Horst, Dieter, and Heimlich, more well known as the "Three Little Pigs”, are three brothers who speak in distinct German accents, and have very large appetites. They were first banished to Shrek's swamp until becoming good friends with Shrek himself.
Appearances[]
Shrek[]
The Three Little Pigs are three of the many fairy tale creatures who were banished to Shrek's swamp. One of them tells Shrek that Lord Farquaad banished them, saying he "huffed and puffed, and signed an eviction notice." They are later seen attending Shrek and Fiona's wedding, where they breakdanced. They show up again in Shrek's Karaoke Dance Party singing "Who Let The Dogs Out" with The Big Bad Wolf.
Shrek 4-D[]
They appeared in the queue on wanted posters (identical to their poster from the first film), and later appeared in the pre-show. All three had specially made cages made after what they used to build their houses. Farquaad threatened to throw the pigs in a barbecue pit and wrap in banana leaves if they didn't tell him about Shrek and Fiona's whereabouts.
Shrek 2[]
While Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona went to Far Far Away, the pigs and the other fairytale creatures watched over the swamp. The pigs and the rest spend most of their time partying and watching T.V. They later watch the show K.N.I,G.H.T.S., where they see Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots get arrested by the knights. They soon travel to Far Far Away to free the trio, with one of the pigs lighting a match to blow up the cage bars. Later on, they help in the fight with the Fairy Godmother, performing their signature move "Pigs in Blanket."
Shrek the Third[]
The Three Little Pigs where at Fiona's baby shower and gave her a present, a baby carrier. When Prince Charming and the villains try to interrogate the fairy tale creatures, Gingy refused to tell, and Pinocchio was stalling with drawn out words about his knowledge of the situation. One of the pigs becomes so irritated that he tells Charming that Shrek was bringing back the next heir.
The Three Little Pigs were also at the big rescue seen in the end, where they fought the fairy tale villains. They were then held hostage by evil dwarfs until hugging each other once the villains reformed.
Shrek the Halls[]
The Three Little Pigs join Christmas at Shrek's swamp, having fun at the party. One of them is seen being dragged around by a dronkey. One of the pigs then chokes on a glass eye, and after the Heimlich maneuver, sends the eyes flying across the house. After getting kicked out, the pigs offer the gang to spend Christmas at their house, where they have "plenty of schnitzel." When everyone forgives each other, the gang sleepover at Shrek's house, where the pigs notice the irony of them being in a blanket.
Shrek Forever After[]
They are first seen celebrating the Ogre Triplets' first birthday at the Candy Apple. When Shrek has his back turned, he quickly finds that the birthday cake disappeared. The pigs, with cake frosting on their noses, admit to eating the entire cake. They constantly argue about finding replacement food for the cake, where we also know that the pigs have problems with sharing.
When Shrek enters the alternate reality, they appear as Fifi's servants. They feed the bird, brush his teeth, and clip his feathers. When Rumpelstiltskin announces a bounty for anyone who captures Shrek, they try to turn in the Big Bad Wolf in a Shrek costume. Rumpel simply states, "That is just sad." In the credits, the pigs are seen eating all of the animal crackers during Gingy's rodeo.
In a deleted scene, they fight against Shrek by throwing cans and attempting to light him on fire.
The Pig Who Cried Werewolf[]
In The Pig Who Cried Werewolf, the Three Little Pigs find themselves in trouble when they ignore the warning signs of Big Bad Wolf, their new neighbor, moving in next door who takes on a ferocious from during a full moon. While at home from the hospital where Heimlich got his leg hurt from spying on neighbors, like the Poor Lady and the Shoe and Jack and Jill. When they arrived at home, Heimlich saw that there's a new neighbor: The Big Bad Wolf. When the bag falls down, Heimlich, spying on Big Bad Wolf, saw that he has a box of knives, but Dieter and Horst didn't see it. Wolf then buries the knives in the ground and goes into his house. This leads to Heimlich being forced to behave and not continue spying on the new neighbor. He fails to resist, and spends the rest of the day watching Wolf's every move.
At night, the moon is full and Big Bad Wolf is turned into a lady named Chef (Sean Bishop). She is getting the knives, but when Heimlich almost drops the telescope, she can hear the noise. Heimlich was about to show Dieter and Horst that there's something going on the house. When Dieter looks at the house, he sees Big Bad Wolf saying hi to them, but Heimlich doesn't know that because when he looks, Chef played the knives and said, "Get the maniac." Dieter and Horst are going in that house and they get captured by Chef. When Chef gets in the house, a scared Heimlich is captured to her / Wolf's house. After he screams in terror, he sees Dieter and Horst having dinner. When Chef arrives in the room, she turns back into the Wolf and the Three Little Pigs don't know. He tells them to get out, but when he turns back into Chef, the pigs run away. Chef gives chase and keeps changing back to Wolf and herself as she chases the Three Little Pigs.
Scared Shrekless[]
They celebrating Halloween with all the fairytale creatures and Shrek's family. The pigs are first seen with painted costumes making them appear as scary clowns. They tag along with the gang to tell scary stories at Duloc, where the pigs state, "This is where Lord Farquaad lived and died." After Gingy's story, they run quickly and yell "Weeweeweeweeeweeeweeweeweewee!" and Wolf says that they do that all the way home. He also left as they were his "ride."
Swamp Talk[]
The pigs were referenced several times, mostly regarding their houses being torn down. In "Most Unbelievable Art Ever", they created an art piece representing the remains of the straw house (which was nothing). Later in "Crafty Donkey" it was revealed that Donkey had failed to build them new homes due to his faulty craft skills.
Video Game Appearances[]
The Three Little Pigs have also appeared in Shrek Smash and Crash Racing. They are one of the eight unlock-able racers in this game and they act as one racer. Their kart is a flying magic carpet and their personal item is their hats. They are also playable in Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway and Shrek Kart. The racing games are the only times where the pigs are playable characters.
The pigs appear as NPCs throughout most of the Shrek games, primarily in the later movie tie-ins.
Trivia[]
- The pigs had a personal ad that was featured in the Shrek 4-D queue. However, the first line was quickly removed due to its lewd nature. The ad said, "Tri-curious? Think all the available guys are pigs? Well, why settle for one when you can have three. You've had the rest, now try the other white meat.".
- The term "tri-curious" was removed before the official opening due to its heavy innuendo.
- Their real names are Heimlich (hard hat), Dieter (railroad hat), and Horst (brown hat).
- Heimlich's name was first revealed in Shrek the Halls. When one of the pigs are choking, one of them yells "Heimlich!". One of the pigs causally says "Ja?", thinking his name is being called. He's later corrected and proceeds to perform the "Heimlich" to help his brother.
- The remaining two had their names revealed in The Pig Who Cried Werewolf.
- Their credits are "Straw," "Sticks," and "Bricks" in Shrek the Musical.
- The Three Little Pigs have received the most redesigns compared to the other characters. They have a more fleshy look in Shrek, and were redesigned to have traditional pig fur while also appearing more realistic in Shrek 2. The pigs would progressively appear more cartoonish beginning with Shrek the Third and ending with The Pig Who Cried Werewolf, while still keeping the second film's textures.
- Dieter's hat was also changed from a white cap with a paintbrush to a railroad hat between the first and second films.