Donkey

Donkey
“ That's me: the noble steed. „ ― Donkey
Vital statistics
Names	Donkey
Gender	Male
Race	Donkey
Occupation	Parent,Knight
Origin	Shrek (April 22, 2001)
Alignment	Good
Age	Unknown
Created By	Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, Roger S. H. Schulman
Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}

Donkey is one of the two friends (alongside Puss in Boots) of the Shrek franchise.

Serving as the deuteragonist of the Shrek, one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Fiona) of Shrek 2, and one of the two tritagonists (alongside Puss in Boots) of Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After.

He is is the talkative, euphoric, happy-go-lucky, and flighty sidekick and the best friend of Shrek, Dragon's husband, and the Dronkeys' father.

Personality

Contrary to his species' stubborn stereotypes, Donkey is a hyperactive, simple-minded chatterbox, whimsical, and sociable to a fault. He enjoys singing, idle chatter and often speaks ebonics, and while rarely ill-intentioned can prove rather oblivious and irritating those around him (especially Shrek). Donkey is also often quite gutless and tends to freak out in the face of danger, which often proves trying in emergencies while coupled with his impatience and short attention span. Some of Donkey's foibles include noisiness, acrophobia, colorblindness, hypochondria (fear of illness), and gutlessness. For these reasons and more, Donkey can prove to be somewhat of a (dense, irritating, miniature beast of) burden while journeying with others.

However, there's one thing Donkey is very obstinate about - making friends. Despite his many flaws, Donkey is a steadfast character whose friendliness comes from a place of genuine kindness, and it's been proven several times that his insistence on becoming friends with others can be not only effective, but bring the best out of even the most hostile of recipients, something best seen in both his best friend Shrek and his eventual wife, Dragon. He's also shown to be a surprisingly good listener, lending an ear and comfort to both Shrek and Fiona's problems on multiple occasions and even acting as a secret-keeper for the latter regarding her curse for a short while. While necessary though, Donkey can be ill-tempered and confrontational, most famously seen during his bitter fight with Shrek after he gave up on Fiona for a very short time, where he harshly called the ogre out in regards to his unbridled callousness and pridefulness. Notably, Donkey remained gracious to the point of seeming not to mind Shrek's flaws throughout almost the entirety of the adventure until this moment, showcasing a surprising level of patience for those he cares about.

Donkey's positive traits can be observed well in his relationship with his family as well, including his kids. Compared to Shrek, Donkey adapted smoothly to parenthood and was ecstatic over the news, and his exuberant personality made him well-prepared for raising a brood as chaotic and playful as the Dronkeys, though he struggles to keep them under control every now and then. Nonetheless, Donkey has been proven to make a surprisingly good father, and he shares a mutually affectionate relationship with his offspring, who are known to lovingly tackle their father on sight.

Donkey has a sweet tooth in addition, and enjoys such foods as parfait, cake, waffles (his favorite), and "upside-down coconut souffle with mango chutney sauce". and his love of food is so great that all of his kids (sans Debbie) would be named after various edible items.

Biography

Appearance

Donkey is a gray donkey with brown eyes and a black mane.

Shrek

Donkey is first seen on a leash and muzzled with his owner in a line, where fairy tale creatures are being given to the Duloc Guards for money. Their captain is hesitant to accept Donkey until she proves he can talk, which he refuses to do, causing her to be taken away - however, Donkey accidentally gets hit by fairy dust from a fairy (which Peter Pan was taking in to sell), giving him the ability to fly, much to his joy. Donkey exposes himself by boasting as he soars upwards, but then the magic wears off, causing him to drop to the ground. The guards tackle him, but he escapes and flees into the forest, until he bumps into an ogre. Though seemingly displeased, the ogre scares the knights away instead of surrendering Donkey as they order.

