Fairy Godmother (Shrek)
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| Shrek character | |
|---|---|
| Fairy Godmother | |
| Gender | Female |
| Type | Fairy |
| Spouse | unknown husband |
| Other family | Prince Charming(son) |
| Voiced by | Jennifer Saunders |
The Fairy Godmother is a fictional character and the main antagonist of DreamWorks Animation Studio's Film Shrek 2. She is voiced by British actress Jennifer Saunders.
Contents |
[edit] Character overview
The Fairy Godmother is a scheming, conniving, opportunist who seeks to get the best for herself and her son, rather than others. She often resorts to blackmail and trickery through magic to get her way.
[edit] Story Significance
[edit] Shrek 2
The King and Queen of Far Far Away comes to her for help with their daughter, princess Fiona; she is enchanted with a fearsome curse that makes her an ogre during the night but normal during the day; the Fairy Godmother advises that she be put in a tower guarded by a fearsome Dragon until Prince Charming would come and rescue her. (It is likely that the Fairy Godmother put the curse on Fiona in the first place so that her son, Prince Charming, could grab the chance as necessary).
The deception behind this becomes clear later in the film; it turns out that the Fairy Godmother had helped King Harold become human, and that Harold was originally the Frog Prince and had her change his appearance to marry Queen Lillian. Therefore, the Fairy Godmother decrees that her son would be the one to rescue Princess Fiona from the tower. Harold, under threat of having his form changed again, reluctantly goes along with the plot.
However, after the events of the first Shrek movie, Shrek rescues Fiona from the tower before Charming could reach it. When Charming finds the Castle and climbs to the highest room in the tallest tower he finds the Big Bad Wolf lying in Fiona's bed. After questioning the wolf, he discovers that Fiona is married.
The Fairy Godmother becomes aware when she finds Fiona in her room at the palace of Far, Far Away and attempts to entice her with various luxuries, but fails. She then goes to Harold and threatens him into to keeping their deal; she wants Shrek dead and Fiona with her son Charming.
The Fairy Godmother prepares a Love Potion for Fiona but is barged in on by Shrek with his friends Donkey and Puss in Boots; after cruelly lecturing Shrek about Fiona's love it seems that Shrek is going to leave. Instead, they wreck her work factory and steal one of her potions. When she sees that the stolen potion is the Happily Ever After Potion (which turns the drinker of the potion and their love into beautiful people), she knows it could work to her advantage.
She captures Shrek in Fiona's Palace Room before Fiona could see him when Shrek goes to meet her. The Fairy Godmother then passes Charming off as the new, handsome Shrek to Fiona while she again dupes Shrek into believing that Fiona is better off with Charming.
However, while at the downtown pub The Poison Apple, King Harold meets the Fairy Godmother and tells her to forget the whole thing. She threatens him again and orders him to use the Love Potion she had prepared in order for Fiona to fall for Charming forever. Fiona would then kiss Charming, her new true love, making the Happily Ever After Potion preserve her beauty forever. The conversation is overheard by Shrek and his friends, who were captured soon after by the F.F.A.P.D and imprisoned. Satisfied, the Fairy Godmother prepares for the ball where Charming would perform the deadly kiss.
Back at Shrek's swamp house, The Three Blind Mice, Gingy, Pinnochio, and the Big Bad Wolf are watching TV, and see Shrek, Donkey, and Puss being captured and thrown into jail on "KNIGHTS", a parody of "COPS". They then travel to Far, Far Away and rescue Shrek, Donkey, and Puss from jail. Though at first it seems their situation is hopeless to rescue Fiona, Shrek gets an idea and the group goes to see The Muffin Man.
Despite Charming's best efforts, The Fairy Godmother has to intervene again by dedicating the song "Holding Out For A Hero" to them so that Charming could kiss her during the dance. While Fiona dodges every attempt and the Fairy Godmother goes on with her song, Shrek, Donkey and their friends, armed with a Giant Ginger-Bread Man known as Mongo (baked by the Muffin Man), get into the castle and stop Charming.
Furious, the Fairy Godmother goes to attack Shrek with her wand but is first attacked by one of the Three Little Pigs, who grab hold of her foot; Pinocchio is thrown at her, but she blasts him and turns him into a 'real boy'; she kicks off the Pig into a castle window and is blown further into the air by The Big Bad Wolf. She pursues a pig, then Donkey, the Three Blind Mice and Gingy before Puss in Boots catches her wand. She turns furiously to Charming, who kisses Fiona. However, seeing as Harold had never given her the potion Fiona head butts him and knocks him out. Yet he soon throws the wand back to the Fairy Godmother who rises up and launches a massive lightning spell at Shrek. However, this is mirrored by King Harold's breastplate as he jumps in front of the spell before it could hit Shrek.
The rebounded blast hits the Fairy Godmother in the midriff and further into the air and she eventually explodes into thousands of bubbles, her glasses, and what seem to be numorous tears, falling to the floor along with her wand; the star's light fading into darkness (like Glinda the Good Witch of The Wizard of Oz).
After Fairy Godmother is stopped, the clock strikes midnight, and Shrek tells Fiona of the potion's effects, and that, if she wants it, he will not kiss her so they can stay human and beautiful. Fiona is touched Shrek sacrifices that for her, and holds off kissing, so the potion reverses (Donkey's dose also wears off and he, along with Shrek and Fiona, is lifted into the air and changed back into a Donkey).
The nature of the magic spell is up for discussion however. As it reverses King Harold to his original form, the frog prince [suggested earlier in the film when he visited The Poison Apple bar] and before that, Pinniochio back to a puppet [having been changed into a real boy moments before]. This is turn makes us wonder just what the Fairy Godmother is. The spells magic turns her into bubbles and tears. During the movie, we are shown tears summon the fairy godmother [or if dropped on her business card, set up a huge magical advertisement show], her motto even being "happiness is just a tear drop away". She may, in fact, be a collection of magic and tears of those who never had a happy ever after or whose happy ever after she granted when they cried. Some indications (such as the old cottage under the factory) indicate she was not always a ruthless executive but was jaded over time by success, popularity and economic prosperity.
In Shrek the Third, Charming keeps an autographed photo of her and plans to avenge her farewell by killing Shrek.
[edit] Shrek 2: The Game
The Fairy Godmother also appears as the villain in the Shrek 2 game; though her appearance is somewhat different. She has a pink dress instead of blue like the film and she looks far older than in the film as well.
She is faced twice within the game; she fights Red Riding Hood when the player breaks into her cottage and has to fight her on conveyor belts and again at the end of the game. She makes Trolls and Elves do her bidding and players eventually have to fight her in two periods. She fires lightning laser blasts and is protected by a magical bubble. Eventually the players overcome her and she blows up.
[edit] Shrek Smash and Crash
Fairy Godmother never actually appears in Shrek Smash and Crash but pictures and statues of her can be seen around the track. Also, at the beginning of Tournament mode, Donkey finds the Fairy Godmother's wand in which he uses it to turn various objects in karts. Fairy Godmother appears on the billboard in the Downtown of Far Far Away track. Racers can crash through the billboard to find a secret shortcut. Fairy Godmother's potion factory is also a playable race track and is known as Inside the Potion Factory. In this track, numerous pictures and statues can be seen of Fairy Godmother.
[edit] See Also
- Ursula The Sea Witch - as the villianess in the Little Mermaid (which Saunders did audition for) has quite a lot of similarities with the Fairy Godmother.
- Jennifer Saunder's character, Edina Monsoon in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous is also similar.
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