| “ | It's a spell. When I was a little girl, a witch cast a spell on me, every night I become this... This horrible ugly beast! | ” |
—Princess Fiona tells Donkey about the witch | ||
This unidentified witch is one of the two unseen overarching antagonists (alongside Shrek's Father) of the Shrek franchise, serving as the unseen overarching antagonist of both Shrek, and Shrek Forever After.
She was the witch who gave Fiona her curse. She has only been referenced and never physically seen, but she is known to have recited a poetic spell when turning Fiona into an ogre at night.
The poem goes as follows:
By night one way
By day another
This shall be the norm
Until you find true love's first kiss
And take love's true form
Trivia[]
- Even though she is unidentified, she has the most influence in all four Shrek films.
- There have been multiple theories that the witch might have been the Fairy Godmother, but it's all up for speculation.
- One theory is that she claims only 'true loves kiss' can break the curse, which is stated in the spell, but she insists Harold and Lillian must lock Fiona in a tower, and secretly plots with Harold for Prince Charming to save her; as Harold refers to him as 'the man we picked out for her' to his wife. However, Charming is not her true love, but Godmother could easily "undo" the curse as they kiss, or could have slipped Fiona the love potion she tried to have Harold give her. She is a potion maker and could very well make one powerful enough for Fiona to be human permanently.
- Another theory is that King Harold was in debt to Godmother after she helped him with his "Happily Ever After" by turning him from a frog to a human, sealing his form after Lillian and him shared their first kiss (Similar to Shrek and Fiona). She may have set up the entire thing with Harold as payback.
- However, Harold and Lillian are willing to go to Rumpelstiltskin to help Fiona from her curse, so Harold may not have known Fairy Godmother was behind it. However, he seems to insist Fairy Godmother's word is true-only "True Love's Kiss" can break her curse rather than signing away his whole kingdom for Fiona.
- Fiona says she was cursed when she was a little girl and is able to recite it, so its possible she may remember being cursed. However, she seems confused by it as a child when Shrek reads her diary in the second film. She mentions being disappointed by not being able to go to her friend's slumber party as her dad "never lets her outside after sunset" and how she believes going to the tower was like a "finishing school."
- Its also possible she was too young to remember it, but her parents told her when she was old enough.
- In Shrek Forever After and Shrek the Musical, part of the poem is changed to “by day one way, by night another”, when it was originally “by night one way, by day another”.