The world of Shrek is filled with lovable characters that span a variety
of personalities and moralities. We already know who’s a good guy and who’s a baddie,
but among them all, who stands out as the most powerful, and who’s the weakest?
I’m Brad with WickedBinge, and this is Shrek Characters: Weak to Powerful.
As always, when it comes to our ranking, we won’t just be focusing on a character’s physical
strength or powers. We’re also going to factor in their intelligence and skills,
as well as weapons, influence and resources - such as an army or a group of henchmen.
Starting with our weakest Shrek character, we of course have The Gingerbread Man. Poor Gingey,
he really didn’t have a chance in this fight, huh? Obviously, Gingey is just an ordinary talking
cookie. Although he’s able to easily repair them, it’s still incredibly easy for someone
to disarm him by breaking off his limbs. Furthermore, the guy’s only a couple inches tall,
so even if he was stronger than he looked, he’d still be easily outmatched by even the shortest
characters. Still, we don’t want to be too harsh, so we’ll mention a few of Gingey’s strengths. In
the alternate Rumplestilskin universe, we actually saw him holding his own in a fight against
living animal crackers using a lollipop as a weapon. We can’t lie, that’s pretty
badass for a cookie. We also have to give him credit in that, despite Lord Farquaad’s torture,
Gingey never gave up the location of the other fairy tale creatures and kept fighting back.
He even told the Magic Mirror to not tell Farquaad anything.
We’re not sure if he was able to withstand the torture because he doesn’t feel any pain
or because he’s just that resilient, but we’re still going to give him credit for it. Still,
even with these moments of strength, Gingey just can’t compete with the other characters.
Next in line, we have Pinocchio. Similar to Gingey, Pinocchio is fairly fragile. He has
thin wooden limbs, and often gets tangled up in his strings. When Prince Charming took over Far
Far Away, he was able to simply stick Pinocchio in a window box without having any worry that
the puppet would be able to break out. But what Pinocchio lacks in strength, he does somewhat make
up for with agility. His friends are able to toss him around when they need to - like in
the climax of the second movie. His long nose can also come in handy. As for intelligence,
he doesn’t have much. He is just a wooden kid, after all. Still, he did show a bit of cleverness
in the third movie when he was able to get around telling the truth. This was his only
moment of intelligence though. With all this in mind, we felt we had no choice but to put
him towards the weaker side of our list. We’re going to rank the Big Bad Wolf next. It
may seem a bit absurd to rank a wolf so low, considering that wolves are some of
the strongest predators in the real-world animal kingdom. But to be fair, the Big
Bad Wolf is incredibly anthropomorphic, coming off more as a furry human than an actual wolf.
We never see him hunt or fight - and in fact, he seems just as happy laying around and pretending
to be Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. What puts him above Gingey and Pinnochio is that not
only is he bigger than the two of them, but he also does have one power: his blowing power.
Yes, it seems that this wolf is ALSO the same wolf that huffed and puffed and blew down the houses of
pigs. We only see him use this power once - when he briefly blows away Fairy Godmother before she
can grab her wand. It’s a… fairly impressive strength, but compared to blowing fire or
casting magic, it’s really not much. Our fourth weakest character
is actually our first main character - Donkey. Donkey is, well, a donkey. He’s tiny,
and thus not very strong. Granted he is still able to give people a good kick when he needs to,
and was even able to land a knock-out blow on a knight. However, this was after Shrek had already
roughed the knight up a bit. Still, we have to give Donkey credit in that he can hold his
own when he needs to. He’s also pretty fast, as we saw him briefly outrun Farquaad’s men.
We also have to factor in Donkey’s relationships. The fact that he’s allies with people like Shrek,
Puss in Boots and Dragon means that he has quite a few powerful people in his corner that can protect
him in a pinch. So even if he’s not too strong on his own, he’s not completely powerless in
that sense. His biggest attribute, however, is also his most annoying - his big mouth.
Through his inability to stop talking, he was able to endear himself to Shrek
and unintentionally charm Dragon - characters that could have easily hurt or killed him otherwise.
