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* BroughtDownToBadass: In the altered timeline of ''Forever After''. Even after gaining some serious weight due to being pampered for years, he is able to kick butt during the climax after putting his gear back on.
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'''''Heroes:''''' '''Main Characters''' ([[Characters/ShrekTheCharacter Shrek]], [[Characters/ShrekPussInBoots Puss in Boots]]) | [[Characters/ShrekAllies Allies]] ([[Characters/PussInBootsCompanionsAndAllies Puss' Companions & Allies]])\\
'''''Antagonists:''''' [[Characters/ShrekAntagonists Main Films]] | [[Characters/PussInBootsRoguesGallery Puss' Rogues Gallery]] ([[Characters/PussInBootsTheWolf The Wolf]], [[Characters/PussInBootsJackHorner Jack Horner]])\\
'''''Antagonists:''''' [[Characters/ShrekAntagonists Main Films]] | [[Characters/PussInBootsRoguesGallery Puss' Rogues Gallery]] ([[Characters/PussInBootsTheWolf The Wolf]], [[Characters/PussInBootsJackHorner Jack Horner]])\\
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'''''Heroes:''''' '''Main Characters''' ([[Characters/ShrekTheCharacter Shrek]], [[Characters/ShrekPussInBoots Puss in Boots]]) | [[Characters/ShrekAllies Allies]] ([[Characters/PussInBootsCompanionsAndAllies Puss' Companions & Allies]])\\
'''''Antagonists:''''' [[Characters/ShrekAntagonists Main Films]] | [[Characters/PussInBootsRoguesGallery Puss' RoguesGallery]] ([[Characters/PussInBootsTheWolf The Wolf]], [[Characters/PussInBootsJackHorner Jack Horner]])\\Gallery]]\\
'''''Antagonists:''''' [[Characters/ShrekAntagonists Main Films]] | [[Characters/PussInBootsRoguesGallery Puss' Rogues
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For the character, see [[Characters/ShrekTheCharacter here]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Donkey]]
!!Donkey
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/EddieMurphy (films and ''Shrek the Halls''), Creator/DeanEdwards (''Scared Shrekless'', ''Shrek: Thriller Night'', and ''[=DreamWorks=] All-Star Kart Racing''), Mark Moseley (games and ''Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party'') [[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]]José Mota (EU Spanish), Creator/EugenioDerbez, Creator/LuisAlfonsoMendoza [''Shrek: Thriller Night''] (Latin American Spanish), Creator/MedHondo (EU French), Creator/KoichiYamadera (Japanese), Mario Jorge Andrade (Brazilian Portuguese), Randolf Kronberg (German, first two films), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German, third and fourth film) Dicky Cheung (HK Cantonese), Action Tang (TW Mandarin), Jerzy Stuhr (Polish), Jonas Malmsjö (Swedish)[[/labelnote]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Donkey]]
!!Donkey
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/EddieMurphy (films and ''Shrek the Halls''), Creator/DeanEdwards (''Scared Shrekless'', ''Shrek: Thriller Night'', and ''[=DreamWorks=] All-Star Kart Racing''), Mark Moseley (games and ''Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party'') [[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]]José Mota (EU Spanish), Creator/EugenioDerbez, Creator/LuisAlfonsoMendoza [''Shrek: Thriller Night''] (Latin American Spanish), Creator/MedHondo (EU French), Creator/KoichiYamadera (Japanese), Mario Jorge Andrade (Brazilian Portuguese), Randolf Kronberg (German, first two films), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German, third and fourth film) Dicky Cheung (HK Cantonese), Action Tang (TW Mandarin), Jerzy Stuhr (Polish), Jonas Malmsjö (Swedish)[[/labelnote]]
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[[/folder]]
[[folder:Donkey]]
!!Donkey
!!!'''Voiced by:'''
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[[caption-width-right:198:''"We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, [[MemeticMutation I'm making waffles]]!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:198:[[labelnote:Click here to see Donkey as a "Noble Steed".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donk_4.png[[/labelnote]]]]
Donkey is a miniature talking donkey who is not too bright. He is Shrek's annoying but good-hearted best friend, Dragon's husband and father of the Dronkeys.
[[caption-width-right:198:''"We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, [[MemeticMutation I'm making waffles]]!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:198:[[labelnote:Click here to see Donkey as a "Noble Steed".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donk_4.png[[/labelnote]]]]
Donkey is a miniature talking donkey who is not too bright. He is Shrek's annoying but good-hearted best friend, Dragon's husband and father of the Dronkeys.
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[[caption-width-right:198:''"We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Now ogres, they're much worse [than giants]. They'll make a suit from your freshly peeled skin; they'll shave your liver; squeeze the
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Donkey is
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->''"Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the world that seems to have a
A grumpy and disgusting, but lovable ogre who lives alone in a swamp, at least, initially, as he finds to his utter displeasure Fairytale creatures are dumped into his land by Lord Farquaad to keep them away. He initially starts off with resentment towards everyone, but as he journeys on, he becomes way more sociable and open.
!! Ogres have tropes!
* AbusiveParents: At least his father apparently was. Closest we ever heard about his family is
* {{Acrofatic}}:
** Shrek isn't exactly the leanest ogre around, especially compared to the ogres in ''Forever After'', but he can hold his own. In the first movie, Shrek managed to outrun the much larger Dragon while carrying both Fiona and Donkey in his arms. The factory escape scene in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' steps it up with an impressive one-handed cartwheel -- performed whilst holding Donkey under his arm and dodging a rain of fire from AutomaticCrossbows.
** The first Xbox video game adaptation greatly exaggerated his prowess to where he [[LightningBruiser could run and jump with all the speed of an Olympic sprinter.]] Later games scaled him back down to being a MightyGlacier instead.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: His 1990 book counterpart was much uglier, with "freckles" covering his face, red eyes, and very wild, unkempt nose and ear hair. While the movie Shrek is still often described as ugly and [[ThePigPen takes great pride in his many revolting habits]], he's certainly a lot easier on the eyes by comparison.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** In the sense that he is inverting the traditional role of [[AlwaysChaoticEvil ogres]] as villains in Fairy Tales.
** Played straight in regards to the book, where Shrek was very much a VillainProtagonist.
* AdaptationalWimp: In the original book, Shrek has the ability to breathe fire, swallow lightning, and shoot EyeBeams. In the film series, while still very strong, agile and a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, he lacks the aforementioned powers.
* AdiposeRex: When he was filling in for the King and Queen of Far Far Away, as well as being next in line for the throne, in ''[[WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird The Third]]''.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: He suffers the feelings of this when he feels that nobody likes him because they believe him to be a roaring monster.
* AlmostKiss: With Fiona in the [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 first movie]], [[MomentKiller before Donkey ruins the moment]].
* AmazonChaser: It's after seeing Fiona single-handedly beating Robin Hood and his men that Shrek starts getting smitten in her.
* AntiHero: He starts off as a PragmaticHero before CharacterDevelopment kicks in during the final act of the first movie. Throughout the rest of the saga, he is more or less a KnightInSourArmor. In fact, he is a KnightInSourArmor when he rescues Fiona in the first movie.
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Despite being a mythical creature, Shrek thinks true love is complete whack, to the point where he uses book pages containing that to [[LiteralMetaphor wipe his ass]]. But this mostly stems from him believing he will never receive it and that no one will ever love him for who he is.
* ArchetypalCharacter:
** Shrek on some level represents and inversion of the center and margin. Although he is a marginal being and a monster from the swamps, he frequently travels to the centers of the world to fix whatever problem is caused by the corrupted ruling class. During these adventures, he frequently embodies quite heroic roles typically reserved for the human protagonists, right down to marrying the princess he saves. In the end, he not only manages to save Far Far Away, the realm of fairy tales, but also puts King Arthur (himself an archetypal hero-king) on its throne before returning to his home in the swamps.
** There are some really interesting allusions to the character of the Green Knight, depending on your interpretation on what the Green Knight actually is. He is a monstrous yet virtuous being who tests knights and ladies. The Green Knight himself is associated with Arthur personally: in ''King Arthur and King Cornwall'', he serves as one of his knights, and helps him fight an opposing fairy with the help of a bubble.
* ArmorPiercingResponse: After he storms out of his children's birthday party out of frustration in ''Forever After'', he and Fiona get into an argument about how different Shrek's life was before and after they met, which leads to this:
-->'''Shrek:''' Look, all I want is for things to go back to the way they used to be. Back when [[TheDreaded villagers were afraid of me]], and I could take a [[ThePigPen mud bath in peace]], when I could do what I wanted when I wanted to do it. Back when the world made sense.
-->'''Fiona:''' You mean, back before you rescued me from the dragon's keep?
-->'''Shrek:''' ''[[BluntYes Exactly!]]''
* BabiesEverAfter: By the end of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'', he has three kids (two boys and one girl) with Fiona.
* BadassBoast: Used as part of his EstablishingCharacterMoment to show how he acts around humans.
-->'''Shrek:''' ''[to villagers]'' Now, ogres? Oh, they're '''much''' worse. They'll make a suit from your freshly peeled skin; they'll shave your liver; squeeze the jelly from your eyes! ''[sotto voice]'' Actually, it's quite good on toast.
* BadassNormal: Despite being tall and in good shape, human Shrek doesn't have the same size or strength he did as an ogre during the second half of ''Shrek 2'', so everything he does from drinking the potion up until midnight is within the limits of an average adult man.
* BeautifulAllAlong: Ogre Shrek is not very eye-catching. But as a human? Total hunk. Justified, as the potion that turned him human also makes whoever drinks it more beautiful.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** His goal in [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 the first movie]] was to get back to his isolated life in his swamp, and he gets it by fulfilling Lord Farquaad's request of bringing him Fiona. In doing so, he almost loses his chance at love due to a misunderstanding on his part and deeply misses her and Donkey's company.
** A literal example in the ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter''. After becoming tired over his new life filled with family and friends, all Shrek wants is one day to be a real ogre again. Rumpelstiltskin grants his wish... by taking away the day Shrek was born. And thus the lives of his friends and family were greatly and terribly altered, also meaning Shrek's children don't exist. He is quite understandably angry at himself.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Shrek still finds Donkey annoying but
* BigFun: Downplayed. In a JerkWithAHeartOfGold sense, as he can be quite hard to get to have fun with, but once he befriends you, he's a fun softy.
* TheBigGuy: 7-8 feet tall in addition to being TheHero. Ironically, compared to the other ogres, we see he's pretty much a runt.
* BigOlEyebrows: He sports some thick, dark green ones.
* BilingualBonus: His name is a derivative form of the German and Yiddish word for '''terror''' (S'''c'''hre'''c'''k/Shre'''c'''k).
* BraveScot: A Scottish accented ogre who is shown to be pretty heroic and bold when necessary.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Brooding Boy (is secretly insecure and lonely) to Fiona's Gentle Girl (kind and nurturing).
* BrutalHonesty: Especially with Donkey, with poor results.
-->'''Shrek:''' Stop singing! It's no wonder you don't have any friends.\\
'''Donkey:''' Wow. Only a true friend would be that cruelly honest.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: He is so used to mobs coming to his swamp to kill him that when one does it at the beginning of the first movie, Shrek doesn't react with any concern and just heads out to scare them away.
* ButtMonkey: He suffers some AmusingInjuries throughout most scenes in the series.
** In ''Forever After'', he does everything he can to share TrueLovesKiss with the alternate Fiona, which results in receiving painful responses.[[note]]Those being kicked back by her when he came up to her, resulting in him invading her personal space and trying to give her a goodbye kiss, to which she stomps on his foot and kicks him out whilst grabbing him by the wrist in front of his back.[[/note]]
** The most noticeable is the GroinAttack; which happens in the [[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 first movie]], the [[WesternAnimation/Shrek2 second chapter]], ''[[WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird The Third]]'' and the Halloween special ''WesternAnimation/ScaredShrekless''.
* CallingTheOldManOut: In ''Shrek 2'' during the dinner with Fiona's parents, Shrek has already had enough of King Harold's FantasticRacism towards ogres, and then Shrek brings up how he and Lillian had Fiona locked away in a tower in hopes of getting the curse on her broken while [[WhatTheHellHero calling him out]] for it.
-->'''Harold:''' That is assuming you don't ''eat'' your own [[children]] young!
-->'''Shrek:''' Oh, no, we usually prefer the ones who've been locked away in a tower.
-->'''Harold:''' I only did that because I love her.
-->'''Shrek:''' Oh, right. Daycare, or dragon-guarded castles.
-->'''Harold:''' You wouldn't understand, you're not her father!
* CelebrityIsOverrated: Part of the plot of ''Forever After''. Seen as a local hero and role model, Shrek finds himself constantly pestered by tour groups and villagers, to the extent [[WeWantOurJerkBack he actually wishes humans were still afraid of him]] so he could have peace. He [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor gets his wish]] thanks to Rumpelstiltskin, but soon [[GrassIsGreener realizes what exactly he gave up]] and comes out of the misadventure with newfound appreciation for his life.
* CharacterDevelopment: From TheHermit to FamilyMan. Shrek comes to let go of his IWorkAlone mentality and be appreciative of his family and friends.
* ChickMagnet: Becomes one after he turns human. He's this except to the woman he wanted to impress, who loved him the way he already was.
* CombatPragmatist: When faced by many foes or an enemy he cannot beat with his strength, Shrek will rather make clever use of the environment or various items at his disposal, or retreat when he knows he cannot win as he did with the Dragon in the first film.
%% * ComedicSociopathy: Somewhat in the first two movies.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Shrek, despite his wit and being snarky, also falls into this trope.
-->'''Farquaad:''' ''[referring to Shrek]'' It's hideous!\\
'''Shrek:''' Oh, that's not very nice. It's just a donkey. ''[Donkey gives him a look]''
* ContinuityCameo: Appears briefly in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' as the Wolf causes Puss's lives to flash before his eyes.
* CruelToBeKind: In ''Shrek the Third'', Charming plans to kill young Artie due to him being a threat for the throne. Scared for the boy's life, Shrek proceeds to lie and claim he only cared about having someone else on the throne instead of him. Donkey later informs Artie that Shrek saved Artie's life by acting like he didn't care.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: His father tried to ''eat'' him when he was just a kid. He then spent the next years in isolation from others...because they only saw him as a monster. It wasn't until the events of the first film that he was able to bring himself out of this and accept love into his life.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Shrek is an Ogre that can bring fear to people but is also nobler than his [[LightIsNotGood enemies, who are usually people seen as heroic, but are non-heroic jerks in comparison]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Is he ''ever''. So often that it's sort of his icon.
-->'''Shrek:''' Sometimes I wish I had just one day to feel like a real ogre again.\\
'''Rumpelstiltskin:''' Well, why didn't you say so? Magical transactions are my speciality.\\
'''Shrek:''' Oh, great. Next to mimes, magicians are my favourite people.
* DealWithTheDevil: ''Forever After'' has him sign away the day he was born to Rumpelstiltskin, resulting in him being thrown into a universe where he'd never existed.
* DefrostingIceKing: Spends a good part of the first movie as a grouchy, anti-social hermit who just wants to be left alone. With Donkey's friendship and Fiona's love, Shrek gradually defrosts to become a kinder, more sociable family man.
* DisappearedDad: We briefly hear about Shrek's father and only that he attempted to eat his son but we never actually see Shrek's father or find out his fate. He is never seen visiting his son or meeting his daughter-in-law or grandchildren so he's possibly deceased.
* DisneyDeath: Near the end of [[spoiler:''Forever After.'']] Of course, being the namesake of his franchise, it doesn't last.
* DistressedDude: Towards the end of ''Shrek the Third'', [[spoiler:he lies to get himself captured by Prince Charming in Artie's place, prompting all of Shrek's friends to crash the play Charming puts up so they can save him.]]
* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: In the opening of the third film, he accidentally drives a sword into a man while knighting him. He also pushes a ship into the water just by leaning his hand against it, and creates a big hole when he throws a champagne bottle to christen the ship.
* DotingParent: Despite initial fears of being a parent, Shrek loves his children very much.
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: In the fourth film, Fiona tells Shrek she had never been so embarrassed by his attitude at the birthday party while Shrek assumed it was the party itself.
* TheDreaded: Is this among humans at the start of the series.
* DubSpeciesChange: There is no equivalent to the word "ogre" in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, thus in the dubs in these languages he became a "troll" instead. Funnily, the fourth film has Rumpelstiltskin look at a creature and say "That's not even an ogre, that is a troll." The Norwegian dub got around this by saying "That's not even a troll, that is a jotne.", "jotne" being (among other creatures) a different kind of troll in Nordic mythology.
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: A genuinely tearjerking example to [[spoiler:the alternate Fiona near the end of ''Forever After'', when he's in the process of fading from existence as a result of Rumpelstiltskin's contract]].
-->'''Shrek:''' Do you know what the best
* EasilyForgiven: Evidently, the fairytale creatures hold no grudge against him for angrily turning them from his swamp in the first film. Likely because he took care of Farquaad for good and let them return to their actual homes safe and sound.
* EnragedByIdiocy: In the first movie, as Shrek and Donkey were just starting to build their friendship, Shrek is frequently getting annoyed by Donkey's obliviousness to what he's trying to say, which makes sense, as Shrek only brought him along so Donkey could show him the way to Farquaad's castle.
-->'''Donkey:''' You know what everybody likes? Parfaits! Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait"? Parfaits are delicious!
-->'''Shrek:''' [[BigNo NO!!]] You dense, irritating, miniature beast of burden! Ogres are like onions! End of story! Bye-bye. See you later...
* EveryoneHasStandards: A montage in ''Forever After'' has him go around loudly roaring at people to scare them. When he encounters an elderly woman with an EarTrumpet, he merely whispers "roar".
* ExpressiveEars: His ears will usually show his mood. If he's happy, his ears will become erect, and if he's sad, they will usually go down.
* {{Fartillery}}: Shrek tends to use his farts as a weapon in the video games: ''VideoGame/ShrekSuperSlam'' has his [[LimitBreak Slam]] be a giant fart that knocks enemies away in the console version and smaller farts that stun enemies as a regular attack in the GBA version.
* FormerlyFit: If what the [[https://i.redd.it/ng06jwremac51.jpg concept art]] to ''Forever After'' implies, Shrek was lean in his youth.
* FreudianExcuse: In the first film, it's shown that the reason for Shrek's misanthropy and reclusive nature is because of being rejected by everyone around him for most of his life.
-->'''Donkey:''' What's your problem, Shrek? What you got against the whole world anyway, huh?\\
'''Shrek:''' Look, I'm not the one with the problem, okay? It's the ''world'' that seems to have a problem with ''me''! People take one look at me and go "AAH! Help, run! A big, stupid, ugly ogre!" ''[sigh]'' They judge me before they even know me. That's why I'm better off alone.
* FreudianSlip: In ''The Third''.
-->'''Shrek:''' ''[to Artie]'' ...and you're gonna be a father!\\
'''Artie:''' [[FlatWhat What?]]
* FriendlessBackground: This doesn't seem to bother him, though. At least, on the surface it doesn't seem like it does.
* {{Gasshole}}: A species trait, apparently.
* GentleGiant: Or gentle ogre. There's a difference. He tries his best to be, but he can be pretty careless. Nonetheless, while it's never commented on, Shrek differentiates between trained fighters and angry peasants, preferring to scare off the latter rather than simply grabbing and throwing them out of his way. Even his main method of fighting, grappling, means he rarely risks seriously injuring the knights he usually fights. Even in the climax of the first movie, when he's dogpiled by knights and threatened with torture, he only throws one elbow and a punch in the heat of the moment.
* GetOut: When the Fairy Tale creatures are banished to Shrek's swamp, he tries to get them to leave before realizing that they are never going to leave unless Farquaad returns their lands to them.
* GirlySkirtTwirl: PlayedForLaughs in ''Forever After'' when he crashes a wedding early on in the Alternate Universe part of the film. No points for guessing who he's dressed as in this scene.
* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing: The Grumpy to Donkey's Gleeful. Shrek is a grumpy, sarcastic loner while Donkey is a kind, cheerful friend.
