"Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make."
- Lord Farquaad addressing his tournament participants.
Lord Maximus Farquaad is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 5th full-length animated feature film Shrek, the first installment of the Shrekfilm series, its musical adaption, and the 2003 3-D short Shrek 4-D (also known as The Ghost of Lord Farquaad), as well as a flashback antagonist in Shrek the Third.
He was the oppressive ruler of a lordship called Duloc and he spent the first part capturing fairytale creatures, so that he could find the magic mirror. Once he did, he asked if Duloc, the place where he ruled, was the perfect kingdom, but as he was not a king, Duloc was not a kingdom, so he tried to marry Princess Fiona to become king. He is very opprobrious, despicable and abhorrent, so he loathes creatures of any kind and sought to relocate the fairytale creatures to Shrek's swamp. He attempts to cut a deal with Shrek by promising to remove the fairy tale creatures from his swamp if Shrek could bring Fiona to him, as he wanted to marry her.
He was voiced by John Lithgow.