Lord Farquaad is the main antagonist in Shrek and Shrek 4-D.
Lord Farquaad also had his cameo appearance in Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. He does not appear in Shrek 2.
Shrek
In Shrek, Farquaad has banished all of the fairy tale creatures from his land, forcing them to take refuge in Shrek's swamp. Back at his castle, Farquaad tortures Gingerbread Man into revealing the location of the other fairy tale folk that he hasn't been able to capture or banish. Just as Gingerbread Man is going to reveal what he knows, the captain of the guards arrives and announces that they have found the Magic Mirror. Lord Farquaad asks the mirror if Duloc is the perfect kingdom of them all. The mirror tells him that he's not truly a king, but he can become one 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 his henchman Thelonius' suggestion, Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who is locked away in a castle tower guarded by a ferocious dragon. Despite the mirror's attempt to warn him about what happens at night, 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 had travelled from his swamp to Duloc accompanied by Donkey to ask Farquaad to move the fairy tale creatures off his swamp interrupts the tournament. Farquaad changes his mind and decides that whoever kills Shrek will be named champion. However, despite the knights' best efforts, they are all defeated by Shrek and Donkey. Impressed by Shrek's actions, Farquaad awards the ogre with the quest he had set to his knights. Shrek remarks that he's already on a quest to get his swamp back. Farquaad makes a deal with Shrek that if his is successful in the quest to rescue Princess Fiona, he will give the ogre his swamp back, fully restored to the way it was before the fairy tale folk overran the place.
Shrek and Donkey successfully rescue Princess Fiona from the dragon and the trio journey onward to Duloc. Shrek and Fiona start falling in love, but Shrek overhears Fiona talking about how no one could love her when she looks like a hideous beast and thinks she is referring to him. The next morning, Shrek brings Lord Farquaad to Fiona. After handing over the deed, Farquaad immediately proposes marriage to Fiona, who agrees on the condition that they have the wedding before sunset. He takes Fiona back to his castle, while a heartbroken Shrek returns to his swamp. But then Donkey comes to Shrek and tells him that Fiona was not refering to him when she said no one could love a hideous beast. Shrek and Donkey go to crash the wedding, where Shrek stops Fiona and Farquaad from kissing and accidentally admits his love for Fiona, which Farquaad laughs at, then tries to get Fiona to marry him but then Fiona sees the sun setting and decides to reveal her spell. Disgusted, Farquaad orders for Shrek to be executed and Fiona locked back at the tower for the rest of her days, and he crowns himself king. But then Shrek whistles for Dragon, who bursts in the window and devours Farquaad, and belches his crown back out. However, Farquaad is seen to have survived in Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party.
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
In Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party he is seen singing "Stayin' alive" from inside Dragon's stomach.
Shrek 4-D
In Shrek 4-D, his ghost appears, and gets Thelonious to kidnap Fiona, so he can kill her and make her his ghost queen. He then tries to murder Shrek and Donkey with a stone replica of the Dragoness, but they saved by the real Dragoness. Farquaad is surprised to see Shrek and Donkey alive. Shrek, Donkey and Fiona then go over the waterfall, but are saved by the Dragon, who then destroys Farquaad's ghost, presumebly for good.
Shrek the Third
In the third film, he is seen in one of Gingy's flashbacks.
Shrek Forever After
He is not seen during the story of Shrek Forever After, but can be seen during the flashback montage during the end credits.
Also, in the alternate universe, Farquaad was propably still alive, since he wasn't eaten by the Dragon, since Shrek never rescued Fiona and never met him in the first place.
Scared Shrekless
Despite being absent, Farquaad plays a major role in the made-for-TV special Scared Shrekless. Shrek challenges his friends to spend Halloween night in Farquaad's haunted castle, Duloc. The tree little pigs note that Duloc was where Farquaad lived and died. Later on, Shrek also mentions how Donkey played a role in the death of Farquaad.
Trivia
- He marks the first villain in the Shrek series to be vertically challenged; The others being Fairy Godmother and Rumpelstiltskin.
- Farquaad doesn't appear in Shrek 2.
- The character of Lord Farquaad is rumoured based on Dreamworks Animation Studios CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's former boss Michael Eisner who was head of the Walt Disney Company from 1984-2005.
- In one scene where Farquaad lies in bed, the coat of Mother Bear (From "Goldilocks and the Three Bears") is seen on his floor, hinting that he may have killed her. This makes him one of the two Shrek villians to actually kill someone; Rumpelstiltskin "kills" the King and Queen in Shrek Forever After.
- Despite rejecting Fiona after seeing her in her ogress form, Farquaad wanted her to make her his ghostly queen in the underworld. He also seemed to still have feelings for her.
- In the intro when he was torturing Gingy, the three little pigs, and Pinocchio, he called her "His" Fiona in an affectionate way.
- He also was flirting with her while she was on the raft.
- When he thought she was dead, he called her his angel.
- By making Shrek rescue Fiona, he made himself an enemy of all three of his successors, as for all three their plans (getting Fiona to marry Charming for Fairy Godmother, marrying Fiona for Prince Charming, and getting Harold and Lillian to sign their entire kingdom away in exchange for lifting Fiona's curse for Rumpelstiltskin) could only be ruined by somebody else than Charming (Shrek did this) saving Fiona, as Fiona would instead be supposed to marry Farquaad (though she married Shrek), ruining the Godmother and Charming's plans to have her marry him, and, with Fiona saved, Rumpelstiltskin's help was no longer needed as Fiona had been saved (though Harold and Lillian believed her saver was human, and that he kissed her after slaying the Dragon, which wasn't the case, as Shrek was an ogre, he was supposed to bring her to Farquaad, and he didn't slay the Dragon, which actually turned to his advantage when he needed to gain Fiona's true love)
- Despite being eaten by the Dragon, it is possible that Lord Farquaad wasn't actually killed, considering the fact that he'd been seen alive in Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party.