* GoodParents: With Fiona at the end of ''The Third'' and later on. He is hesitant about his abilities to be one when he first discovers he is going to be a father, given his own past. He has trouble adapting in the fourth film but loves his children dearly.
* GrassIsGreener: A big part of the plot in the ''Forever After''. Shrek has grown tired of being a family man and celebrity among the local villagers, and longs for the days where he was a "real ogre", feared by villagers and actually had privacy. He [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor gets his wish]], and soon begins to understand the consequences of his actions and how important he was to the grand scheme of things; [[spoiler:among other things, his children no longer exist, and Fiona's parents have been erased from existence.]] Best summed up in this exchange between himself and Donkey near the climax:
-->'''Donkey:''' If your life was so perfect, then why'd you [[DealWithTheDevil sign it all away]] to Rumpelstiltskin in the first place?\\
'''Shrek:''' Because I didn't know what I had until it was gone!
* GreenAndMean: Subverted. Shrek exploits this trope to play into [[ThenLetMeBeEvil people's perceptions of him as a "big scary ogre"]], but he's revealed to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold underneath his walls and a pretty nice guy once you get to know him.
* GreenIsGross: He has green skin, lives in a swamp, bathes in mud/swampwater, and has many gross habits, such as belching, farting, and eating bugs.
* GroinAttack: The poor guy suffers this several times.
** In the first movie while he, Donkey and Fiona are trying to escape from the Dragon, Shrek slides down a pillar that has a bump in the middle of it. He recovers pretty quickly from it, though.
** In the second movie, this happens during Shrek and Donkey's first encounter with Puss in Boots. While Puss is climbing all around Shrek, Donkey tries to kick him, but instead hits Shrek in the nuts.
** In the third movie, the trio are trying to pass off Shrek as a guy in a suit, and Donkey tries to prove it by kicking Shrek in the groin because then it wouldn't have hurt him. It does however, and Shrek has to just bear the pain so he doesn't expose himself.
** In ''Scared Shrekless'', this happens to him in his own story, where he gets kicked by a possessed Pinocchio.
* GuestFighter: Shrek appears as a secret playable character in ''VideoGame/TonyHawksUnderground 2'' and ''VideoGame/MadagascarKartz''.
* GuileHero: While he can and will throw down, his most successful wins come from thinking on his feet; he drew his sword, seemingly to slay the dragon, but instead slammed it into the chandelier chain to hold her back when he escapes the castle. This not only [[PragmaticHero avoids extra time in a battle he might not win]], but leaves Dragon alive to become his friend and [[BigDamnHeroes save the day]].
* HappilyMarried: With Fiona, though they go through their ups and downs.
* TheHermit: He starts as this, living all by himself and not needing anyone else's company. Even after he learns to open up about himself to others and be more inviting and people grow to accept him, he prefers a quiet life in the swamp, alone save for the small handful of people he chooses to be around.
* TheHero: Not that he ever set out to be one.
* HeroicNeutral: In the first movie, he just wants to live in his swamp by himself. He ends up going on a quest to rescue Princess Fiona for the sake of getting all of the fairy tale creatures out of his swamp after Lord Farquaad sends them there. While Farquaad keeps his ends of the bargain, CharacterDevelopment along the way on Shrek's part meant that he abandoned the few people who genuinely liked him to get his swamp back, making Shrek realize how desperately lonely he really was.
* HeroicBSOD: In ''Shrek 2'', Shrek was already down on himself for not being the kind of husband to Fiona Far Far Away expected, but Shrek finally gets this when he loses Fiona to Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother convinces him to let Fiona go.
-->'''Donkey:''' I can't believe you're gonna just wak away from the best that ever happened to you.
-->'''Shrek:''' [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy What choice do I have? She loves that pretty boy, Prince Charming.]]
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Due to being an ogre. Only in the first two movies, though -- in the latter two, he has been accepted by the public and is in fact admired as sort of a local hero and role model.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Donkey -- despite their [[VitriolicBestBuds occasionally rocky relationship]], they're ultimately really good friends who'll always have each other's backs. This loyalty later extends to Puss, who Shrek gets along a lot better with than Donkey.
* HiddenDepths: Despite his status as an outcast ogre, lack of education and hermit lifestyle Shrek is shown to be literate and even is well-read, shown reading a fairy tale book at the beginning of the first film (even if he ended up using the book for [[ToiletHumor another purpose]]) , and he's far more observant and cunning that what you would expect an ogre to be. He also has surprisingly good cook skills.
* HotInHumanForm: In the second film, Shrek takes a magic potion that transforms him into a human. The maids who revive him after he passes out find him very attractive, and are disappointed to learn that he already has a wife. He's currently the page image of the trope.
* HumanityEnsues: After drinking the Happily Ever After potion in the second movie, Shrek is temporarily transformed into an attractive human. He was willing to remain human forever if it [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy would make Fiona happy]], but she declined and they both reverted back to ogres.
* HumbleHero: Even after Shrek ends up ruling over Far, Far Away, he ''much'' prefers living in his old house in the swamp.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Fiona is really petite compared to Shrek, even as both ogres or humans.
* {{Hunk}}: His human form replaces all of his fat with muscle. He instantly charms three farm girls the second they lay eyes on him.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: He changes his entire physical apperance in ''Shrek 2'' all because his insecurities leads him to believe that Fiona would want a prince charming instead of an ogre. When Fairy Godmother figures this out, she manipulates Shrek into believing that he and Fiona would never work together, so Shrek leaves her to let her live out her days with Prince Charming, someone Shrek thinks she would want.
** In ''Forever After'', when it has become clear to him that the Fiona from the alternative universe will never fall in love with him, [[spoiler:he turns himself in to Rumpelstiltskin, using a [[LoopholeAbuse loophole]] to get the wish rewarded to the one who brings Shrek to him, which is to set Fiona and all the other ogres free]].
* IWorkAlone: Befitting that he wants to be left alone, Shrek prefers much more to get things done by himself at first. The only thing he really needed from Donkey during the quest was getting to know where Farquaad's castle was and after getting there, Shrek had no more use for him, but Donkey still stuck around, leading to a friendship for all the ages.
* InkSuitActor: A vague resemblance to Mike Myers can be seen in his human form. Additionally, his normal ogre form also has a resemblance to his original choice Creator/ChrisFarley before dying.
* InsecureLoveInterest:
** In the first movie, Shrek seemed like he was going to propose to Fiona, but stopped when he thought that Fiona and Donkey were talking behind his back.
** Expanded on in the second movie. After seeing that the kingdom didn't expect him to be Fiona's husband and finding out that the king and queen had filled Fiona with hopes that she would get together with a "Prince Charming", he thinks that Fiona would prefer that, so he goes off to try and find a magical potion to become one for her.
* InternalizedCategorism: The world outside of Shrek's swamp has a big hatred for big, stupid, ugly ogres, with villagers starting mobs in attempts to kill him on a regular basis. This has led Shrek to believing that nobody will truly ever accept him and that he might as well [[ThenLetMeBeEvil adhere to that and be the fearsome ogre everyone calls him]], never reaching out for any contact with anyone from the outside world. This changes when he spends some time with Donkey and Fiona who see him for who he is, which helps him be more honest with himself. But it continues in the second movie, where the people of Far Far Away has to witness that their princess married an ogre, and combined with him seeing all the hopes Fiona had about marrying a "Prince Charming", he ends up believing that he would only be accepted as Fiona's husband if he took a beauty potion to become human. But even after taking the potion, Fairy Godmother's manipulation makes Shrek think that he will never be good enough for Fiona and that he should [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy let her go]].
* InterspeciesRomance: With Fiona when she was still human.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** When Shrek objected to Princess Fiona and Lord Farquaad's wedding in the first movie, he did make a good point about how the latter only wanted to marry Fiona so he could be king of Duloc. He's proven right when you witness how Lord Farquaad treats Fiona when the latter turns into an ogre.
** In the second movie, Shrek expresses his concern about how Fiona's parents would react to seeing the latter's Ogre form. He is proven right when Harold isn't happy with seeing Fiona as an Ogre. Even Fiona comes to agree with Shrek's viewpoint when she packs her things to go back to Shrek's swamp (this happens after another argument that Shrek and Fiona have about this topic).
** While Shrek's {{Jerkass}} behavior made him regret his argument with Fiona in ''Shrek 2'', he made a very good point about the likeliness of getting Harold's blessing even if he did try to get along, which he did try. He wasn't the one who started the fight, Harold was (something even Lillian calls Harold out on). Shrek did try for Fiona, but Harold's prejudice meant he never had a fair chance. He lost the argument because he forgot what Fiona sacrificed for him, which he knew was big.
** In ''Shrek The Third'', when Artie decides to bail out of being king when the responsibilities of such a job are (inadvertently) revealed to him, one of Shrek's responses is effectively "Back to what, being a loser?". While these were harsh words and in context Shrek is just giving the kid the job so he doesn't have to do it, he isn't exactly wrong that Artie is still giving up a chance of a lifetime in favor of going back to a place where he was so [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer unpopular]] even stereotypical nerds bullied him. It's worth noting that Artie never does provide a real counterfeit to this claim besides the fact, he simply doesn't want the responsibilities laid on him.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Shrek can be hot-tempered and rude, but he's also brave, selfless, and a loyal friend once he lets down his guard.
-->'''Shrek:''' [[HiddenDepths Ogres have layers.]]
* KavorkaMan: He's an ugly and disgusting ogre but manages to attract the beautiful princess Fiona after they bond over common interests. Also in the third film, a high school student wishes to go to homecoming with him because she's into mythical creatures.
* KnightInSourArmor: He's crude, hot-tempered and cynical, but nearly always manages to do the right thing, especially for people (and donkeys) that have proven they're able to see past the idea of "big, stupid, ugly ogres."
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: In the first movie he chooses to avoid direct confrontation with the Dragon while rescuing Fiona, prefering to run away or using the environment to outsmart her rather than fight a battle he cannot win against a dragon, only pulling her tail in order to save Donkey before running away.
* LargeHam: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAAAAMMMMPPPPP?!!!!!!!!!!!"
* LargeRunt: He's big enough by human standards, but in ''Forever After'' we learn that male ogres are normally much larger and more muscular. Before that movie, the only other ogres that were ever seen were Fiona and their children, all of whom are smaller than Shrek, making this even more of a surprise.
* LoonyFriendsImproveYourPersonality: The {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Donkey is the first person Shrek ever meets who doesn't treat Shrek like a monster, which is the treatment from society that Shrek has come to terms with. This makes Donkey later the first person Shrek opens up about himself to, and Shrek becomes much happier and more amiable after experiencing more adventures with him.
* LovedByAll: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''Forever After''. When the events of that movie starts, every single being in the land loves Shrek, from his family, to his friends, to the people outside those groups who visits his swamp to see him. All the weight from having to play all these different roles takes its toll on him and it reaches its [[RageBreakingPoint tipping point]] at his children's birthday party. This results in him missing the time he had before meeting everyone that led him down the path to his new life, when he was a [[TheDreaded dreaded]] [[TheHermit hermit]], or as he calls it, "back when the world made sense". So he then makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin that ends horribly for the world and everyone in it not named Rumpelstiltskin, which in turn helps Shrek appreciate the life he ended up getting by befriending those close to him.
* MagicPants: Averted at first in the second movie. After drinking the beauty potion, Shrek shrinks in size, making him too small for the clothes he wears as an ogre and forcing him to "borrow" some from a passing noble. At the end of the movie however, when he and Fiona turn from their human forms into their ogre forms, Shrek's original clothes magically come back.
* ManInAKilt: Befitting his Scottish accent, [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6740000/newsid_6743400/6743429.stm Shrek has his own official tartan]] and wore it (as depicted by a costumed character) to the UK premiere of ''Shrek the Third''.
* MeaningfulName: His name is derived from the Yiddish word "Schreck", which means "fright". Given that most people are terrified of Ogres, it's an appropriate moniker. It's also one letter from the word "shriek", which is what humans tend to do when they cross paths with him in the first movie.
* MightyGlacier: Most video game adaptations depict Shrek as one of the strongest but slowest characters, which usually gives him the short end of the stick when speed and mobility are two of the most important assets.
* MightyRoar: One of his many ogre abilities includes roaring so loudly he can actively [[https://youtu.be/6I5B0jyLBUg?t=129 blow others away]].
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: As he puts it; [[HiddenDepths "ogres have layers"]]. Shrek can be a decent guy, but everyone is afraid of him and treats him like an outcast, which has made Shrek adapt to it. He leaves the "Misunderstood loner" part when he learns to embrace that heart of gold and be more open to others.
* MorphicResonance: His human form retains [[EyesAreMental his eye color]] and nose shape.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After realizing what his deal with Rumpelstiltskin has done to everyone he used to know and love, Shrek is visibly torn apart by his actions, to the point where he [[ManlyTears cries]] [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness for the first time in the franchise]].
* MysteriousPast: We know virtually nothing of Shrek's life before the first film. All that's ever said about his childhood is that he had a father who tried to eat him and that for a long time, he believed people who thought he was a monster. Everything else, including the fate of Shrek's father, is a mystery.
* NominalHero: In the first movie, his motivation for helping the other fairy tale creatures be safe from Farquaad is because he wants them off his property, not because he actually wants to help them.
-->'''Shrek:''' Attention all... fairy tale, things. Do not get confortable. Your welcome is offically worn out. In fact, I'm gonna see this guy Farquaad ''right now'' and get you all off my land and back where you came from!
-->'''Fairy Tale Creatures:''' (cheers, leaving Shrek in disappointment)
* NostalgiaFilter: All the weight of being a husband, father, friend and celebrity causes Shrek to miss his old life when he was a scary ogre, "back when the world made sense". What adds fuel to the fire is how much Shrek and ogres in general have fallen from the feared beings they used to be, as everyone cheers when Shrek does the same MightyRoar that used to scare away people, and the (replacement) cake at his kids' birthday party having a cute cuddly ogre on it, causing Shrek to smash it.
* NotSoStoic: Despite having just been attacked from him moments prior, even Shrek can't resist Puss in Boots' PuppyDogEyes, and decides to let him tag along with him and Donkey because of his cuteness.
* OddNameOut: As of ''Shrek The Third'', he is the only member of the
* OneTrueLove: To Fiona. He's also something of a deconstruction, in that ''no one'' expected an ogre to be Fiona's true love, least of all Fiona herself, preventing them from acknowledging they're soulmates until they fall in love for real while on the way to Duloc.
* OnlySaneMan: The conscience to the {{cloudcuckoolander}}s Donkey and Puss.
* OurOgresAreHungrier: One of the most famous ogres in fiction. As for the "hungrier" part, he doesn't actually eat people (at least on screen, if his dialogue from his first scene is of any indication), although most would find his culinary habits pretty disgusting anyway.
* OutGambitted: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. In ''Forever After'', [[spoiler:Shrek tries to use a loophole by turning himself in to Rumpelstiltskin so that he will get a free wish that he uses to set all ogres free, most of all Fiona. However, Rumpel presents his own loophole, which is that due to Fiona's curse, she isn't "all ogre", so he doesn't free her with everyone else.]]
* PanickyExpectantFather: Shrek finds out from Fiona that he is going to be a father and has a nightmare about being a parent. His fears aren't that his life is going to change but he is afraid that he will be an abusive parent. Given his own experiences with his father, it makes perfect sense why he felt this way. At the end of the film, he learns to accept parenthood and proves to be a good parent.
-->'''Shrek:''' It's not my life I'm afraid of ruining, it's the kid's. When have you ever heard the phrase "as sweet as an ogre", or "as nurturing as an ogre", or "You're gonna love my dad, he's a real ogre"?
* PapaWolf:
** He became protective of Artie in the third movie, going as far as be CruelToBeKind to spare him from be killed by Charming. Later in the climax, he also grabbed Charming's sword with his chains when the boy's life was threatened again.
** Prominently in the fourth movie. It's when Rumpel mocks him on the fact that his children do not exist that he goes ballistic. Also acts like this towards Donkey at times, but he'll never admit it.
* ThePigPen: The opening scene in the first movie establishes that he has a lot of gross habits and bathes in mud/swampwater. It's an ogre thing.
* RageBreakingPoint: In ''Forever After'', he has grown more and more tired of his new celebrity-like life, and it reaches its boiling point at his kids' first birthday party, where all of the stress finally overwhelms him and he lets out a MightyRoar. He then smashes the cake which has a cute ogre on it before storming out.
* RagsToRoyalty: He starts out as a simple ogre, living in a swamp all by himself. By the end of the first movie, he marries Fiona, who is the princess of Far Far Away. Though the whole "Royalty" part did not fare well with him, as after King Harold passes away, Shrek is not keen on succeeding him as king and instead he, Donkey and Puss venture out to find a relative to Fiona's family who fits the title better.
* RealMenCook: His taste for rats and eyeballs notwithstanding, he's quite good at cooking and seems to really enjoy it. When he and Fiona were just starting to fall for each other, one of the things that impressed her was his rotisserie style weed rat and open invitation to his swamp, where he promised to cook her all kinds of things.
* RescueRomance: He was meant to rescue Fiona for Lord Farquaad, but they ended up falling for each other; thus ending the fairytale how it was supposed to be when they get married at the end but with a twist of a princess marrying the monster.
* RudeHeroNiceSidekick: The Rude Hero to Donkey's Nice Sidekick. In the first movie especially, he's a grouchy, vulgar curmudgeon while Donkey is an open and kindly extrovert who is the first person who shows Shrek any compassion.
* SeductionProofMarriage: He had a number of admirers when he became a handsome human but his love for Fiona remained undeterred.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Shrek is the Manly Man to Donkey's Sensitive Guy. Shrek is blunt, strong and unapologetically crass, while Donkey is kind, loyal, and very attuned to others' feelings.
* SmarterThanYouLook: He's a big, strong, slobbish ogre, and proud of it. But he's well-read, perceptive, and good at thinking on his feet.
* SpannerInTheWorks: The reason [[CorruptCorporateExecutive The Fairy Godmother]] has a bone to pick with him in ''Shrek 2''. She had intended to set Prince Charming and Fiona up together so that she could get in the nobility, but throughout the sequel, she has to constantly try to work her plans around Shrek's marriage with Fiona.
* StepfordSnarker: He's got a sharp tongue which he uses to dish sarcasm anytime he can, but it's quickly revealed to be a façade to hide how lonely he feels.
* StoutStrength: Incredibly strong, despite his obesity.
* SupremeChef: He can cook a lot of stuff and somehow make them edible.
* SwampMonster: Shrek makes his home in a swamp. In the first movie, he is shown scaring villagers who enter his swamp with TorchesAndPitchforks, just for jollies; then, when fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters displaced by Lord Farquaad settle in his swamp, he sets out on a quest to get rid of them.
* TakesTenToHold: When Fiona finally reveals to Shrek her transformation into an ogre every night (courtesy of a witch's curse) after he objects to her marriage to Lord Farquaad, Lord Farquaad has both arrested. Shrek, attempting to reach Fiona, starts being dragged off by dozens of guards, several of which he manages to fight off, before Dragon smashes through the church's windows, [[spoiler:eats Lord Farquaad]] and forces the remaining guards to back down.
* TemptingFate: When one of the Royal Messengers barged into Shrek and Fiona's room, Shrek sarcastically asked "Well somebody better be dying", sure enough, King Harold is close to dying.
* TerrifyingRescuer: Until Fiona realizes he's actually a much better prospect than the prince. In ''Forever After'', since Shrek never met Donkey, the latter is terrified after Shrek rescues him from Rumpelstitskin and his witches.
* ToiletHumor: Since he's an ogre, a lot of scenes focus on him pulling out earwax or farting. [[DoubleStandard His wife, Fiona, doesn't have nearly as much fondness for crude antics despite her too being an ogre]].
* TookALevelInKindness: Thanks to Donkey and Fiona's companionship, Shrek gradually evolves from a grouchy loner to a more sociable family man.
* TopHeavyGuy: Shrek has a large, portly body with long arms, but comparatively short legs.
* UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness: Averted. He follows a number of disgusting habits, but is definitely a good guy. Said habits are portrayed as normal and healthy for his ogre species, though.
* UndyingLoyalty: Despite how he can be, Shrek is extremely loyal to those he cares about such as his friends and family.
* UnexplainedAccent: It's unclear where his Scottish accent comes from, especially considering that none of the ogres in ''Forever After'' seem to have one.
* UnscrupulousHero: He only went on a quest to save Fiona because Lord Farquuad unwittingly annexed him by forcing the fairy tale creatures to migrate to his swamp.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Although he is by Donkey's side at the end of the day, they do argue a lot and Donkey is a real pain in the [[{{Pun}} ass]] to Shrek.
* WrestlerInAllOfUs: He shows that he knows some wicked moves during the fight against Lord Farquaad's men. Donkey makes for a good Tag Team Partner, too!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Donkey]]
!!Donkey
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/EddieMurphy (films and ''Shrek the Halls''), Creator/DeanEdwards (''Scared Shrekless'', ''Shrek: Thriller Night'', and ''[=DreamWorks=] All-Star Kart Racing''), Mark Moseley (games and ''Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party'') [[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]]José Mota (EU Spanish), Creator/EugenioDerbez, Creator/LuisAlfonsoMendoza [''Shrek: Thriller Night''] (Latin American Spanish), Creator/MedHondo (EU French), Creator/KoichiYamadera (Japanese), Mario Jorge Andrade (Brazilian Portuguese), Randolf Kronberg (German, first two films), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German, third and fourth film) Dicky Cheung (HK Cantonese), Action Tang (TW Mandarin), Jerzy Stuhr (Polish), Jonas Malmsjö (Swedish)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' | ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' | ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' (Flashback)
[[quoteright:198:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shrek3_donkey.png]]
[[caption-width-right:198:''"We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, [[MemeticMutation I'm making waffles]]!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:198:[[labelnote:Click here to see Donkey as a "Noble Steed".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donk_4.png[[/labelnote]]]]
Donkey is a miniature talking donkey who is not too bright. He is Shrek's annoying but good-hearted best friend, Dragon's husband and father of the Dronkeys.
----
[[folder:Donkey]]
!!Donkey
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/EddieMurphy (films and ''Shrek the Halls''), Creator/DeanEdwards (''Scared Shrekless'', ''Shrek: Thriller Night'', and ''[=DreamWorks=] All-Star Kart Racing''), Mark Moseley (games and ''Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party'') [[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]]José Mota (EU Spanish), Creator/EugenioDerbez, Creator/LuisAlfonsoMendoza [''Shrek: Thriller Night''] (Latin American Spanish), Creator/MedHondo (EU French), Creator/KoichiYamadera (Japanese), Mario Jorge Andrade (Brazilian Portuguese), Randolf Kronberg (German, first two films), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German, third and fourth film) Dicky Cheung (HK Cantonese), Action Tang (TW Mandarin), Jerzy Stuhr (Polish), Jonas Malmsjö (Swedish)[[/labelnote]]
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' | ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' | ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' (Flashback)
[[quoteright:198:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shrek3_donkey.png]]
[[caption-width-right:198:''"We can stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning, [[MemeticMutation I'm making waffles]]!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:198:[[labelnote:Click here to see Donkey as a "Noble Steed".]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donk_4.png[[/labelnote]]]]
Donkey is a miniature talking donkey who is not too bright. He is Shrek's annoying but good-hearted best friend, Dragon's husband and father of the Dronkeys.
----
Changed line(s) 271 (click to see context) from:
For the character, see [[Characters/ShrekPussInBoots here]].
to:
!!Puss in Boots
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AntonioBanderas (films, ''Shrek the Halls'' and ''Scared Shrekless'', English, [[MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor Italian, EU and Latin American Spanish]]), Creator/EricBauza (''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' Creator/{{Netflix}} series, ''The Trident'', and ''VideoGame/DreamWorksAllStarKartRacing''), Creator/AndreSogliuzzo (games and ''Shrek: Thriller Night'')[[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]] Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (trailers, ''Scared Shrekless'', and ''Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular''), Creator/LuisDanielRamirez [''The Adventures of Puss in Boots''] (Latin American Spanish), Creator/ManuelTadros (Canadian French), Creator/BorisRehlinger (EU French), Naoto Takenaka [''Puss in Boots''], Koji Yamamoto [''The Last Wish''] (Japanese), Benno Fürmann (German), Creator/AlexandreMoreno (Brazilian Portuguese), Jin Yonggang (PRC Mandarin), Ku Ming Wah (HK Cantonese), Chen Xusheng [speaking], Wang Xihua [singing] (TW Mandarin), Wojciech Malajkat (Polish), Andrey Bibikov (Russian), Rafael Edholm (Swedish)[[/labelnote]]
%%
%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16795303990.18375100
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011 Puss in Boots]]'' | ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/puss_in_boots_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[PreAsskickingOneLiner Fear me, if you dare!]]"'']]
->''"He was known across the land by many names: 'The Stabby Tabby'! 'El Macho Gato'! 'The Leche Whisperer'! To some -- an outlaw. To more -- a hero. To all -- a '''legend.'''"''
Your favorite fearless hero. Loosely based on the fairytale character Literature/PussInBoots as well as being a kind of parody of Literature/{{Zorro}}, he is a smooth-talking cat with a Spanish accent, usually wearing a cavalier's hat, a belt with a sword, a small black cape, and small Corinthian boots. Puss first appears as a supporting character in ''Shrek 2'', and has been a major one ever since the later installments rolled around, including two spin-off films and a television series dedicated to him. He often overpowers his enemies by distracting them with his "cute kitten" looks. He also [[FurryReminder exhibits common cat behavior]] such as coughing up hairballs and chasing spotlights, usually resulting in his defeat or capture.
----
* TenMinuteRetirement: In ''The Last Wish'', his near-death experiences pushes him to retire to live with a CrazyCatLady, and over the course of time, he loses his dignity and grows a shaggy beard. When Goldilocks comes looking for him and he finds out he has a chance to get his lives back with a wish, he comes out of retirement to track the Wishing Star down.
* AbsurdlySharpClaws: Puss is often seen cutting neat holes in glass windows with a single claw.
* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: He only wears a hat, a belt, and boots.
* AdaptationalBadass: His fairy tale counterpart ''did'' kill an ogre, but only by tricking him into turning into a mouse and eating him. This version, however, took on Shrek (who'd been established as an excellent fighter by the time of their confrontation) in personal combat and nearly won fair and square. And his other feats throughout the franchise show that this was ''not'' a fluke. This stands in contrast to the literary Puss, who never showed any kind of exceptional combat prowess, and got ahead purely through guile.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: He makes a cameo in the musical, even though it's based on the first movie.
* AdaptationalNationality: He originates from an Italian (later French) fairy tale, but he's depicted as Spanish in the ''Shrek'' movies. Played straight, as he is from San Ricardo, in Spain, and Creator/AntonioBanderas gave him a Spanish accent and voiced him in English, Spanish and, from ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' to ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', in Italian.
* AintTooProudToBeg: When he's at Shrek's mercy after trying to assassinate him, Puss comically begs for his life, all the while trying to come up with a sob story that he was OnlyInItForTheMoney to support his family.
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: A DrunkOnMilk example. Puss' third death has him fall from a great height after getting tipsy from drinking so much milk.
* AmazonChaser: After learning that the masked cat, Kitty Softpaws, was a woman, he was immediately impressed by her skill.
* AmbiguouslyBi: In the second movie, when he hears the Ugly Stepsister describe how handsome Prince Charming is, he replies with "Mmm. He sounds dreamy." Also, his behaviour during his dance-fight with Kitty, [[SamusIsAGirl even before realizing she's a woman]], could be interpreted as flirtatious, with Puss asking her if she "could feel him" being interpreted as a way of Puss attempting to create a romantic atmosphere. That being said, he also flirts with Fiona and has a female love interest in his spin-off films.
* AntiHero: When he first appeared, he had no qualms about murdering Shrek for money. However, he shows a clear sense of ethics by joining Shrek in gratitude for saving him and quickly becomes a good guy for the rest of the series. ''The Last Wish'' presents an iteration of him that is a more genuinely heroic figure but also one who's let the adoration he's received go to his head, giving him a new character arc to go through.
* TheAntiNihilist: [[spoiler:Down to his last life and being hunted by Death himself, Puss has earned a new fear of dying, but after bonding with Perrito and rekindling his relationship with Kitty, he learns to appreciate his life. When Death comes one last time, Puss decides to not run and fight to live, even starting to gain the upper hand, but what he says that earns the Wolf's respect makes him this:]]
-->'''Puss In Boots''': [[spoiler:I know I can never defeat you, Lobo, but I will ''never'' stop fighting for this life.]]
* ArtEvolution: Puss takes on a more stylized appearance in ''The Last Wish'' compared to his design in previous installments in order to fit with that film's aesthetic with PaintedCGI elements. The most notable change, however, comes in the form of his eyes, which have become larger and more expressive compared to previous films. His outfit also received some updates, with the sun-shaped button on his cape being replaced with a larger, cat-shaped one and his belt now being black instead of brown. Also, while previously he barely wore his cape because it was difficult to animate, this time he gets to keep it for almost the entire movie.
* TheArtifact: He initially appears in the franchise when approached for his experience as an ogre-slayer, a reference to the original ''Puss in Boots'' fairytale in which the main villain is an ogre. After quickly befriending Shrek, his long career as a killer of the protagonist's species never comes up again. While his prequel film had the working title ''Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre-Killer'', that aspect of his past is never mentioned.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: PlayedWith in two of his battle encounters in ''The Last Wish''.
** At the beginning of the film, he inadvertently awakens the Sleeping Giant of Del Mar with the fireworks he lights at the Governor's house (which he was using as a (flashy) tactic to fight an already ongoing fight with the Governor and his men), causing the giant to go on a rampage where Puss ends up paying with his eighth life.
** As it turns out, [[spoiler:Puss' reckless handling of his nine lives's importance has reached such a boiling point, '''''[[TheGrimReaper Death]]''''', the ultimate neutral in the afterlife, has thrown away any of his regulations to just reap Puss' last life while indulging in sadistic relish at instilling fear into the erstwhile braggadocious feline, all the better to prolong his agony]].
* BadassAdorable: Well, he IS a cat, but also one of the most feared and skilled in the series.
* BadassBoast: In ''The Last Wish'', the opening number and a few other times have Puss bragging that he's "never been touched by a blade" in any of his fights. He's even spun around on a wheel with party guests trying to stab him, and no one can land a hit. [[spoiler:This lasts until his first battle with the wolf, who manages to get a cut on the cat's forehead. Though the cut only drew a single drop of blood, Puss recieves it hours after he learns he is on his last life, which causes him to lose his nerve and run off.]]
* BadassCape: Dons one from time to time. He has a tendency to lose it in the earlier films due to it being difficult to animate, but advances in technology during the 11-year SequelGap with the first ''Puss in Boots'' film allows him to keep it for most of ''The Last Wish''.
* BaritoneOfStrength: Has a deep and husky voice [[VocalDissonance in spite of being a cute little cat]], courtesy of Antonio Banderas, and while maybe not the physically strongest character, he is nonetheless an experienced sword fighter who can take on enemies [[PintSizedPowerhouse much larger than him]].
* BeardOfSorrow: In ''The Last Wish'', he grows a shaggy beard during his time living with Mama Luna. He tries to maintain it after coming out of retirement, arguing that it's "distinguished", but eventually gets so sick of how itchy it is that he begs Kitty to get rid of it midway into the film.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe:
** In his youth, Puss defended Humpty from bullies because the former defended ''Puss'' from said bullies.
** In ''The Last Wish'', he initially finds Perrito to be a nuisance and a way to get to the Wishing Star. However, after Perrito helps Puss calm down from a panic attack and offers advice on his issues, Puss begins to appreciate and become protective over his new friend.
* BigBrotherMentor: During his stay in San Lorenzo in the Netflix series, he took up this role for the children of that town (to their glee and to the ire of [[SitcomArchNemesis Senora Zapata]].)
* BlasphemousBoast: Puss always brags of how he 'laughs in the face of death', which on hindsight, is very dangerous to do in a world where [[AllMythsAreTrue myths and fairy tales are real,]] and [[AnthropomorphicPersonification concepts can take physical form.]] [[spoiler:[[DoNotTauntCthulhu Sure enough,]] The Wolf who's been hounding Puss is revealed to be none other than The Grim Reaper himself.]]
* BravadoSong: He gets one in ''The Last Wish'', "Fearless Hero".
* BreakTheHaughty: The beginning of ''The Last Wish'' is dedicated to this: after he loses his eighth life, he refuses to retire despite the doctor's suggestion, but is then on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle courtesy of a bloodthirsty bounty hunter Wolf. He loses his rapier trying to escape and, realizing his next death will be permanent, chooses to retire and become an ordinary housecat at Mama Luna's, losing his dignity in the process. [[spoiler:It gets even worse once he realizes the bounty hunter that's chasing him is actually [[TheGrimReaper Death himself]] coming to collect him for his prior arrogance, which unnerves him so significantly [[DirtyCoward he nearly abandons all of his nobility and friendships just to save himself with the wish]]. It's only after finally realizing he's more than ''just'' the legend he's built himself up to be thanks to the people around him over his journey that Puss finally pushes himself out of the terror he's going through and [[HesBack returns to form as he confronts Death with newfound courage]] to fight for his last life in earnest, literally.]]
* BreakoutCharacter: He was a supporting character who first appeared in ''Shrek 2'' as an assassin on Shrek and Donkey's life before making amends and joining them as a trio in all the other sequels. Audience and critics alike gave him credit for stealing the show and he received his own spin-off movie as a result, which performed well enough for him to later get a TV series and an even more ambitious sequel film.
* BullyingADragon: [[spoiler:Puss repeatedly mocked the literal Grim Reaper by putting himself in dangerous situations while saying he always laughs at death. Puss did this out of hubris because he had the knowledge that he had his remaining 9 lives to fall back on if he doesn't make it. When he's down to his 9th and final life, Death himself decides to pay Puss a visit and believes that since Puss always laughed at him, the least Death can do is kill Puss in a final blaze of glory through a duel.]]
* ButtMonkey:
** ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' had Puss receiving his fair share of mishaps from ending up wet and [[FluffyDryCat poofy]] after the shipwreck to [[FreakyFridayFlip swapping bodies with Donkey for the majority of the chapter]] to being accidentally diapered by Shrek and being handled roughly by the ogre triplets (the latter which he reluctantly accepts in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheHalls'').
** Puss also gets the short end of the stick in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''. He suffers humiliation during his retirement at Mama Luna's house[[note]]Named "Pickles", sprayed for his non-catlike behavior and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wearing mittens]][[/note]], his "distinguished" beard doesn't do it for him[[note]]It gets stuck in one of the pie factory's machinery and ends up itchy[[/note]], followed by receiving humorous knockouts [[note]]Kicked in the face by Kitty and suddenly receiving a blow by Papa Bear[[/note]], and ends up covered in confetti gore of Jack Horner's Baker's Dozen more than once.
* CallingYourAttacks: He has one named attack, the "Spanish Splinter", wherein he stabs a giant character in the thumb under the nail. Though he sensibly only calls the attack ''after'' it finds its mark.
* CaptainErsatz: Of Literature/{{Zorro}}, [[ActorAllusion another character that Banderas portrayed at one point]] and which Creator/{{Disney}} was also connected to; this one is pure AffectionateParody. In ''Forever After'''s alternate universe, he becomes a ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} {{expy}}.
* TheCasanova: Towards female cats. And human women, as it turns out.
* CatsHaveNineLives: As shown in ''The Last Wish'', he ''had'' nine lives, but lost eight of them due to his arrogance and bravado clouding his judgement. His goal in the film is to find the Wishing Star to restore his previous lost lives. [[spoiler:By the end of the film, he comes to accept his mortality and truly cherish his life and the people in it, and no longer seeks to wish for more lives.]]
* CharacterCatchphrase:
** "Pray for mercy from Puss... in Boots!"
** "Fear me... if you dare!"
** "Holy Frijoles!" He says this in both of his solo films when he is surprised.
** "Watch!" is his catchphrase for when he's specifically TemptingFate. Every time he's said it after making a boast, he's either failed comedicatly or outright ''died'' from whatever he was attempting.
* CharacterDevelopment: He starts off as a very heroic and humble outlaw in his first film. However as he became more beloved, he developed an ego. During the events of ''The Last Wish'', [[spoiler:Puss comes to realize how lonely his life is and how selfish he had been to prioritize his legend over his friends and romance with Kitty. Upon given the choice to fight off Death or wish for more lives, Puss thinks back to what he's experienced, and comes to cherish reuniting with Kitty and his friendship with Perrito, so he chooses to fight. Upon disarming Death for the first time, Puss admits he'd never truly defeat him yet will fight for his last life. This earns Puss a chance to live his last life out to its fullest, accepting that he will die for real someday, and spend his last life with the people he cares for]].
* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** He's introduced in ''Shrek 2'' as an BoisterousWeakling assassin hired to take out Shrek, only to be [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain quickly and pathetically taken out after coughing a hairball]] and only participating in a smattering of minor fights on behalf of the ogre. Then the first ''Puss in Boots'' fleshes out his backstory as a [[LivingLegend legendary]] outlaw who's defeated countless foes, making his ineffectual first appearance a bit jarring. ''The Last Wish'' tries to rectify this contrast by explaining he had a HeroicBSOD between his first film and ''Shrek 2'' because of [[spoiler:his guilt from leaving Kitty at the Altar]].
** In general, Puss in Boots has primarily been portrayed as a staunch AntiHero who does morally dubious things for the sake of benefiting himself or helping someone he cares about. By contrast, ''The Last Wish'' depicts Puss as a legitimate hero willing to save others, even if he is still as pompous and aloof as before.
* CheatersNeverProsper: The second way he lost a life in ''The Last Wish'' was by cheating in a poker game against four dogs.
* ChickMagnet: The ladies, either human or feline, are smitten with him.
* CombatPragmatist: Puss is more than willing to use underhanded tactics to win whatever fight he's in, ranging from attacking his foes' weak points with his claws to using his adorable appearance to distract them.
* CommendedForPushback: [[spoiler:Puss stands up to Death, who is the authority on when it's everyone's time to die, and tells him he's not afraid of dying anymore and values his final life. Death spares Puss out of respect, acknowledging he has changed.]]
* CommitmentIssues: PlayedForLaughs in ''Puss in Boots'', where the movie starts with him mismembering the name of a cat he was spending the night with. PlayedForDrama in ''The Last Wish'', where it's revealed that he [[spoiler:[[RunawayGroom stood Kitty up on their wedding]] because he was scared of settling down. This caused a rift in his and Kitty's relationship and became one of Puss' [[MyGreatestFailure biggest regrets]].]]
* CompositeCharacter: He is a composite of the fairy tale Puss in Boots (name and species) and Literature/{{Zorro}} (wardrobe, swordsmanship, and suavity).
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Compared to Shrek, Puss is different from the ogre in every way.
** Whereas Shrek is an overweight, relatively ugly ogre, Puss is a cute and slim tabby cat.
** By personality, both the ogre and cat are [[DeadpanSnarker smart-mouthed]] and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold well-meaning]], but Shrek has a short temper while Puss is more calm.
** From their backgrounds, Shrek's childhood was rough as he was raised by a somewhat [[UnusualEuphemism monster]] of a [[AbusiveParents father]] who once tried to eat him. Later growing up, [[FantasticRacism he was shunned by the world for how he was judged by his appearance]] [[ThenLetMeBeEvil and he lived with it ever since]]. Puss, on the other hand, was a kitten found on the doorstep of the San Ricardo orphanage and happily raised by his adopted mother Imelda. As a teenager, he was branded a hero after saving the Comadante's mother from an escaped bull up until he was roped in for robbing the town's bank and had to run from the law, along with carrying that burden with him since then.