Grateful and impressed by his help, Donkey follows the ogre and decides to stay with him due to having nowhere to go. Quickly growing tired of the mule's presence, he attempts to scare him off by roaring, but Donkey is unfazed, only noting that he needs a few tic-tacs for his breath (which stinks). He continues to walk alongside him, conveying (through song) that he doesn't have any friends, further exasperating the green hero. When he tries to bring up his species as a reason to Donkey to leave, he shows no concern or bother over the revelation, and asks for the ogre's name. Seeming somewhat moved, he answers that his name is Shrek.

Donkey tells Shrek he finds him cool and likes his tough attitude, and expresses disgust when they see a swamp, though quickly changes tune when he's told it's Shrek's home. He continues flattering Shrek with some rather ironic words, but upon arriving he quickly pleads with the ogre to let him stay so he won't have to go back to where he came from, to which Shrek reluctantly agrees. Donkey is excited and starts jumping on the chair and talking about making waffles in the morning, but Shrek tells him he has to sleep outside. Though Donkey tries to get his pity, Shrek slams the door and he is left to sleep outside.

Later, during the night, Shrek mistakes a creaking sound made by the Three Blind Mice in his home to be Donkey's doing until the latter responds to him from outside the window. After Shrek discovers his swamp has been invaded by many other fairy tale creatures outside his house, he orders them all to leave and initially looks at Donkey in suspicion for inviting them, but discovers they were evicted and forced to go there by Lord Farquaad. When Shrek asks the fairytale mob where he can find Farquaad, Donkey eagerly responds, and after seeing nobody else knows, Donkey is taken by a reluctant Shrek on a quest to seek out the Lord and get the creatures off of Shrek's property, which makes him excited and causes him to hum as they depart.

Donkey and Shrek eventually arrive at the Kingdom of Duloc to confront Farquaad. Donkey is enthralled by the (few) attractions of Duloc, though Shrek keeps him in check and forces him to come along. They barge in on Farquaad's tournament, the ruler reacting in disgust and sending his knights at Shrek. In the ensuing brawl Donkey climbs on top of a giant barrel to roll over several of them, and he also helps Shrek by headbutting and kicking a few of the other knights. Emerging victorious, Farquaad declares Shrek champion and tells him that in order for the fairytale creatures to be removed from his swamp, he must rescue Princess Fiona for him.

So, Shrek and Donkey go to rescue the princess, despite Donkey's complaints and suggesting the deal is unfair and to deal with Farquaad by force with "some of that ogre stuff", which Shrek shuts down, explaining that ogres have layers with an onion-based metaphor Donkey seems to misunderstand. The two then journey for another day, finally reaching the Dragon's Keep where Fiona is held. Much to Donkey's dismay they must cross a rickety bridge across a moat of lava to reach it, something which causes him a great deal of fear. Shrek at first tries to be reassuring, but after Donkey begins to panic and refuse to turn back, the ogre starts to mess with him by shaking the bridge until Donkey crosses to the other side by backing up.

The two explore the castle and end up splitting up after Shrek asks him to find the stairs to the princess' tower. Donkey instead ends up finding a dragon, who chases him down until he ends up cornered on a broken bridge. With nowhere to run and no ability to fight, Donkey turns to the one tool he has left to survive - flattery. Donkey compliments the dragon on her features and successfully smooth-talks her into not eating him, but his wooing ends up working a little too well, and she takes him to her chambers, shaking her tail back and forth happily as she carries him away.

Within the dragon's chamber, she flirts with Donkey persistently despite him making his discomfort clear, and she then puckers her lips and attempts to smooch him much to his panic. But luckily, Shrek (having retrieved the princess already) was there to save him, and swooped down to grab Donkey just in the nick of time to intercept the kiss with his rear. The three run for their lives as the dragon tried in vain to give chase, and Donkey successfully escapes alongside Shrek and Fiona, narrowly avoiding a fall into the magma below and leaving the dragon heartbroken.

