Villains Wiki

Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!

READ MORE

Villains Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Villain Overview

Shrek: If you don't mind, could you kill me and then sing?
~ Shrek mocking Charming's singing
I am the rightful king of Far Far Away! And I promise you this, mother - I will restore dignity to my throne! And this time no one will stand in my way.
~ Prince Charming's most famous quote in Shrek the Third, plotting his revenge on Shrek for not only killing his mother, but "stealing" his throne.
Our happily ever after is nearly complete, Mommy. And I assure you... the people of this kingdom will pay dearly for every second we've had to wait.
~ Prince Charming in Shrek the Third.
Prince Charming: This was supposed to be MY HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
Shrek: Well, I guess you need to keep looking, 'cause I'm not giving up mine.
Prince Charming: Mommy?
~ Prince Charming's last words before getting crushed by a falling tower knocked over by Dragon.

Prince Charming is the secondary antagonist of DreamWorks' 8th feature movie Shrek 2, and the main antagonist of its sequel Shrek the Third.

He was originally supposed to rescue and kiss Princess Fiona, stop her "dreaded curse", and live happily ever after with her. However, she was saved by an ogre named Shrek and fell in love with him instead before Charming even arrived to rescue her. He is the late son of the late Fairy Godmother.

He was voiced by Rupert Everett, who also played Lord Rutledge in Dunston Checks In, Doctor Claw in the 1999 Inspector Gadget film, Sloan Blackburn in The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Carnaby Fritton in St. Trinians and John Lamont in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. In the video game adaptations, he was voiced by James Arnold Taylor also voiced Osi Sobeck and Rako Hardeen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Biography[]

Shrek[]

Shrek: Oh, you were expecting Prince Charming?
Fiona: Uh, yes.
~ Prince Charming's mention in Shrek.

Although Charming does not appear physically in the first Shrek movie, he was briefly mentioned by Shrek, in which Fiona reveals that she thought that she would be rescued by a Prince "Charming", probably told to her by her parents in advance.

Shrek 2 (2004)[]

Prince Charming: Mother.
Fairy Godmother: Charming sweetheart. This isn't a good time, pumpkin. Mama's working.
Prince Charming: Whoa, what happened here?
Fairy Godmother: The ogre, that's what.
Prince Charming: What? Where is he mum? I shall rend his head from his shoulders. I will smite him where he stands. He will rue the very day he stole my kingdom from me.
~ Prince Charming showing up at his mother's trashed factory and swearing revenge against Shrek.

Prince Charming later makes his first appearance in Shrek 2, where he served as the secondary antagonist, being more of a comic relief, his mother the Fairy Godmother being the main antagonist.

He first appears traveling to the castle, where Princess Fiona had been imprisoned, only to discover that Shrek has already found her and married her, and that Big Bad Wolf (without any explanation how he got there in the first place) has taken to sleeping in her tower. When Charming asks Wolf where Fiona is, he tells him she's on her honeymoon. Charming, surprised, then asks whom.

Later Charming is seen with Fiona's father, King Harold, the king of a kingdom called Far Far Away and Fiona's Fairy Godmother. It is revealed there that Charming is in fact the son of the Fairy Godmother, and with his mother's thorough support, he wants to marry Fiona so that he can become king and he is not happy that he, as his mother puts it, "Endured blistering winds and scorching deserts and climbed to the highest bloody room of the tallest bloody tower only to find a gender confused wolf telling him that his princess was already married." Fairy Godmother demands that Harold get rid of Shrek, so Fiona can be with Charming. It can be reasoned that after having Fiona locked away it was always her plan to have Charming rescue her, with Shrek being an unforeseen problem.

Later in the movie, after Shrek, Donkey and their new friend Puss-In-Boots steal Fairy Godmother's Happily Ever After potion and trash her factory, Charming enters, notices the mess and asks what happened, and she tells him Shrek was there. Charming then demands to know where Shrek is so he can kill him with a sword. However Fairy Godmother talks him out of it, stating he'll still be king. After learning Shrek took the Happily Ever After potion, they use it to their advantage, and Charming arrives at the Far Far Away castle and tricks Fiona (who was now human again) into believing that he's Shrek. Charming greets Fiona and both her parents and convinces them he's Shrek. Harold recognizes Charming for who he really is but doesn't say so.

