Princess Fiona

From The Character Database
Princess Fiona
Ogre Fiona.png
FionaHuman.png
I want what any princess wants - to live happily ever after... with the ogre I married.
― Fiona

Vital statistics
Names Fiona, Princess Fiona, Ogress Fiona
Gender Female
Race Ogre, Formerly Human
Occupation Parent, Princess
Origin Shrek (April 22, 2001)
Alignment Good
Age 30-40 years old
Created By Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, Roger S. H. Schulman
Height {{{height}}}
Weight {{{weight}}}



Princess Fiona is the wife of Shrek, the daughter of Queen Lillian and King Harold, a close friend of Donkey, and the mother of the Ogre triplets in the Shrek franchise.

Personality[edit | edit source]

Fiona initially behaves like an archetypal fairytale princess when she meets Shrek. She speaks formally in matters of courtship and has particular expectations of how she is to be rescued, who is to rescue her, and so forth. Later, Princess Fiona's true self emerges, revealing a down-to-earth and independent woman who is a match for Shrek when it comes to the bad habits he has. She enjoys burping and likes to get foot massages. She’s a loyal friend and wife, and unlike princesses of fairy tales, an old pro in hand-to-hand combat with knowledge of Japanese martial arts, leading a rebellion with the princesses while pregnant with Shrek's children. She also has very poor manners (just like Shrek), since she is an ogre. According to the Magic Mirror, she is a feisty woman who likes Pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. She's shown to be very nurturing and proves to be a great mother to her and Shrek's triplets.

In the alternative world it is shown that she doesn't want to be a human and she wants to stay ogre. She is also more hard-headed in this universe, having been disillusioned due to not being rescued for many years.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Early Life[edit | edit source]

Fiona was born in the kingdom of Far Far Away as the only child of King Harold and Queen Lillian. As a little girl, a curse was cast on Fiona by a witch which goes as follows; "By night one way, by day another. This shall be the norm, until you find true love's first kiss, and then take love's true form." Fiona's curse causes her to take the form of an ogre between sunset and sunrise, and can only be broken by the kiss of her true love.

Fiona's parents did their best to hide her curse from the world, keeping her home at night so that no one would discover her ogre form. But eventually they sought the help of Fairy Godmother, who had them lock Fiona away in a dragon-guarded castle to await her true love to rescue her. They had also agreed that Prince Charming would be the one to eventually rescue Fiona (Harold's way of repaying a favor to the Fairy Godmother). And so Fiona, who was still only a girl, was imprisoned in the highest room of the tallest tower of the Dragon's Keep to await for her true love to free her and break her curse. Over the years, many knights attempted to rescue her from her tower only to be slain by her dragon guardian. According to Shrek the Musical, Fiona was seven years old when she was locked in the tower and around the age of 30 when Shrek rescued her.

Shrek[edit | edit source]

Lord Farquaad is told by the Magic Mirror that in order to be king of Duloc, he must first marry a princess. He chooses Fiona, and holds a tournament in which the winner will have the "privilege" to rescue her from the Dragon's Keep for him. Shrek becomes the tournament's unexpected champion after besting all of Farquaad's knights, and agrees to rescue Fiona in exchange for the removal of the fairytale creatures from his swamp.

Fiona first meets Shrek when he crashes into the roof of her tower after being thrown by Dragon. Wearing pieces of armor taken from dead knights in the Dragon's Keep, Shrek is mistaken by Fiona to be her "Prince Charming". She pretends to sleep, but instead of getting her true love's kiss, Shrek shakes her awake and unceremoniously drags out of her tower. He is all but the knight-in-shining-armor that Fiona expected; he won't recite her poetry, she gives him her handkerchief as a token of her gratitude just for him to wipe his face with it, and he hasn't even slain the dragon. Shrek goes back to retrieve Donkey from Dragon, and in the ensuing chase the three of them narrowly escape from the castle. Fiona is grateful to her rescuer despite his un-knightly behavior. Wishing to see his face so she can kiss him, Fiona orders Shrek to remove his helmet.