Outside the keep, a happy Fiona shows her gratitude to Shrek and leaves Donkey on the side until he coughs to get her attention, leading her to praise him as a "noble steed", to which he responds with pride; though this does not last when she later addresses him as Shrek's pet. Despite Shrek having to drag Fiona away kicking and screaming back to Duloc, it's shown that her and Donkey have already begun to get along decently during the journey, with Donkey asking her for hypothetical advice on how to let "a girl" who's into him down easy without hurting her feelings and getting burnt to a crisp and eaten (obviously in reference to Dragon, showing Donkey's concern for her). He also shows happiness for Fiona at the prospect of getting to live in Duloc and assures her that she'll love it, though him and Shrek shortly begin to make puns at the expense of her husband-to-be Farquaad's stature.

Donkey agrees with Fiona when she demands they find a place to camp (though for the reason of there being robbers), even offering to read her a bedtime story, and he and Shrek end up sitting by a campfire for the night while she sleeps in a cave. The two end up stargazing next to the fire, with Donkey remaining incredulous over Shrek's constellations. Donkey eventually questions Shrek on what the two of them will do with "their" swamp once the journey is complete, to which Shrek insists he'll build a wall to keep others, including him, out. This prompts Donkey to question why Shrek is trying to keep others away and ask what his problem with others is, causing Shrek to tell him it is the other way around, where he feels better off alone due to others judging him and treating him as a "big, stupid, ugly ogre", and ends up sitting on a nearby cliffside on his own. Sympathetic, Donkey tries to reassure Shrek that he never viewed him that way, and asks Shrek about donkey-related constellations as the two sit by the moon. Shrek tells him about Gabby, who was "small and annoying".

After eating breakfast, the three continue on their way to Duloc, and are assailed by Monsieur Hood. Donkey is unharmed in the scuffle and Fiona makes short work of him and his merry men, but Shrek gets an arrow stuck in his butt, causing Donkey to panic and assume Shrek will die. Fiona tells Donkey to calm down and retrieve a blue flower with red thorns (though as a distraction so she can pull it out easily). Despite his colorblindness making it difficult, Donkey retrieves a flower and returns to find Fiona on top of Shrek on the ground, which he gets the wrong idea from and comments on suggestively before Fiona yanks the arrow out of Shrek's rear, causing Donkey to faint and Shrek to carry him. The trio shortly resume walking, with Donkey getting accidentally catapulted off of a tree on the way (though he's fine shortly after). When they reach a small house to take refuge near for the night, Fiona feigns concern over Donkey supposedly looking ill to distract him while her and Shrek prepare dinner. Donkey is left confused by these antics, and says he needs hug.

While eating dinner later on, Shrek and Fiona have a moment and appear to almost kiss before Donkey interrupts them to comment on the romantic atmosphere set by the sunset. Fiona begins to panic due to the effects of her curse and says she needs to go inside, which Donkey reasons as being due to a fear of the dark, something Fiona goes along with. Donkey sees the way Shrek and Fiona have been growing closer and starts to pester Shrek about their feelings, encouraging him to confess, though the hero denies it. During the night, Donkey nervously enters the house to check on Fiona with no success until she falls from the floor above in her ogre form. Panicking, Donkey assumes Shrek has eaten Fiona until she grabs his mouth shut and tries to calm him down, at which point he slowly realizes. Oblivious, Fiona explains the nature of the spell that was cast on her and why she was locked away and has to marry Farquaad. Donkey tries to reassure Fiona over her ogre form and her self-loathing (though a little tactlessly), and upon seeing her distress over breaking the curse, encourages her to have her true love's kiss with Shrek instead due to all they have in common. However, Fiona still insists she has to marry Farquaad and continues to berate her appearance, and holds Donkey to keep her form a secret - he agrees, though he encourages her to tell Shrek on her own.

Donkey's words do end up helping Fiona to choose to attempt a confession to Shrek in the morning. Unfortunately, Shrek overheard their conversation at the worst time, hearing Fiona's harsh words on her own ogre appearance and assuming them to be about him, leading to a tragic misunderstanding between the two and for Shrek to get Farquaad to come and retrieve her, which she doesn't object to. Donkey is confused and upset, asking Shrek why he let Farquaad take her away, but Shrek, thinking Donkey was talking with Fiona behind his back, simply yells him in pain and walks back to his swamp alone, leaving a lonely Donkey behind.