Donkey is also pretty emotionally intelligent, as seen in his conversations with Shrek and Fiona.
If shows like Steven Universe have taught us anything, it’s that talking down an enemy is a
valid strategy. For these reasons, we decided to give Donkey a decent ranking on this list.
Next, we have the boy who eventually became king, Artie. When we first met Artie,
it became obvious that he was a little on the weak and scrawny side. Nearly everyone
at his high school picked on him, and even the school nerds were able to outmatch him.
Not gonna lie, that’s kind of sad. Thankfully, Artie’s patheticness seemed to stay behind,
as we saw him get slightly stronger throughout the third movie. We see that he has decent
fighting skills when he helped fend off the Evil Trees, and is able to be brave when he
wants to be. He can also be cunning, convincing and even a bit manipulative when he wants to be.
Artie was able to convince Merlin to help them out, and was later able to convince the villains
of Far Far Away to put down their weapons. Just like Donkey, we have to consider his ability to
talk down other characters and convince them to side with him to be a strength. Additionally,
although we never got a chance to see him actually rule, he does technically have all the power and
resources of a king as of the end of Shrek the Third. We’re not going to add on too many points
for this though because, again, Artie pretty much disappeared after the third movie and we never
see him use his new power as king. So, we’re keeping Artie on the lower side of this list.
Time to break out the accordion! Next, we have Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Let us be clear, the
main thing that’s putting these guys this high up, is their numbers. For more enemies, Robin
Hood and his Merry Men would be able to outnumber and overwhelm them. They’re also fairly physically
competent. It’s implied they have experience with rescuing damsels and robbing the rich,
and Robin Hood himself wields a dagger while his men wield bows and arrows. All these things
make them a decent threat. However, we can’t rank them any higher due to the fact that, at the end
of the day, they’re still just ordinary humans. Though they have numbers on their side, they can
still be outmatched and defeated pretty easy by someone with greater skills or strength.
Speaking of human characters, we have Prince Charming next. Although his title is ‘prince’,
Charming does seem to have the basic skills of a knight. He’s skilled in horseback riding,
and had enough endurance to withstand “blistering winds and scorching deserts”. We can also assume
that he’s fairly proficient with a sword - even if his mother isn’t too impressed with it. As for
intelligence, though Charming is no doubt petty and easily flustered, he was still clever and
manipulative enough to briefly gain the loyalty of the various villains of Far Far Away. Although
his win was only temporary, he did at one point have the power behind him to take over
a whole kingdom - and that’s nothing to sneeze at. But even with all these strengths, Charming
is still just a human, and not even a very buff one at that. So, we can’t put him any higher.
Next up is another villain, Lord Farquaad. While he doesn’t have as much power as a king,
being a lord still gives Farquaad access to riches and many knights, as well as everyone’s favorite
henchman, Thelonious. Even if most of these knights were knocked out in only a few hits,
their power of numbers is still nothing to sneeze at. Remember,
these guys were able to briefly overwhelm Shrek and Fiona at the end of the first movie.
With Farquaad having them at his beck and call, it’s no wonder he felt so confident. However,
when you take away his army, you pretty much take away everything he has.
His height and lack of strength makes it hard for him to stand up to most characters physically,
and his ego often overshadows any intelligence he may have. Honestly,
if it weren’t for the resources he has as a lord, he’d be towards the very bottom of our list.
We’re ranking our favorite kitty swordsman, Puss in Boots, next. Don’t let this cute,
furry face fool you - this cat is fierce! His main weapon is, of course, his sword - which he
wields with great skill and precision. He was even skilled enough to hold off and actually defeat
an entire team of knights. Being a cat, Puss is also incredibly agile and acrobatic. He’s fast,
and is a great climber, having claws that he can use as tools or weapons when he doesn’t
have his sword. His cuteness is also an effective weapon, in that it’s able
to essentially manipulate - or at the very least distract - enemies. Despite all these
skills though, he’s still just a cat. As such, if people catch him off guard or if Puss is in
a state of being unable to defend himself - like if he’s coughing up a hairball - they can
easily just pick him up by the scruff of his neck and have him at their mercy. Although he could
possibly outfight people bigger and stronger than him, Puss doesn’t have a flawless fight record
and can still be outmatched. For these reasons, we unfortunately can’t put him any higher.
