Lord Farquaad is the main antagonist from the 2001 animated feature Shrek. He is voiced by John Lithgow. He does not appear in William Steig's picture book of the same name.
Lord Farquaad in the Shrek films
Shrek
Lord Farquaad is the comically short-in-stature, ruthless ruler of Duloc. Several times in the film it is commented that, in his capital city Duloc's towering height, Farquaad may be compensating for something. His birthday is April 15.
In pursuit of perfection, Farquaad attempts to rid his kingdom of Fairy Tale creatures, offering a bounty for their capture and then exiling imprisoned creatures to Shrek's swamp. However, because Farquaad is not of royal stock, he cannot become a king until he marries a princess. He decides that Princess Fiona will be the perfect wife and queen, but she first be rescued from her tower which is guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.
Unwilling to perform the rescue himself, Farquaad holds a tournament to discover the knight who will rescue Princess Fiona. Shrek and Donkey arrive at Duloc during the tourney and become involved. They defeat the knights, so Farquaad decides to send Shrek on the quest. Farquaad agrees to move the Fairy Tale creatures out of Shrek's swamp if he rescues Fiona. Shrek delivers Fiona to Farquaad and Farquaad immediately proposes marriage, unaware that she becomes an ogress at sunset. Shrek disrupts the marriage ceremony, delaying a kiss between Farquaad and Fiona until after sunset. Fiona makes the transition from human to ogress form, upon which Farquaad rejects his new bride, banishing her back to the tower and claiming the title of King. He also sentences Shrek to death at that time. Before Farquaad finishes his claim of becoming the new King, the dragon who had guarded Fiona, and who developed a crush on Donkey while Fiona was being rescued from her castle, crashes through the window in response to a beckoning whistle from Shrek. She then devours Farquaad. Moments later the dragon burps and Farquaad's crown comes out. Farquaad was apparently not well-liked in Duloc; when he is eaten, the citizens laugh and cheer.
It is then applied that he is dead when he enters as a ghost in the Shrek 4-D ride at Universal Studios. He also appears as a ghost in the 30 min Shrek Special on Nick in which he attempts to murderer Shrek and Donkey, and kidnap and kill Fiona so that she can be his ghost queen. Princess Fiona is rescued when Lord Farquaad is presumably destroyed by the Dragon again.
Shrek the Third
Lord Farquaad makes a cameo appearance in Shrek the Third during Gingy the Gingerbread Man's flashbacks in which Farquaad yanks off Gingy's legs and mocks Gingy with them. This is a reference to the first Shrek film.
Shrek Forever After
He was originally intended to appear in the alternate universe (in which he would still be alive due to Dragon still being evil and not eating him), but the decision was apparently dropped.
Lord Farquaad also makes a cameo during the ending credits of Shrek Forever After.
Scared Shrekless
Despite being eaten by Dragon in the first film, Lord 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.
The inspiration debate
There is some speculation that Lord Farquaad's appearance may be inspired by Michael Eisner, the then-CEO of The Walt Disney Company, owing to producer Jeffrey Katzenberg's animosity toward his former employer. Others had noticed a resemblance to Richard III of England. The name Farquaad is thought to be a way to get away with saying "fuckwad" in a children's film. Farquaad happens to be similar to the surname of film animator Mark Farquhar.
Reception
IGN's Orlando Parfitt chose Lord Farquaad as his 14th favorite fantasy villain.
Trivia
- Farquaad marks the first villain in the Shrek franchise to be vertically challenged, the others being the Fairy Godmother and Rumpelstiltskin.
- 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 villains to actually kill someone, the other being Rumpelstiltskin when he "killed" King Harold and Queen Lillian 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.
- He may also be based on Napoleon Bonaparte due to being short yet ruling with an iron fist.
- Alan Rickman was originally offered for the role of Lord Farquaad, but he turned it down to play Severus Snape in Harry Potter instead.
Similarities with other characters
- Gaston from the 1991 Disney film "Beauty and the Beast" shares a striking resemblance to Farquaad as both:
- Both are main antagonists who weren't revealed to be evil at first.
- Both wear red costume.
- Their both hair is black, ironically Gaston tied his hair, whilst Farquaad didn't tie his hair.
- Both wanted to marry to heroine (Princess Fiona and Belle) for their selfish reasons.
- Both have been called "monster" by who (Gingy and Belle) disliked themselves.
- Both attempt to kill hideous creature (Shrek and Beast).
- Both fought with hideous creature in the castle.
- 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, and Ralph's case, his medal).
- 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