ā | Our happily ever after is nearly complete, Mommy. And I assure you... the people of this kingdom will pay dearly for every second we've had to wait. | ā |
~ Prince Charming in Shrek the Third. |
ā | Prince Charming: Prepare, foul beast. Your time is DONE! Shrek: Oooh... If you don't mind, could you kill me and then sing? |
ā |
~ Shrek mocking Charming's singing. |
Prince Charming is the secondary antagonist of DreamWorks' 8th full-length feature animated film Shrek 2 and the main antagonist of its sequel Shrek the Third.
He is an English-accented prince who was originally supposed to rescue Princess Fiona only for her to end up being rescued by Shrek who he would end up forming hatred against, particularly in Shrek the Third, where he would try to kill him out of spite.
He was voiced by Rupert Everett.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
Debated Validations[]
- He claimed to sympathize with the fairytale villains at the Poison Apple for not getting their Happily Ever Afters, but its unknown weather it was just to manipulate them or if he was genuinely sympathetic to all the pain they went though.
Shrek 2[]
- He took part in his mother, Fairy Godmother's, plan to have Fiona drink the love potion and end up being forced to fall in love with Charming instead of her true lover, Shrek, so that they could rule Far Far Away.
- Even his introduction was just him bragging about himself being "the most handsome in all the land" showing how boastful he really is.
- Never admitted or acknowledged that it was his own fault he didn't rescue Fiona in time as he yells at Harold when he calls him out on that.
- He plotted to kill Shrek with his sword to take revenge for "stealing his kingdom" even though Shrek loves Fiona for herself and herself alone.
- He called Shrek a dreadful ogre behind his back while complaining that acting like Shrek is annoying.
- Manipulated Fiona and her mother into thinking he was Shrek transformed into a human and acted weird around Fiona.
- Additionally, he told Harold that it isn't his fault Fiona isn't warming up to him, showing he cannot accept feedback.
- He forcibly kissed Fiona with the intent of activating the love potion so that he could marry Fiona, rule Far Far Away, and stop her from falling in love with Shrek.
- He threw Fairy Godmother's wand to her so she can kill Shrek, which leads to Harold sacrificing himself to save Shrek, so Charming indirectly made Harold endanger his own life just to save another life.
- Though he did dance with Doris, she forced him to dance, and he really did not want to.
- While he was genuinely in love with Fiona, after learning that her true love was Shrek, he subverts it at the end of the movie.
Shrek the Third[]
- Charming is taken more seriously in the third film as he underwent a severe personality change after the death of his mother, and is hell-bent on killing Shrek for it even though Harold was actually the one responsible for her death.
- Swore to everyone in the audience that they will be sorry for making fun of him after his play went badly.
- Saw King Harold's funeral up top and smirked at his death.
- He rallied the villains at the Poison Apple bar into a raid at Far Far Away and ends up taking over the place with their help.
- He allowed the villains to vandalize and terrorize Far Far Away. While there are no implications that he intended to cause deaths, Charming still endangered numerous innocent people.
- Forced the Knights to obey him after taking over the kingdom.
- Orders Hook to find and kill the new heir to the throne.
- Likely convinced Rapunzel to betray Fiona and her friends.
- Had Hook force Gingy into telling him where Shrek is.
- He imprisoned Fiona and her friends, along with Shrek's friends themselves in a dungeon.
- When Shrek and Arthur ambushed him, he summoned the Far Far away knights and held them hostage with the intent of killing them, though he would end up letting Arthur go, but only because Shrek lied about him not being the 2nd heir to the throne.
- He mocked Arthur for trusting Shrek, saying ogres are not trustworthy, and mocked Shrek about not knowing much about kids before taking him hostage.
- Upon chaining Shrek, he prepared to kill him at a public play that he set up himself.
- He yelled at the audience after they mocked him and told Shrek that he will know how he felt before raising his sword to kill him.
- When Arthur successfully convinced the villains to redeem themselves, Charming decided not to take this chance of redemption and tried to kill him out of spite only to end up being stopped by Shrek, whom he would try to kill one more time himself before trying to assert his rule over Far Far Away.
- Even when Shrek grabs him, Charming still shows no remorse for his crimes, saying that his plans were supposed to end with his happily ever after.
