Lord Farquaad

Farquaad

Liege

Dwarf

Intelligence

Manipulation

Deception

Swordsmanship

Torturing fairytale creatures.

### Goals

Become the official king of DuLoc by any means necessary, including marrying Fiona.Kill Shrek and Princess Fiona.

Cleanse his "perfect world" of all fairytale creatures (all failed).

### Crimes

Attempted murderUsurpation

Treason

Kidnapping

False imprisonments

Torture

Abuse of power

Animal cruelty

Vandalism

Hate crimes

Attempted ethnic cleansing

Corruption

Attempted mutilation (by ordering for Shrek to be drawn and quartered)

“ Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. „ ~ Lord Farquaad's most famous quote as he addresses his tournament participants.

“ 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.

“ Stayin' alive! STAYIN' ALIVE! Oh, oh, oh, oh! „ ~ Lord Farquaad trapped in the Dragoness's stomach during the Karaoke dance party

**Lord Maximus Farquaad** is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 5th full-length animated feature film *Shrek*, the first installment of the *Shrek* film series and its 2003 3D short *Shrek 4-D* (also known as *The Ghost of Lord Farquaad*).

He is the oppressive ruler of a lordship called DuLoc and he spent the first part capturing 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 monsters from his swamp if Shrek could bring Fiona to him, as he wanted to marry her. He is also the first villain Shrek met, as well as the reason he met Donkey and Fiona.

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* and Lamar Blackburn in *The Accountant*. In the videogame adaptation of the film, he was voiced by André Sogliuzzo. In the musical, he was portrayed by Christopher Siber. in the Korean Dub, He was voiced by Byung-Kwan Kim, who also voiced Judge Claude Frollo.

## Personality

Farquaad is the ruthless, deceptive, ill-tempered, egotistical, and iron-fisted ruler of DuLoc. He is an extremely prideful, oppressive and power-hungry dictator who doesn’t care about everyone 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 trash and viewed them as poisoning 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. 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. 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*

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, Lord 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 at midnight, Lord 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 would’ve 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 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 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.

Furious and disgusted over the change, Farquaad 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 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 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. Dragon defeated Farquaad (again) by breathing fire at him, due to this Farquaad does not appear in *Shrek 2* and despite appearing in flashbacks of *Shrek The Third* and *Shrek Forever After*, he never physically appeared again and only made cameo in the sequels. The short is also known as *The Ghost of Lord Farquaad*.

### *Shrek The Third*

Farquaad is not seen or mentioned once in *Shrek 2*. However, he did appear in its second sequel *Shrek The Third*. When Prince Charming and Captain Hook demand 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 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 turned into a dark and terrifying place since Farquaad passed away. 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 early 30s 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 Dragoness, he was burned to death by Dragoness under Shrek's command instead.

## Quotes

### Shrek

“ 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 with you creatures now my patience has reached it's end. Tell me or I'll-! „ ~ Lord Farquaad threatening Gingy.

“ Princess Fiona.... she's perfect. „ ~ Farquaad on Fiona.

“ Silence! I will make this Princess Fiona my queen, and Duloc will 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.

“ That champion will 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 during the tournament.

“ People of DuLoc, I give you our champonion. Congratulations, ogre. You've won the honor of embarking on a great and noble quest. „ ~ Lord Farquaad announcing Shrek as the one who will rescue Fiona.

“ Indeed...all right, 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?) Down to the last slime-covered toadstool. (Shrek: And the squatters?) As good as gone. „ ~ 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.

“ 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!) This hocus-pocus alters nothing, this marriage is binding, (\*picks up crown and puts it on head\*) and that makes me KING! SEE, SEE?! (Fiona: SHREK!) Don't just stand there, you morons! (Shrek: Get out of my way! Fiona!) I'm done! 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: SHREK!) And as for you, my wife, (Shrek: FIONA!) I'll have you locked back in that tower FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS! (\*Shrek whistles for Donkey and Dragon) I AM KING! I WILL HAVE ORDER! I WILL HAVE PERFECTION! I WILL HAVE... Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!! Aaaah! „ ~ Farquaad's last words in Shrek during his breakdown before Dragon eats him alive.

### Shrek 4-D

“ With you as my spirit queen, I'll be king of the Underworld. „ ~ Farquaad to Fiona.

## Trivia

* IGN's Orlando Parfitt chose Lord Farquaad as his 14th favorite fantasy villain.
* Farquaad is the only main villain in the *Shrek* franchise who does not come from a fairytale, as Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming, and Rumpelstiltskin, the main antagonists of Shrek's three sequels, *Shrek 2*, *Shrek The Third* and *Shrek Forever After*, actually came from them.
* Farquaad is based on the former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, as Jeffrey Katzenberg (one of the founders of DreamWorks and a former executive of Disney) holds some animosity towards the former following his refusal to promote him to president of Disney after the death of Frank Wells, which lead to Katzenberg resigning from Disney to establish Dreamworks. Farquaad may also be based on the French Emperor Napoleon, 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. He may also be based on the late Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States as he forces fairytale creatures from their home while Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 that led to the forced removal of the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes called the Chickasaw, the Creek, the Seminole, the Cherokee and the Choctaw.
* 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.
* In a general way, Lord Farquaad serves technically as the catalyst of the film series' events. As Shrek rescued Fiona from the castle under Farquaad's orders, this not only ruined the Fairy Godmother's plan of having Prince Charming rescue Fiona to take control of Far Far Away, but also Rumpelstiltskin's negotiations with King Harold and Queen Lillian to take over Far Far Away. Interestingly, when asked why he rescued Fiona in the first place, Shrek never mentions Farquaad to be the one to blame most likely because Farquadd only wanted to marry her to be king.
* 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. Interestingly, some *Shrek Forever After* DVD cases mention that in the world where Shrek was never born, Lord Farquaad was still alive, which could suggest that the decision to remove Farquaad from the film was late.
* His first name "Maximus" is never mentioned in the film. However, it is later confirmed in the musical.
* Although Farquaad is the main antagonist of the film, he has only around 7 minutes of screen-time.
* Farquaad's name is a pun, intended to sound like the insult "f-ckwad" once it's heard repeatedly.
* Lord Farquaad serves as a dark parallel to Shrek as they both dislike fairy tale creatures (or anyone in Shrek's case) on their lands. However, when Donkey told Shrek that friends forgive each other, he apologized for disowning him & not letting him visit his land whereas Farquaad refuses to accept them. If Shrek hadn't met Donkey, Fiona or the fairy tale creatures and accept company, he would've ended up like Lord Farquaad.