We finally reach the titular star of this series, Shrek. We really can’t
blame people for being so scared of Shrek at first. The guy is HUGE! Being an ogre,
he’s obviously really strong - enough that he can break open a giant barrel of beer with one hit.
In fact, in most fight scenes, Shrek is able to knock out his enemies with only a couple punches.
He’s also strong enough to carry multiple people at once - like when he carried Fiona
and Donkey away from Dragon - and was even once able to flip over a cannon. He also has
a fairly high pain tolerance, given that he was shot by an arrow and barely even noticed
it, not even being too concerned with his injury. We’re also giving Shrek a couple bonus points for
his defeat of Dragon - which he accomplished using strategy instead of his strength.
However, for as physically strong as Shrek is, he’s still not the strongest fighter. We saw in
the fourth movie that there were many other ogres who were bigger and stronger than him.
Shrek also doesn’t have any formal training in regards to a particular fighting style or weapon.
Additionally, there are still instances of Shrek getting overwhelmed - like in the climax
of the first movie with Farquaad’s knights, or when he was surrounded by Charming’s army.
Shrek may be formidable, but he can still be outmatched in certain situations.
Shrek can also be emotionally manipulated fairly easily - as seen with Fairy Godmother,
Charming AND Rumplestiltskin - which can sometimes lead to him not having the inner
strength or spirit to keep fighting. But even with these weaknesses in mind, Shrek’s strengths
are still pretty notable, pushing him into the upper half of our list.
Right above Shrek are his in-laws, King Harold and Queen Lillian. Yep, this is
another case where a character’s status and resources are able to push them to a higher
spot than they otherwise would have. As the King and Queen of Far Far Away,
these two have access to a whole army filled with skilled knights, and are able to influence
their citizens. They no doubt have plenty of wealth as well, given how prosperous their
kingdom seems to be. All of these reasons already put them in a high spot. But unlike someone like
Farquaad, whose power drops once their army and status is taken away from them, Harold and Lillian
don’t necessarily have that issue. Lillian especially is much stronger than she looks.
She’s able to fight on par with her daughter, and has the strength to headbutt through not one
but TWO stone walls. And remember, this is when she’s an older lady - imagine how strong she was
in her prime! As for Harold, we’ll admit that he doesn’t quite share this physical strength - both
because of his age as well as his true form as a frog. Still, he does briefly mention
fighting in the crusades, so we can assume that he’s at the very least competent on the
battlefield when he was younger. But even with Lillian’s impressive physical feats in mind, we
still can’t place them too high up due to, again, their ages as well as their lack of fight scenes.
We finally arrive at the first of our magical characters, Merlin. As his name implies, he’s
the wizard of legend. Or at least, was at some point in his life. These days, however, he comes
off more as a retired, old hippie that possibly has a few screws loose. We only see him use magic
a couple times in the third movie - and due to how eccentric he is, his magic often goes wrong. This
was seen when he ended up body-swapping Donkey and Puss. That being said, the ability to teleport
people with his magic is pretty impressive. We can assume that Merlin has other tricks up his sleeve
(no pun intended) and that he was likely more powerful and skilled before his mental breakdown.
However, because we can’t confirm this, we can’t give him too many points for these hypothetical
spells. We may be giving Merlin a bit too much credit since the guy isn’t exactly a fighter, but
we’re ranking power not fighting ability, and even incompetent magic still has some power behind it.
Next, it’s the kick-butt princess herself, Fiona. Even before we saw her go all kung-fu
master on the Merry Men, Fiona made it clear that she was no princess to mess with. She’s
emotionally resilient, and doesn’t often stand down - especially when she’s determined or angry.