** In combat, Shrek relies on his strength. Meanwhile, Puss has advantage in his agility and rapier sword.
** On ethnicity, Shrek speaks in a Scottish accent, while Puss has a Spanish accent.
* CoolCat: An orange tabby cat who is also a swashbuckling, cool-headed, charismatic DashingHispanic who is [[LatinLover popular with the ladies]].
* CoolSword: A traditional rapier. He upgrades to a more ornate model featuring a cat head on the pommel for his spin-off films.
* CuteKitten: He is a small housecat and pretty adorable as a result, [[PuppyDogEyes which he's been known to exploit]]. Multiplied ten fold in the flashback to his childhood, where he's a ''literal'' kitten.
* CutenessProximity: The common reaction to his "kitty" mode ''is'' this trope. It even works on ''Shrek!''
* DanceBattler: As displayed in his DanceOff with Kitty in his film, he can seamlessly blend dancing and fighting, all while perfectly in time with any music playing in the background.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: His spinoff movie delves into his previous life -- he was abandoned as a baby and was taken into an OrphanageOfLove where he was raised by the kindly caretaker and befriended Humpty. However, his life became more troubled when his friend tricked him into stealing his home's money. Unable to explain the situation, he fled, and ended up as a feline GentlemanThief. And later on, he somehow ended up as an assassin for hire.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Especially after his HeelFaceTurn.
* DashingHispanic: As voiced by Antonio Banderas. Puss comes from the ''Shrek'' universe's version of Spain and has a noticeable accent to go with it. He is also a swashbuckling adventurer [[PintSizedPowerhouse who can take on enemies much larger than him]]. He is also pretty suave and [[LatinLover popular with women]], cat or human.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the ShowyInvincibleHero. Puss' devil-may-care, irresponsible, and self-celebrating lifestyle is taken apart from different angles in ''The Last Wish''. For one thing, he's blown through eight of his lives and now needs the Wishing Star for them to be restored if he wants to keep being an adventurer. [[spoiler:Not to mention the many careless and outright ''stupid'' ways Puss has died along with his claim of "laughing in the face of death" [[DoNotTauntCthulhu literally pisses Death off]] to the point where the Grim Reaper wants to personally end his final life. Meanwhile, it's also revealed that Puss and Kitty Softpaws were to marry, but they both got cold feet and never showed up at the church: Puss because the responsibility scared him, and Kitty because she felt Puss could never love her or anyone else as he does his own legend. She therefore wants the Wish for someone she can count on. Puss eventually comes to realize just how sad his situation is when confronted with images of his lost lives.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: In ''Shrek 2'', Puss is hired by King Harold to assassinate Shrek. However, unlike his fairy tale counterpart, he does not try to trick the ogre into changing into a mouse, but instead makes a direct, frontal assault on Shrek, which works up until the feline gags on a hairball, spitting it up. Shrek and Donkey spare his life, and Puss proposes to the ogre he owes a life debt to him, in thanks. Although there is some tension/rivalry between Puss and Donkey (who seems nervous that Puss is taking his place as "annoying talking animal"), the three eventually become close friends and allies.
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: [[spoiler:At the climax of ''The Last Wish'', Puss says to Death's face that he's no longer scared of him and accepts his duel, and ends up triumphing over Death fair and square. Although he still concedes that he can't truly defeat Death, he also states that he will not stop fighting for his final life.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Downplayed. Puss knows he ultimately can't win and is just delaying the inevitable, but punching, disarming and fighting off [[spoiler:The Grim Reaper himself]] has got to count for something.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Puss made a legacy for himself by putting himself in danger and telling the people that he laughs at death. [[spoiler:After losing eight of his nine lives, Death challenges him to a duel for insulting him and forces Puss to retreat after backing him into a corner.]]
* DoNotGoGentle: This trope forms the climax of his CharacterDevelopment near the end of ''The Last Wish''. [[spoiler:Trapped in a barrier of Hellfire by Death himself, the latter taunts Puss asking him if he will use the [[MacGuffin Wishing Star]] and "Run away to more lives" or if he will stand up to him and fight for the last one he has left. Flashing back to [[TrueCompanions his journey with with Kitty and Perrito]] reignites his fighting spirit, so he drops the map, picks up his sword and performs what is, without a doubt, the greatest feat of his nine lives: Fighting Death to a standstill and earning his respect.]]
* DoorstopBaby: He ended up this way as a kitten, when the winds carried his basket right to the doorstep of Imelda's orphanage.
* ADogNamedDog: A pussy cat named Puss.
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Milk. Whenever he's shown drinking in an establishment, particularly a bar, Puss can always be seen with glass of milk. Justified, as since he's a cat, he would love milk.
* DrunkOnMilk: Despite the high amount of milk he drinks, this has only happened to him once, and it was when he lost his third life in ''The Last Wish''. After going tipsy after drinking too much milk, he tries to show that cats always lands on their feet and walks off a building, that turns out to be a tower.
* DualWielding: [[spoiler:In the climax of the last battle with Death, Puss manages to turns the tide by bringing out Kitty's gatito blade and going on the offensive by attacking with both his rapier and the dagger, managing to disarm Death of his sickles.]]
* DubNameChange:
** In the French dub, he's known as "Le Chat Potté" (or just "Potté" for short). The reason behind this is, because he signs his name with a P (for "Puss in Boots"), the translators ''had'' to find a way to make his name start with that same letter. And they did so by making it a PunnyName : in French, Puss in Boots (as in, the original fairy tale character) is known as "Chat '''B'''otté". But since Puss also wears a hat, they decided to go with that pun because "Chat Potté" sounds exactly like "chapeauté", which is an adjective meaning "hat wearing". His Spanish accent further accentuates this, because a Spaniard saying "chat botté" out loud would pronounce it in a way that sounds like "chat potté".
** In Polish dub, while he is still usually referred to simply as a "Kot" ("Cat/Puss") or "Kot w Butach" ("Cat/Puss in Boots"), his actual name is "Puszek Okruszek". The former literally means "fluff" and it is -- appropriately enough -- a common name for a cat (or other fluffy housepet) in Poland, while the latter translates to "crumb" (as in "a crumb of bread", for example). He introduces himself thusly in his very first scene in ''Shrek 2'' when fighting eponymous hero. The reason why translators came up with that name is the same as above -- it suits the zorro-esque "P" sign he carves with his sword, while simple "Kot" does not.
* EarnYourHappyEnding:
** His spin-off stories reveal a tragic DarkAndTroubledPast where he was abandoned as a baby, betrayed by his best friend who framed him as a thief, and despite experiencing several adventures as a hero, he still ends up as an assassin in ''Shrek 2''. However he befriends Shrek in that film which leads him to become a beloved member of the family, and for the first time in years Puss is able to relax around people he can trust.
** Again in ''The Last Wish''; after losing eight of his nine lives and spending years so immersed in his own ego that he didn't believe his life had any meaning if he wasn't a famous legend, [[spoiler:so much so it even cost him his relationship with Kitty Softpaws]], he is forced to literally fight for his last one when [[spoiler:the literal personification of Death itself shows up to take it personally. Fortunately, after a HeelRealization, he snaps out of his funk and manages to win the right to live out his life, getting a new friend/therapy dog in Perrito and reconciling with Kitty.]]
* EasilyForgiven: After beating the ever-loving crap out of Shrek, the latter does not do much in revenge other than threatening to kill him. Shrek agrees to let him help them out.
* EnemiesWithDeath: In ''The Last Wish'', [[spoiler:Puss's greatest personal adversary ends up being TheGrimReaper himself in the form of the Wolf, who he's been unknowingly pissing off due to arrogantly wasting the extra lives he gets as a cat and claiming himself an immortal legend who "laughs in the face of death" -- thus, Death decided to test that notion and tries to take his last life personally. This conflict ends amicably, however; once Puss shows Death he's undergone CharacterDevelopment and humbly accepts his mortality in the climax, the latter gives into his honor and spares Puss, wishing him well with his final life until they inevitably meet again]].
* EntertaininglyWrong: A non-comedic example in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''. [[spoiler:When he first meets the Wolf as the latter takes out a wanted poster of him and points to the word "Dead", Puss immediately comes to the conclusion that the Wolf is a bounty hunter who wants to kill him to claim the reward on his head, which the Wolf does not deny. It's not until they meet again in the Cave of Lost Souls that Puss finds out to his horror that the Wolf is actually [[TheGrimReaper Death himself]].]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: While Puss wanted nothing to do with Perrito (at first) and was very annoyed that he followed him on his journey, Puss is appalled when Perrito explains (without realizing it) that his previous owners attempted to drown him.
* ExpansionPackPast: Thanks to having two spin-off movies and a TV show that lasted for four seasons. Puss has been an assassin, a thief, a wandering hero, protector of a small town, has had several "true loves" and multiple places he calls home, has his own RoguesGallery...
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:A literal example. When trapped in a ring of Hellfire by TheGrimReaper himself in the form of a deadly Wolf, Puss is given a choice: take the coward's way out by wishing for his eight lost lives back, or pick up his sword and fight Death himself. After reflecting on the events of the last life he has and realizing the value in it, Puss chooses option 2. Even then, although he fights as hard as he can and manages to temporarily disarm Death, Puss acknowledges that he can never truly defeat him, thus accepting his own mortality. This earns him Death's respect and mercy, as the reason Death wanted to take Puss's final life himself rather than let him die naturally was to punish the cat for arrogantly believing he was immortal. When Death warns him WeWillMeetAgain, Puss acknowledges this without fear or hesitation, showing that he's fully accepted that WeAllDieSomeday, even a legendary hero like him.]]
* FatalFlaw: '''Pride.''' Puss believes himself to be a ShowyInvincibleHero, and he's not exactly wrong when he believes that he's good at what he does. But this consistently gets Puss in trouble.
** In ''Shrek 2'', the antagonism and upstaging of Donkey ends up making Shrek's quest harder since the two animals are constantly at each other's throats. It takes Shrek screaming at the two of them and seeing how badly things are going that finally convinces Puss to back off.
** In ''The Last Wish'', he's wasted eight of his nine lives on frivolous pursuits and really dumb ways to die. So when Puss meets a BountyHunter on his final life that puts him on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, the cat's belief of invincibility is shattered. [[spoiler:And considering that the bounty hunter in question is actually TheGrimReaper, [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath Puss can never truly defeat him]]. Also, Kitty Softpaws calls Puss out on how the only person Puss loves is himself, given that he's arrogantly trying to avoid any consequences of his actions by wishing for his lives back and left her hanging at the altar because he was too scared of committment to anything except his legend as a badass.]]
* FatComicRelief: In ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'', the alternate Puss has [[RetiredBadass retired]] and [[TemporaryBulkChange taken on a few pounds along the way]]. His weight gain is a prime source of humor in the fourth chapter.
* FearlessFool: In ''The Last Wish'', Puss is shown to casually disregard threats to his life such as running bulls or having people stab knives around him while spinning on a roulette table, all the while boasting about how fearless he is. This ended up making him lose eight of his nine lives, and is [[spoiler:what angers Death enough for him to hunt him down personally]].
* FireForgedFriends: At first, he was hired by King Harold to kill Shrek, but it didn't take long before he became a loyal friend to the latter.
* FirstInjuryReaction: In his BravadoSong at the start of ''[[WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish The Last Wish]]'', Puss boasts that he's never been touched by an opponent's blade. This changes soon after when he meets the Wolf, who manages to outclass him in combat and get a nick on his forehead, complete with blood. This experience, combined with the knowledge that he is down to the last of his nine lives, traumatizes Puss and sends him scurrying for his life and leaves him terrified of the Wolf, to the point that one encounter sends him into a full blown panic attack.
* FormerlyFit:
** In the alternate universe of ''Shrek Forever After'', Puss gave up on being a swashbuckling adventurer and became Fiona's house cat, gaining a lot of weight in the process and losing his athletic abilities.
** In one of his past lives, Puss was really into physical fitness and had a very muscular build, but he arrogantly claimed to not need a spotter when attempting to bench press a massive weight, which led to his death. He's never been that bulky before or since.
* FriendToAllChildren: Puss has a fondness for children. He doesn't steal from orphans, happily takes the Three Diablos under his wing for a while to show them the right path, allows himself to be the ButtMonkey for Shrek and Fiona's children, and specifically promises a child in ''The Last Wish'' he will save him.
* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: In the prequel.
* FunnyAnimal: He can walk like a human, hold a sword in his paw, and dress himself.
* FurryReminder:
** He's prone to meowing and purring, randomly coughing up hairballs and getting distracted by spotlights and small objects.
** In moments of fear or surprise, he'll hunch over on all fours as his hackles raise.
** He drinks from a glass like a cat would from a saucer, lapping it up with his tongue.
** Picking him up by the scruff will leave him completely defenseless.
** In ''The Last Wish'', his hair bristles when he gets scared, most precisely of [[TheDreaded The Wolf]].
* TheGadfly: He became a hero of the people by targeting the rich, powerful, and corrupt members of society. But everything he did was because he felt safe because of his nine lives, if something went wrong for him then he could just use another life and try again.
* GlassCannon: Cats are ''very'' fast on their feet, and Puss has the power to match with his sword. However, he's easily defeated if caught off-guard -- he had Shrek on the ropes during their initial confrontation in ''Shrek 2'' until he coughed up a hairball, leaving him helpless for Shrek to pick up.
* GRatedDrug: Occasionally with catnip serving as a substitute for marijuana, at one point claiming it's for his glaucoma.
* GratuitousSpanish: And then some.
* {{Guyliner}}: in ''The Last Wish'', [[YourMakeUpIsRunning black streaks go down his face when he cries]], meaning he wears some kind of eye make up.
* HatingOnMonday: Puss claims he hates Mondays while having a drink at the Poison Apple.
* HatsOffToTheDead: Zigzagged in ''Shrek the Third'' during King Harold's passing. As he has a few {{Disney Death}}s before expiring, Puss switches between having his hat on and taking it off.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Downplayed. When he infiltrates Jack Horner's pie factory to take the map, he has to resort to using a stick as his weapon after he left behind his blade out of fear for the Wolf. It looks useless, but during the escape from the factory, he actually manages to use it to defend himself against Baby and Mama Bear. Unfortunetaly, the same trick doesn't work so well against [[TheBrute Papa Bear]].
* HeelFaceTurn: He starts out as a hitman who gets paid to assassinate Shrek, but after being defeated, [[DefeatMeansFriendship he allies up with him and Donkey]] for the rest of the series.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: He's the main character in [[WesternAnimation/PussinBoots his own]] [[WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish movies]].
* HitmanWithAHeart: He's introduced in ''Shrek 2'' as an assassin, but it becomes clear pretty soon after his introduction that his heart is really not in that sort of business, including befriending his target.
* HumanCannonball: Deconstructed. Puss' fifth death has him literally fire himself out of a cannon, claiming it would "revolutionize travel" (and apparently [[UnwantedRescue because he didn't want to admit that Kitty saved him from being fired out a cannon by pirates]]). Since this is shown in a DeathMontage, it doesn't end well.
* HypocriteHasAPoint: The fact that the second past life who calls out the Wolf for cheating [[spoiler:the rules of life and death by claiming his last life early]] died due to cheating at a game of poker doesn't change that [[spoiler:Death is ''absolutely'' overstepping his boundaries. Tellingly, Death just casually shatters the crystal with that life, somewhat mockingly saying "[[HypocrisyNod Shh... Don't tell]]."]]
* IconicOutfit: The hat, the cape, and of course the boots are all essential to his look, and most characters in the series recognize it as such. He goes so far as to bury the outfit when he decides he's not worthy of the legend anymore.
* IconicSequelCharacter: He made his debut in ''Shrek 2'' and has become one of the most beloved and important characters of the franchise, to the point he got two spin-off movies and a TV series all for himself.
* IdiotHero: Although he isn't completely stupid compared to the likes of Donkey (who is illiterate, known to mispronounce words, and is often portrayed as a fearless fool) and Pinocchio (who is a child desperate to be a real boy), Puss in ''The Last Wish'' is shown to be arrogantly wasteful and lacking foresight. Eight of his nine lives were wasted on deaths that were completely avoidable and increasingly idiotic, ignoble, and frankly disappointing for someone who calls himself a "fearless hero". His deaths range from being trampled by bulls after stopping to flirt with a woman, to firing himself out of a canon to "revolutionize travel". These deaths were so idiotic that death itself took corporeal form to challenge him to a duel for mocking him and undervaluing his nine lives.
* IHatePastMe: In ''The Last Wish'', while trapped in the Cave of Lost Souls, being mocked for his JerkassRealization by his past lives, Puss straight up tells them that they are jerks, which he admits gives him very conflicting feelings.
* InNameOnly: While most of the other fairy-tale characters in the ''Shrek'' series are direct parodies of their original [[TakeThat (and Disney)]] counterparts, Puss has nothing in common with his namesake aside from being [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a cat that wears boots]]. He has a completely different backstory, neither of his solo films adapt [[Literature/PussInBoots his source material]] in any way, and while the original character was a cunning manipulator and con-man [[NonActionGuy that didn't do any fighting]], this version of Puss is a honourable, [[AdaptationalBadass swashbuckling action hero]].
* InterspeciesRomance: He is entirely happy to flirt with human women. And they are, it seems, entirely happy to flirt back. [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction Best not to think about it.]]
* IOweYouMyLife: In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''. After Shrek spares his life, Puss feels indebted to him and joins him until he pays off his debt during the climax of the movie. Having bonded with Shrek and Donkey during this time, he sticks around for the rest of the series after this.
* IronicEcho: When first hunted by the Wolf in ''The Last Wish'', the Wolf kicks Puss' sword back to him and demands that he pick it up to continue the fight. Puss instead runs for his life. [[spoiler:In the climax, as Puss is fighting the Wolf (who had told him to be Death himself beforehand) for his last life, he kicks one of Death's sickles back to him and tells him to pick it up. Puss does this to show Death that he knows he can't win, but he'll keep fighting him]].
* {{Irony}}: He states he is "nobody's lap cat" in ''The Last Wish''... but funnily enough was ''Fiona's'' (out of all people) lap cat in the alternate timeline from ''Forever After''.
* IWorkAlone: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] in ''The Last Wish''. He desperately wants to live up to being a legendary icon, but this leads him to a devil-may-care, irresponsible, and self-celebrating lifestyle where, despite being adored by the masses, is completely alone. [[spoiler:Especially since he got cold feet when he was about to marry Kitty Softpaws; as Kitty says, he loved his legend more than he coud love anyone else.]] Being in the Cave of Lost Souls and meeting his past lives forces Puss to realize this flaw within himself.
-->'''Puss:''' ...Yeah, Puss in Boots works... alone. Was the legend so big... there was no room for anyone else?
* JerkassRealization: [[spoiler:During ''The Last Wish'', he encounters phantoms of his previous lives in the Cave of Lost Souls...who tell him to abandon his friends and that he works best alone when he asks them for directions to said. He is horrified when he realizes just how arrogant and callous he's been.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Puss is arrogant and morally flexible at times, but he's heroic and caring for his allies and loved ones, and is always willing to protect the innocent.
** ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' goes deep into this trope, as it shows that Puss can also be quite egotistical and selfish when it comes to his desperate desires. His "heart of gold" side is played up during his CharacterDevelopment in the film, especially after he opens up to Perrito.
* LadykillerInLove: Puss is a huge flirt with the ladies (human or cat), but he finds true love with Kitty Softpaws.
* LatinLover: A DashingHispanic voiced by Creator/AntonioBanderas who is portrayed as being quite the ladykiller among cats and even among [[InterspeciesRomance human women]].
* LargeHam: He'll never pass up a moment to act larger than life be it singing, dancing, playing with his opponent in a duel, or dropping a {{Catchphrase}} whenever he can.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** "Annoying Talking Animal" from ''Shrek 2'', more specifically, the first 30 seconds. This part is heard in the recurring gag of him making cute eyes to plead with someone or lower their guard.
** ''Last Wish'' gives him "Favorite Fearless Hero", a boastful and festive theme that plays in the beginning number and can be heard in other pieces of the soundtrack.
