Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin, also known as Rumpel Stiltskin, Mr. Stiltskin or simply Rumpel, is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 20th full-length animated feature film Shrek Forever After, the fourth installment of the Shrek film series.
He is a scheming and devious trickster whose plot to take over the kingdom of Far Far Away was accidentally ruined thanks to Shrek rescuing Princess Fiona from the Dragon's Keep. When the opportunity arises, Rumpel decides to trick a vulnerable Shrek into signing him a contract that ends up altering the whole world. He is completely different from the fairytale character of the same name.
He was voiced by Walt Dohrn in his first villainous role.
== Appearance ==
Rumpel is quite short, has brown hair and a large face. He wears an orange and brown medieval costume, a yellow ascot and boots.
In the alternate Universe where he's the king of Far Far Away, Rumpel wears a white and red suit, and sometimes wears eccentric wigs depending on the occasion (like a business one or a messy one when he's angry).
== Personality ==
Rumpelstiltskin can best be described as an ill-tempered, derisive, sleazy, sinister, devious, manipulative, perfidious, odious, despicable and power-hungry con artist. He will do anything to gain power, as he would even lie to Fiona's parents to get to their throne. He also throws a fit of rage after learning that Shrek rescued the Princess and the King ripped up the contract. However, he does love his pet goose Fifi, as he pampers him a lot and was horrified when he explodes to death. He is also shown to be a charismatic and comedic villain, as he has a good sense of humor. However, his comedic moments don't detract from his crimes.
== Biography ==
=== Beginnings ===
Rumpelstiltskin become a dealmaker thanks to the recommendation of King Midas and adopted a magical pet goose named Fifi, who Rumpel always loved. Since the beginning he was known for being evil, cruel and manipulative, with Fifi being the only exception to his cruelty. He lived in an egg-shaped carriage on a trailer camp inhabited by wicked witches, whom he seemingly got along with. Years before the events of the fourth film, if any displeased customer wanted to break one of his deals with him, Rumpel allowed his contracts to break if his customers found out his real name and told him, but after so many broken contracts and the public knowledge on his name, Rumpel ceased to allow his contracts to be broken so easily.
=== Shrek Forever After ===
Rumpelstiltskin first appears in the film, where he is about to get King Harold and Queen Lillian sign away the kingdom of Far Far Away to him to free Princess Fiona (despite their deal with Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother). However, the contract would not actually lift Fiona's curse, but instead make the king and queen disappear entirely, effectively killing them and allowing Rumpel to usurp the position of Harold and Lillian as king of Far Far Away. At first, Harold is tempted to sign the deal, but at the last minute, he and Lillian are informed by one of their servants that Fiona has already been saved by Shrek (in accordance with his and Donkey's own deal with Lord Farquaad). With Rumpel's deal now pointless, Harold happily rips the contract in half and leaves with Lillian, much to Rumpel's complete distraught. Following the defeats of Farquaad, the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming, Rumpel's deal making business becomes decimated, leaving him scrounging in the streets with a hateful grudge against Shrek and wishes he was never born.
Eventually, Rumpel discovered Shrek is feeling frustrated that he is no longer feared as an ogre during his kids' birthday party. Deciding to get his chance, Rumpel fakes an accident with his carriage, and eventually catches the eye of Shrek, inviting him to a roast rat for dinner. He pretends to sympathize with Shrek by giving him a ride in his carriage and offers a deal contract that will let Shrek be a real ogre like he used to be for a day in exchange for one other day from his past being erased, specifically a day that he does not remember. Shrek signs the contract, unaware that the day in question was actually the day when he was born. With the contract signed, reality gets changed, and Shrek is horrified to find out that in the alternate dimension that he was transported to, Rumpel has taken over as king of Far Far Away and terrorized the people with an army of witches that hunt ogres.
To make matters worse, Rumpel has also enslaved some of Shrek's friends, including Shrek's best friend Donkey. When Shrek is brought to the castle, he demands that Rumpel explain what he has done. Rumpel confessed that he tricked Shrek into erasing his own existence by giving him the day he was born, thus he never met Fiona and had children. Rumpel also confessed that due to Shrek's absence, he successfully tricked King Harold and Queen Lillian into signing their kingdom (and their lives) away before revealing that when the twenty-four hours of the day are up, Shrek will fade into nonexistence, thus securing Rumpel's reign for power. Rumpel attempts to get his witches to attack Shrek, but the ogre managed to escape the castle with Donkey.
Later, Shrek and Donkey learn that the contract will become void if Shrek can find Fiona and break her curse by performing a true love's kiss with her. They later find out that Fiona is leading a resistance group of ogres against Rumpel, but Shrek is having trouble wooing up Fiona since she was never rescued from the Dragon's Keep and is very disillusioned about true love. Being aware of what Shrek is planning, Rumpel tells his witches that they must bring Shrek back soon before he could kiss Fiona. He hires the Pied Piper to bring Shrek back to the castle with the other ogres. Though the Piper succeeds in capturing all of the ogres, Shrek and Fiona escape thanks to Donkey and an obese Puss in Boots. As a last resort, Rumpel offers a new deal, the "Deal of a Lifetime" as he calls it to whoever turns Shrek in.
