streak which shows as he calls both Fiona and Shrek hideous at the sight of their appearance and described them both as "it". Farquaad's overall attraction towards the princess may have been solely lust, and even if they proposed to each other, there was no guarantee that he would treat her rightly.
Despite all his negative traits, he remains true to his word, evidenced by the fact that he fulfilled the promise of giving Shrek the deed to his swamp back once Shrek delivered Fiona to him. However, he was still very ungrateful, rude, never thanked Shrek or Donkey and completely took all credit for the rescue. He is apparently a competent administrative figure, with the town of Duloc flourishing under his rule (which wasn't the case after his death). At the same time he isn't very popular with his citizens, as they quickly begin to clap and cheer on Shrek during the tournament and welcome him back when he interrupts the wedding. They don't seem to care much about Farquaad's death, some even laughing and cheering. He is also smart because he can tell that Shrek is in love with Fiona by the signs that Shrek was making.
In the musical, he was shown to be quite duplicitous, persuasive, treacherous, harsh and sanctimonious, as he was revealed to be the offspring of fairytale creatures (the princess from "The Princess and the Pea" and the dwarf Grumpy from "Snow White") in spite of his laws of expelling them from Duloc; this was proven when the fairytale creatures brought in Grumpy to encounter Farquaad for accusing him of abandoning Farquaad in the woods when he actually kicked Farquaad out because he was 28 and living in his basement.
Films[]
Shrek[]
Lord Farquaad has exiled all of the fairytale creatures from his land, forcing them to take refuge in Shrek's swamp. Back at his castle, Farquaad tortures the Gingerbread Man named Gingy into revealing the location of the other fairytale folk that he has been unable to capture or exile. Just as the Gingerbread Man is planning to reveal what he knows, the captain of the guards shows up and announces that they have found the Magic Mirror. After dispensing with the Gingerbread Man, Farquaad asks the mirror if Duloc is the most perfect kingdom of them all. The Magic Mirror tells him technically he is not a king as he is not descended from royalty, but he can become one officially if he marries a princess.
In a parody of dating shows, the mirror introduces three different princesses for Farquaad to choose from: Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Fiona. At the suggestion of his executioner named Thelonious, Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who has been locked away in a castle tower protected by a ferocious dragon. Despite the mirror's attempt to warn him about what happens after sunset, Farquaad decides to plan a tournament to see which knight will be worthy enough to embark on a quest to retrieve Fiona.
However, Shrek, who had traveled from his swamp to Duloc accompanied by Donkey to ask Farquaad to move the fairytale creatures off his swamp disrupts the tournament. Farquaad changes his mind and decides that whoever slaughters Shrek will be named champion. However, despite the knights' best efforts, they’re all defeated by Shrek and Donkey. Impressed by Shrek's actions, Farquaad awards the ogre with the quest he would’ve set to his knights. Shrek remarks that he is already on a quest to get his swamp back. Farquaad makes a deal with Shrek that if he succeeds in the quest to rescue Princess Fiona, he’ll give the ogre his swamp back, fully restored to the way it was before the fairytale folk overran the place.
Shrek and Donkey successfully rescue Princess Fiona from the dragon and the trio journey onward back to Duloc. Shrek and Fiona start falling in love, but Shrek overhears Fiona talking about how no one could love a hideous ugly beast and thinks she’s referring to him.
The next morning, Shrek brings Lord Farquaad to Fiona, and Farquaad hands over the deed of the swamp to Shrek, telling him it is cleared out as agreed. Farquaad proposes marriage to Fiona right away, who agrees on the condition that they have the wedding before sunset. He takes Fiona back to his castle, while Shrek is heartbroken and returns to his swamp. However, Donkey comes to Shrek and tells him Fiona was not referring to him when she said no one could love a hideous ugly beast afterwards. So Shrek and Donkey go to crash the wedding, where Shrek confesses his love for Fiona. Farquaad finds this amusing and he tries to get Fiona to marry him afterwards. But then, Fiona sees the sun setting and decides to reveal her secret that she becomes an ogre as well.
Shock and disgusted over the realization, Farquaad furiously orders for Shrek to be drawn and quartered, and for Fiona to be locked back in the tower for all eternity, as he places the crown on his head, declaring himself as king. As Farquaad gloats, Shrek whistles for the Dragon, who destructively bursts in the window and swallows Farquaad whole in one bite, and she belches his crown back out afterwards.
He also appears in Shrektacular's Karaoke Swamp, where he is seen in the Dragon's stomach with a match singing "Staying Alive" and is digested sometime after or during the Shrek dance party or/and presumably dies of starvation later on.
Shrek 4-D[]
Farquaad returns as a ghost and sends Thelonious to take Fiona to him so he could murder her by sending her over a waterfall, to make her his ghost queen so he could rule the underworld. He also sends a giant stone dragon to devour Shrek and Donkey, but this fails, as during the fight between the Dragon and the Stone Dragon, the stone dragon loses its wings in a tunnel and fell into a watery grave. After Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and Thelonious fall over the waterfall and they were saved by the Dragon, the Dragon defeated Farquaad (again) by breathing fire at him. The short is also known as The Ghost of Lord Farquaad.