- Even his final words "mommy" shows that he is still a childish mamaās boy who refuses to grow up and change for the better, which led to his downfall.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out?[]
- Despite being cruel, his plans of taking over Far Far Away (and his actions in doing so) end up relying on Fridge Horror for 6 reasons:
- His takeover of Far Far Away wasnāt confirmed to have endangered or killed people. Even though you could argue that he endangered numerous innocent people to the point of almost killing them, it was never implied or confirmed that he intended to kill people during the takeover.
- While he did imprison several people because they were friends with both Shrek and Fiona, the victims are not tortured or abused in the slightest.
- There's no indication that the citizens of Far Far Away would have suffered under his reign if he succeeded.
- There is no indication that the love potion he used on Princess Fiona is a date-rape drug and his act of forcibly kissing Princess Fiona against her will does not pass the baseline standard, as sexual assault is not the same as rape or molestation (which is understandable, considering that the film series is aimed at kids).
- Even though he partook in his mother's plan to have Fiona drink the love potion and end up being forced to fall in love with him instead of Shrek, this was actually because he was purely following his mother's orders rather than being independently willing to help Fairy Godmother succeed.
- Even as king he didn't really act like a tyrant, only forcing the kingdom to see his play.
- The rest of Charmingās crimes amount to usurpation, generic vengefulness, abuse and kill-the-heroes villainy, preventing him from meeting the baseline.
- He fails the heinous standards of the Shrek franchise to the following characters below:
- Lord Farquaad, who fails the heinous standards himself and had at least had one successful kill (of Mama Bear), coupled with 2 attempted murders (of Shrek and Fiona), and one torture.
- Humpty Alexander Dumpty, who, with absolutely zero resources whatsoever, nearly got San Ricardo destroyed and its residents killed by luring in the Great Terror by kidnapping its infant Golden Goose.
- And finally, Rumpelstiltskin, who took over Far Far Away in a very vile manner and was the only villain in the franchise who succeeded in making Shrek shed tears.
- He genuinely cares for his mother, Fairy Godmother, showing affection to her and even having her death be part of his motivation for wanting to kill Shrek in Shrek the Third.
- While he is taken more seriously in the third movie, he is still a little bit comedic in the climax where the audience laughs at him due to how badly he performed in his play.
- He seemed to be genuinely in love with Rapunzel as he lets her be in his play as his princess that he gets to save.
- He is shown to be a good boss to the Fairy Tale villains and lets them do whatever they want.
- While he did call them morons at the climax, that was because he was worried they would listen to Arthur and didn't want them to leave him.
- He has insecurities which were played for sympathy in the third film as he didn't get his own happily ever after like he wanted deep down.
- His hate for Shrek is somewhat understandable as Shrek stole the Princess he worked hard to rescue (not to mention Shrek had originally rescued Fiona for Farquaad solely to get the Fairy Tale creatures relocated) and thus reduced him to a laughingstock working at a dinner theater and being bullied by others with Shrek nor anyone else in Far Far away ever feeling bad for him. Not to mention, Shrek was indirectly responsible for his mom's death, which greatly upset him.
- Additionally, after his play was a disaster, he went to the dressing room (which was really the back alley) and started crying over his mother's death, which is played for sympathy.
- He can sometimes have fun as shown when he took part in Far Far Away idol after the events of Shrek 2. It's also worth noting that he never tried to cheat and took part in the competition fairly.
Trivia[]
- Prince Charming, along with the Fairy Godmother, were originally going to return in Shrek Forever After in Rumpelstiltskin's alternate timeline, as they never died in that timeline as Shrek was never born. However, they were scrapped for unknown reasons. Had he been kept, it is unknown if it would've affected his VB status.
External Links[]
- Prince Charming on the Villains Wiki
- Prince Charming on the DreamWorks Wiki
- Prince Charming on the Shrek Wiki
- Prince Charming on the Universal Studios Wiki
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Villainous Benchmarks | ||
Animated Features Live-Action Features Animated Television Shorts Video Games Fanon See Also |
Villainous Benchmarks | ||
Kingdom of Duloc Fairy Godmother's Cottage The Poison Apple Others Fanon |
Villainous Benchmarks | ||
Animated Features Live-Action Features Animated Television Live-Action Television Short Features Fanon See Also |