- If this is true, he propably died shortly after, from starvation or suffocation.
Similarities with other characters
- King Candy from the 2012 Disney film Wreck-It Ralph shares a striking ressemblance to Farquaad as both:
- Are approached by the protagonist for something (in Shrek's case, his swamp)
- Have accepted to give this to the protagonist in exchange for something regarding a princess
- Protagonists have regretted their actions for them (though in Shrek's case, he didn't regret saving Fiona, but misunderstood Fiona and Donkey's conversation and believed Fiona thought he was a hideous beast, leaving him heartbroken, while Wreck-It Ralph regretted destroying Vanellope's cart because he realized King Candy had lied to him)
- Protagonists have come back for the Princess in question
- Have been killed during an attempt to kill the protagonist
- Have been killed by something triggered by the protagonist (Shrek's triggered whistle was the signal for Dragon to burst in and eat Farquaad; Wreck-It Ralph triggered the eruption that enchanted all Cy-Bugs including Turbo).
- Prince Charming (ironically the main antagonist of Shrek The Third and one of Farquaad's successors) shares similarities to Farquaad, as both:
- Want to marry Princess Fiona in order to become king (although this was Charming's goal in Shrek 2 and by Shrek The Third came, he'd lost interest in her)
- Were killed by Dragon (Dragon burst in and devoured Farquaad; she also knocked down the tower that crushed Charming to death)
- Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda shares similarities to Farquaad, as (both):
- Have hated the main protagonist from the moment they met them.
- Despite this, both were after another protagonist (Princess Fiona in Farquaad's case; Shifu in Tai Lung's case). However, Farquaad wanted to marry Fiona, whilst Tai Lung intended to kill Shifu. On another hand, Farquaad only wanted to marry Fiona in order to become king, which would mean he indirectly gave her a bad "happily ever after".
- The main protagonists both came back for the protagonist. Also, netiher actually had a clear idea of why they'd come back.
- On both occasions, this comeback from the protagonist ultimately led to their downfalls.
- On both occasions, the main protagonist fought the antagonist in order to get what they wanted. (However, Shrek didn't actually mentally fight Farquaad; and killing Tai Lung wasn't really what Po wanted.)
- Hal Stewart from Megamind shares similarities with Farquaad, as (both):
- Were in love with the female lead.
- The main protagonist were in love with the female lead.
- They clashed with the mainprotagonist for this, along with other reasons.
- They hated the main protagonist before personally knowing them, they briefly got along with them, before resuming their clash with them, which would eventually lead to their downfall.
- They were given something (or someone) by the main protagonist (Fiona in Farquaad's case ; Metroman's DNA in Hal Stewart's case) which the main protagonist later retook.
- They tried to kill the main protagonist, an attempt which would backfire on them and lead to their downfalls.
- These attempts to kill the main protagonist regarded the female lead (Farquaad's fit of rage was caused by Fiona's transformation ; Hal Stewart's hate of Megamind was based on the fact that Roxanne Ritchi spurned him for Megamind.
- King Julien XIII from the Madagascar franchise shares similarites to Farquaad, despite being a protagonist in his series, as (both) :
- Their power is self-proclaimed
- Didn't like the protagonist at first
- Decreed an order against the protagonist; banishment in King Julien XIII's case, death sentence in Lord Farquaad's case.
- Want to be respected by all
- Have gone back for a person they'd banished; Farquaad wanted Fiona to be his ghost queen, Julien lifted Alex's banishment, even coming with him and the other zoo animals in their quest to get back to New York.
- Lord Victor Quartermaine from Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit shares a lot of similarities to Farquaad, as (both):
- Are lords
- Hate the protagonist for what they are (ogres in Shrek's case, a fairytale creature in Donkey's case for Farquaad ; pest control in Wallace and Gromit's case for Quartermaine)
- Want to marry the female lead in order to get what they want out of them (being king in Farquaad's case, getting her money in Quartermaine's case)
- One of the three main characters in their movie is cursed.
- The main protagonist's sidekick discovered this curse (or in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, discovered who was cursed) first, with the other of the three main protagonists and the antagonist discovering this shortly after.
- This curse would be broken shortly after their defeat.
- Their movie would receive an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
- Their defeats were majorly played by the protagonist's sidekick, more than the protagonist himself.
- The first feature featuring the main protagonist, but not the female lead or the antagonist, was released in 1990.
- RJ from Over the Hedge shares similarities with Farquaad, despite being the main protagonist of his feature.
- Both have used people, at the expense of them and another person.
- Both were formerly friends with their opposites in their movie (Shrek in Farquaad's case, Vincent in RJ's case)
- Both were threatened by their opposites in their movie.
Gallery
Quotes
Evening. Mirror, mirror, on the wall, is this not the most perfect kingdom of them all?
-Lord Farquaad talking to the Magic Mirror
Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make
-Farquaad to the Castle of Guards
I'm not the monster here, you are. You and the rest of that fairy tale trash, poisoning my perfect world. Now tell me, where are the others
-Farquaad to the Gingerbread Man
I am king, I will have orders, I will have perfection, I will have... (screams as Dragon devours him)
-Farquaad's final words
And as for you, my wife, I'll have you locked away in that tower for the rest of your days!
-Farquaad threatning Fiona