| “ | How bad can I be? | „ |
| ~ The Once-ler's most famous quote as he chops off the trees for Thneeds and his factory. |
| “ | WHO CARES IF A FEW TREES ARE DYING?! | „ |
| ~ The Once-ler during his song, apathetic towards the death of the trees. |
| “ | Hi, security, we have some adorable intruders...who are TRESPASSING! You're all going to jail! | „ |
| ~ The Once-ler calling security on the animals of the Truffula forest in a deleted scene. |
| “ | Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. | „ |
| ~ The Once-ler to Ted and his second most famous quote. |
The Once-ler is the main protagonist of Dr. Seuss's 1971 children’s book The Lorax and its television adaptation, as well as the deuteragonist of Illumination's 3rd full-length feature film The Lorax, the film adaptation of the book.
Before turning into a regretful recluse, he was an enigmatic business magnate who sought to expand his Thneed empire, against the Lorax’s grave protests. His thirst for industry ultimately causes the extinction of the Truffula Trees and the destruction of the environment, causing him to lose his factory and enter self-exile to atone for his mistake.
In the 1972 animated special, he was voiced by the late Bob Holt. In the 2012 film, he was voiced by Ed Helms who also portrayed Andy Bernard in The Office, Number Two in Meet Dave, Brad Gurdlinger in We're the Millers, and Mr. Krupp in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.
Biography[]
Book & TV Special[]
| “ | Now listen here, dad! All you do is yap-yap and say 'Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!' Well, I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you I intend to go on doing just what I do! And for your information, you Lorax, I am figgering on biggering and BIGGERING and BIGGERING and BIGGERING, turning MORE Truffula Trees into Thneeds which everyone, EVERYONE needs! | „ |
| ~ The Once-Ler showing his true nature. |
The Once-ler is a young man who came to a bright forest of Truffula Trees to set up shop and make a garment called the "Thneed" out of the trees' fluffy foliage. The titular Lorax appears from the stump of the first tree he chops down and insists that he stop, but a passerby purchases the first Thneed, encouraging the Once-ler to start a business making Thneeds.
The Once-ler’s Thneed business quickly grows in size and popularity, and more and more trees are cut down to make more, as the shop grows into a factory, and the forest becomes more and more damaged and polluted, driving off the local fauna. The Lorax continues begging the Once-ler to stop, and showing him the damage, but is still ignored. When the very last Truffula Tree is cut down, the Once-ler’s family abandon the business, and the Lorax lifts himself into the air and vanishes, and leaves behind only a stone platform marked with the word "UNLESS".
Over the years, the Once-ler has resided in the remains of his factory, where he has come to regret his past. When a young boy comes to his house, the Once-ler tells his story and eventually realizes the Lorax's final message: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." He gives the boy the very last Truffula seed in existence, telling him that if he plants it and takes care of it, the forest, the animals and the Lorax may eventually return.
Film[]
| “ | Lorax: So, how are things? Once-ler: What are you doing here? Lorax: Happy yet? You fill that hole deep down inside you? Or do you still need more? Once-ler: Look, if you've got a problem with what I'm doing, why haven’t you use your quote-unquote powers to stop me? Lorax: I told you, that's not how it works. Once-ler: Right, I forgot. You’re a fraud. I need you to get out. Now! Lorax: Why? Do I make you uncomfortable? Remind you of the promises you made? The man you used to be? Once-ler: You know what? You can just shut your mustache! My conscience is clear. I have done nothing illegal. I have my rights, and I intend to keep on biggering and biggering, and turning more Truffula trees into Thneeds. AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME! (A machine cuts down the last truffula tree) Lorax: Well, that’s it. The very last one. That may stop you. |
„ |
| ~ The Once-ler's villainous breakdown and realization of his actions. |
In the film, the Once-ler is a young man who seeks to make his own invention, the Thneed, despite his family's belief that he would amount to nothing. He eventually arrives at the Truffula forest and decides that this is the perfect place to make his Thneeds. However, after chopping his first Truffula Tree, the Lorax arrives and warns him to stop, but the Once-ler dismisses him. The Lorax sneaks the Once-ler’s bed onto a river to try to peacefully float him away (as the current of the river would take him safe in his bed somewhere else), but eventually is forced to save him after one of the local Bar-ba-loots, Pipsqeak, nearly drowns in the process. With that, the Lorax and the Once-ler make a deal not to cut down any more Truffula Trees, and the Once-ler even becomes sort of friends with the Lorax, hanging out with the animals as his threads shockingly get an audience and become popular.
At first, the Once-ler merely harvests the Truffula leaves to make his Thneeds, but the demand for them grows much bigger. To fulfill this demand, the Once-ler hires his family to help make the Thneeds. His mother recommends that he cut down the trees to accelerate production— at first the Once-ler protests, but his family convinced him to begin cutting down trees, causing the Lorax to call him out on his broken promise.
However, though the Once-ler initially attempts to get the Lorax to understand his thinking, he becomes obsessed with the money and fame he receives from selling Thneeds, and becomes apathetic to the death of the trees and the suffering of the animals, and cruel to the Lorax. After the last Truffula Tree is cut down, the fauna all flee, and the Lorax lifts himself into the sky, leaving one last message: "UNLESS."