Shrek The Third[]
When Prince Charming and Captain Hook demand to know Shrek's whereabouts, Gingy's life flashes before his eyes and he recalls the moment when Farquaad tortured them for the other fairytale creatures whereabouts.
Shrek Forever After[]
Farquaad appears during the end credits of Shrek Forever After. He was planned to appear in some way in the alternate world, but was cut.
Scared Shrekless[]
In the Shrek Halloween special Scared Shrekless, Shrek and his friends return to Duloc to tell scary stories. It’s revealed that Duloc had been abandoned since Farquaad passed away, turned into a dark and terrifying place. Shrek and Fiona used Farquaad's demise as their own main weapon to frighten Donkey. Farquaad's picture is seen everywhere.
Thriller Night[]
In Thriller Night, Farquaad makes a cameo appearance along with other Shrek villains being resurrected as zombies and with Shrek beginning to dance after getting controlled by the Pied Piper.
Shrek the Musical[]
In Shrek the Musical, Farquaad's role is the same as the movie, but he was portrayed as more of a comedic and less dignified egomaniac. It was revealed that he was the son of the dwarf Grumpy and the princess from "The Princess and the Pea", which explains his "little" height. Farquaad explained to his subjects that following his mother's demise, Farquaad was deserted in the woods by his father and he disliked him for it. However, this turns out to be a fib as the fairytale creatures encountered Farquaad during the wedding by bringing in Grumpy, who revealed that he only kicked Farquaad out because he was a slacker in his late 20s living in his basement. This made all of the people in Duloc to see what a total hypocrite Farquaad really is.
Farquaad's fate is also changed; as opposed to being devoured by Dragon, he was burned to death by Dragon under Shrek's command instead.
Quotes[]
Shrek[]
| “ | That's enough. He's ready to talk. *laughs evilly* | „ |
| ~ Lord Farquaad's first lines. |
| “ | I'm not the monster here, you are. You and the rest of that fairytale trash, poisoning my perfect world. | „ |
| ~ Lord Farquaad to Gingy. |
| “ | I've tried to be fair to you creatures, now my patience has reached IT'S END!! TELL ME OR I'LL-! | „ |
| ~ Lord Farquaad threatening Gingy. |
| “ | Silence! I will make this Princess Fiona my queen, and Duloc will finally have the perfect king. Captain, assemble your finest men. We're going to have a tournament. | „ |
| ~ Farquaad's plan about having to make a tournament at his kingdom. |
| “ | Ugh! It's hideous! | „ |
| ~ Farquaad upon seeing Shrek for the first time. |
| “ | Knights, new plan - the one who kills the ogre will be named champion. Have at him! | „ |
| ~ Lord Farquaad's ordering the knights to kill Shrek. |
| “ | Lord Farquaad: People of DuLoc, I give you our champion! Shrek: What? Lord Farquaad: Congratulations, ogre. You've won the honor of embarking on a great and noble quest. Shrek: Quest? I'm already on a quest: a quest to get my swamp back! Lord Farquaad: Your swamp? Shrek: Yeah, my swamp, where YOU dumped those fairytale creatures! Lord Farquaad: Indeed. Alright, ogre, I'll make you a deal. Go on this quest for me, and I'll give you your swamp back. Shrek: Exactly the way it was? Lord Farquaad: Down to the last slime-covered toadstool. Shrek: And the squatters? Lord Farquaad: As good as gone. Shrek: (a brief pause) What kind of quest? |
„ |
| ~ Farquaad forming a deal with Shrek. |
| “ | Very well, ogre, the deed to your swamp, cleared out as agreed. (*hands deed to Shrek*) Take it and go before I change my mind. | „ |
| ~ Farquaad honoring his side of the deal with Shrek after he brings Princess Fiona to him. |
| “ | Oh, that is so sweet. You don't have to waste good manners on the ogre. It's not like it has feelings. | „ |
| ~ Farquaad to Fiona. |
| “ | Who cares? It's preposterous! Fiona, my love, we're but a kiss away from our happily ever after, now kiss me! | „ |
| ~ Farquaad persuading Fiona to kiss him. |
| “ | Lord Farquaad: Ugh! It's disgusting! GUARDS! GUARDS! I order you to get them out of my sight! NOW!! GET THEM! GET THEM BOTH! Fiona: No, no! Shrek! Lord Farquaad: All this hocus-pocus alters nothing, this marriage is binding, and that makes me KING! SEE, SEE?! Fiona: No, Let go of me! Shrek! Shrek: NO! Lord Farquaad: Don't just stand there, you morons! Shrek: Get out of my way! Fiona! Lord Farquaad: Kill him if you have to, BUT GET HIM!!!! You! Him! Beast! I'll make you regret the day we met, I'll see you drawn and quartered! YOU'LL BEG FOR DEATH TO SAVE YOU!!!! Fiona: NO, SHREK! Lord Farquaad: And as for you, my "wife"- Shrek: FIONA! Lord Farquaad: I'll have you locked back in that tower FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS!!! I AM KING!!! I WILL HAVE ORDER!!! I WILL HAVE PERFECTION!!! I WILL HAVE... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! AAAAAAH!!!! |
„ |
| ~ Farquaad's last words in Shrek during his breakdown before Dragon eats him alive. |
Shrek 4-D[]