Fiona is angered to learn that her rescuer is not a knight, but an ogre, and that the man who wants to marry her wouldn't come to rescue her himself. At first she refuses to go back to Farquaad, so Shrek grabs her and carries her over his shoulder. On their travel back, Fiona demands that they stop to make camp before nightfall and shelters herself away. She overhears Shrek confide in Donkey that he chooses to be alone because everyone judges him just for being an ogre. She wakes up early to head into the nearby forest and ends up singing with a blue bird until she accidentally causes it to explode after singing a very high note. Fiona is in a noticeably better mood today, and makes breakfast with the bird's eggs for Shrek and Donkey in order to makeup for their bad first impressions of each other. Shrek tells her that she wasn't what he expected from a princess, and Fiona tells he shouldn't judge people before getting to know him, referring to something he had said last night. The group runs into Monsieur Hood when he and his Merrymen kidnap Fiona, under the impression that they are rescuing the princess from a monster. After Hood threatens to kill Shrek, Fiona reveals her martial arts skills and single-handedly defeats the BBC Merrymen.

An amazed Shrek asks Fiona where she learned to fight, but before she can answer points to an arrow sticking in his butt. After much resistance on Shrek's part Fiona manages to remove the arrow, and the group continues on their journey. Having developed feelings for Shrek, Fiona is less eager to be returned to Farquaad. With Duloc in sight, the two convince Donkey that he looks sick as an excuse to spend more time together. They make camp nearby a windmill, and with the campfire set up they share weedrat kabab for dinner. Fiona laments that she is going to have to be dining in Duloc soon, and Shrek suggests that she visit him in his swamp sometime. They hold each other's hand and lean in to kiss each other but are interrupted by Donkey pointing out the sun is about to set. Fiona is visibly worried, saying that she's just afraid of the dark, and quickly slips away into the windmill for the night.

Later Donkey goes in to check on Fiona, and after failing to hide from him she reveals that at night she takes on the form of an ogre. She explains that when she was a child a witch cast a spell on her, causing her to transform into an ogre when the sun goes down, and that the curse can only be broken by true love's first kiss. Fiona is convinced that Farquaad is this true love, but Donkey suggests that maybe she should be with Shrek instead. Shrek goes up to the windmill so that he can talk to Fiona and give her a flower, but ends up hearing part of her conversation with Donkey. Shrek overhears Fiona asking, "who could ever love a beast so hideous and ugly?" (the beast being herself), but believes Fiona is referring to him. In the morning Fiona goes out to show Shrek her ogre form but transforms back as the sun rises. Shrek, hurt by what he thought he had heard Fiona say, repeats back what he had heard last night. Fiona is heartbroken as she thinks that Shrek won't be with her because of her ugliness. Farquaad and and an escort of his guards soon arrive, as Shrek had gone out in the night to summon them.

Angry and hurt, Shrek hands Fiona over to Farquaad in exchange for the deed to his swamp. Fiona accepts Farquaad's marriage proposal as she is upset by Shrek's cold behavior, although she doesn't seem to be all too thrilled by her groom. Hoping to lift her curse before sunset, she convinces Farquaad to hold the wedding that same day. As she prepares for the wedding, Fiona is hesitant about marrying Farquaad and devastated by how Shrek treated her. Just as she and Farquaad are about to kiss at the wedding, Shrek interrupts the ceremony. He tells Fiona that Farquaad is just marrying her so that he can be king of Duloc and that the one that really loves her is himself. Sunset comes and Fiona reveals her ogre form, setting Farquaad into a fit of rage. He orders his guards to seize them both, and threatens to lock Fiona back in her tower for the rest of her days. However at Shrek's command, Fiona's dragon guardian bursts through the windows and eats Farquaad. After this, Shrek professes his love to Fiona, and she professes her love to him, and they share a kiss. The curse is lifted when Fiona is kissed by Shrek, but she is shocked that "true love's form" has still left her as an ogre. While she had expected to become her human self, Shrek assures her that she is still beautiful and the two get married in Shrek's swamp.