After a warrior Gingy tells Shrek about this, Shrek turns himself in to get this deal, and in return, Shrek has Rumpel free all the other ogres. However, Rumpel has Shrek locked in a dungeon before doing the same to Fiona, as Rumpel pointed out that Fiona is still cursed, thus she isn't an ogre. It is revealed that Rumpel will have Shrek and Fiona fed to Dragon (who has never met Shrek and Donkey and is now a villain like in the original film) to ensure his final claim of victory. However, Donkey, Puss in Boots, and the ogres arrive and fight Rumpelstiltskin and his witches. Rumpel tries to escape on Fifi, but Shrek and Fiona, having defeated Dragon, pull Fifi down and defeat Rumpel.
Despite Rumpel and his forces being defeated by the resistance, the 24 hours are up, and Shrek is starting to disappear as the sun is about to rise. However, Fiona (who now loves Shrek for his efforts in stopping Rumpel) kisses him before he vanishes completely into oblivion. Much to everyone's surprise, Fiona still remains an ogre as the sun rises, thus her curse is broken. Because of this, the alternate reality changes, and as everyone disappears from existence, Rumple is left alone stuck floating in a yellow void as he watches in horror as his dimension is being torn apart from reality. The reality is then restored to normal up to the day when a revived Shrek lost his temper at his kids' birthday party. Shrek then reunites with his family and friends, developing a newfound appreciation for them.
With Rumpel's plot for conquest and revenge foiled, Shrek arranges for Rumpel to be captured and placed inside a cage for life as punishment for his actions. During the credits, Fiona kills Fifi by making her explode by singing a high note (similar to the blue bird scene in the first Shrek film), much to Rumpel's distraught. Rumpel is then tormented by the Pied Piper, being forced to dance in his cage, probably remaining here for the rest of his life.
=== Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular ===
In Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular, Rumpelstiltskin is shown to still be imprisoned in a cage at the swamp, he tries to convince Donkey to free him by his cage, to no avail. Rumpelstiltskin is later seen receiving coal for Christmas. It is unknown if Rumpelstiltskin ever escaped from the cage.
=== Thriller Night ===
Despite the fact that he didn't die in Shrek Forever After, Rumpelstiltskin appears as a zombie in the short Thriller Night. However, given that this was Shrek's dream, his death didn't actually happen, apparently.
=== Soundtrack ===
In the Shrek Forever After soundtrack, which has a story and apparently takes place after the events of the movie, we learn that Rumpelstiltskin now hosts a popular radio show. It's unknown if Rumpelstiltskin has escaped due to this but it isn't likely because if he had escaped, he would have most likely sought revenge on Shrek, though it could be possible too that he has suppressed his hatred towards Shrek and has reformed for good or just opted to not bother him anymore.
== Trivia ==
* Originally, Walt Dohrn was meant to do a scratch track for Rumpelstiltskin and a professional actor was going to voice the character. However, Dohrn's performance during the storyboard pitches was so well-loved that he wound up officially casted for the role.
* Rumpelstiltskin shares similarities with each one of the main antagonists of the first three Shrek movies.
** He is short and rules an empire with an iron fist (in an alternate universe) like Lord Farquaad, the main antagonist of the first movie.
** Rumpelstiltskin has magical powers and had a business that helped characters alter their fates like the Fairy Godmother, the main antagonist of the second movie.
** Rumpelstiltskin had his life ruined by Shrek's rescuing Princess Fiona, sought revenge on Shrek and got to rule Far Far Away (in an alternate universe), like Prince Charming, the secondary antagonist of the second movie and the main antagonist of the third movie.
* Despite his similarities with previous Shrek antagonists, Rumpelstiltskin was designed to be as different from them as possible; for example, he was envisioned as being a "ratty, childish, scummy man" in comparison to the Fairy Godmother's persona as an elonquent businesswoman.
* Despite wearing his angry wig for only three seconds in the film, Rumpelstiltskin appears wearing it in most of the franchising and marketing of the film.
* A storybook for Rumpelstiltskin can be seen in a trailer for the original Shrek movie.
* Rumpelstiltskin is the only main antagonist in a Shrek film who is confirmed to be alive by the end of the movie where he was the main antagonist, as Lord Farquaad and Fairy Godmother get killed during their respective films' climaxes and it's unknown if Prince Charming survived his defeat or not.
* He is the only one of the four main villains to appear as a villain in a fairytale. Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother are usually good in fairytales (which precisely explains why all the fairytale villains deemed Charming unacceptable to their Poison Apple Club before he managed to rally them) and Lord Farquaad is an original character to Shrek.
* Rumpelstiltskin's original design was a man with a rat face and tail.
* It is possible that Rumpelstiltskin's name is actually two words; Rumpel Stiltskin. This is supported by many characters abbreviating his name "Rumpel" or "Stiltskin".
* Another Rumpelstiltskin appeared in Shrek the Third and was voiced by Conrad Vernon, and he was one of the many fairy tale villains recruited by Prince Charming to help him to have his revenge on Shrek for his mother's death. However, he's a different person from the one that appeared from the fourth film as he had a different physical aspect and different personality, he also redeemed himself at the end.
** However, concept art has shown that Rumpelstiltskin would have initially bared some resemblance to the Rumpelstiltskin from Shrek the Third, though he would have been redesigned with a rat tail.
Category:Male
Category:Humans
Category:Villains
Category:DreamWorks characters
Category:Shrek characters
Category:Antagonist