| “ | Donkey: Farquaad?! Shrek: What have you done with my wife?! Farquaad: Your wife? Don't you mean... your widow? Donkey: I know I've seen you die in the first movie! Farquaad: You fools! This time, it's your turn to be the entrée! OK, my sweet, take care of them. Bon Appétit! (laughs maniacally) |
„ |
| ~ Farquaad's ghost to Shrek and Donkey before sending a stone dragon after them. |
| “ | Farquaad: You might as well stop struggling, princess. Soon, you and I will be together forever. With you as my spirit queen, I'll be king of the Underworld! Fiona: Over my dead body! Farquaad: Exactly! Over she goes, Thelonious! (laughs maniacally) |
„ |
| ~ Farquaad's ghost to Fiona. |
| “ | Farquaad: Fiona. My ghostly queen! Where are you? Fiona: Right over here, sweetie! Farquaad: Oh, my angel. (Dragon and co. reveals herself) Farquaad: Oh no! NOT AGAIN! (panicked scream) Shrek: We got a loaded dragon here! Fiona: And we're not afraid to use it! Farquaad: Oh, it was just a joke! STAY AWAY FROM ME! Donkey: FIRE! (Dragon breathes fire at Farquaad) Farquaad: NO! NOOOOOOO- (gets hit and split into several smaller versions of himself) -OOOOOOOO!!! |
„ |
| ~ Farquaad's ghost before being incinerated by Dragon's fire, also his true final words. |
Trivia[]
- Farquaad is the only main villain in the Shrek franchise who is not based from any real-life fairy tale; Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, and Rumpelstiltskin, the respective main antagonists of the first film's following sequels, Shrek 2, Shrek The Third and Shrek Forever After, actually originated from them.
- Ironically, Farquaad's act of making Shrek rescue Fiona is what prevented the Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming and Rumpelstiltskin from taking over the kingdom of Far Far Away, leading to the plots of the three sequels.
- In addition, Farquaad is the only main antagonist in the series to refer Shrek as simply "ogre", as opposed to the other ones who referred to Shrek by his name.
- He is the second main villain of a DreamWorks Animation film to have been confirmed to die after Antz's General Mandible.
- He might actually be the third DreamWorks villain to die because while in The Road to El Dorado, Tzekel-Kan is carried away by Hernan Cortes' army, we don't see what they did to him afterward, so it is assumed that he was killed.
- There are speculations that he is based on the former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, as Jeffrey Katzenberg (one of the founders of DreamWorks and a former executive of Walt Disney Studios) holds some animosity towards the former for passing him up for promotion to president of the Walt Disney Company after the death of Frank Wells, which lead to Katzenberg resigning from Disney to establish DreamWorks.
- Farquaad may also be based on the late French Dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte, due to his short stature (even though in truth Napoleon was average height-wise), yet ruling with an iron fist and crowning himself to king.
- Some say he also looks like King Richard III.
- The late Alan Rickman was originally offered the role of Lord Farquaad, but he turned it down to play Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series instead. Coincidentally, both film sagas began in 2001.
- Originally, Lord Farquaad was meant to return in Shrek Forever After, where he was going to appear in Rumpelstiltskin's alternate reality because he was never killed by the Dragon in such timeline as Shrek was never born. John Lithgow even hinted his involvement. However, the idea was dropped during production.
- His first name "Maximus" is never mentioned in the film. However, it is later confirmed in the musical.
- Lord Farquaad serves as a dark parallel to Shrek. They both have the shared dislike of having to let Fairy Tale creatures (or anyone in Shrek's case) cross their lands. However, when Shrek learns from Donkey that friends forgive each other, he apologizes for disowning him and not letting him visit his swamp, whereas Farquaad refuses to allow fairy tale creatures, (or anyone who goes against his personal ideals), to visit DuLoc. If Shrek hadn't met Donkey, Fiona or the fairy tale creatures and never learned to accept company, he would've ended up like Lord Farquaad.
- Lord Farquaad is the only villain in the Shrek saga to return as an antagonist in a short (not counting dreams like in Thriller Night or made up stories like in Scared Shrekless), whether canon or non-canon.
- Quite ironically, for someone who despises fairy tale creatures, Farquaad himself has actually manage to reference fairy tales in general, such as Snow White, where he chants the famous "Mirror, mirror, on the wall." saying.
External Links[]
- Lord Farquaad on the DreamWorks Wiki
- Lord Farquaad on the Shrek Wiki
- Lord Farquaad on the Universal Studios Wiki
- Lord Farquaad on the Wikipedia
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 Villains
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Kingdom of Duloc Fairy Godmother's Cottage The Poison Apple The Crone's Nest Others See Also | ||