Shrek brings together various characters from well-known legends and fairy tales along with original characters, and though the saga is known for changing the roles of these known characters, the first movie has one princess plot hole that would have completely changed Farquaad’s plan. Dreamworks’ rise to power in the world of animation began in 2001 with Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson. Shrek was a huge critical and commercial success, winning the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and establishing Dreamworks as a worthy competitor to Pixar.

Loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig, Shrek takes the audience to a fantasy world where different fairy tale characters, creatures, and humans coexist. Shrek follows the title ogre (voiced by Mike Myers) as he makes a deal with Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) in exchange for getting his swamp back. Shrek is accompanied by Donkey (Eddie Murphy), who teaches him a much-needed lesson about friendship. Although Fiona is the main princess, others are briefly mentioned at the beginning, and one created a plot hole that would have directly affected Farquaad.

Cinderella Was One Of Farquaad’s Options… But She Wasn’t A Princess Yet

Cinderella Shouldn’t Have Been One Of Farquaad’s Options In Shrek

Shrek’s peaceful and solitary life in his swamp is suddenly interrupted when Lord Farquaad of Duloc exiles all fairy-tale creatures, offering rewards to those who hand them to his knights. Many of them escape and end up finding refuge in Shrek’s swamp, but Farquaad has other, more important things to focus on. The Magic Mirror tells Farquaad he has to marry a princess to become king, and offers him three options: Cinderella, Snow White, and Fiona, and he chooses the latter. However, Cinderella shouldn’t have been included, as she wasn’t royal.

Unlike Snow White and Fiona, Cinderella wasn’t born royal, but her father was a very wealthy man. Cinderella didn’t become a princess until she married the prince at the end of her tale, so she shouldn’t have been one of the options given to Farquaad. Some viewers have argued that, in some versions of Cinderella’s tale, her father was a lord, but that still wouldn’t have been useful to Farquaad, who wanted to be king. To make it even more confusing, the Magic Mirror shows Cinderella with the glass slipper and the dress she wore at the royal ball.

It’s possible that the Magic Mirror showing Cinderella as an option to Farquaad in Shrek happened between Cinderella attending the royal ball and losing the glass slipper, and the prince finding her and marrying her. This would explain the photo of her at the ball, but she still wouldn’t have been a princess. Even if she was already married and thus qualified as a princess, though one Farquaad would have had to take away from the prince (somehow), she wouldn’t have helped him achieve his purpose because her husband was royal, not her.

Lord Farquaad Needed To Marry A Princess For His Plan To Succeed

Lord Farquaad Chose Fiona Because He Wanted To Be King

While Farquaad’s reasons for exiling the fairy tale creatures and wanting to become king aren’t explored in Shrek, it’s understood that it’s all about power, obsession, and ego. As he doesn’t really fulfill his plan of becoming king as Dragon eats him at the end of Shrek, it’s unknown what Farquaad’s plans and actions as a king would have been, but had he not chosen Fiona, his plans wouldn’t have worked. His only other option would have been to marry Snow White, who was born into royalty, but had he chosen Cinderella, he wouldn’t have achieved anything.

Cinderella had a bigger role in Shrek the Third as one of Fiona’s friends (along with Snow White), so it’s understood that, at some point after Shrek, Cinderella married the prince and officially became a princess. Lord Farquaad’s plan didn’t succeed with Fiona, but it would have been an even bigger failure had he chosen the first option the Magic Mirror gave him.