While Charming does this, his mother makes sure the real Shrek, who had been turned into a human by the Happily Ever After potion, doesn't reach Fiona and tells him how Fiona is with the "man of her dreams". Later Shrek, Donkey (who drank the potion and became a horse) and Puss spy on Harold, Charming and Fairy Godmother at The Poison Apple. Harold tells them that Fiona is not warming up to Charming, to which he says it's not his fault, and that he can't woo Fiona, while pretending to be a "dreadful ogre." Fairy Godmother then demands that Harold give Fiona a love potion that will make her fall in love with Charming if she kisses him. Harold refuses, but Fairy Godmother warns Harold she could take away his happy ending. After Charming calls Fairy Godmother 'Mother'. Donkey shouts "Mother?", causing them to see Donkey with Shrek and Puss and realize they have been listening the whole time and having them arrested and imprisoned.

At the royal ball, Charming tried to woo Fiona, even though she was disgusted with him. Fairy Godmother sings "Holding Out for A Hero" to which Charming and Fiona dance to. Right when Charming is about to kiss Fiona, the real Shrek arrives with Donkey, Puss and their fairytale friends (who had rescued the trio). They then take away Fairy Godmother's wand. The Fairy Godmother orders Charming to kiss Fiona and he does so, and she appears to have fallen in love with him, but then she suddenly puts her two hands on his cheeks and does a Karate shout as she head-butts him, knocking him out cold, as Harold didn't give Fiona the philtre. Prince Charming then quickly recovers, grabs his mother's wand from Puss, and tosses it to her. Fairy Godmother catches her wand and shoots a lightning-like bolt at Shrek, presumably to kill him, but Harold blocks it instead. The bolt reflects off his armor and hits the Fairy Godmother, causing her to burst into bubbles and sparkles, much to Charming's horror.

Afterward, Charming is forced into dancing with Doris, who forcefully kisses him, much to Charming's chagrin.

Far Far Away Idol[]

Charming later appears in Far Far Away Idol, the short movie the Shrek 2 DVD. He sings I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt, but Shrek and Fiona both push a remote to activate a trapdoor beneath Charming's feet due to his really terrible singing. Picking him via remote will result in Simon Cowell becoming the winner himself.

Shrek the Third (2007)[]

Once upon a time, someone decided that we were the losers! There are two sides to every story, and our side has not been told! So, who will join me?! Who wants to come out on top for once?! Who wants their happily ever after?!
~ Prince Charming's speech to the fairytale villains.

Charming returns in Shrek the Third, this time as the main antagonist. He is first seen in a theater, playing himself due to his name. However, despite being the hero in his own play (which appears to be a spoof on the classic fairytale, Rapunzel), the audience cheers when the "Shrek" mascot comes onstage, along with Shrek's friends, who are there watching the show. Finally (in a version of a Buster Keaton gag), a prop tower falls on Charming, but he escapes injury as the window passes around him. Charming leaves the theater upset and goes to his "dressing room" (in reality, the back alley behind the bar) and starts crying at his misfortune. Charming vows to his mother (whom he has a picture of) that he will become the king of Far Far Away and kill Shrek to avenge her death.

After seeing King Harold's funeral, Prince Charming goes to The Poison Apple and organizes an army of villains who don't trust him at first due to him being presented as a hero: Captain Hook, Stromboli, Headless Horseman, the Evil Queen, the Trees and the Witches - all upset that they haven't gotten their "Happily Ever After" and encourages them to help him in his plans of revenge.

Charming and his army of villains began invading Far Far Away. The villains wreck havoc all over, wrecking buildings and scaring civilians but Charming orders them to invade the castle and not wreck havoc. Charming, Hook, Cyclops and the Trees then invade the castle but find out that Shrek and Fiona aren't there, and that Shrek has gone to Worcestershire while Fiona, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Doris, and Rapunzel have gone into hiding after celebrating a baby shower for Fiona's newborn babies. Instead, they see Pinocchio, Three Little Pigs, Gingerbread Man, and Big Bad Wolf all doing their leisure time as Charming tells them where Shrek and Fiona are. When Gingy and the rest of their friends refuse, he has Hook force Gingy to co-operate, forcing him to daydream. Charming then tells Pinocchio to give him Shrek's whereabouts and not lie, which causes the puppet to tell a twisted version of the truth while trying to not lie at the same time. However, one of the three little pigs gives out information and says that Shrek has gone to Worcestershire to find Arthur, who is set to be the next king of Far Far Away, in which Pinocchio lies that Shrek isn't even though he is. Angered, he orders Hook to have his men kill Arthur, but have Shrek brought back alive as he reveals that he's got a special plan for him. Hook then goes to Merlin's island where they find Shrek, Arthur, Donkey and Puss while Charming has Gingy, the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, and Pinocchio captured. Charming also brainwashes Far Far Away's knights and has them co-operate with him.