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: A variant, Puss in Boots has 9 lives and he's been using those lives as an adrenaline junkie who made his catchphrase "Puss in Boots laughs in the face of Death". [[spoiler:However, when he's down to his 9th and final life, Death decides that since Puss has been so ungrateful and unappreciative for having 9 lives, Death may as well take the last one personally through a duel.]]
* LonelyAtTheTop: In ''The Last Wish'', it's implied by the conversation he has with the Doctor that while Puss is very popular and seen as a town hero, he doesn't have any real friends outside of Shrek and Donkey, and has nobody to rely on in his hometown during his time of need because he was incredibly selfish and took his friends for granted.
* LovableRogue: Puss is an outlaw and a former assassin who's been known to steal and even has a bounty on his head. That said, he is also really [[CuteKitten cute]], entertaining and charismatic and ultimately has a strong moral code and sense of honor. He also didn't exactly enter a life of crime by his own volition at first, [[ToxicFriendInfluence being influenced and manipulated by his friend Humpty]] as a child and teenager.
* MadLibsCatchPhrase: In ''Forever After'', after retiring and taking a few pounds:
-->'''Puss:''' ''[to Shrek]'' ''Feed me''... if you dare!
* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Seeing his ''current'' life flash before his eyes when Death confronts him for the final time, making him remember his journey and bonds with Kitty and Perrito]] causes him to shed a SingleTear, which also reignites his fighting spirit and makes him declare that [[TiredOfRunning he's done running]].
* MasterSwordsman: He's skilled enough to duel several men in a sword fight at once, and quick enough that he can slice through almost anything in the blink of an eye. ''The Last Wish'', in order to put him in a more vulnerable state through the plot, ''takes away'' his sword, depriving him of his most valuable tool. At the end, he gets it back, and with his renewed resolve, he actually [[spoiler: ''duels Death to a draw''. While he can't ultimately beat Death, as he freely admits, he intends to give him the fight of his existence for ''this'' life, and thus does more than enough to earn the Wolf's respect.]]
* MommasBoy: Puss has nothing but deep love and respect for his adoptive mother, Imelda. His alternate self from ''Forever After'' is also very loyal and caring towards Fiona.
* MoralityPet: A literal example to the Alternate Fiona from ''Forever After''. While she's rude and cold towards Shrek, she's nothing but a loving and caring owner towards Puss.
* MortalityPhobia: His main struggle in ''The Last Wish'' is with the realization that he is on his last life and has an extremely dangerous bounty hunter who is [[spoiler:literally [[TheGrimReaper Death]]]] on his tail. Puss goes into a TenMinuteRetirement the second it hits him that he could very well die permanently, and he goes on his journey to find the titular wish so he can wish for his wasted lives back. [[spoiler:He somewhat overcomes it by the end, at least enough to fight Death head-on despite knowing he cannot possibly win. Thankfully, this manages to earn Death's respect -- as well as take away any satisfaction he would get from claiming Puss's final life -- deciding to leave him alone.]]
* {{Mundangerous}}: Puss is established as a heroic, badass daredevil who's among the best swordsman in the realm. Yet one of his deaths is from 4 seemingly normal dogs (as normal as they can be in such a fantastic world) who presumably gang up and rip him apart. That's like Bruce Wayne getting beat up by 4 common street thugs.
* MyGreatestFailure: In ''The Last Wish'', he gets one that hangs over his and Kitty's relationship for much of the movie. [[spoiler:They were supposed to get married, but he got cold feet and left her at the altar. He's been too ashamed to face her since then.]]
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Some of the franchise's most heartwarming and/or funny moments come from when his eyes start to widen and dilate, even to the point where the soundtrack slows to a soothing melody.
* NoodleIncident: How he became famous for killing ogres has yet to be shown in his prequel stories, though presumably it was in similar events to the original fairy tale.
* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: [[spoiler:What ultimately proves to Death that Puss is no longer the egotist who thinks he's untouchable anymore. Upon their final confrontation, instead of becoming terrified or his claims of "laughing in the face of Death", Puss just [[StaringDownCthulhu stares down with intent to fight for his life]].]]
* NotSoStoic: Throughout ''Shrek 2'', Puss generally acts as a stoic, fearless warrior that's loyal to Shrek at all times. Yet, when Shrek and Fiona affirm their love for one another as ogres instead of humans, even Puss himself is TryingNotToCry at what's happening.
* OhCrap: To say that Puss is struck with fear everytime he hears the whistle from Wolf is an understatement. He gets ''[[BreakTheHaughty broken]]'' every time he hears it.
* OnlyFriend: Humpty lampshades that Puss was his only friend in their hometown.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Puss experiences this during ''The Last Wish''. After his near-death experience with the Wolf, [[spoiler:who later reveals to him to be Death himself]], Puss, known for being a FearlessFool, experiences genuine terror for the first time, coupled with his various panic attacks when he sees the Wolf throughout the movie, and his terrified confession to Kitty about why he's trying to get the wish near the climax.
-->'''Puss:''' (''terrified'') Kitty, ''[[spoiler:Death]] is after me!''
* OutOfContinues: ''The Last Wish'' confirms that after recklessly wasting his other eight lives, Puss is now on his ninth and final life, and consequently suffering MortalityPhobia, hunting for the Wishing Star to get his lives back - though being hunted down by a thoroughly irate Death does rather contribute to this. [[spoiler: By the end of the film, he stops being afraid and decides to accept it, intending to live ''this'' life to the full]].
* PapaWolf:
** In ''The Three Diablos'', Puss becomes rather protective of the titular diablos after their HeelFaceTurn, especially when he encounters their BadBoss The Whisperer.
** In ''The Last Wish'', Puss starts to care for and protect Perrito after [[DefrostingIceKing warming up to him]] and learning his DarkAndTroubledPast.
* PersonalityPowers: Puss is an adrenaline junkie who loves gaining the admiration of people by performing dangerous feats. So it would make sense that he would have 9 lives as a form of ResurrectiveImmortality. When he loses all but the very last of them in ''The Last Wish'', he ends up undergoing significant CharacterDevelopment.
* PlayingUpTheStereotype: Puss's signature move is to give people PuppyDogEyes so that people will do as he says and/or spare him due to viewing him as cute and innocent, like a stereotypical CuteKitten.
* PlotAllergy: One of his nine lives was taken by an allergic reaction to shellfish.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Puss has some disdain for dogs, though not to the point of outright hating them. He worriedly claims to Jill that dogs made up the notion cats always land on their feet. In ''The Last Wish'', one of his past lives makes a disgusted comment that Puss has befriended a dog (Perrito); by the time he befriends the mentioned canine, Puss loses this trait.
* {{Pride}}: One of his main flaws before meeting Shrek. In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', many problems are caused by Puss insisting he has to be the best at everything, refusing to ask for help, or unwilling to listen, thinking he knows better. ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' deconstructs this; his pride and bravado has previously driven him away from friends and allies, caused him to frivolously waste eight of his nine lives, and even [[spoiler:offended TheGrimReaper himself enough to personally go after him]].
* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: [[spoiler:Puss's catchphrase was that he always laughs at death and omitted the part that he had 9 lives to fall back on if he didn't make it. The problem is that Puss spent those lives frivolously by walking off a tower to prove cats land on their feet, setting an oven too high to prove himself a master baker, eating shellfish despite having an obviously fatal allergy, firing himself out of a canon out of arrogant pride, and stopping in the middle of a running of the bulls to chat up a woman. When he's on his last life, Death challenges him to a duel for insulting him and did this with the full knowledge that Puss didn't have the safety net of a spare life to fall back on. Puss lost in the first duel and had to retreat before Death claimed him and had been running from Death at every meeting. When Death finds Puss at the star, he gives Puss his sword back, and the two duel. With renewed confidence, Puss does actually beat Death but admits that while he can never defeat Death, it won't stop him from fighting for his last life. This ultimately makes Death respect Puss and decides to leave him alone.]]
* PuppyDogEyes: His big sad kitten eyes are ''very'' effective; in fact it's what got him on Shrek's good side in the first place. Unfortunately, it isn't quite as effective when he tries to do it in ''The Third'' while in Donkey's body.
* RealMenWearPink: Doesn't mind Fiona dressing him with a pink bow in ''Forever After''.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: As ''The Last Wish'' shows, Puss [[CatsHaveNineLives has 9 lives]], as do the other cats in the franchise, and for the first eight lives he'll always come back with a full recovery whenever he dies. Once he's on his last life, then he can die permanently.
* RetiredBadass:
** The alternate Puss in ''Forever After'' had given up his days of being Puss in Boots in favor of being Princess Fiona's housepet.
--->'''Puss:''' ...hanging up my sword was the best decision of my life. I have all the cream I can drink and all the mice I can chase.
** He's forced to retire for real at the beginning of ''The Last Wish'', albeit in the form of a TenMinuteRetirement. Having lost eight of his nine lives, he has a near-death experience with the Wolf and decides to give up his adventuring lifestyle for a while to be an ordinary housecat.
* RunawayGroom: As revealed in ''The Last Wish'', [[spoiler:at some point following the first ''Puss in Boots'' film, Puss and Kitty almost married. However, Puss got cold feet and never appeared at the church]].
* ScarsAreForever: In ''The Last Wish'', his first encounter with the Wolf leaves him with a scar on his forehead (over his right eye), which stays visible throughout the rest of the film.
* SexyCatPerson: As seductive as cats stereotypically are, and voiced by Creator/AntonioBanderas himself.
* ShoulderTeammate: Occasionally travels on Shrek's shoulders, especially in ''Shrek 2''.
* SignatureHeadgear: His yellow-plumed black cavalier hat is a core part of his iconic ensemble ([[AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal what little of it there is, anyway]]).
* SignatureMove: Puss has a tendency to spin in mid-air usually to show off his acrobatics or right as he's about to attack. Puss learned the move from his teacher El Guante Blanco, and it has [[CallingYourAttacks an actual name]]: "[[ShapedLikeItself The Spinning-through-the-air]]" trick.
* SixthRanger: Or fourth ranger. Joins the original trio and is there to stay.
* StaringDownCthulhu: [[spoiler:After telling Death that he'll keep fighting him to preserve his last life for as long as possible despite knowing he can never defeat him, Puss stares down Death when he growls at him, proving to him that he's no longer the same egotistical cat who arrogantly thinks he's immortal. This earns him both Death's respect and the chance to live out his last life.]]
* TheSmartGuy: To the main cast. He is very clever, cunning and pretty street-smart.
* TalkingAnimal: A talking cat.
* TemporaryBulkChange:
** In ''Shrek: Forever After'', thanks to Shrek's reality-altering wish, Puss turns from a slender and agile swashbuckler to an overweight spoiled pet cat.
** ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' shows Puss having been a FitnessNut in one of his previous lives, with that specific incarnation being much more muscular than his current self. He lost that life by being overconfident in his physical strength, causing him to drop a massive barbell on his chest after he refused to get help from a spotter.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Deconstructed. In ''The Last Wish'', it's shown he has a ResurrectiveImmortality for [[CatsHaveNineLives nine lives]], and will always come back if he has at least one life to spare. The problem is that Puss wasted those lives by doing things he should really know better about doing, like eating shellfish despite having an allergic reaction and lifting weights without a spotter. [[spoiler:Death, offended by the fact that Puss was so wasteful with his previous eight lives, develops a vendetta against Puss and decides to claim Puss's last life personally.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Donkey in ''Shrek the Third''.
* TimePassageBeard: Combined with BeardOfSorrow in ''The Last Wish''. Puss grows one during his time as Mama Luna's pet. Once he comes out of retirement, however, it's soon shaved off by Kitty.
* TooDumbToLive: As shown from his DeathMontage in ''The Last Wish'', Puss' 8 deaths were completely avoidable if he wasn't arrogant and/or had the common sense of not doing reckless things with predictable results. [[spoiler:This is why Death wants to cut out the middle man and take out Puss' last life personally.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Since ''The Last Wish'' chronologically takes place after both the first ''Puss in Boots'' film and the main ''Shrek'' tetralogy, Puss' sword skills are magnified – the beginning of ''TLW'' has him skillfully take down the governor and his men, plus a sleeping giant, and at the climax of the film [[spoiler:he fights ''Death'' to a standstill]]. Quite an upgrade compared to how he was portrayed prior to ''TLW''.
* TookALevelInDumbass: In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', Puss is portrayed as an extremely competent and clever hero, but naive and comically unintelligent about almost everything that doesn't fall under the purview of "heroing." To the point where he's useless when it comes to, say, making sandwiches. It doesn't help that, while he does have several areas of expertise, [[KnowNothingKnowItAll he's often convinced he's great at]] ''[[KnowNothingKnowItAll absolutely everything.]]''
* TookALevelInJerkass: Downplayed in ''The Last Wish''. While it is not hard to believe that Puss would come off as an egotistical hero, he's notably a bit more self-centered, irresponsible and narcissistic at the beginning of the film, as opposed to the main ''Shrek'' films, where he was almost always chivalrous, kind and loyal. He learns to get out of this attitude as part of his CharacterDevelopment in the movie - and it makes a degree of sense, since the ego and the obsession with the legend go hand in hand with Puss being a solo act. When he actually spends time around others, he's kinder and more responsible.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Implied. He shows a hankering for gazpacho multiple times throughout ''The Last Wish.''
* {{Tritagonist}}: He's interchangeable with Fiona as a trio with Shrek's protagonist and Donkey's {{deuteragonist}}.
* UnderhandedHero: He's a stealthy and cunning swordsman, who uses his size to his advantage in a fight, and who is more than willing to use his adorable appearance to throw his opponents off guard.
* UndignifiedDeath: What made Puss's loss of his 8 lives into this trope is that none of them were remotely heroic or fitting for such an infamous rogue. All of them were avoidable, but due to arrogance, negligence, and borderline stupidity, he ends up causing them. They are, in order: stopping to flirt with a woman during the running of the bulls, getting mauled to death after being caught cheating during a card game with dogs, drunkenly walking off a tall tower to prove he can land on his feet, getting crushed by an overloaded gym weight because he refuses a spotter, trying to launch himself out of a cannon due to his impatience winning out over just waiting for his boat to dock[[note]]actually due to not wanting to admit that Kitty saved him from being launched out of it[[/note]], eating shellfish (which he is clearly allergic to) and continuing to doing so even after realising what it is, burning himself to death by accident due to intentionally overheating the oven, and getting crushed by the bell used in his fight with the giant because he was too busy basking in people's admiration to even notice it.
* UngratefulBastard: Averted in the general sense, but played straight at first when it comes to his nine lives. Despite being blessed with 9 lives as a cat and thus having ''far'' more opportunities than most people ever get to be alive, Puss never showed ''any'' gratitude for such a blessing, and arrogantly wasted his lives in incredibly stupid ways until he was finally on his last life.[[spoiler:This is part of the reason why Death wants to kill Puss personally rather than let him permanently die naturally; since Puss didn't value any of his previous lives and has no real appreciation for the last one he has, Death sees no reason to let him keep it. Subverted by the end of ''The Last Wish'', when Puss learns to value the last life he has and proves as much to Death, convincing him to spare Puss until they inevitably meet again for the last time.]]
* ViolationOfCommonSense: Subverted in ''The Last Wish''. Puss lacked any appreciation or respect for his life, and relied on his nine lives to keep himself safe when he did various dangerous or idiotic things that resulted in his 8 deaths. Later when he holds the map to the Wishing Star, the Dark Forest's landscape was full of lethal obstacles that relied on him learning to appreciate his life; however, Puss (mostly out of fear) makes Perrito hold it because his journey is safer.
* VitriolicBestBuds: He and Donkey are like this. They work well together as allies, but they still fight over being Shrek's best sidekick.
* VocalDissonance: He's a cute little kitty who uses his big, adorable eyes to trick his enemies... and has Antonio Banderas's husky, deep voice. The Dissonance is even more pronounced when he's talking while using his eyes or when he had that voice as a ''kitten'' in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011''.
* VocalEvolution: Given that ''The Last Wish'' was the first time in 11 years he has voiced the character,see [[Characters/ShrekPussInBoots here]].Antonio Banderas had aged considerably. As such, Puss has a deeper, more gravelly voice than before.
* WeakButSkilled: Puss is a very skilled and experienced fencer, but without his sword he can be easily manhandled by humans or ogres. Despite his usual confidence, he comes to understand full well that he won't be able to fend off the StrongAndSkilled Wolf forever.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: InUniverse. Before settling on his current name, Humpty thought of naming Puss Sparky, Whiskers, and Zoltar.
* ZorroMark: He homages this in ''Shrek 2'' by slashing a "P" into a tree. He draws a larger one on the ground when he defeats the Sleeping Giant in ''The Last Wish''.
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AntonioBanderas (films, ''Shrek the Halls'' and ''Scared Shrekless'', English, [[MultipleLanguagesSameVoiceActor Italian, EU and Latin American Spanish]]), Creator/EricBauza (''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' Creator/{{Netflix}} series, ''The Trident'', and ''VideoGame/DreamWorksAllStarKartRacing''), Creator/AndreSogliuzzo (games and ''Shrek: Thriller Night'')[[labelnote: Foreign [=VAs=]]] Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (trailers, ''Scared Shrekless'', and ''Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular''), Creator/LuisDanielRamirez [''The Adventures of Puss in Boots''] (Latin American Spanish), Creator/ManuelTadros (Canadian French), Creator/BorisRehlinger (EU French), Naoto Takenaka [''Puss in Boots''], Koji Yamamoto [''The Last Wish''] (Japanese), Benno Fürmann (German), Creator/AlexandreMoreno (Brazilian Portuguese), Jin Yonggang (PRC Mandarin), Ku Ming Wah (HK Cantonese), Chen Xusheng [speaking], Wang Xihua [singing] (TW Mandarin), Wojciech Malajkat (Polish), Andrey Bibikov (Russian), Rafael Edholm (Swedish)[[/labelnote]]
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%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16795303990.18375100
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!!!'''Appearances:''' ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' | ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'' | ''[[WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011 Puss in Boots]]'' | ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/puss_in_boots_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[PreAsskickingOneLiner Fear me, if you dare!]]"'']]
->''"He was known across the land by many names: 'The Stabby Tabby'! 'El Macho Gato'! 'The Leche Whisperer'! To some -- an outlaw. To more -- a hero. To all -- a '''legend.'''"''
Your favorite fearless hero. Loosely based on the fairytale character Literature/PussInBoots as well as being a kind of parody of Literature/{{Zorro}}, he is a smooth-talking cat with a Spanish accent, usually wearing a cavalier's hat, a belt with a sword, a small black cape, and small Corinthian boots. Puss first appears as a supporting character in ''Shrek 2'', and has been a major one ever since the later installments rolled around, including two spin-off films and a television series dedicated to him. He often overpowers his enemies by distracting them with his "cute kitten" looks. He also [[FurryReminder exhibits common cat behavior]] such as coughing up hairballs and chasing spotlights, usually resulting in his defeat or capture.
----
* TenMinuteRetirement: In ''The Last Wish'', his near-death experiences pushes him to retire to live with a CrazyCatLady, and over the course of time, he loses his dignity and grows a shaggy beard. When Goldilocks comes looking for him and he finds out he has a chance to get his lives back with a wish, he comes out of retirement to track the Wishing Star down.
* AbsurdlySharpClaws: Puss is often seen cutting neat holes in glass windows with a single claw.
* AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal: He only wears a hat, a belt, and boots.
* AdaptationalBadass: His fairy tale counterpart ''did'' kill an ogre, but only by tricking him into turning into a mouse and eating him. This version, however, took on Shrek (who'd been established as an excellent fighter by the time of their confrontation) in personal combat and nearly won fair and square. And his other feats throughout the franchise show that this was ''not'' a fluke. This stands in contrast to the literary Puss, who never showed any kind of exceptional combat prowess, and got ahead purely through guile.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: He makes a cameo in the musical, even though it's based on the first movie.
* AdaptationalNationality: He originates from an Italian (later French) fairy tale, but he's depicted as Spanish in the ''Shrek'' movies. Played straight, as he is from San Ricardo, in Spain, and Creator/AntonioBanderas gave him a Spanish accent and voiced him in English, Spanish and, from ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' to ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', in Italian.
