- “I am the rightful king of Far Far Away!”
- ―Prince Charming[src]
Prince Charming is the secondary antagonist of DreamWorks Animation's 2004 feature film Shrek 2 and the main antagonist of its 2007 sequel Shrek the Third. He is the son of the Fairy Godmother and 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.
Background[]
Prince Charming was born to the Fairy Godmother and his unnamed and presumably deceased father in the kingdom of Far Far Away. Since his mother is a fairy but since he has a human appearance, it can be presumed that his father was human. When he was a little boy he was betrothed to Princess Fiona, who was later cursed to turn into an ogre at night and locked away in a tower of a dragon-guarded castle. Charming was raised to believe that he would be the one to rescue Fiona and break her curse.
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.
Physical appearances[]
He is a very handsome man with blond, smooth hair and blue eyes (strongly resembling John Smith from Pocahontas). He typically wears elegant and opulent attires and can be considered metrosexual as he is very concerned with his personal grooming and fashion. He possessed a medieval longsword, but was never seen actually using it in battle.
Powers and abilities[]
In the second movie he is shown to be very wealthy, just like his mother, and to be a very good dancer. Although he is also shown to own a sword, he is never seen actually using it in a fight, so his combat abilities cannot be assessed.
Weakness[]
He has poor aim, as shown in the third movie when he fails to stab Shrek. He is also possibly not much intelligent, as he fails to comprehend that he needed to act like Shrek to deceive Fiona in the second movie, although this can also be explained by his disgust in acting like an ogre. His singing is not enjoyed by most other characters, as seen in Far Far Away Idol and Shrek the Third, but his voice is nonetheless able to shatter glass.
Appearances[]
Shrek 2[]
Prince Charming in Shrek 2.
Prince Charming 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.
Shrek the Third[]
Prince Charming in Shrek the Third.
Charming later returns in the third film 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, humiliated 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[]
Charming does not appear in the fourth movie but he makes a cameo during the flashback montage of the end credits. He does not appear on-screen and it is unclear what happened to him in the alternate universe. Since Fiona ceased to be a princess after her parents sign away their kingdom to Rumpelstiltskin, it can be assumed that he either failed to rescue her or lost interest.
Scared Shrekless[]
Charming appears in the story "Bates Motel", told by Puss and Donkey. He first appears as a warm and friendly motel owner, inviting the two in, but is told by Donkey to have killed the Puss. Puss then replies that Charming killed the Donkey. Puss and Donkey argue over who is killed, then resort to just making each other look bad, Puss saying that before Charming could kill him, the Puss leaped to safety. Donkey then replies that "was exactly what Charming wanted the Puss to do". Charming laughed, then pulled a lever to make Puss fall through a trapdoor. The story ends as Donkey gets Pinocchio to spray Puss with water, making him run away, which Shrek later says is cheating.
Thriller Night[]
Charming appears in zombie form in the dance number and later is seen sitting between Thelonious and Cyclops in the audience of the movie theater when Shrek wakes up from his dream. This indirectly survival at the end of Shrek the Third, and it is implied that he had confirmed to have passed away.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His defeat is similar to that of Shere Khan, who had a statue fall on him.
- It is unknown whether or not Charming survived his apparent crushing, although he was seen alive in the Thriller Night audience.
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