| “ | As soon as I dispose of Big Daddy La Bouff, and I'm running this town... I'll have the entire city of New Orleans, in the palm of my hand. And you'll have all the wayward souls your dark little hearts desire. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Facilier commenting on his plan to his Friends on the Other Side. |
| “ | Just a little more time! I promise I'll pay you all back! I PROMISE! | „ |
| ~ Dr. Facilier's last words before being dragged into hell. |
Dr. Facilier, or simply known as Facilier (also known as "The Shadow Man") is the main antagonist of Disney's 49th full-length animated feature film The Princess and the Frog.
He is an evil witch doctor/bokor who plans to rule New Orleans with help from his "friends on the other side". Since his inception, Facilier has reached critical acclaim and major popularity with fans, making him one of Disney's most popular villains, in addition to quickly becoming a primary member of the Disney Villains franchise.
He was voiced by Keith David, who also played Lord Marmoo in Kulipari.
History
Facilier is a voodoo witch doctor who often uses magic and trickery on the street to con customers out of their money, and also has a shadow that moves independently and interacts with him. Facilier is first seen striking a deal with a bald man who wishes to grow hair on the busy streets of New Orleans. So Facilier makes it so by having the man's hair grow over his entire body, frightening both civilians and the man himself, while amusing Facilier to the highest degree. However, Facilier's joy is short-lived as he witnesses Eli "Big Daddy" LaBouff, the richest man in New Orleans, give a huge amount of cash to the newspaper boy after receiving the newspaper. The envious Facilier and his shadow look in disgust, knowing there must be a way to make themselves just as wealthy as Mr. LaBouff.
Later on, Facilier goes to a café where he overhears the waitress Tiana and Big Daddy's flamboyant daughter named Charlotte talking about Prince Naveen of Maldonia coming to town due to marry the latter. Facilier gets an idea from the information heard and an evil plan begins to form.
Once Prince Naveen and his overworked valet named Lawrence arrive, Facilier invites the two to his Voodoo Emporium, using his charming words that he was responsible for transforming Prince Naveen into a frog, after Facilier captures some of the prince's blood in a voodoo talisman, and eventually then gives the talisman, which allows the wearer to assume the appearance of the person whose blood is stored within it, to the traitorous Lawrence. Believing that the only true power in the world is money rather than magic, Facilier plans to have Lawrence pose as Naveen and marry Charlotte LaBouff, the daughter of the extremely wealthy Big Daddy LaBouff; he would then kill Big Daddy and split his fortune between himself and Lawrence (while secretly giving himself the larger sum).
Facilier imprisons Naveen, due to the fact that the blood level in the talisman needs to be constantly refilled each time Lawrence poses as the prince. However, Naveen escapes, and Facilier is forced to make a deal with voodoo spirits to find and recapture Naveen in exchange for the souls of all of the people in New Orleans after he receives his fortune. Later, the voodoo spirits capture Naveen while he is with Tiana (who has also turned into a frog) and return him to Facilier, who locks him up and prepares to go through with his plans.
Amidst the events, Facilier hides in the shadows waiting for the moment to kill Big Daddy with a voodoo doll just as Lawrence is about to marry Charlotte. However, Naveen's firefly friend Ray manages to save him and they stop the wedding just in time, retrieving the talisman in the process. Facilier and the spirits chase after them, and Ray hands Tiana the talisman before being fatally squashed by Facilier.
As Tiana threatens to destroy the talisman, Facilier quickly returns her to her human form and plays on her emotions. He shows the girl her dream restaurant, compliments her dreams and promises to make it a reality in an attempt to persuade her to give his talisman back to him. He shows her all the hard work she has endured and doubt from others that she has experienced for years, which somewhat causes her to become vulnerable. When he shows her late father in struggling times, she becomes depressed and nearly gives him back his talisman. However, she regains her will and attempts to destroy the talisman anyway, but Facilier's shadow catches it in time and hands it back to its master.
Reclaiming his talisman, Facilier then sinisterly laughs as he transforms Tiana back into a frog before using his staff to pin her down. He tells her that she should have agreed before telling she will spend the rest of her life as a frog but this leads to his undoing.
Using her tongue, Tiana takes the talisman back again and smashes it on the ground. With his amulet destroyed, he loses any means by which he can pay back his debt, as he becomes horrified while holding its broken pieces as Tiana hides just as Facilier's former spirit allies appear so that they can collect their debt.
He greets them jovially before they sing his song "Are you ready?", as he frantically pleas to them for more time, stating that he still had Naveen held captive as well having him in stuck in frog form. Despite telling them the truth, his pleas are ignored and as punishment for his failure, his soul is claimed by the Loa as payment. Facilier screams that he will pay them back before he is dragged, terrified, into their world.
Presumably, Doctor Facilier dies or is sent to an eternity in the other realm when the last glimpse of his face with his horrified expression was captured on a gravestone after to confirm his demise.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?
- He tried to murder Big Daddy to take over New Orleans.
- He successfully transformed Prince Naveen (and indirectly Tiana) into frogs.
- He would often use magic and trickery on the street to con customers out of their money.
- It was implied he may have intended to kill Naveen and Lawrence once he didn't need them anymore.
- He tried to sell the souls of the people of New Orleans to repay his debt.
- He successfully killed Ray, making him one of the few villains who actually succeed at killing a major character. He also did it despite knowing Ray was sapient and just didn't care.
- Despite referring to the voodoo spirits as his friends, he has shown himself to be greedy with them.
Trivia
- Some believe that Dr. Facilier doesn't qualify as Pure Evil given his apparent tragic past, as he implies that he was shunned and ignored by the rich and wealthy of New Orleans, coupled with his supposed sympathy towards the city's poor. However, as Facilier is such a charismatic manipulator, nothing demonstrates that such facts are true and even if they were, nothing excuses his attempts to claim several innocent souls for his Friends on the Other Side and his complete lack of morals, greed, lust for power, lack of remorse or true care for anyone but himself and his treacherous nature. Even then, the tragedy in no way excuses his actions.