* AintTooProudToBeg: When he's at Shrek's mercy after trying to assassinate him, Puss comically begs for his life, all the while trying to come up with a sob story that he was OnlyInItForTheMoney to support his family.
* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: A DrunkOnMilk example. Puss' third death has him fall from a great height after getting tipsy from drinking so much milk.
* AmazonChaser: After learning that the masked cat, Kitty Softpaws, was a woman, he was immediately impressed by her skill.
* AmbiguouslyBi: In the second movie, when he hears the Ugly Stepsister describe how handsome Prince Charming is, he replies with "Mmm. He sounds dreamy." Also, his behaviour during his dance-fight with Kitty, [[SamusIsAGirl even before realizing she's a woman]], could be interpreted as flirtatious, with Puss asking her if she "could feel him" being interpreted as a way of Puss attempting to create a romantic atmosphere. That being said, he also flirts with Fiona and has a female love interest in his spin-off films.
* AntiHero: When he first appeared, he had no qualms about murdering Shrek for money. However, he shows a clear sense of ethics by joining Shrek in gratitude for saving him and quickly becomes a good guy for the rest of the series. ''The Last Wish'' presents an iteration of him that is a more genuinely heroic figure but also one who's let the adoration he's received go to his head, giving him a new character arc to go through.
* TheAntiNihilist: [[spoiler:Down to his last life and being hunted by Death himself, Puss has earned a new fear of dying, but after bonding with Perrito and rekindling his relationship with Kitty, he learns to appreciate his life. When Death comes one last time, Puss decides to not run and fight to live, even starting to gain the upper hand, but what he says that earns the Wolf's respect makes him this:]]
-->'''Puss In Boots''': [[spoiler:I know I can never defeat you, Lobo, but I will ''never'' stop fighting for this life.]]
* ArtEvolution: Puss takes on a more stylized appearance in ''The Last Wish'' compared to his design in previous installments in order to fit with that film's aesthetic with PaintedCGI elements. The most notable change, however, comes in the form of his eyes, which have become larger and more expressive compared to previous films. His outfit also received some updates, with the sun-shaped button on his cape being replaced with a larger, cat-shaped one and his belt now being black instead of brown. Also, while previously he barely wore his cape because it was difficult to animate, this time he gets to keep it for almost the entire movie.
* TheArtifact: He initially appears in the franchise when approached for his experience as an ogre-slayer, a reference to the original ''Puss in Boots'' fairytale in which the main villain is an ogre. After quickly befriending Shrek, his long career as a killer of the protagonist's species never comes up again. While his prequel film had the working title ''Puss in Boots: The Story of an Ogre-Killer'', that aspect of his past is never mentioned.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: PlayedWith in two of his battle encounters in ''The Last Wish''.
** At the beginning of the film, he inadvertently awakens the Sleeping Giant of Del Mar with the fireworks he lights at the Governor's house (which he was using as a (flashy) tactic to fight an already ongoing fight with the Governor and his men), causing the giant to go on a rampage where Puss ends up paying with his eighth life.
** As it turns out, [[spoiler:Puss' reckless handling of his nine lives's importance has reached such a boiling point, '''''[[TheGrimReaper Death]]''''', the ultimate neutral in the afterlife, has thrown away any of his regulations to just reap Puss' last life while indulging in sadistic relish at instilling fear into the erstwhile braggadocious feline, all the better to prolong his agony]].
* BadassAdorable: Well, he IS a cat, but also one of the most feared and skilled in the series.
* BadassBoast: In ''The Last Wish'', the opening number and a few other times have Puss bragging that he's "never been touched by a blade" in any of his fights. He's even spun around on a wheel with party guests trying to stab him, and no one can land a hit. [[spoiler:This lasts until his first battle with the wolf, who manages to get a cut on the cat's forehead. Though the cut only drew a single drop of blood, Puss recieves it hours after he learns he is on his last life, which causes him to lose his nerve and run off.]]
* BadassCape: Dons one from time to time. He has a tendency to lose it in the earlier films due to it being difficult to animate, but advances in technology during the 11-year SequelGap with the first ''Puss in Boots'' film allows him to keep it for most of ''The Last Wish''.
* BaritoneOfStrength: Has a deep and husky voice [[VocalDissonance in spite of being a cute little cat]], courtesy of Antonio Banderas, and while maybe not the physically strongest character, he is nonetheless an experienced sword fighter who can take on enemies [[PintSizedPowerhouse much larger than him]].
* BeardOfSorrow: In ''The Last Wish'', he grows a shaggy beard during his time living with Mama Luna. He tries to maintain it after coming out of retirement, arguing that it's "distinguished", but eventually gets so sick of how itchy it is that he begs Kitty to get rid of it midway into the film.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe:
** In his youth, Puss defended Humpty from bullies because the former defended ''Puss'' from said bullies.
** In ''The Last Wish'', he initially finds Perrito to be a nuisance and a way to get to the Wishing Star. However, after Perrito helps Puss calm down from a panic attack and offers advice on his issues, Puss begins to appreciate and become protective over his new friend.
* BigBrotherMentor: During his stay in San Lorenzo in the Netflix series, he took up this role for the children of that town (to their glee and to the ire of [[SitcomArchNemesis Senora Zapata]].)
* BlasphemousBoast: Puss always brags of how he 'laughs in the face of death', which on hindsight, is very dangerous to do in a world where [[AllMythsAreTrue myths and fairy tales are real,]] and [[AnthropomorphicPersonification concepts can take physical form.]] [[spoiler:[[DoNotTauntCthulhu Sure enough,]] The Wolf who's been hounding Puss is revealed to be none other than The Grim Reaper himself.]]
* BravadoSong: He gets one in ''The Last Wish'', "Fearless Hero".
* BreakTheHaughty: The beginning of ''The Last Wish'' is dedicated to this: after he loses his eighth life, he refuses to retire despite the doctor's suggestion, but is then on the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle courtesy of a bloodthirsty bounty hunter Wolf. He loses his rapier trying to escape and, realizing his next death will be permanent, chooses to retire and become an ordinary housecat at Mama Luna's, losing his dignity in the process. [[spoiler:It gets even worse once he realizes the bounty hunter that's chasing him is actually [[TheGrimReaper Death himself]] coming to collect him for his prior arrogance, which unnerves him so significantly [[DirtyCoward he nearly abandons all of his nobility and friendships just to save himself with the wish]]. It's only after finally realizing he's more than ''just'' the legend he's built himself up to be thanks to the people around him over his journey that Puss finally pushes himself out of the terror he's going through and [[HesBack returns to form as he confronts Death with newfound courage]] to fight for his last life in earnest, literally.]]
* BreakoutCharacter: He was a supporting character who first appeared in ''Shrek 2'' as an assassin on Shrek and Donkey's life before making amends and joining them as a trio in all the other sequels. Audience and critics alike gave him credit for stealing the show and he received his own spin-off movie as a result, which performed well enough for him to later get a TV series and an even more ambitious sequel film.
* BullyingADragon: [[spoiler:Puss repeatedly mocked the literal Grim Reaper by putting himself in dangerous situations while saying he always laughs at death. Puss did this out of hubris because he had the knowledge that he had his remaining 9 lives to fall back on if he doesn't make it. When he's down to his 9th and final life, Death himself decides to pay Puss a visit and believes that since Puss always laughed at him, the least Death can do is kill Puss in a final blaze of glory through a duel.]]
* ButtMonkey:
** ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' had Puss receiving his fair share of mishaps from ending up wet and [[FluffyDryCat poofy]] after the shipwreck to [[FreakyFridayFlip swapping bodies with Donkey for the majority of the chapter]] to being accidentally diapered by Shrek and being handled roughly by the ogre triplets (the latter which he reluctantly accepts in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheHalls'').
** Puss also gets the short end of the stick in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''. He suffers humiliation during his retirement at Mama Luna's house[[note]]Named "Pickles", sprayed for his non-catlike behavior and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wearing mittens]][[/note]], his "distinguished" beard doesn't do it for him[[note]]It gets stuck in one of the pie factory's machinery and ends up itchy[[/note]], followed by receiving humorous knockouts [[note]]Kicked in the face by Kitty and suddenly receiving a blow by Papa Bear[[/note]], and ends up covered in confetti gore of Jack Horner's Baker's Dozen more than once.
* CallingYourAttacks: He has one named attack, the "Spanish Splinter", wherein he stabs a giant character in the thumb under the nail. Though he sensibly only calls the attack ''after'' it finds its mark.
* CaptainErsatz: Of Literature/{{Zorro}}, [[ActorAllusion another character that Banderas portrayed at one point]] and which Creator/{{Disney}} was also connected to; this one is pure AffectionateParody. In ''Forever After'''s alternate universe, he becomes a ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} {{expy}}.
* TheCasanova: Towards female cats. And human women, as it turns out.
* CatsHaveNineLives: As shown in ''The Last Wish'', he ''had'' nine lives, but lost eight of them due to his arrogance and bravado clouding his judgement. His goal in the film is to find the Wishing Star to restore his previous lost lives. [[spoiler:By the end of the film, he comes to accept his mortality and truly cherish his life and the people in it, and no longer seeks to wish for more lives.]]
* CharacterCatchphrase:
** "Pray for mercy from Puss... in Boots!"
** "Fear me... if you dare!"
** "Holy Frijoles!" He says this in both of his solo films when he is surprised.
** "Watch!" is his catchphrase for when he's specifically TemptingFate. Every time he's said it after making a boast, he's either failed comedicatly or outright ''died'' from whatever he was attempting.
* CharacterDevelopment: He starts off as a very heroic and humble outlaw in his first film. However as he became more beloved, he developed an ego. During the events of ''The Last Wish'', [[spoiler:Puss comes to realize how lonely his life is and how selfish he had been to prioritize his legend over his friends and romance with Kitty. Upon given the choice to fight off Death or wish for more lives, Puss thinks back to what he's experienced, and comes to cherish reuniting with Kitty and his friendship with Perrito, so he chooses to fight. Upon disarming Death for the first time, Puss admits he'd never truly defeat him yet will fight for his last life. This earns Puss a chance to live his last life out to its fullest, accepting that he will die for real someday, and spend his last life with the people he cares for]].
* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** He's introduced in ''Shrek 2'' as an BoisterousWeakling assassin hired to take out Shrek, only to be [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain quickly and pathetically taken out after coughing a hairball]] and only participating in a smattering of minor fights on behalf of the ogre. Then the first ''Puss in Boots'' fleshes out his backstory as a [[LivingLegend legendary]] outlaw who's defeated countless foes, making his ineffectual first appearance a bit jarring. ''The Last Wish'' tries to rectify this contrast by explaining he had a HeroicBSOD between his first film and ''Shrek 2'' because of [[spoiler:his guilt from leaving Kitty at the Altar]].
** In general, Puss in Boots has primarily been portrayed as a staunch AntiHero who does morally dubious things for the sake of benefiting himself or helping someone he cares about. By contrast, ''The Last Wish'' depicts Puss as a legitimate hero willing to save others, even if he is still as pompous and aloof as before.
* CheatersNeverProsper: The second way he lost a life in ''The Last Wish'' was by cheating in a poker game against four dogs.
* ChickMagnet: The ladies, either human or feline, are smitten with him.
* CombatPragmatist: Puss is more than willing to use underhanded tactics to win whatever fight he's in, ranging from attacking his foes' weak points with his claws to using his adorable appearance to distract them.
* CommendedForPushback: [[spoiler:Puss stands up to Death, who is the authority on when it's everyone's time to die, and tells him he's not afraid of dying anymore and values his final life. Death spares Puss out of respect, acknowledging he has changed.]]
* CommitmentIssues: PlayedForLaughs in ''Puss in Boots'', where the movie starts with him mismembering the name of a cat he was spending the night with. PlayedForDrama in ''The Last Wish'', where it's revealed that he [[spoiler:[[RunawayGroom stood Kitty up on their wedding]] because he was scared of settling down. This caused a rift in his and Kitty's relationship and became one of Puss' [[MyGreatestFailure biggest regrets]].]]
* CompositeCharacter: He is a composite of the fairy tale Puss in Boots (name and species) and Literature/{{Zorro}} (wardrobe, swordsmanship, and suavity).
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Compared to Shrek, Puss is different from the ogre in every way.
** Whereas Shrek is an overweight, relatively ugly ogre, Puss is a cute and slim tabby cat.
** By personality, both the ogre and cat are [[DeadpanSnarker smart-mouthed]] and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold well-meaning]], but Shrek has a short temper while Puss is more calm.
** From their backgrounds, Shrek's childhood was rough as he was raised by a somewhat [[UnusualEuphemism monster]] of a [[AbusiveParents father]] who once tried to eat him. Later growing up, [[FantasticRacism he was shunned by the world for how he was judged by his appearance]] [[ThenLetMeBeEvil and he lived with it ever since]]. Puss, on the other hand, was a kitten found on the doorstep of the San Ricardo orphanage and happily raised by his adopted mother Imelda. As a teenager, he was branded a hero after saving the Comadante's mother from an escaped bull up until he was roped in for robbing the town's bank and had to run from the law, along with carrying that burden with him since then.
** In combat, Shrek relies on his strength. Meanwhile, Puss has advantage in his agility and rapier sword.
** On ethnicity, Shrek speaks in a Scottish accent, while Puss has a Spanish accent.
* CoolCat: An orange tabby cat who is also a swashbuckling, cool-headed, charismatic DashingHispanic who is [[LatinLover popular with the ladies]].
* CoolSword: A traditional rapier. He upgrades to a more ornate model featuring a cat head on the pommel for his spin-off films.
* CuteKitten: He is a small housecat and pretty adorable as a result, [[PuppyDogEyes which he's been known to exploit]]. Multiplied ten fold in the flashback to his childhood, where he's a ''literal'' kitten.
* CutenessProximity: The common reaction to his "kitty" mode ''is'' this trope. It even works on ''Shrek!''
* DanceBattler: As displayed in his DanceOff with Kitty in his film, he can seamlessly blend dancing and fighting, all while perfectly in time with any music playing in the background.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: His spinoff movie delves into his previous life -- he was abandoned as a baby and was taken into an OrphanageOfLove where he was raised by the kindly caretaker and befriended Humpty. However, his life became more troubled when his friend tricked him into stealing his home's money. Unable to explain the situation, he fled, and ended up as a feline GentlemanThief. And later on, he somehow ended up as an assassin for hire.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Especially after his HeelFaceTurn.
* DashingHispanic: As voiced by Antonio Banderas. Puss comes from the ''Shrek'' universe's version of Spain and has a noticeable accent to go with it. He is also a swashbuckling adventurer [[PintSizedPowerhouse who can take on enemies much larger than him]]. He is also pretty suave and [[LatinLover popular with women]], cat or human.
* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Of the ShowyInvincibleHero. Puss' devil-may-care, irresponsible, and self-celebrating lifestyle is taken apart from different angles in ''The Last Wish''. For one thing, he's blown through eight of his lives and now needs the Wishing Star for them to be restored if he wants to keep being an adventurer. [[spoiler:Not to mention the many careless and outright ''stupid'' ways Puss has died along with his claim of "laughing in the face of death" [[DoNotTauntCthulhu literally pisses Death off]] to the point where the Grim Reaper wants to personally end his final life. Meanwhile, it's also revealed that Puss and Kitty Softpaws were to marry, but they both got cold feet and never showed up at the church: Puss because the responsibility scared him, and Kitty because she felt Puss could never love her or anyone else as he does his own legend. She therefore wants the Wish for someone she can count on. Puss eventually comes to realize just how sad his situation is when confronted with images of his lost lives.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: In ''Shrek 2'', Puss is hired by King Harold to assassinate Shrek. However, unlike his fairy tale counterpart, he does not try to trick the ogre into changing into a mouse, but instead makes a direct, frontal assault on Shrek, which works up until the feline gags on a hairball, spitting it up. Shrek and Donkey spare his life, and Puss proposes to the ogre he owes a life debt to him, in thanks. Although there is some tension/rivalry between Puss and Donkey (who seems nervous that Puss is taking his place as "annoying talking animal"), the three eventually become close friends and allies.
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: [[spoiler:At the climax of ''The Last Wish'', Puss says to Death's face that he's no longer scared of him and accepts his duel, and ends up triumphing over Death fair and square. Although he still concedes that he can't truly defeat Death, he also states that he will not stop fighting for his final life.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Downplayed. Puss knows he ultimately can't win and is just delaying the inevitable, but punching, disarming and fighting off [[spoiler:The Grim Reaper himself]] has got to count for something.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Puss made a legacy for himself by putting himself in danger and telling the people that he laughs at death. [[spoiler:After losing eight of his nine lives, Death challenges him to a duel for insulting him and forces Puss to retreat after backing him into a corner.]]
* DoNotGoGentle: This trope forms the climax of his CharacterDevelopment near the end of ''The Last Wish''. [[spoiler:Trapped in a barrier of Hellfire by Death himself, the latter taunts Puss asking him if he will use the [[MacGuffin Wishing Star]] and "Run away to more lives" or if he will stand up to him and fight for the last one he has left. Flashing back to [[TrueCompanions his journey with with Kitty and Perrito]] reignites his fighting spirit, so he drops the map, picks up his sword and performs what is, without a doubt, the greatest feat of his nine lives: Fighting Death to a standstill and earning his respect.]]
* DoorstopBaby: He ended up this way as a kitten, when the winds carried his basket right to the doorstep of Imelda's orphanage.
* ADogNamedDog: A pussy cat named Puss.
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: Milk. Whenever he's shown drinking in an establishment, particularly a bar, Puss can always be seen with glass of milk. Justified, as since he's a cat, he would love milk.
* DrunkOnMilk: Despite the high amount of milk he drinks, this has only happened to him once, and it was when he lost his third life in ''The Last Wish''. After going tipsy after drinking too much milk, he tries to show that cats always lands on their feet and walks off a building, that turns out to be a tower.
* DualWielding: [[spoiler:In the climax of the last battle with Death, Puss manages to turns the tide by bringing out Kitty's gatito blade and going on the offensive by attacking with both his rapier and the dagger, managing to disarm Death of his sickles.]]
* DubNameChange:
** In the French dub, he's known as "Le Chat Potté" (or just "Potté" for short). The reason behind this is, because he signs his name with a P (for "Puss in Boots"), the translators ''had'' to find a way to make his name start with that same letter. And they did so by making it a PunnyName : in French, Puss in Boots (as in, the original fairy tale character) is known as "Chat '''B'''otté". But since Puss also wears a hat, they decided to go with that pun because "Chat Potté" sounds exactly like "chapeauté", which is an adjective meaning "hat wearing". His Spanish accent further accentuates this, because a Spaniard saying "chat botté" out loud would pronounce it in a way that sounds like "chat potté".
** In Polish dub, while he is still usually referred to simply as a "Kot" ("Cat/Puss") or "Kot w Butach" ("Cat/Puss in Boots"), his actual name is "Puszek Okruszek". The former literally means "fluff" and it is -- appropriately enough -- a common name for a cat (or other fluffy housepet) in Poland, while the latter translates to "crumb" (as in "a crumb of bread", for example). He introduces himself thusly in his very first scene in ''Shrek 2'' when fighting eponymous hero. The reason why translators came up with that name is the same as above -- it suits the zorro-esque "P" sign he carves with his sword, while simple "Kot" does not.
* EarnYourHappyEnding:
** His spin-off stories reveal a tragic DarkAndTroubledPast where he was abandoned as a baby, betrayed by his best friend who framed him as a thief, and despite experiencing several adventures as a hero, he still ends up as an assassin in ''Shrek 2''. However he befriends Shrek in that film which leads him to become a beloved member of the family, and for the first time in years Puss is able to relax around people he can trust.
** Again in ''The Last Wish''; after losing eight of his nine lives and spending years so immersed in his own ego that he didn't believe his life had any meaning if he wasn't a famous legend, [[spoiler:so much so it even cost him his relationship with Kitty Softpaws]], he is forced to literally fight for his last one when [[spoiler:the literal personification of Death itself shows up to take it personally. Fortunately, after a HeelRealization, he snaps out of his funk and manages to win the right to live out his life, getting a new friend/therapy dog in Perrito and reconciling with Kitty.]]
