History WesternAnimation / ShrekForeverAfter

** In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', we can see it takes days to go from Duloc to Far Far Away. However, in ''Forever After'', Shrek travels [[TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot the same distance three times within less than a day]].

* TinkleInTheEye: Subverted as it turns out baby Fergus in fact just took the fish out of its bowl and had it spit water in his Shrek's face. Shrek replies to his baby son on this, sarcastically saying it was real cute.

* BluntYes: PlayedForDrama. When Fiona asks Shrek if he's better off before he rescued her, Shrek unhesitatingly says "Exactly!", much to Fiona's shock.

* BullyingADragon: A heroic example. When Shrek is captured by the witches and brought before him, Rumpelstiltskin proceeds to gloat about how he was conned--culminating in telling him his kids no longer exist. All Rumpelstiltskin accomplishes, though, is enraging Shrek to the point of breaking free and escaping.

** The SuckECheeses at the beginning is actually [[BadGuyBar The Poison Apple]] from the second movie under new management, as the original sign is in the trash outside where Rumpelstiltskin is foraging.

** [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} The first film]] and this film have the song "I'm a Believer" at the end.

** When Shrek is trying to convince the alternate Fiona he knows her, he recalls [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} she sings so beautifully that birds explode]]. And during the end credits, the original Fiona does the same thing to another blue bird, as well as [[spoiler:Fifi]].

** [[spoiler:The alternate Dragon is defeated when Shrek and the alternate Fiona tie her up with chains, which is how the original Dragon was defeated in the [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} first movie]]]].

* ContinuityNod: There are plenty made towards the [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} first film]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} The first chapter]] was more RuderAndCruder, while [[WesternAnimation/Shrek2 the second chapter]] and ''[[WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird The Third]]'' were LighterAndSofter. With ''Forever After'', its premise has Shrek painfully aware of just ''how much'' LighterAndSofter things have gotten, and winding up in a world where he'd never existed and Far Far Away had been run by an AxCrazy antagonist. Also, the alternate timeline downplays a lot of the PurelyAestheticEra the previous movies liberally used, bringing it much closer to a straight DarkFantasy with some comedy.

** Inside Shrek's drawer, [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} Fiona's handkerchief]] can briefly be seen before Shrek's hand comes into frame, obscuring it because of his search for his "Wanted" poster.

* RuleOfSymbolism: After the BoredomMontage, Shrek quickly rummages through his drawer at night for his "Wanted" poster, which is all the way at the bottom. [[FreezeFrameBonus But if you look closely,]] the [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} handkerchief that Fiona wanted to give Shrek in their first meeting]] is the very first thing he sees. It emphasizes how he is starting to tire of married life, and wishes to be that feared ogre from the very beginning again.

* ShoutOut:
** The witches are a cross between [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West]] visually and the [[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Green Goblin]] in terms of fighting techniques.
** And Fiona for ''Comicbook/RedSonja'' and ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess''.
** Rumpelstiltskin's meeting with the witches references the table scene from ''Film/TheUntouchables''.
** ''Dueling Banjos'' (also known as "that one song from ''Film/{{Deliverance}}''") is heard while in the trailer-- er, carriage park.
** A giant ball of shields from which all the warriors jump out and attack? Ending of ''Film/ThreeHundred'', anyone?
** A list of the books seen on the bookshelf where Shrek replaces the book ''Shrek'' at the end of the film:
--->''[[Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew The Taming of the Shrek]]''\\
''[[Literature/MobyDick Moby Shrek]]''\\
''[[Literature/LittleLordFauntleroy Little Lord Donkleroy]]''\\
''[[Literature/{{Cinderella}} Gingerella]]''\\
''[[Literature/TheUglyDuckling The Ugly Shreklings]]''\\
''[[Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville The Donkey of Seville]]''\\
''Literature/PussInBoots''\\
''[[Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream A Midsummer Night's Shrek]]''\\
''[[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Shrek and the Beanstalk]]''\\
''[[Literature/TheIliad Fiona of Troy]]''
** Rumpelstiltskin jumping off of the balcony, only for it to be revealed he intentionally landed on a flying goose echos ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII''.

* MagicCountdown: Rumpelstiltskin's sand timer, that measures the 'day' Shrek has before [[spoiler:he'll vanish away forever if he doesn't get love's true kiss]]. When it first appears, only a tiny bit of sand has fallen, even though [[spoiler:Shrek must have spent a good part of the day scaring villagers, getting captured, and being carried to Far Far Away.]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: The witches [[Film/TheWizardOfOz dissolve in water]]. Oddly, the ogre resistance never takes advantage of this; it's just used by Rumpelstilskin in a YouHaveFailedMe moment. Though it is possible that the ogres aren't aware of such weakness (plus, ogres aren't exactly fond of water either).