After this, Donkey ended up overlooking a lake where he was reunited with a heartbroken Dragon, where he makes amends for their previous encounter, and she seems to be happy to see him. Shortly after, Donkey returns to Shrek's swamp, making a "wall" of sticks and stones in the middle, declaring that as he did half the work he gets half of the swamp. This leads to an argument between the two, where Donkey calls Shrek out on the latter's cold and domineering attitude towards the former. When Donkey was asked why he came back if he was treated so poorly tells Shrek that it's because friends forgive each other. Shrek expresses his anger over Donkey "stabbing him in the back", leading to the misunderstanding from earlier coming up and Donkey explaining that Fiona's words were "about somebody else". Tired of Shrek and his coldness and arrogance, Donkey refuses to explain any further until Shrek finally apologizes, at which point Donkey happily forgives him and they shake hand and hoof.

Donkey tells Shrek that he needs to ask Fiona who she was talking about herself, and when Shrek panics that they won't make it to the wedding in time, Donkey reveals his secret weapon - Dragon, who flies the two to the chapel of the wedding, where Donkey insists Shrek needs to interrupt the wedding to object properly when the audience is asked if they have any objections, and gets Shrek to toss him up to the nearest window so he can tell him when to enter. Donkey stays outside for most of the ensuing turmoil, but just as Farquaad has his knights seize Shrek and Fiona (due to seeing her ogre form), Donkey busts through the window on top of Dragon, who eats Farquaad and prevents the wedding, while making a snide remark that celebrity marriages never last and crying after the two kiss.

During Shrek and Fiona's wedding at the swamp, Donkey attends and catches the bouquet, and he and Dragon end up being wed as well - he then joins in with singing "I'm A Believer" in regards to his love for her.

Shrek 2

In the second film, Shrek and Fiona arrive at their swamp after their honeymoon, only to realize that Donkey had "babysat" their home while they were gone. He reveals that he had come because Dragon had been all moody and vicious lately, and takes a minute to get the hint that Shrek and Fiona want some time alone.

When Shrek and Fiona are invited to the kingdom of Far Far Away, Donkey accompanies them but is extremely annoying all the way, repeatedly asking the two if they're there yet and making popping noises with his mouth until Shrek blows up at him. He is excited to be in the palace when they finally get there, and even moreso to have a royal dinner (which he barges into), though he inadvertently helps worsen the tension between Shrek and Harold during the meal with his poor table etiquette and revealing that the couple live in a swamp. After arguing with Fiona, Donkey chastises Shrek by mocking Shrek's words, "I'm an ogre, ARGH!"

The next day, Donkey accompanies Shrek into the woods after the king had invited the latter for some father-son bonding, until they meet a tabby cat assassin named Puss in Boots, who attacks Shrek. Donkey tries to help Shrek fight him, though all he does in the struggle is accidentally kick Shrek in the groin instead. After Puss is incapacitated by a hairball and reveals he was hired by King Harold to kill Shrek, he pleads for their forgiveness, but Donkey is upset when Shrek forgives him (and at first suggests neutering him with his own sword). Donkey's disdain towards the cat persists as the film continues, but the two slowly begin to put aside their differences and become friends.

Puss accompanies Shrek and Donkey to find the Fairy Godmother's office and helps the duo steal a potion called "Happily Ever After". After Puss offered to sample the potion for him, Donkey interrupts him and does it himself saying it was "the best friend's job" and drinks a small amount of the potion. Nothing happened to him, so Shrek drank the entire bottle. A rainstorm then rolls in, causing Donkey to panic until Shrek tells him it's the rain, after which the group find shelter in a barn. Shrek comforts Donkey by petting him.