The Once-ler, unaware of the message’s meaning, watches as a town called Thneedville is made to celebrate his accomplishments, but his profit begins to dry up, especially with no more Theeds to be made. He remains in the fancy house he had built, which begins to go to ruin as he gets older, and he becomes a recluse.
One day he meets Ted Wiggins, who is looking for a Truffula Tree to impress his crush, Audrey. After telling his story over the course of a few days, the Once-ler realizes what the Lorax meant and hands Ted the last Truffula seed to right his wrongs. Once Ted manages to plant the seed, the Once-ler emerges from his house and thanks him.
In the film's epilogue, with the Truffula forest slowly growing back and people now aware of the meaningfulness of trees, the Once-ler reunites with the Lorax.
Appearance[]
In the book and TV special, the Once-ler is never fully seen. His only visible traits are his green arms, hands, and legs, as well as yellow eyes. In the TV special, he is hinted to be human, when he boasts to "speak for men, and human opportunities". The book also mentions that he has a "gruvvulous glove," hinting that his green arms are gloves; if so, they are worn by his entire family and staff, who appear (symbolically) as hands operating his machinery.
The film adaptation depicts him as a human with fair skin and blue eyes. In his youth, he has mop-like black hair and a rounded face with light freckles. He initially wears a gray fedora, a white shirt, a gray vest, and green gloves. He also has gray striped trousers and black boots. As he becomes corrupted by his business, he dons a green suit, tie, sunglasses, and a top hat, while his gloves become shoulder-length. It's mentioned by Eric Guillon, the designer of The Once-ler's 2012 version, that "the gloves are a symbol of the character's greed; he puts on his gloves to do his dirty work."
In his elderly years, he retains his suit, gloves, and hat (much the worse for wear), but now has a Thneed scarf around his neck. His hair has become gray and receded, and he sports a mustache akin to the Lorax's.
Personality[]
In his youth, the Once-ler is very optimistic and enthusiastic, but so excited by his own success, he is quickly corrupted by greed. In the book he is rather brusque, even calling the Lorax a 'poor stupid guy' and telling him to 'shut up'; the film Once-ler grows similarly rude and callous when his greed becomes fully realized, and while he previously cared for the animals, he becomes apathetic to them and the trees.
The elderly Once-ler is rather a tragic figure; and even earlier, is the only member of his numerous family (who make up the majority of his staff) to show any remorse for the havoc wrought by their business. The Once-ler’s deforestation not only makes him an immoral man, but also a poor businessman, as he never thinks of preserving trees to ensure a steady supply of his products. In reality, nearly every North American lumber company plants at least three trees for every tree cut down. Whether this practice antedates the book is never explained.
While his actions appear to be just as bad in the 2012 film, otherwise even more noticeable than in the original, it is evident that he was portrayed as not entirely the villain in the film, only being driven to greed by his family. Like other changes to the story, this has bothered many fans of the book, as it seemingly goes against the story's message that anyone can destroy the environment if they took things too far. However, this specific part about blaming his family instead of The Once-ler directly, were seemingly only added to soften the character and were not originally intended, as it's explained in The Art of Eric Guillon, a staff book by the designer of The Once-ler, that even though they tried many designs, "nothing felt right because even the most engaging design obscured the book's central message—that we alone are responsible for the well-being of our world", still acknowledging The Once-ler as the only responsible, despite what was incorporated into the final film.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- The Once-ler’s villain song in the 2012 film, "How Bad Can I Be?", has become a meme.
- Originally, the song that would eventually become “How Bad Can I Be?” was planned to be the wildly different “Biggering”, an epic rock opera that showcases the Once-ler’s descent into greed and materialism. Although “Biggering” more closely resembles the Once-ler’s characterization in the book as ruthlessly greedy rather than blissfully ignorant over the destruction he’s causing, it was ultimately scrapped for not fitting the comparatively lighter tone of the film. Still, a demo of the song exists, and has since amassed a large following. One big comparison in both songs is the line "Who cares if a few trees are dying" in How Bad can I be being replaced by "Who cares if some things are dying", which is followed by the line "I don't wanna hear your crying!" in Biggering, which makes his apathy towards the innocent lives of the animals and the Lorax even more apparent and disturbing.
- Despite "Biggering" not being in the final project, the Once-ler does make two allusions to the song when he tells his father (and later the Lorax) that he intends to keep "biggering and biggering" his company.
- His 2012 incarnation is considered one of the central standards of the “Tumblr Sexyman" archetype, a group of male characters associated with a large following on sites like Tumblr typically with a skinny design, a villainous/trickster role, and dapper clothing: all of which the Once-ler embodies.
External Links[]
- The Once-Ler on the Heroes Wiki
- How Bad Can I Be? on the Evil Wiki
- The Once-ler on the Dr. Seuss Wiki
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Stories Movie | ||
 Villains
| ||
|
Thneed company O'Hare Air | ||