* EasilyForgiven: After beating the ever-loving crap out of Shrek, the latter does not do much in revenge other than threatening to kill him. Shrek agrees to let him help them out.
* EnemiesWithDeath: In ''The Last Wish'', [[spoiler:Puss's greatest personal adversary ends up being TheGrimReaper himself in the form of the Wolf, who he's been unknowingly pissing off due to arrogantly wasting the extra lives he gets as a cat and claiming himself an immortal legend who "laughs in the face of death" -- thus, Death decided to test that notion and tries to take his last life personally. This conflict ends amicably, however; once Puss shows Death he's undergone CharacterDevelopment and humbly accepts his mortality in the climax, the latter gives into his honor and spares Puss, wishing him well with his final life until they inevitably meet again]].
* EntertaininglyWrong: A non-comedic example in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''. [[spoiler:When he first meets the Wolf as the latter takes out a wanted poster of him and points to the word "Dead", Puss immediately comes to the conclusion that the Wolf is a bounty hunter who wants to kill him to claim the reward on his head, which the Wolf does not deny. It's not until they meet again in the Cave of Lost Souls that Puss finds out to his horror that the Wolf is actually [[TheGrimReaper Death himself]].]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: While Puss wanted nothing to do with Perrito (at first) and was very annoyed that he followed him on his journey, Puss is appalled when Perrito explains (without realizing it) that his previous owners attempted to drown him.
* ExpansionPackPast: Thanks to having two spin-off movies and a TV show that lasted for four seasons. Puss has been an assassin, a thief, a wandering hero, protector of a small town, has had several "true loves" and multiple places he calls home, has his own RoguesGallery...
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:A literal example. When trapped in a ring of Hellfire by TheGrimReaper himself in the form of a deadly Wolf, Puss is given a choice: take the coward's way out by wishing for his eight lost lives back, or pick up his sword and fight Death himself. After reflecting on the events of the last life he has and realizing the value in it, Puss chooses option 2. Even then, although he fights as hard as he can and manages to temporarily disarm Death, Puss acknowledges that he can never truly defeat him, thus accepting his own mortality. This earns him Death's respect and mercy, as the reason Death wanted to take Puss's final life himself rather than let him die naturally was to punish the cat for arrogantly believing he was immortal. When Death warns him WeWillMeetAgain, Puss acknowledges this without fear or hesitation, showing that he's fully accepted that WeAllDieSomeday, even a legendary hero like him.]]
* FatalFlaw: '''Pride.''' Puss believes himself to be a ShowyInvincibleHero, and he's not exactly wrong when he believes that he's good at what he does. But this consistently gets Puss in trouble.
** In ''Shrek 2'', the antagonism and upstaging of Donkey ends up making Shrek's quest harder since the two animals are constantly at each other's throats. It takes Shrek screaming at the two of them and seeing how badly things are going that finally convinces Puss to back off.
** In ''The Last Wish'', he's wasted eight of his nine lives on frivolous pursuits and really dumb ways to die. So when Puss meets a BountyHunter on his final life that puts him on the wrong end of a CurbStompBattle, the cat's belief of invincibility is shattered. [[spoiler:And considering that the bounty hunter in question is actually TheGrimReaper, [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath Puss can never truly defeat him]]. Also, Kitty Softpaws calls Puss out on how the only person Puss loves is himself, given that he's arrogantly trying to avoid any consequences of his actions by wishing for his lives back and left her hanging at the altar because he was too scared of committment to anything except his legend as a badass.]]
* FatComicRelief: In ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'', the alternate Puss has [[RetiredBadass retired]] and [[TemporaryBulkChange taken on a few pounds along the way]]. His weight gain is a prime source of humor in the fourth chapter.
* FearlessFool: In ''The Last Wish'', Puss is shown to casually disregard threats to his life such as running bulls or having people stab knives around him while spinning on a roulette table, all the while boasting about how fearless he is. This ended up making him lose eight of his nine lives, and is [[spoiler:what angers Death enough for him to hunt him down personally]].
* FireForgedFriends: At first, he was hired by King Harold to kill Shrek, but it didn't take long before he became a loyal friend to the latter.
* FirstInjuryReaction: In his BravadoSong at the start of ''[[WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish The Last Wish]]'', Puss boasts that he's never been touched by an opponent's blade. This changes soon after when he meets the Wolf, who manages to outclass him in combat and get a nick on his forehead, complete with blood. This experience, combined with the knowledge that he is down to the last of his nine lives, traumatizes Puss and sends him scurrying for his life and leaves him terrified of the Wolf, to the point that one encounter sends him into a full blown panic attack.
* FormerlyFit:
** In the alternate universe of ''Shrek Forever After'', Puss gave up on being a swashbuckling adventurer and became Fiona's house cat, gaining a lot of weight in the process and losing his athletic abilities.
** In one of his past lives, Puss was really into physical fitness and had a very muscular build, but he arrogantly claimed to not need a spotter when attempting to bench press a massive weight, which led to his death. He's never been that bulky before or since.
* FriendToAllChildren: Puss has a fondness for children. He doesn't steal from orphans, happily takes the Three Diablos under his wing for a while to show them the right path, allows himself to be the ButtMonkey for Shrek and Fiona's children, and specifically promises a child in ''The Last Wish'' he will save him.
* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: In the prequel.
* FunnyAnimal: He can walk like a human, hold a sword in his paw, and dress himself.
* FurryReminder:
** He's prone to meowing and purring, randomly coughing up hairballs and getting distracted by spotlights and small objects.
** In moments of fear or surprise, he'll hunch over on all fours as his hackles raise.
** He drinks from a glass like a cat would from a saucer, lapping it up with his tongue.
** Picking him up by the scruff will leave him completely defenseless.
** In ''The Last Wish'', his hair bristles when he gets scared, most precisely of [[TheDreaded The Wolf]].
* TheGadfly: He became a hero of the people by targeting the rich, powerful, and corrupt members of society. But everything he did was because he felt safe because of his nine lives, if something went wrong for him then he could just use another life and try again.
* GlassCannon: Cats are ''very'' fast on their feet, and Puss has the power to match with his sword. However, he's easily defeated if caught off-guard -- he had Shrek on the ropes during their initial confrontation in ''Shrek 2'' until he coughed up a hairball, leaving him helpless for Shrek to pick up.
* GRatedDrug: Occasionally with catnip serving as a substitute for marijuana, at one point claiming it's for his glaucoma.
* GratuitousSpanish: And then some.
* {{Guyliner}}: in ''The Last Wish'', [[YourMakeUpIsRunning black streaks go down his face when he cries]], meaning he wears some kind of eye make up.
* HatingOnMonday: Puss claims he hates Mondays while having a drink at the Poison Apple.
* HatsOffToTheDead: Zigzagged in ''Shrek the Third'' during King Harold's passing. As he has a few {{Disney Death}}s before expiring, Puss switches between having his hat on and taking it off.
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Downplayed. When he infiltrates Jack Horner's pie factory to take the map, he has to resort to using a stick as his weapon after he left behind his blade out of fear for the Wolf. It looks useless, but during the escape from the factory, he actually manages to use it to defend himself against Baby and Mama Bear. Unfortunetaly, the same trick doesn't work so well against [[TheBrute Papa Bear]].
* HeelFaceTurn: He starts out as a hitman who gets paid to assassinate Shrek, but after being defeated, [[DefeatMeansFriendship he allies up with him and Donkey]] for the rest of the series.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: He's the main character in [[WesternAnimation/PussinBoots his own]] [[WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish movies]].
* HitmanWithAHeart: He's introduced in ''Shrek 2'' as an assassin, but it becomes clear pretty soon after his introduction that his heart is really not in that sort of business, including befriending his target.
* HumanCannonball: Deconstructed. Puss' fifth death has him literally fire himself out of a cannon, claiming it would "revolutionize travel" (and apparently [[UnwantedRescue because he didn't want to admit that Kitty saved him from being fired out a cannon by pirates]]). Since this is shown in a DeathMontage, it doesn't end well.
* HypocriteHasAPoint: The fact that the second past life who calls out the Wolf for cheating [[spoiler:the rules of life and death by claiming his last life early]] died due to cheating at a game of poker doesn't change that [[spoiler:Death is ''absolutely'' overstepping his boundaries. Tellingly, Death just casually shatters the crystal with that life, somewhat mockingly saying "[[HypocrisyNod Shh... Don't tell]]."]]
* IconicOutfit: The hat, the cape, and of course the boots are all essential to his look, and most characters in the series recognize it as such. He goes so far as to bury the outfit when he decides he's not worthy of the legend anymore.
* IconicSequelCharacter: He made his debut in ''Shrek 2'' and has become one of the most beloved and important characters of the franchise, to the point he got two spin-off movies and a TV series all for himself.
* IdiotHero: Although he isn't completely stupid compared to the likes of Donkey (who is illiterate, known to mispronounce words, and is often portrayed as a fearless fool) and Pinocchio (who is a child desperate to be a real boy), Puss in ''The Last Wish'' is shown to be arrogantly wasteful and lacking foresight. Eight of his nine lives were wasted on deaths that were completely avoidable and increasingly idiotic, ignoble, and frankly disappointing for someone who calls himself a "fearless hero". His deaths range from being trampled by bulls after stopping to flirt with a woman, to firing himself out of a canon to "revolutionize travel". These deaths were so idiotic that death itself took corporeal form to challenge him to a duel for mocking him and undervaluing his nine lives.
* IHatePastMe: In ''The Last Wish'', while trapped in the Cave of Lost Souls, being mocked for his JerkassRealization by his past lives, Puss straight up tells them that they are jerks, which he admits gives him very conflicting feelings.
* InNameOnly: While most of the other fairy-tale characters in the ''Shrek'' series are direct parodies of their original [[TakeThat (and Disney)]] counterparts, Puss has nothing in common with his namesake aside from being [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a cat that wears boots]]. He has a completely different backstory, neither of his solo films adapt [[Literature/PussInBoots his source material]] in any way, and while the original character was a cunning manipulator and con-man [[NonActionGuy that didn't do any fighting]], this version of Puss is a honourable, [[AdaptationalBadass swashbuckling action hero]].
* InterspeciesRomance: He is entirely happy to flirt with human women. And they are, it seems, entirely happy to flirt back. [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction Best not to think about it.]]
* IOweYouMyLife: In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2''. After Shrek spares his life, Puss feels indebted to him and joins him until he pays off his debt during the climax of the movie. Having bonded with Shrek and Donkey during this time, he sticks around for the rest of the series after this.
* IronicEcho: When first hunted by the Wolf in ''The Last Wish'', the Wolf kicks Puss' sword back to him and demands that he pick it up to continue the fight. Puss instead runs for his life. [[spoiler:In the climax, as Puss is fighting the Wolf (who had told him to be Death himself beforehand) for his last life, he kicks one of Death's sickles back to him and tells him to pick it up. Puss does this to show Death that he knows he can't win, but he'll keep fighting him]].
* {{Irony}}: He states he is "nobody's lap cat" in ''The Last Wish''... but funnily enough was ''Fiona's'' (out of all people) lap cat in the alternate timeline from ''Forever After''.
* IWorkAlone: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] in ''The Last Wish''. He desperately wants to live up to being a legendary icon, but this leads him to a devil-may-care, irresponsible, and self-celebrating lifestyle where, despite being adored by the masses, is completely alone. [[spoiler:Especially since he got cold feet when he was about to marry Kitty Softpaws; as Kitty says, he loved his legend more than he coud love anyone else.]] Being in the Cave of Lost Souls and meeting his past lives forces Puss to realize this flaw within himself.
-->'''Puss:''' ...Yeah, Puss in Boots works... alone. Was the legend so big... there was no room for anyone else?
* JerkassRealization: [[spoiler:During ''The Last Wish'', he encounters phantoms of his previous lives in the Cave of Lost Souls...who tell him to abandon his friends and that he works best alone when he asks them for directions to said. He is horrified when he realizes just how arrogant and callous he's been.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Puss is arrogant and morally flexible at times, but he's heroic and caring for his allies and loved ones, and is always willing to protect the innocent.
** ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' goes deep into this trope, as it shows that Puss can also be quite egotistical and selfish when it comes to his desperate desires. His "heart of gold" side is played up during his CharacterDevelopment in the film, especially after he opens up to Perrito.
* LadykillerInLove: Puss is a huge flirt with the ladies (human or cat), but he finds true love with Kitty Softpaws.
* LatinLover: A DashingHispanic voiced by Creator/AntonioBanderas who is portrayed as being quite the ladykiller among cats and even among [[InterspeciesRomance human women]].
* LargeHam: He'll never pass up a moment to act larger than life be it singing, dancing, playing with his opponent in a duel, or dropping a {{Catchphrase}} whenever he can.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** "Annoying Talking Animal" from ''Shrek 2'', more specifically, the first 30 seconds. This part is heard in the recurring gag of him making cute eyes to plead with someone or lower their guard.
** ''Last Wish'' gives him "Favorite Fearless Hero", a boastful and festive theme that plays in the beginning number and can be heard in other pieces of the soundtrack.
* LivingForeverIsAwesome: A variant, Puss in Boots has 9 lives and he's been using those lives as an adrenaline junkie who made his catchphrase "Puss in Boots laughs in the face of Death". [[spoiler:However, when he's down to his 9th and final life, Death decides that since Puss has been so ungrateful and unappreciative for having 9 lives, Death may as well take the last one personally through a duel.]]
* LonelyAtTheTop: In ''The Last Wish'', it's implied by the conversation he has with the Doctor that while Puss is very popular and seen as a town hero, he doesn't have any real friends outside of Shrek and Donkey, and has nobody to rely on in his hometown during his time of need because he was incredibly selfish and took his friends for granted.
* LovableRogue: Puss is an outlaw and a former assassin who's been known to steal and even has a bounty on his head. That said, he is also really [[CuteKitten cute]], entertaining and charismatic and ultimately has a strong moral code and sense of honor. He also didn't exactly enter a life of crime by his own volition at first, [[ToxicFriendInfluence being influenced and manipulated by his friend Humpty]] as a child and teenager.
* MadLibsCatchPhrase: In ''Forever After'', after retiring and taking a few pounds:
-->'''Puss:''' ''[to Shrek]'' ''Feed me''... if you dare!
* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Seeing his ''current'' life flash before his eyes when Death confronts him for the final time, making him remember his journey and bonds with Kitty and Perrito]] causes him to shed a SingleTear, which also reignites his fighting spirit and makes him declare that [[TiredOfRunning he's done running]].
* MasterSwordsman: He's skilled enough to duel several men in a sword fight at once, and quick enough that he can slice through almost anything in the blink of an eye. ''The Last Wish'', in order to put him in a more vulnerable state through the plot, ''takes away'' his sword, depriving him of his most valuable tool. At the end, he gets it back, and with his renewed resolve, he actually [[spoiler: ''duels Death to a draw''. While he can't ultimately beat Death, as he freely admits, he intends to give him the fight of his existence for ''this'' life, and thus does more than enough to earn the Wolf's respect.]]
* MommasBoy: Puss has nothing but deep love and respect for his adoptive mother, Imelda. His alternate self from ''Forever After'' is also very loyal and caring towards Fiona.
* MoralityPet: A literal example to the Alternate Fiona from ''Forever After''. While she's rude and cold towards Shrek, she's nothing but a loving and caring owner towards Puss.
* MortalityPhobia: His main struggle in ''The Last Wish'' is with the realization that he is on his last life and has an extremely dangerous bounty hunter who is [[spoiler:literally [[TheGrimReaper Death]]]] on his tail. Puss goes into a TenMinuteRetirement the second it hits him that he could very well die permanently, and he goes on his journey to find the titular wish so he can wish for his wasted lives back. [[spoiler:He somewhat overcomes it by the end, at least enough to fight Death head-on despite knowing he cannot possibly win. Thankfully, this manages to earn Death's respect -- as well as take away any satisfaction he would get from claiming Puss's final life -- deciding to leave him alone.]]
* {{Mundangerous}}: Puss is established as a heroic, badass daredevil who's among the best swordsman in the realm. Yet one of his deaths is from 4 seemingly normal dogs (as normal as they can be in such a fantastic world) who presumably gang up and rip him apart. That's like Bruce Wayne getting beat up by 4 common street thugs.
* MyGreatestFailure: In ''The Last Wish'', he gets one that hangs over his and Kitty's relationship for much of the movie. [[spoiler:They were supposed to get married, but he got cold feet and left her at the altar. He's been too ashamed to face her since then.]]
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Some of the franchise's most heartwarming and/or funny moments come from when his eyes start to widen and dilate, even to the point where the soundtrack slows to a soothing melody.
* NoodleIncident: How he became famous for killing ogres has yet to be shown in his prequel stories, though presumably it was in similar events to the original fairy tale.
* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: [[spoiler:What ultimately proves to Death that Puss is no longer the egotist who thinks he's untouchable anymore. Upon their final confrontation, instead of becoming terrified or his claims of "laughing in the face of Death", Puss just [[StaringDownCthulhu stares down with intent to fight for his life]].]]
* NotSoStoic: Throughout ''Shrek 2'', Puss generally acts as a stoic, fearless warrior that's loyal to Shrek at all times. Yet, when Shrek and Fiona affirm their love for one another as ogres instead of humans, even Puss himself is TryingNotToCry at what's happening.
* OhCrap: To say that Puss is struck with fear everytime he hears the whistle from Wolf is an understatement. He gets ''[[BreakTheHaughty broken]]'' every time he hears it.
* OnlyFriend: Humpty lampshades that Puss was his only friend in their hometown.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Puss experiences this during ''The Last Wish''. After his near-death experience with the Wolf, [[spoiler:who later reveals to him to be Death himself]], Puss, known for being a FearlessFool, experiences genuine terror for the first time, coupled with his various panic attacks when he sees the Wolf throughout the movie, and his terrified confession to Kitty about why he's trying to get the wish near the climax.
-->'''Puss:''' (''terrified'') Kitty, ''[[spoiler:Death]] is after me!''
* OutOfContinues: ''The Last Wish'' confirms that after recklessly wasting his other eight lives, Puss is now on his ninth and final life, and consequently suffering MortalityPhobia, hunting for the Wishing Star to get his lives back - though being hunted down by a thoroughly irate Death does rather contribute to this. [[spoiler: By the end of the film, he stops being afraid and decides to accept it, intending to live ''this'' life to the full]].
* PapaWolf:
** In ''The Three Diablos'', Puss becomes rather protective of the titular diablos after their HeelFaceTurn, especially when he encounters their BadBoss The Whisperer.
** In ''The Last Wish'', Puss starts to care for and protect Perrito after [[DefrostingIceKing warming up to him]] and learning his DarkAndTroubledPast.
* PersonalityPowers: Puss is an adrenaline junkie who loves gaining the admiration of people by performing dangerous feats. So it would make sense that he would have 9 lives as a form of ResurrectiveImmortality. When he loses all but the very last of them in ''The Last Wish'', he ends up undergoing significant CharacterDevelopment.
* PlayingUpTheStereotype: Puss's signature move is to give people PuppyDogEyes so that people will do as he says and/or spare him due to viewing him as cute and innocent, like a stereotypical CuteKitten.
* PlotAllergy: One of his nine lives was taken by an allergic reaction to shellfish.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Puss has some disdain for dogs, though not to the point of outright hating them. He worriedly claims to Jill that dogs made up the notion cats always land on their feet. In ''The Last Wish'', one of his past lives makes a disgusted comment that Puss has befriended a dog (Perrito); by the time he befriends the mentioned canine, Puss loses this trait.
* {{Pride}}: One of his main flaws before meeting Shrek. In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', many problems are caused by Puss insisting he has to be the best at everything, refusing to ask for help, or unwilling to listen, thinking he knows better. ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' deconstructs this; his pride and bravado has previously driven him away from friends and allies, caused him to frivolously waste eight of his nine lives, and even [[spoiler:offended TheGrimReaper himself enough to personally go after him]].
* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: [[spoiler:Puss's catchphrase was that he always laughs at death and omitted the part that he had 9 lives to fall back on if he didn't make it. The problem is that Puss spent those lives frivolously by walking off a tower to prove cats land on their feet, setting an oven too high to prove himself a master baker, eating shellfish despite having an obviously fatal allergy, firing himself out of a canon out of arrogant pride, and stopping in the middle of a running of the bulls to chat up a woman. When he's on his last life, Death challenges him to a duel for insulting him and did this with the full knowledge that Puss didn't have the safety net of a spare life to fall back on. Puss lost in the first duel and had to retreat before Death claimed him and had been running from Death at every meeting. When Death finds Puss at the star, he gives Puss his sword back, and the two duel. With renewed confidence, Puss does actually beat Death but admits that while he can never defeat Death, it won't stop him from fighting for his last life. This ultimately makes Death respect Puss and decides to leave him alone.]]
* PuppyDogEyes: His big sad kitten eyes are ''very'' effective; in fact it's what got him on Shrek's good side in the first place. Unfortunately, it isn't quite as effective when he tries to do it in ''The Third'' while in Donkey's body.
* RealMenWearPink: Doesn't mind Fiona dressing him with a pink bow in ''Forever After''.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: As ''The Last Wish'' shows, Puss [[CatsHaveNineLives has 9 lives]], as do the other cats in the franchise, and for the first eight lives he'll always come back with a full recovery whenever he dies. Once he's on his last life, then he can die permanently.
* RetiredBadass:
** The alternate Puss in ''Forever After'' had given up his days of being Puss in Boots in favor of being Princess Fiona's housepet.
--->'''Puss:''' ...hanging up my sword was the best decision of my life. I have all the cream I can drink and all the mice I can chase.
** He's forced to retire for real at the beginning of ''The Last Wish'', albeit in the form of a TenMinuteRetirement. Having lost eight of his nine lives, he has a near-death experience with the Wolf and decides to give up his adventuring lifestyle for a while to be an ordinary housecat.
* RunawayGroom: As revealed in ''The Last Wish'', [[spoiler:at some point following the first ''Puss in Boots'' film, Puss and Kitty almost married. However, Puss got cold feet and never appeared at the church]].
* ScarsAreForever: In ''The Last Wish'', his first encounter with the Wolf leaves him with a scar on his forehead (over his right eye), which stays visible throughout the rest of the film.
* SexyCatPerson: As seductive as cats stereotypically are, and voiced by Creator/AntonioBanderas himself.
* ShoulderTeammate: Occasionally travels on Shrek's shoulders, especially in ''Shrek 2''.
* SignatureHeadgear: His yellow-plumed black cavalier hat is a core part of his iconic ensemble ([[AccessoryWearingCartoonAnimal what little of it there is, anyway]]).
* SignatureMove: Puss has a tendency to spin in mid-air usually to show off his acrobatics or right as he's about to attack. Puss learned the move from his teacher El Guante Blanco, and it has [[CallingYourAttacks an actual name]]: "[[ShapedLikeItself The Spinning-through-the-air]]" trick.
* SixthRanger: Or fourth ranger. Joins the original trio and is there to stay.
* StaringDownCthulhu: [[spoiler:After telling Death that he'll keep fighting him to preserve his last life for as long as possible despite knowing he can never defeat him, Puss stares down Death when he growls at him, proving to him that he's no longer the same egotistical cat who arrogantly thinks he's immortal. This earns him both Death's respect and the chance to live out his last life.]]
* TheSmartGuy: To the main cast. He is very clever, cunning and pretty street-smart.
* TalkingAnimal: A talking cat.
* TemporaryBulkChange:
** In ''Shrek: Forever After'', thanks to Shrek's reality-altering wish, Puss turns from a slender and agile swashbuckler to an overweight spoiled pet cat.
** ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'' shows Puss having been a FitnessNut in one of his previous lives, with that specific incarnation being much more muscular than his current self. He lost that life by being overconfident in his physical strength, causing him to drop a massive barbell on his chest after he refused to get help from a spotter.
* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Deconstructed. In ''The Last Wish'', it's shown he has a ResurrectiveImmortality for [[CatsHaveNineLives nine lives]], and will always come back if he has at least one life to spare. The problem is that Puss wasted those lives by doing things he should really know better about doing, like eating shellfish despite having an allergic reaction and lifting weights without a spotter. [[spoiler:Death, offended by the fact that Puss was so wasteful with his previous eight lives, develops a vendetta against Puss and decides to claim Puss's last life personally.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: With Donkey in ''Shrek the Third''.
* TimePassageBeard: Combined with BeardOfSorrow in ''The Last Wish''. Puss grows one during his time as Mama Luna's pet. Once he comes out of retirement, however, it's soon shaved off by Kitty.
* TooDumbToLive: As shown from his DeathMontage in ''The Last Wish'', Puss' 8 deaths were completely avoidable if he wasn't arrogant and/or had the common sense of not doing reckless things with predictable results. [[spoiler:This is why Death wants to cut out the middle man and take out Puss' last life personally.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Since ''The Last Wish'' chronologically takes place after both the first ''Puss in Boots'' film and the main ''Shrek'' tetralogy, Puss' sword skills are magnified – the beginning of ''TLW'' has him skillfully take down the governor and his men, plus a sleeping giant, and at the climax of the film [[spoiler:he fights ''Death'' to a standstill]]. Quite an upgrade compared to how he was portrayed prior to ''TLW''.
* TookALevelInDumbass: In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', Puss is portrayed as an extremely competent and clever hero, but naive and comically unintelligent about almost everything that doesn't fall under the purview of "heroing." To the point where he's useless when it comes to, say, making sandwiches. It doesn't help that, while he does have several areas of expertise, [[KnowNothingKnowItAll he's often convinced he's great at]] ''[[KnowNothingKnowItAll absolutely everything.]]''
* TookALevelInJerkass: Downplayed in ''The Last Wish''. While it is not hard to believe that Puss would come off as an egotistical hero, he's notably a bit more self-centered, irresponsible and narcissistic at the beginning of the film, as opposed to the main ''Shrek'' films, where he was almost always chivalrous, kind and loyal. He learns to get out of this attitude as part of his CharacterDevelopment in the movie - and it makes a degree of sense, since the ego and the obsession with the legend go hand in hand with Puss being a solo act. When he actually spends time around others, he's kinder and more responsible.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Implied. He shows a hankering for gazpacho multiple times throughout ''The Last Wish.''
* {{Tritagonist}}: He's interchangeable with Fiona as a trio with Shrek's protagonist and Donkey's {{deuteragonist}}.
* UnderhandedHero: He's a stealthy and cunning swordsman, who uses his size to his advantage in a fight, and who is more than willing to use his adorable appearance to throw his opponents off guard.
* UndignifiedDeath: What made Puss's loss of his 8 lives into this trope is that none of them were remotely heroic or fitting for such an infamous rogue. All of them were avoidable, but due to arrogance, negligence, and borderline stupidity, he ends up causing them. They are, in order: stopping to flirt with a woman during the running of the bulls, getting mauled to death after being caught cheating during a card game with dogs, drunkenly walking off a tall tower to prove he can land on his feet, getting crushed by an overloaded gym weight because he refuses a spotter, trying to launch himself out of a cannon due to his impatience winning out over just waiting for his boat to dock[[note]]actually due to not wanting to admit that Kitty saved him from being launched out of it[[/note]], eating shellfish (which he is clearly allergic to) and continuing to doing so even after realising what it is, burning himself to death by accident due to intentionally overheating the oven, and getting crushed by the bell used in his fight with the giant because he was too busy basking in people's admiration to even notice it.
* UngratefulBastard: Averted in the general sense, but played straight at first when it comes to his nine lives. Despite being blessed with 9 lives as a cat and thus having ''far'' more opportunities than most people ever get to be alive, Puss never showed ''any'' gratitude for such a blessing, and arrogantly wasted his lives in incredibly stupid ways until he was finally on his last life.[[spoiler:This is part of the reason why Death wants to kill Puss personally rather than let him permanently die naturally; since Puss didn't value any of his previous lives and has no real appreciation for the last one he has, Death sees no reason to let him keep it. Subverted by the end of ''The Last Wish'', when Puss learns to value the last life he has and proves as much to Death, convincing him to spare Puss until they inevitably meet again for the last time.]]
* ViolationOfCommonSense: Subverted in ''The Last Wish''. Puss lacked any appreciation or respect for his life, and relied on his nine lives to keep himself safe when he did various dangerous or idiotic things that resulted in his 8 deaths. Later when he holds the map to the Wishing Star, the Dark Forest's landscape was full of lethal obstacles that relied on him learning to appreciate his life; however, Puss (mostly out of fear) makes Perrito hold it because his journey is safer.
* VitriolicBestBuds: He and Donkey are like this. They work well together as allies, but they still fight over being Shrek's best sidekick.
* VocalDissonance: He's a cute little kitty who uses his big, adorable eyes to trick his enemies... and has Antonio Banderas's husky, deep voice. The Dissonance is even more pronounced when he's talking while using his eyes or when he had that voice as a ''kitten'' in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011''.
* VocalEvolution: Given that ''The Last Wish'' was the first time in 11 years he has voiced the character,
* WeakButSkilled: Puss is a very skilled and experienced fencer, but without his sword he can be easily manhandled by humans or ogres. Despite his usual confidence, he comes to understand full well that he won't be able to fend off the StrongAndSkilled Wolf forever.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: InUniverse. Before settling on his current name, Humpty thought of naming Puss Sparky, Whiskers, and Zoltar.
* ZorroMark: He homages this in ''Shrek 2'' by slashing a "P" into a tree. He draws a larger one on the ground when he defeats the Sleeping Giant in ''The Last Wish''.
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* AdaptationalRomanceDowngrade: Donkey doesn't share any romance with Dragon in the manga, instead Dragon falls in love with Lord Farquaad.
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* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In the manga one-shot, he's already living with Shrek by the time the story starts, probably a consequence of the CompressedAdaptation nature of the manga.
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* TrueCompanions: Despite the occasional bickering, they are always there for each other whenever they need to be.
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* UnwittingPawn:
** In the first movie, Lord Farquaad only wanted to marry Fiona so his plan of becoming king will work. Shrek explained this to her at the near end of the film.
** In the second movie, Fiona was unknowingly used by the Fairy Godmother regarding her plan to get her to fall in love with Prince Charming so the latter can be king.
** In the first movie, Lord Farquaad only wanted to marry Fiona so his plan of becoming king will work. Shrek explained this to her at the near end of the film.
** In the second movie, Fiona was unknowingly used by the Fairy Godmother regarding her plan to get her to fall in love with Prince Charming so the latter can be king.
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* MysteriousPast: Information about the main characters' backstory is scarce. The most we know about Shrek is that his father was a terrible ogre who tried to eat him, hence his conflict about whether he could be a good father. Donkey was owned by an old lady at one point, but that's all we know. Fiona has the most backstory in the first film, where she was cursed to turn into an Ogre at night and had to be sent to a tower, but anything ''prior'' to that is up to the imagination. Puss in Boots ''says'' he had a sick mother and a little of siblings, but it's unlikely he was telling the truth, and his backstory would eventually be revealed in his own spin off film.
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* MysteriousPast: Information about the main characters' backstory is scarce. The most we know about Shrek is that his father was a terrible ogre who tried to eat him, hence his conflict about whether he could be a good father. Donkey was owned by an old lady at one point, but that's all we know. Fiona has the most backstory in the first film, where she was cursed to turn into an Ogre at night and had to be sent to a tower, but anything ''prior'' to that is up to the imagination. Puss in Boots ''says'' ''claimed'' he had a sick mother mother, a father who ate garbage, and a little litter of siblings, brothers, but it's unlikely he was telling the truth, and it turned out to be a lie after his backstory would eventually be revealed in his own spin off film.
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* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Whenever he stops being jolly, you know things are serious, like during his WhatTheHellHero moment towards the end of the first movie.
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** In the third movie, Donkey kindly tells Shrek that the latter needs to change his approach when it comes to convincing Artie to be willing to be king. Shrek softly agrees with him.
** In the fourth movie, the AU version of Donkey rightly tells Shrek that the latter should have never signed a contract with Rumplestiltskin.
** In the same movie, the AU donkey asks Shrek why he signed over his life to Rumplestiltskin if Shrek’s life was so perfect.
** In the fourth movie, the AU version of Donkey rightly tells Shrek that the latter should have never signed a contract with Rumplestiltskin.
** In the same movie, the AU donkey asks Shrek why he signed over his life to Rumplestiltskin if Shrek’s life was so perfect.
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* OneWomanArmy: Fiona was able to take on and defeat Robin Hood and his crew.
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* OneWomanArmy: Fiona was able to take on and defeat Robin After having enough of Monseiur Hood and his crew.Merry Men's song, Fiona attacks them and beats down every single one of them without any difficulty.
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* InnocentlyInsensitive: While he never means any offense, Donkey has a tendency to [[BrutalHonesty speak his mind]] regardless of how others might think. He has no problem calling Fiona's ogress form ugly in the first movie and casually admits in the second that everyone who meets Shrek (who at that point was distraught over King Harold trying to have him killed) wants to kill him.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Dragon. She's a dragon and he's a donkey.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Dragon. She's a dragon and he's a donkey.
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* InnocentlyInsensitive: While he never means any offense, Donkey has a tendency to [[BrutalHonesty speak his mind]] regardless of how what others might think. He has no problem calling Fiona's ogress form ugly in the first movie and casually admits in the second that everyone who meets Shrek (who at that point was distraught over King Harold trying to have him killed) wants to kill him.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Dragon. She's a dragon and he's adonkey. donkey.
* JerkassBall: He's usually pretty friendly, but there are a few isolated moments where Donkey acts like a jerk for the sake of RuleOfFunny. In ''Shrek 2'' alone, Donkey goes out of his way to annoy Shrek and Fiona during the long trip to Far Far Away by repeatedly popping his mouth, and later on, he helps Shrek steal a nobleman's clothes.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Dragon. She's a dragon and he's a
* JerkassBall: He's usually pretty friendly, but there are a few isolated moments where Donkey acts like a jerk for the sake of RuleOfFunny. In ''Shrek 2'' alone, Donkey goes out of his way to annoy Shrek and Fiona during the long trip to Far Far Away by repeatedly popping his mouth, and later on, he helps Shrek steal a nobleman's clothes.
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* MagicalNegro: Despite being a donkey, he lives up to this trope subliminally being voiced by a Black man and speaking with frequent AAVE. He fulfills this trope only in the first film of the series when he helps Fiona as well as Shrek to have more confidence in themselves and by judging them by their values and not by their physical appearance.
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* MagicalNegro: Despite being a donkey, he lives up to this trope subliminally being voiced by a Black man and speaking with frequent AAVE. He fulfills fulfils this trope only in the first film of the series when he helps Fiona as well as Shrek to have more confidence in themselves and by judging them by their values and not by their physical appearance.
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* ViolentlyProtectiveWife: In the third movie, when Fiona learns Charming captured Shrek and plans to have him killed in front of the entire kingdom, she gives a RousingSpeech to the princesses, break out of their jailcell and kick some ass on the way to the castle in order to rescue her husband.
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* ViolentlyProtectiveWife: ViolentlyProtectiveWife:
** In the "Accidently In Love" montage in the second movie, some angry people were able to capture Shrek's foot in a net when he and Fiona were in a forest. Fiona leaped in and kicked the asses of the angry townspeople to protect Shrek.
** In the third movie, when Fiona learns Charming captured Shrek and plans to have him killed in front of the entire kingdom, she gives a RousingSpeech to the princesses, break out of their jailcell and kick some ass on the way to the castle in order to rescue her husband.
** In the "Accidently In Love" montage in the second movie, some angry people were able to capture Shrek's foot in a net when he and Fiona were in a forest. Fiona leaped in and kicked the asses of the angry townspeople to protect Shrek.
** In the third movie, when Fiona learns Charming captured Shrek and plans to have him killed in front of the entire kingdom, she gives a RousingSpeech to the princesses, break out of their jailcell and kick some ass on the way to the castle in order to rescue her husband.
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* LooseLips: Twice in the second movie. The first was when he revealed to Fiona’s parents that Shrek is from a swamp. The second was when he (as a stallion) blurted out "mother" when he, Shrek and Puss in Boots were spying on Fairy Godmother, Prince Charming and King Harold.
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* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Donkey is shown to be fearful of heights in the first movie.
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* EveryoneHasStandards: Fiona is one of the nicest characters, but even ''she'' is shown to get fed up with Donkey's talkative nature in scenes of the second movie when Donkey keeps asking if everyone is "there" (Far Far Away) yet.
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* EveryoneHasStandards: Fiona is one of the nicest characters, but even ''she'' is shown to get fed up with Donkey's talkative nature nature. This is shown well in scenes of the second movie when Donkey keeps asking if everyone is "there" (Far Far Away) yet.yet (heck, if you pay close attention to the "are we there yet" scene, you can hear Fiona answer "no" to Donkey in an angered tone).
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** When meeting Puss in Boots for the first time, ''Donkey'' is the one point out that he has a sword and looks ''very'' dangerous, something Shrek happily ignores until it's too late.
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* LateArrivalSpoiler: The fact that she's a female ogre[[note]](albeit being originally human, but [[ShapeshifterModeLock locked into this form]] due to her TrueLovesKiss being from Shrek)[[/note]] was probably the biggest twist of the first film, but it's common knowledge for anyone who started watching since at least the second film.
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* LateArrivalSpoiler: The fact that she's a female ogre[[note]](albeit ogre[[note]]albeit being originally human, but [[ShapeshifterModeLock locked into this form]] due to her TrueLovesKiss being from Shrek)[[/note]] Shrek[[/note]] was probably the biggest twist of the first film, but it's common knowledge for anyone who started watching since at least the second film.
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* DumbassHasAPoint: In the second movie, he's quick to lampshade King Harold's hypocrisy in regards to his disapproval of Shrek marrying Fiona despite being [[Literature/TheFrogPrince a frog]] who married a human woman. While Shrek admonishes him for it, Harold doesn't hesitate to admit Donkey is completely right.
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* DumbassHasAPoint: DumbassHasAPoint:
** In the second movie, he rightfully calls out Shrek on walking away from Fiona when the Fairy Godmother manipulated him into believing that Fiona loved Charming instead.
** In the same movie, he's quick to lampshade King Harold's hypocrisy in regards to his disapproval of Shrek marrying Fiona despite being [[Literature/TheFrogPrince a frog]] who married a human woman. While Shrek admonishes him for it, Harold doesn't hesitate to admit Donkey is completely right.
** In the second movie, he rightfully calls out Shrek on walking away from Fiona when the Fairy Godmother manipulated him into believing that Fiona loved Charming instead.
** In the same movie, he's quick to lampshade King Harold's hypocrisy in regards to his disapproval of Shrek marrying Fiona despite being [[Literature/TheFrogPrince a frog]] who married a human woman. While Shrek admonishes him for it, Harold doesn't hesitate to admit Donkey is completely right.
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Added DiffLines:
* EveryoneHasStandards: Fiona is one of the nicest characters, but even ''she'' is shown to get fed up with Donkey's talkative nature in scenes of the second movie when Donkey keeps asking if everyone is "there" (Far Far Away) yet.
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Changed line(s) 101 (click to see context) from:
* MotorMouth: Which annoys everyone, especially Shrek. Not even covering Donkey's mouth will stop him.
to:
* MotorMouth: Which annoys everyone, especially Shrek. Not even covering Donkey's mouth will stop him. It's summed up when he meets Fiona.
-->'''Donkey:''' Hi, Princess!
-->'''Princess Fiona:''' It talks!
-->'''Shrek:''' Yeah, it's getting him to shut up that's the trick!
-->'''Donkey:''' Hi, Princess!
-->'''Princess Fiona:''' It talks!
-->'''Shrek:''' Yeah, it's getting him to shut up that's the trick!