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Shrek experiences this in the third act. [[spoiler:After TrueLovesKiss has failed and Fiona has fully rejected him, he turns himself in to Rumplestiltskin in exchange for a wish. This entire AlternateUniverse only exists [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor because of his selfishness]], and he has the option to wish himself right out of the whole mess with a single signature. [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold No one would ever know what he had done except him and Rumplestiltskin]]. But instead of wishing for his ''own'' freedom, he wishes for the freedom of all the other ogres, giving up his chance at staying with Fiona for her sake and the sake of her cause [[HeroicSacrifice despite knowing he's going to die at the end of the day if he doesn't.]]]]

* {{Irony}}: Rumpel, while tricking Shrek into signing his Orge for a Day contract, he claims to him that he'll "feel like a changed ogre". And by the end, Shrek accepts his current life with his friends and family after his day was up.

* DarkerAndEdgier: [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} The first chapter]] was more RuderAndCruder, while [[WesternAnimation/Shrek2 the second chapter]] and ''[[WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird The Third]]'' were LighterAndSofter. With ''Forever After'', its premise has Shrek painfully aware of just ''how much'' LighterAndSofter things have gotten, and winding up in a world where he'd never existed and Far Far Away had been run by an AxCrazy antagonist. Also, the alternate timeline downplays a lot of the PurelyAestheticEra the previous movies liberally used, brining it much closer to a straight DarkFantasy with some comedy.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: When King Harold and Queen Lillian argue about their decision to break Fiona's curse by making a deal with Rumplestiltskin, Lillian is right to mistrust Fairy Godmother and her plan to have Charming break the curse with a true love's kiss, while Harold highly doubts trusting Rumpelstiltskin is a good idea, and the alternate timeline proves it most certainly isn't.
* BountyHunter: The Pied Piper is hired by Rumplestiltskin as a bounty hunter to capture the ogres.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: When King Harold and Queen Lillian argue about their decision to break Fiona's curse by making a deal with Rumplestiltskin, Lillian is right to mistrust Fairy Godmother and her plan to have Charming break the curse with a true love's kiss, while Harold highly doubts trusting Rumplestiltskin is a good idea, and the alternate timeline proves it most certainly isn't.

* BigBad: Rumplestiltskin is the bad guy of this movie.

* ManlyTears: Shrek sheds a manly tear when he saw his daughter's doll when he was in the alternate reality and he realizes she and her brothers are not there at all. That is the first time we have ever seen Shrek cry.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine What the]] [[{{Pun}} Shrek]] [[AlternateUniverse just happened?]]'']]

** Rumpelstiltskin's specialty; his contract with Shrek is to trade a day from his life he won't remember in exchange for a consequence free day in an alternate timeline where he will be feared again so he can have fun terrorizing people and afterwards everything will go back to normal. [[spoiler:The day in question turns out to be the day Shrek was born, and the alternate timeline is one where Shrek was never born; so instead of reverting back to the original timeline when the day ends, the timeline where Shrek was never born will become the real timeline and Shrek will cease to exist instead.]]
** In the opening it is revealed that in desperation, the king and queen had turned to Rumpelstiltskin to save Fiona from her curse. His deal to "make all their problems go away" in exchange for the crown to Far Far Away is interrupted by Shrek's actions in the first film. In the Shrek-less timeline they agree to the deal [[spoiler: and Rumpelstiltskin makes their problems go away by killing them.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** When several people are unsuccessfully trying to bring Shrek to Rumpel, Pinocchio arrives with Gepetto in chains and badly dressed as Shrek, referencing Gepetto selling him out to the Duloc guards in the first film.

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* ManipulativeBastard: Rumpelstiltskin.

* FurryConfusion: Non-anthropomorphic pigs are seen in the village where Shrek is scaring people, in the same film as the anthropomorphic Three Little Pigs.

** When Shrek is trying to convince the alternate Fiona he knows her, he recalls [[WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}} she sings so beautifully that birds explode]]. And during the end credits, the original Fiona does the same thing to [[spoiler:Fifi]].

** The first film began with Shrek opening a storybook at the beginning, and this film has Shrek closing the book as he's reached the end of his story.

** When Shrek is trying to convince the alternate Fiona he knows her, he recalls she sings so beautifully that birds explode.

* ChekhovsGun: One of the things Shrek and Donkey do to escape Rumpelstiltskin's castle is break off the chandelier ball. [[spoiler:This comes back in the third act, when Donkey pretends to gift Rumpelstiltskin with a new chandelier ball, [[TrojanHorse which is actually an elaborate shield formation with the entire ogre resistance inside]]]].