Was the Fairy Godmother the one responsible for Fiona's curse in the Shrek movie series? Here's why and who else could be behind the curse.

The Shrek movie series is not safe from a variety of theories, and among those is one that claims that the one responsible for Fiona’s curse is none other than the Fairy Godmother. The world of animation has seen the raise of various studios over the years, and while Disney and Pixar continue to be the powerhouse in this genre, DreamWorks Animation established itself as a competitor with Shrek, released in 2001.

Based on the 1990 picture book of the same name by William Steig, and directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson in their directorial debuts, Shrek introduced the audience to the title character (voiced by Michael Myers), an anti-social and highly territorial ogre who loves living in solitude in his swamp – but one day, he finds his swamp overrun by a bunch of fairy tale creatures who were banished by Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow). Accompanied by Donkey (Eddie Murphy), Shrek tries to negotiate with Farquaad to get his swamp back and agrees to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) for him, but it all takes a turn when Shrek and Fiona start developing feelings for each other.

However, Fiona was keeping a big secret: she was cursed, and so she turned into an ogre every night. As she fell in love with Shrek, when they finally kissed, she ended up becoming an ogre, and Fiona carried on with her life as such (though was briefly transformed back to her human form in Shrek 2), but the mystery behind her curse continued, making way for theories about it, including one that makes the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) responsible for it.

What Happened to Princess Fiona In Shrek?

Fiona was the daughter of Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) and King Harold (John Cleese), and was born in the kingdom of Far Far Away. Fiona was cursed, so she had turned into an ogre between sunset and sunrise since she was little, but the curse was said to be broken when Fiona found true love, and their first kiss would lead her to take the form of her true love. Her parents ended up hiding her at night so no one would see her in ogre form, until one day they sought the help of the Fairy Godmother, who convinced them to lock Fiona away in a castle guarded by a dragon, where she would wait for “true love” to rescue her – what Queen Lillian didn’t know was that King Harold made an agreement with the Fairy Godmother that her son, Prince Charming, would be the one to rescue and marry Fiona, this as Harold owed her a favor. Fiona, then, spent years in the castle, waiting for a brave knight to rescue her, and it was Shrek the one who, with Donkey’s help, managed to survive the mission and finally rescued her.

On their way to Lord Farquaad’s kingdom, and worried about her daily transformation, Fiona convinced Shrek and Donkey to make camp, but Donkey eventually discovered Fiona’s curse. After a misunderstanding with Shrek, they arrived at Farquaad’s kingdom and Fiona prepared to marry him, but Shrek interrupted the ceremony right in time to confess his love to her, after which she revealed her ogre form. Fiona’s dragon ate Farquaad and Shrek and Fiona kissed, and as she would take the form of her true love, she stayed in ogre form, but the curse was lifted.

Theory: The Fairy Godmother Is Responsible For Fiona’s Curse

The Fairy Godmother, along with Fiona’s parents, made her debut in Shrek 2, where she wasn’t pleased to learn that Fiona had married Shrek instead of her son, and so she conspired with Harold to get rid of Shrek. It was in Shrek 2 that it was revealed that the Fairy Godmother had transformed Harold into a human many years ago and that he was actually a frog, and she made a deal with him: she would turn him into a human so he could marry Lillian, and in return, the Fairy Godmother asked for their future daughter to marry her son. Now, although it’s not explicitly said in Shrek 2 nor the rest of the movies in the series, it has been widely believed and theorized that the Fairy Godmother was the one who cursed Fiona, even though she already had a deal with Harold. It has been theorized that she could have cursed Fiona in addition to her agreement with Harold in order to keep the royal family close and make them dependent on her, thus allowing her to manipulate them even more. Through all this, the Fairy Godmother looked to rise to power and take over the kingdom, but Shrek’s arrival ruined her plans.

Who Else Could Have Cursed Fiona In Shrek?

Although it’s believable that the Fairy Godmother was the one behind Fiona’s curse in Shrek, there are other options. First off, Fiona once mentioned that when she was a child, a witch cast a spell on her, yet the intro of Shrek 2 implies that she was born with the curse, which could be a consequence of the Fairy Godmother’s deal with Harold, thus still making her responsible for it. Another suspect is Rumpelstiltskin, who was introduced in Shrek Forever After and revealed to be able to turn time and send people to other dimensions, and he also wanted Harold and Lillian to sign a waiver that could break Fiona’s curse. Ultimately, Fiona got her happily ever after with Shrek, so whoever cursed her in the first place ended up failing at keeping her alone and unhappy.