Meanwhile, Fiona, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow White, Doris, Cinderella, and Rapunzel are underground trying to make their way. Outside, they find out that Charming is setting up a stage show, intending to use it so he can kill Shrek before they are captured by knights. It turns out that Rapunzel has decided to betray them so she can become Charming's love interest. When Shrek, Artie, Donkey, and Puss return, they find Far Far Away all in ruins thanks to Charming. Charming is then shown reciting one of his lines for his stage show but gets frustrated with the script and throws his sword in anger due to the Evil Trees and Cyclops doing dance practice. He then goes to his secret room where he sees a picture of Fairy Godmother, telling her that his plan is almost succeeding. But Shrek comes in to his private room demanding where Fiona is. Charming assures him that Fiona and the others have been captured. The Far Far Away Royal Guard shows up to capture Shrek as Donkey, Puss and Artie have also been taken captive as well resulting Charming to find out about Arthur being Far Far Away's supposed next king. To protect Artie, Shrek lies and claims that he was using Artie as a pawn to replace him as the next king. Charming believes Shrek and allows a brokenhearted Artie to leave, while he captures Shrek to kill him for his stage play and has Puss and Donkey imprisoned with Fiona and the other princesses. However, they all escape and convince Artie to help them after explaining to him that Shrek only lied to protect him.

Prince Charming then begins performing on stage, riding a white horse as he is set to become Far Far Away's next king. Rapunzel plays the role of a damsel in his play and Charming acts as the brave hero trying to save her from Shrek (who is the villain in this play). After being brought on stage, Shrek begins to ruin it for Charming by insulting him, making everyone laugh. Charming attempts to make his play a success by extemporizing his lines. His attempt was clearly futile as Shrek simply mortifies him for his clothes and singing, making the audience laugh again, turning the whole show into a whammy for Charming. Enraged by this, Charming silences everyone and enunciates to Shrek his pain of being ostracized. Invigorated to deliver the kill, Charming raises his sword to slash Shrek onstage, but Fiona and the others burst in, getting ready to fight the villains. However, the villains overpower the heroes when suddenly Artie arrives and convinces the villains to give up their evil ways saying they can be special without having to be bad, and they do so. However, Charming refuses to listen, and prepares to kill Artie, when suddenly Shrek breaks free of his chains and Charming stabs him instead, but (as Shrek reveals to the others) Shrek is completely unharmed; Charming (with his bad aim) merely stuck the sword between Shrek's arm and side. Shrek then picks up Charming, who declares that the evening was supposed to be his Happily Ever After; Shrek responds by telling Charming that he will have to keep looking, because he will not give up his own. Shrek then throws Charming in front of the stone tower, which is knocked on top of him by Dragon. Before the tower falls on him, Charming lets out a feeble "Mommy?" before being presumably crushed to death. His crown rolls away from the wreckage undamaged, which Artie catches and places on his head, signifying his decision to become the new King of Far Far Away, thus leaving Charming and his mother's plans in vain.

Shrek Forever After[]

In Shrek Forever After, Prince Charming makes a cameo during the credits. He was originally meant to properly appear in the film, but was cut.

Scared Shrekless[]

Prince Charming appears in the TV special Scared Shrekless in Puss and Donkey's scary story.

Thriller Night[]

Prince Charming also appears in Thriller Night as one of the zombies who danced with each other in a parody of Michael Jackson's well-known song "Thriller". The whole ordeal turns out being a nightmare Shrek had while sleeping during the trailers' showcase at a movie theater in Far Far Away. He also appear in this latter scene after Shrek's nightmare among the applauding crowd in the movie theater, sitting between Thelonious and the Cyclops.