Shrek 2[edit | edit source]

The newly wed Fiona and Shrek enjoy their honeymoon together, but arrive in Shrek's swamp to find a group of royal messengers outside their home. They deliver a message from Fiona's parents inviting them to come to Far Far Away to attend a royal ball in honor of their wedding and so that her father can bless the marriage. Fiona convinces Shrek to go, though Shrek believes that it will go poorly as her parents won't accept an ogre as their son-in-law.

They travel with Donkey by onion carriage to Far Far Away. Fiona is happy to see the city again, and tries to reassure Shrek that the meeting will go well. When Shrek and Fiona step out of the carriage, the gathered crowd including Harold and Lillian are shocked to see the two ogres. Fiona and her parents are still happy to see each other, but as Shrek predicted, they aren't thrilled to see that their daughter has married an ogre. The family dinner in the palace ends in Harold and Shrek exchanging insults, with Fiona storming out to the bedroom she stayed in as a child. She goes through her old toys, reminded of her childhood dream to marry a handsome prince.

Fiona goes out to the balcony and ends up meeting "her" Fairy Godmother, who is also surprised to see Fiona as an ogre and married to Shrek. Godmother tries to convince her that she needs a prince and to live the life of a typical princess to be happy, but Fiona politely disagrees with her. Godmother has ulterior motives to see Fiona married with a prince, as she made a deal with Harold that her son Prince Charming would be the one to rescue Fiona and thereby become the king of Far Far Away. Shrek comes to pack his bags and go home and ends up arguing with Fiona, Fiona telling him that he isn't even trying to get along with her parents. She shuts the door on Shrek in tears after telling him that she has made lots of sacrifices to be with him while he isn't willing to make any for her.

In the morning she finds that Shrek is gone and her diary is opened. She goes to Harold and Lillian to find out where Shrek has gone to, but neither seem to know where he is. Later at night, discouraged by how poorly they have gotten along, Fiona tells her parents that she is leaving to find Shrek and head back to the swamp with him. Before she can leave, she suddenly collapses to the floor unconscious. In the morning she is shocked to see that she has somehow changed back to her human form. Suddenly she hears Shrek calling for her and runs to his voice. Outside she finds Donkey who has taken the form of a stallion, and Fiona learns from him that he and Shrek drank a magical potion that transformed them to be "sexy". She heads back inside and meets a human Shrek, but she feels uneasy that he doesn't seem to sound or act like he once did. Both Harold and Lillian are put off by this new Shrek as well. Unbeknownst to them (except for Harold), this human Shrek is actually Prince Charming posing as Shrek.

Fairy Godmother had previously ordered King Harold to get rid of Shrek, and now wants him to give Fiona a love potion that will cause her to fall in love with the first person she kisses before midnight, which will be Prince Charming. Before the royal ball Harold comes into Fiona's room with two tea cups, one of which he has poured the love potion into. Fiona expresses to Harold that she can barely recognize her husband in this new "Shrek", and that she would give anything to have him back. Before Fiona can drink from one of the cups, Harold switches them.

Fiona nearly leaves the royal ball after being put off by "Shrek's" behavior, but dances with him after being pressured into it by Fairy Godmother in front of the crowd. Throughout the dance Fiona resists Prince Charming's attempts to kiss her, but eventually gives in. Just as they are about to kiss, the real Shrek interrupts the wedding and tells Charming to back away from Fiona. In the ensuing chaos, Prince Charming forcefully kisses Fiona, seemingly sealing the effect of the potion. However Fiona headbutts Charming and knocks him out, and Harold reveals to Fairy Godmother that he chose not to give Fiona the potion. An angered Godmother shoots her wand on Shrek and Fiona only for Harold to jump in the way, taking the blow but also redirecting the spell back at her, turning her into bubbles.

Fiona runs to Harold's empty clothing, distraught that he is now dead. However, Harold hops out as a frog, revealing to them that he was originally a frog before making a deal with the Fairy Godmother. He apologies to Shrek and Fiona for trying to interfere with their relationship, and offers their marriage his blessing. Shrek then reveals to Fiona that if they kiss before midnight, they can stay human, and that he is willing to do this for her. Fiona declines, assuring him that all she wants is to "live happily ever after with the ogre [she] married". As midnight comes, the transform back into their ogre forms and resume the party, thus ending the movie with a song and dance led by Donkey and Puss in Boots themselves.