While still in her human form, she was strong enough to break off a piece of tree bark and
fight off several men all by herself. We also have to note the fact that her voice is powerful enough
to make birds explode when she sings a certain note. We’re not sure how useful this ability is,
but it’s a power nonetheless. As an ogre, Fiona is even stronger. She and the other
princesses were able to briefly fight off Charming’s forces, and even if they were
eventually captured again, that was more due to Rapunzel’s betrayal than their own weaknesses.
Fiona can also be a brilliant leader. Again, we saw this with the princesses,
as well as with the other ogres in the fourth movie. Speaking of this, while this may have been
an alternate universe, we have to acknowledge the fact that Fiona has the potential to teach
herself how to use various weapons, strategies and fighting styles to her advantage. Gotta
love a princess with brains, brawn AND beauty. While there are still several characters that
rank above her, we can easily say that Fiona is the most powerful of the four main characters.
Getting into our top 5, we have the Pied Piper. Another ‘magician’ of source, using the power of
music instead of spells. With his musical skills and his enchanted flute that can be attuned to
specific people and creatures, the Pied Piper is able to incapacitate anyone and anything he wants
by forcing them to dance. Not even Fiona or the strongest of ogre warriors could withstand his
catchy-yet-evil melodies. That being said, his method of fighting isn’t flawless. As
Donkey and Puss show, if you’re able to get far enough away from the Pied Piper,
his music doesn’t affect you. While this may not always be an easy task, given how much control
Pied Piper seems to have over his victims, it’s still an option. Additionally, this seems to be
the Pied Piper’s ONLY strength, as he’s not too physically strong, nor is he much of a threat
without his flute. As such, Pied Piper comes off as a bit of a one-trick pony. Yes, he does that
trick incredibly well, and again it can be applied to anyone from ogres and mice to witches, but
it’s still the only trick in his arsenal. So, Pied Piper stays at fifth place.
Next up, we have the cunning trickster, Rumplestilskin. Yet another magic user,
Rumplestilskin has the ability to erase people from existence, grant a person’s deepest desires,
and pretty much warp reality itself. Almost like a crafty elf-ish lawyer, Rumple is able to use these
contracts to his advantage as well, hiding small loopholes and other details that he’s able to then
use to give himself the better deal. When making a contract with Shrek, Rumple never specified which
day he was going to take, allowing him to take the day Shrek was born without Shrek ever suspecting
a thing. Later on, when Shrek made a deal with Rumple to free all of the ogres, Rumple took
advantage of the fact that Fiona wasn’t all ogre. So, while he may not have much muscle backing him
up, the guy’s certainly got a brain, and seems to be a master manipulator. In the alternate
universe, we also see that he surrounds himself with ruthless witches that have their own killer
magic as well as the ability to fly on their brooms. Honestly, even with their weakness to
water, these witches make a pretty great army. We also can’t forget his alliance with the Pied
Piper, or his giant pet goose, Fifi. Additionally, Rumple’s got some pretty big influence on the
people of Far Far Away when he’s in charge. All this easily made Rumple one of the most powerful
foes that Shrek ever faced. So, what keeps him from being put any higher? Well, the biggest
(and most obvious) catch to Rumple’s power is that for his magic specifically,
he can’t do ANY of it without signing a contract with someone first. That’s a pretty big catalyst,
and - as we see in the beginning of the fourth movie - when he doesn’t have anyone
willing to make a deal with him, he’s pretty powerless. It’s not exactly easy to manipulate
people when no one trusts you in the first place. Add in his small and skinny stature,
and Rumple manages to fall short when compared to our most powerful characters.
Time to take a trip to Drury Lane. Next is Mongo. How ironic is it that Gingey
would be our weakest character, but his giant counterpart would be one of the most powerful?
Being as tall as a castle, Mongo has the strength of a giant. We see him pick up the giant Farbucks
coffee cup like it weighs nothing to him! Flaming catapults only seem to make him mad,
and he’s able to kick these fireballs back at his enemies. His greatest feat was when he was
able to grab the castle bridge and bring it down far enough for Shrek to slip through the opening.