Personality[]

As seen when he narrates his story at the beginning of Shrek 2, he is portrayed as a selfish and arrogant mother's boy who tries to look good. He's immature and childish as he quickly gets angry, when things don't go as he wanted. He is also somewhat effeminate, which Shrek pokes fun of, calling him a pretty boy. He is sometimes not very intelligent, as seen where he pretends to be Shrek, he doesn't know that he needed to act like Shrek in order to deceive Fiona (to be fair he hadn't met Shrek yet so he was unaware of his personality other than being "dreadful").

In the second film, he was subservient to his mother. The personality change he underwent in the third film could be because his mother died, so he had to grow up and become his own man. He learned from her how to use charisma to manipulate people.

He also had a crush on Fiona in the second movie, seeing how he wanted to marry her, but mostly for royal power by marriage. However after learning her loyalty belonged to Shrek, he lost all feelings he had for her and started dating Rapunzel. He showed no remorse for harming Fiona and her friends in the third movie.

After he made a coup d'état and became king, he wanted respect from his subjects and yelled at them for not respecting him. He was so blinded by desire of respect and power that he rejected chance to get redeemed after Arthur convinced other villains to get better. He also believed, as shown in his last moments, that the "Happily Ever After" of being with Fiona belonged to him, but that Shrek stole it from him.

Charming along with his mother, was remorseless, unlike Harold, who formerly conspired with them, as he had no qualms about how what they were doing would affect Shrek. He presumably felt bad for the fairytale villains in the 3rd film since they share the same loss as he does from his desire and decided to help them get what they want.

Despite his sophisticated manner, he was not above murder, as shown when he tried to kill Shrek for saving Fiona before him, and when he tried to kill Arthur for causing the villains to redeem. Despite his ruthlessness, he has low self-esteem and wants to make is mother proud above all else. Him taking over Far Far Away is done in a way that he knows the Fairy Godmother would do.

Quotes[]

Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away, the king and queen were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. And throughout the land, everyone was happy, until the sun went down, and they saw that their daughter was cursed with a frightful enchantment that took hold each and every night. Desperate, they sought the help of a fairy godmother who had them lock the young princess away in a tower, there to await the kiss of the handsome Prince Charming. It was he who would chance the perilous journey through blistering cold and scorching desert, traveling for many days and nights, risking life and limb, to reach the dragon's keep. For he was the bravest (removes helmet) and most handsome (removes a hairnet and whips hair) in all the land. And it was destiny that his kiss (sprays mouth with breath freshener) would break the dreaded curse. He alone would climb to the highest area of the tallest tower to enter the princess's chambers, cross the room to her sleeping silhouette, pull back the gossamer curtains to find her... (gasps when he sees Big Bad Wolf in the bed)
~ Prince Charming narrating at the beginning of Shrek 2.
Oh, about five minutes ago, actually. After I ENDURED blistering winds and scorching deserts, I climbed to the highest--!
~ Prince Charming yelling at King Harold about how he survived every hardship that nature threw at him, only to find that Fiona is already married, to Shrek, before being interrupted by his mother.
You really do have a way with children, Shrek.
~ Prince Charming taunting Shrek for driving Artie away.
A NEW ERA FINALLY BEGINS!! Now... all of you... BOW BEFORE YOUR KING!!
~ Prince Charming claiming victory after seemingly stabbing Shrek, unaware that the sword is caught between Shrek's arm and chest due to Charming's bad aim.
Rapunzel: I wait alone up here, I'm trapped another day, Locked up here please set me free, My new life I almost see, A castle you and me... Yes, a castle you and me.
Charming:
Tiz I, Tiz I upon my regal steed!, Princess my love at last you shall be free I'm strong, and brave and dashing my way there With speed, with might, with soft and bouncy hair!, Through the blistering desert (Villains: March) Across the stormier sea (Villains: Wet) Facing creatures so vile (Villains: Vile) So you can gaze upon me.
Rapunzel:
I knew you'd come for me and now we finally meet.
Charming:
I knew you'd wait and from my plate of love you'd eat, Who is this terribly ugly fiend who so rudely intervened?
Villains:
Will Charming fight or will he flee?
Rapunzel:
Oh please rescue me.
Villains:
From this monstrosity.
Charming:
Fear thee not honey lamb, I will slice this thing up like a ham.
Shrek: Oh, boy.
Charming: You're about to enter a world of pain in which you are not...
FAMILIAR!!!!!
Shrek: Well it can't be anymore painful than the lousy performance you're giving.
~ Prince Charming alongside with Rapunzel singing "Final Showdown" in order to attempt to kill Shrek off during his performance.
ENOUGH!!!!! Now, you'll finally know what it's like to have everything you worked for, and everything that's precious to you... taken away! Now... you'll know how I felt.
~ Prince Charming to Shrek before making another attempt to kill him.