Shrek the Third[edit | edit source]

Fiona has to act as the queen of Far Far Away while her father becomes very ill. After a long hard day, Fiona starts to suggest to Shrek that they begin a family. Shrek dismisses it at first, saying she’s his family. When her father passes away, Shrek sets out to find her cousin Arthur Pendragon, and as he’s leaving she tells Shrek she’s pregnant (something that she has hinted since the beginning of the film). While she’s having a baby shower, Prince Charming stages an invasion so that he can proclaim himself king of Far Far Away. Fiona organizes the resistance with her friends Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Doris the Ugly Stepsister, but Rapunzel turns traitor to marry Prince Charming. Thanks to the fighting abilities of her mother, they get out of prison and manage to get away, and the different princesses 'cut loose' and become more independent, Artie ends up making a speech to convince the villains to go straight. In the end, she returns to the swamp and gives birth to ogre triplets with Shrek. This was the only film in the series so far where Fiona is not seen as a human.

Shrek Forever After[edit | edit source]

Shrek makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to become "Ogre for a Day", and gives up the day of his own birth. Since Shrek was never born, he never rescued Fiona from the tower, her parents signed the contract, and Rumpelstiltskin became king of Far Far Away. After Shrek escapes from the castle, it is revealed that Fiona rescued herself from the tower and is now the leader of the ogre rebellion. Her personality is very abrasive and she refuses to believe in love, completely unlike her alternate self. Throughout the night of Shrek's day, Shrek attempts to woo this new Fiona, and fails multiple times. Close to midnight that night, the ogres storm Rumpelstiltskin's castle and capture him; just as they are preparing to eat him, dawn comes and Shrek begins to disappear in his former wife's arms, telling Fiona of their family and of her daughter, Felicia. She kisses him just as he's fading, and the curse is lifted. She is heartbroken by Shrek's disappearance, but before she can mourn any longer, the alternate history starts to fade from existence due to Rumpelstiltskin's broken deal, taking this Fiona along with it. This is the only film in which we see Fiona with her hair down.

Once the time stream is back to normal, Fiona is shown at the birthday party with the children, normal again.

Video Game Appearances[edit | edit source]

Fiona appears in all of the Shrek games.

She also appears in Shrek Super Slam as one of the 10 starters. Her Super Slam is that she sings very hard (so hard that birds can explode).

Fiona also appeared in Shrek Smash and Crash Racing. She is one of the four racers that are unlocked from the start. Fiona doesn't appear in her human form in this game at all. Her kart is the Onion Carriage that Shrek and herself used to travel to Far Far Away in Shrek 2. Fiona's special item is a pot.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • It's possible Fiona is based on the repulsive princess from Shrek! as at the end of both the book and the movie they get married to Shrek.
  • The first time where you could see Fiona as an ogre is the scene in Shrek where she is in the cave, but it's hard to notice because a fire is casting an orange light onto her green skin.
  • Donkey knew about the ogre curse before Shrek.
  • In the alternate world, Puss is her pet.
  • Even in her ogress form, Fiona is significantly smaller than Shrek, who is able to swallow her head whole.
  • If Fiona sings too high, birds will explode. The same thing happens to a crow when she screams getting abducted by Thelonious one night and Fifi in front of Rumpelstilskin due to his crimes.
  • Fiona has a lot of elements like other fairy tale princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and The Beast)
  • Fiona likes to sing with woodland creatures like Snow White; her and Shrek started to fall in love while in her human form like Beauty and The Beast; Fiona was locked away in a tower guarded by a dragon like Sleeping Beauty; and Fiona had a Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (latter had 3 fairy godmothers).
  • Near the end of the North American and some international prints of Shrek 2 she headbutts Charming to knock him out, but in the UK prints she slaps him instead.