In terms of weaknesses, well, they’re pretty obvious. Even with his huge size,
Mongo is still a cookie, and thus still vulnerable to liquids like water and warm
milk. Still, with how thick he is, Mongo is actually pretty durable, in that it still took
three hits of milk for him to finally start to break. So, we’re able to give him a couple
extra points for that. With strength, size and heart behind him, Mongo is a total powerhouse!
Our runner-up for Most Powerful Shrek Character is the Fairy Godmother. Come on, we’re sure you guys
all had a feeling that this lady would be ranked pretty high on the power-level scale. The greatest
lesson that the Shrek series has taught us is to not judge characters by their appearances,
and the Fairy Godmother is no exception. Not only is she much more evil than she looks, but she’s
also much more powerful than she looks. Compared to characters like Rumple and Merlin,
the Fairy Godmother has full access to all sorts of powerful and dangerous magic, either through
her magic wand or her many different potions. Through these means, she can pretty much do
whatever she wants - from transforming people, to making them fall in love, to outright destroying
them. We also have to acknowledge the Fairy Godmother’s influence on others. Through her
reputation of being someone who makes wishes and dreams come true, many people think of her as a
good person, and thus believe her word - like the knights outside the Rotten Apple did. But
even when people DO know her true nature - like in the cases of Shrek and King Harold - she can
still manipulate them, either emotionally or through threats. Finally, there’s the
workers in her factory. While not super strong or powerful, they’re still able to put up a fight and
shoot intruders with their crossbows. All in all, Fairy Godmother seems fairly invincible,
right? Well, not exactly. For one, she’s not invulnerable to her own magic, meaning that
her spells are able to backfire on her. This is actually how she’s defeated in the end. We also
see that without her wand, Fairy Godmother isn’t as much of a threat. She doesn’t seem very strong
or very fast. I mean, she had a hard time playing keep away with people like Pinnochio,
the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs. That kind of thing will definitely make you seem a bit
less intimidating. So, for all these reasons, we felt that we couldn’t give her the top spot.
Finally, we’re ranking the fiery and flirtatious Dragon as our Most Powerful. It was a SUPER close
call between her and Fairy Godmother, but in the end, we had to give it to Dragon.
Like the creatures of legend, Dragon wields not only great physical strength and speed,
but also a breath of fire that can roast a knight in seconds. She’s strong enough to break through
castle walls with ease, and she could even use her tail to destroy the stone bridge that Donkey
tried to use to get away from her. We can guess just by how many skeletons are littering her lair
that Dragon likely has killed and probably eaten quite a few knights. As for her mighty wings,
they’re fast enough for her to travel over several hundred miles in only a few hours, allowing her to
get to somewhere like Dulac in no time at all. Her scales are also thick enough that Dragon was
able to bust through a stained-glass window without getting hurt. All that being said,
we do have to acknowledge her losses. Shrek was able to chain her up while escaping the castle,
which prevented her from flying after him, Donkey and Fiona. Despite all her strength, it still took
Dragon at the very least a couple hours to free herself. We also see that both Prince
Charming and Rumplestilskin’s forces were able to capture her, and in the latter’s case, Shrek and
Fiona were able to work together to chain her up again. So, while she’s incredibly powerful,
Dragon isn’t invulnerable nor is she unable to be defeated. But if that’s the case, why are we
putting her at the top of the list? Honestly, even with Dragon’s losses, they still can’t really hold
a candle to all the strengths that Dragon has. In a one-on-one fight with someone, it’s likely that
she’ll come out as the victor. Furthermore, we decided that if the Fairy Godmother is vulnerable
to her own magic, then it’s likely that she’s vulnerable to fire as well - and if she isn’t,
she could still be eaten by Dragon once she was disarmed of her wand.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what we should
cover next! Remember to hit that notification bell and binge our Weak to Powerful playlist,
where we break down who the most powerful characters are in your favorite cartoons,
shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!