Trivia[]

  • Charming is the most recurring villain in the Shrek series.
  • Prince Charming and Rapunzel were the only villains from Shrek the Third to not be redeemed by the end of the film. This is rather ironic, seeing how they are both good in their source material while the other villains who were bad in their source material turned good.
    • However, Rapunzel wasn't present during Arthur's speech, so it's unknown whether she would've redeemed herself or not.
  • A viewer with a keen eye can notice that Charming was standing where the part of the tower with the window was falling. This could possibly mean that he is still alive. However, it appears as though the spot directly above the window landed on him, and his crown rolls out away from the tower afterwards.
  • He can be seen as a dark reflection of Fiona. Both wanted to marry their true love and live happily ever after and had their future planed by their parents. They were also rude and snobbish. Fiona grows out of this attitude after meeting Shrek and marries him even defying her father for him, whereas Charming stays the same and listens to his mom. Had Fiona not accepted Shrek's love she would have ended up like Charming.
  • He shares similarities with Lord Farquaad and Rumpelstiltskin, for the former, that they both wanted to marry Fiona to become king, for the latter, that their lives were inadvertently ruined by Shrek's rescuing of Fiona.
  • It is unknown why he never tried to run away when the tower was falling. Had he escaped he likely would have gotten arrested.
  • Like the previous villain, Lord Farquaad, he wanted to marry Fiona for power and tried to kill Shrek. However, while it's obvious that power was Lord Farquaad's only motivation, it's possible that Charming genuinely loved Fiona and her mother wanting them together matched his feelings, then he moved on when it became impossible to make her love him.
  • In Shrek 2, Prince Charming was subservient to his mother; the personality change he underwent in the third film could be because his mother died, so he had to grow up and become his own person.
  • Over the years, most Shrek fans have speculated what became of Prince Charming in the alternate timeline which Rumpelstiltskin created in Shrek Forever After. However, as Prince Charming was supposed to rescue Fiona but Fiona mentions that no one was able to rescue her so she decided to escape herself, it is possible that Prince Charming was killed by the dragon or given that Rumpel killed the kings and became King of Far Far Away, thus stripping Fiona from her royal status, the Fairy Godmother abandoned her plan to take over the kingdom and didn't send Charming to rescue Fiona, aside that as Rumpel took over the magic wishes business with his contracts as well, Charming and his mother possibly left Far Far Away so the Fairy Godmother could settle her business in another kingdom and possibly find another spouse for Charming.
  • When Prince Charming and the villains begin invading Far Far Away, this is somewhat influenced by real-life events such as the Blitzkrieg during WW2 and the invasion of Crimea.
  • Prince Charming has the distinction of being one of the three main antagonists of the Shrek film series to refer to Shrek by his name (the others are his mother Fairy Godmother and Rumpelstiltskin), while Lord Farquaad is the only main antagonist who derogatorily referred to Shrek as "ogre".

External Links[]

Navigation[]

           Shrek Logo Villains

Kingdom of Duloc
Lord Farquaad | Thelonious | Duloc Guards (Captain of the Duloc Guards) | Stone Dragon

Fairy Godmother's Cottage
Fairy Godmother | Prince Charming | Elves

The Poison Apple
Prince Charming | Rapunzel | Captain Hook | Pirates | Evil Queen | Cyclops | Headless Horseman | Stromboli | Trees | Mabel | Rumpelstiltskin | Black Knights | Witches | Gnomes | Little Red Riding Hood

The Crone's Nest
Rumpelstiltksin | Witches (Griselda & Baba) | Pied Piper | Alternate Universe Dragon

Others
Merry Men | Monsieur Hood | Unidentified Witch | Shrek | Dragon | Shrek's Father | Santa Claus | Sugar | Jiminy Cricket | Ogre's Hunters | Chef Lady | Bandits | Merlin | Wicked Ice Queen | Luna | Pinocchio's Evil Clones | Giants | Alternate Universe Fairy Godmother | Quasimodo

See Also
Puss in Boots Villains

Advertisement