Later that night, Donkey starts to reassure Shrek that everything will be all right until he faints -- which Shrek also does shortly afterward. Waking up the next day, after Shrek finds himself to be a human, it is revealed the effects of the potion have caused Donkey to become a magnificent white stallion, much to his joy. After stealing a proper outfit for Shrek (which Donkey helps with by feigning injury on the side of the road so Puss can ambush a traveller), Donkey acts as a steed and the trio arrive at the castle, but the Fairy Godmother and her son Prince Charming are already there and a heartbroken Shrek lets Fiona go and leaves the palace with Donkey and Puss after being manipulated into thinking Fiona has found true love with Charming.

Donkey and Puss follow Shrek to the Poison Apple, where he questions Shrek on leaving Fiona behind, pointing out how unfair it is that everyone in the situation supposedly wins besides Shrek. After Harold arrives at the bar to meet with Fairy Godmother and Charming, however, the group end up eavesdropping through a window until Donkey yells, giving them away. Donkey tries to escape with them on his back, but the Fairy Godmother ends up sicing the authorities on them for robbing the potion, and they are captured and imprisoned. Thankfully, Three Little Pigs, the Three Blind Mice, the Big Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, and Gingy caught it on TV and break Donkey and the others out of prison. Now needing to get to Fiona and save her from being forced to fall in love with Charming before midnight, Shrek hatches a plan, and Donkey travels with the others to Drury Lane seeking the Muffin Man.

The Muffin Man creates Mongo, a giant gingerbread man, and Donkey (carrying Shrek and the others) guides him to the castle and leaps across the drawbridge to the castle after Mongo holds it open. With Puss distracting the guards, Donkey carries Shrek to where the dance is being held, and helps to take the Fairy Godmother's wand, ensuing in a struggle until she is finally defeated by a blast of magic reflected by Harold's armor. At midnight, he, Shrek and Fiona are transformed back into their regular selves. Donkey is disappointed that he's not a horse anymore, but Shrek assures him that, stallion or no, he was always a noble steed.

At the party near the end of the movie, Donkey and Puss sing a duet of Livin' la Vida Loca over the cast credits. At the very end of the film, Donkey is finally reunited with Dragon, who is followed by their donkey/dragon-hybrid children, the Dronkeys, whom Donkey is happy to see, remarking he now needs to get a job.

Shrek the Third

In the third film, Donkey appears early on alongside his babies, barging into Shrek and Fiona's castle bedroom and being present for much of their stand-in as royalty during the intro, later unsettling Shrek by laying next to him in bed (which gets him thrown out). After King Harold passes away on his lily pad, Donkey goes along with Puss to accompany Shrek along for the journey to find the new king of Far Far Away, Arthur. As they depart, Fiona reveals her pregnancy to Shrek, and in contrast to the latter, Donkey is thrilled at the prospect of becoming an "uncle".

At Worcestershire Academy, Donkey shows a grudge over returning to a high school, recalling his experience of receiving wedgies (despite not wearing pants, which he responds to Puss's questioning with "some things are better left unsaid"). This grudge is not unfounded, as in their short time there he somehow ended up stuffed in a locker off-screen with a note pinned to his rear ("I Sucketh"), which he barges out of while yelling threats at the guilty students who flee to the assembly hall. He isn't very polite to Arthur initially when they unknowingly find him lying on the ground, though he does stand up for the teen upon seeing how he's humiliated during the assembly, telling the laughing crowd they should be ashamed of themselves.

On the boat ride back, Donkey tries to tell Arthur how great the kingly life will be along with Puss, though the duo ends up accidentally giving him second thoughts by mentioning bodyguards and famine, which results in Arthur attempting to turn the ship around and crashing the ship in a struggle with Shrek, making Donkey seasick. After the group are back on land, Donkey voices his discontent with Shrek's attitude towards Arthur and encourages to try to talk with the boy, both on the shore and after Arthur's outburst regarding his father's abandonment after taking the journey to the soul at Merlin's campfire. When Donkey took said journey to the soul, he apparently got a vision of a dutch fudge torte with cinnamon swirls; as this was a process that brought out Shrek and Arthur's deeply buried fears, this perhaps shows Donkey's soul to be the most at ease of the three's.

