In the Alternative Universe, why didn't Charming rescue Fiona?

Question

In Shrek: Forever After, Fiona said she rescued herself from the dragon's tower.

Since Shrek was never born, shouldn't Prince Charming have rescued her?

Answer 1

At the start of Shrek : Forever After we see that Fiona's parents are about to sign their kingdom over to Rumpelstiltskin in return for him using his magic to release Princess Fiona from her curse. The news that Shrek has rescued the Princess literally interrupts the signing ceremony and they tear up the agreement.

Since Prince Charming is attempting to rescue Fiona for the sole purpose of becoming heir to the throne of Far Far Away, if Shrek hadn't rescued Fiona then her parents would have signed the deed, Rumpelstiltskin would become King and there would have been no need for Charming to rescue Fiona which explains his total absence from the film:

King : Nothing is worth more to us than our daughter.

Stiltskin: Just sign it and all your problems will disappear.

Page : Your Highness! The Princess! She's been saved! [by Shrek]

They tear the agreement in half.

Answer 2

My theory is that if you remember Fairy God mother had a whole plan with the King. She turned him from a frog into a human to marry his love interest, the queen. In making this deal he agreed her son, Prince Charming, could marry Fiona and become King one day. Since they disappeared and the kingdom was signed over to Rumple, there was no longer any deal or reason for Charming to save Fiona as she was no longer a princess and therefore they would get nothing out of it… they really thought these movies out!

Answer 3

I honestly think it was just a plot hole. The reality is that Fairy godmother had a deal with Harold. One that if he broke, his happily every after (his human form) would be taken back as well. Not to mention, they were still the rightful rulers.

And with the time frame as it was when this was happening, Charming was already on his way to save Fiona. He was just a tad bit late. I’d say a couple months late if not less as when he got there, Fiona was on her honeymoon.

Some people might say that he would have heard about the change in leadership before he saved her. But no not necessarily; Fiona had her whole identity and inner beauty shtick journey, got married to Shrek, went on her honeymoon and traveled to Far far away and Charming didn’t know ANYTHING about it. Not until he literally arrives at the castle and there’s a wolf in the bed who tells him she’s on her honeymoon last he heard.

So if Shrek never saved her and they did sign away, Charming should have gotten to Fiona and rescued her. Charming may be stupid but once he learns something is wrong, he most likely would have fought for what he believed was his right to the kingdom. And as we saw...he’s more than capable of organizing a successful take over. And this time he would have his mother full magical arsenal at his back. And fairy godmothers magic is STRONGER than Rumpelstiltskin's as he was unable to reverse Fionas curse, something that Fairy Godmother could do and was her doing in the first place. Unless the Fairy Godmother turned her eyes somewhere else after Harold's death or Rumpelstiltskin got a different deal with her.

So in short. Charming should have absolutely rescued Fiona. But again they stretched themselves too thin and did this movie as a money grab. So... there’s a huge plot hole.

Answer 4

After reading everyone’s answers to this question I’ve come to my own conclusion.

Assuming charming is still taking as long as he is, Fiona probably “saved herself” during his journey. Charming was taking too long and she couldn’t stay trapped any longer, so she escaped. We know that Fiona can kick ass since we saw her take down Robin Hood’s merry men in shriek 1, she head butt Charming too after the kiss scene which I think knocked him cold? And in a world where she didn’t get rescued by shrek and had to save herself, she probably had fight or flight adrenalin enhancing her abilities during her fight flight moment of leaving the tower.

Charming probably would have still gotten to the castle, but it would be barren. Maybe he dies to the dragon, maybe he doesn’t.

It’s a huge plot hole, but this is the only explanation I can think of.

Answer 5

My theory is in Skrek Forever After, Prince charming wasn't shown because, remember, he came late, probably months later after Fiona was saved by Shrek and they were on their honeymoon after being together for a while.

Charming was probably still at Far Far Away as Fiona was saved. So in Shrek Forever After, Rumpelstiltskin took over Far Far away and he would have dealt with Prince Charming and Fairy Godmother. Remember Rumpelstiltskin is very intelligent, more so than Fairy Godmother and it was probably easy for him to get rid of Charming.

Also in Shrek 2 Prince Charming came back to Far Far Away AFTER Shrek and Fiona visited/lived with the king and queen, and that's when Fairy Godmother, Lillian and Harold found out that the Prince was a little too late to rescue her and that Shrek was the outcome since he is the first to rescue her.

Also without Shrek, Farquad's knights would have died from the dragon and well it definitely was a sacrifice Farquad made and he probably waited a while till he figured one of the knights couldn't rescue her so he chose a different princess.

Another thing I want to be clear on is why Rumpelstiltskin had the fairy tale creatures if Farquad sent them elsewhere.... witches captured them for Rumpelstiltskin when he took over, also the Fairy tale creatures would have ruined the swamp to be a desert... cuz no Shrek, no swamp, it would have been ruined.

Rumpelstiltskin is creating his empire so he needs a lot of people. He ruined the palace so the citizens can sign his contracts to get what they dream since Rumpelstiltskin ruined their dreams and Rumpelstiltskin gets something in return such as Pinocchio, he definitely wanted something from him and he laughed about his evil plan, but obviously he never got it because Shrek always interrupted so he saved Pinocchio unintentionally a few times in the movie.