After the four are warped back to Far, Far, Away by Merlin's transportation spell, Donkey and Puss end up swapping bodies (probably due to making contact when Merlin cast the spell), much to their chagrin, and this remains the case for most of the story afterwards. Donkey plays along with Artie's ploy to convince the knights to take Shrek to Charming under the pretense of being a famous actor, which proves successful until Charming summons guards to seize them. During the argument between Shrek and Artie, Donkey appears ready to step in and stand up for the heir against Shrek's unfair insults, though he is stopped by Puss, who realizes Shrek is trying to get Artie to abandon them and leave for safety.

Following this, the trio are imprisoned and Donkey is placed in the same cell as the princesses alongside Puss until Lillian frees them. They join in on the uprising to take back Far, Far Away, with him and Puss freeing the Dronkeys from a zoo (much to their confusion, due to the two's swapped bodies), then going on to rescue and form a team with Pinocchio, Gingy, the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. Donkey gives them the name "Team Dynamite", though after some disagreements he declares a compromise of "Team Alpha Super Awesome Cool Dynamite Wolf Squadron". The team immediately encounter Artie, and Donkey and Puss help talk him out of leaving by explaining that Shrek was trying to save him.

Donkey joins the others in interrupting Shrek's execution at the hands of Charming, and after Artie talks the villains out of their sinister ways and Dragon drops the tower on the prince, he and Puss find Merlin in the crowd and immediately demand he change them back, which he does. During the ending, he and the Dronkeys are shown visiting and playing with the Ogre Triplets, and he is seen at the end of the film playing peek-a-boo with Fergus.

Shrek Forever After

In the fourth film, in Rumpelstiltskin's universe, Donkey is afraid of Shrek and evil fairy tale creatures. Donkey also has messy fur in this universe, probably from the witches beating him up. He was allowed to sing but was forced to sing the songs that only the witches liked. This is one of many cruel jobs Donkey has been hired for, which also included time working for Old MacDonald.

Video Game Appearances

Donkey is a playable character in the Shrek 2 video game as both his standard "donkey" form and as a stallion with Shrek riding him. He's playable as a donkey in "Shrek's Swamp", "Spooky Forest", "Far Far Away", "Ogre Killer", "Walking the Path", "Jack and Jill's Farm", "Fairy Godmother's" and "Final Fight", and playable as a stallion in "The Mines" and "Cookie Cookie". His special ability as a donkey is Burro Blast, an incredibly strong kicking attack, and his ability as a stallion is Charge, which causes him to rush forward while Shrek swings his sword. Both abilities have the power to break specially marked objects.

Donkey appeared in Shrek Super Slam as one of the 10 starting characters. His Super Slam has him charge around the stage, slamming any opponents he runs into.

In story mode, Donkey is controlled in the second and seventh chapter, "K.N.I.G.H.T.S" and "Medieval Chef" respectively. He is also briefly seen in the opening cutscene to the fourth chapter, "Iron Donkey".

In Mega Challenge mode, Donkey is an opponent in Challenges 11, 36, and 42, needs to be protected from Cyclops in Challenge 28 and is found at the finish line in Bonus Challenge 3. He is also an opponent in Tournaments 2, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20 and 27. He is required to be used in Challenges 3, 9, 17, 25, 26, 39, and 44.

He also appeared in Shrek Smash and Crash Racing as one of the four racers that are unlocked from the start. Donkey rides a shrunken version of Dragon as a result of his accidentally shrinking her with Fairy Godmother's wand. Donkey's personal attack has him swing his microphone around.

Donkey is one of the playable characters in the Shrek the Third video game. He is playable in the levels "Ye Old Road" and "Ice Cave", and is one of the four playable characters in the "Catacombs Leap" mini-game.