something i haven't seen anyone mention about the Puss in boots: the last wish
there are plenty of stories about someone trying to cheat death, but I don't think I've ever come across a story before where death doesn't play fair either. and the fact that the wolf just casually admitted it? loved it
and the twist is hilarious: you would think that he has some pretty good reason for trying to kill Puss before his time has come, but no. Death just got fed up with watching this dumbass cat waste his lives in incredibly stupid ways, and decided that this arrogant lil bitch needs to get his ass whooped
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Been thinking about Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and what makes Death the Wolf such an effective villain, and like… character design and voice acting is certainly doing a lot there, don't get me wrong, but I think there's something else at play.
Death is the most terrifying character in Puss in Boots, because he's the only one playing the genre straight.
The premise of the Shrek films has always been that they're normal, modern people living in wacky fairytale land.
The evil king uses his magic mirror as a dating app. The fairy godmother uses business cards to contact her clients. Her workers consider unionising over their lack of dental plan.
Puss in Boots 1 kinda broke the mould in that— while there are plenty of modern elements to how the characters act and how their world works— it's more specifically intended to be characters from the world Zorro living in wacky fairytale land. But the point still stands.
The aim of the Shrek films and spin-offs is to subvert common fairytale tropes for comedic effect. What if the princess fell for the ogre? What if Prince Charming was an entitled dick? What if Goldilocks teamed up with the three bears and started a crime family?
But Death? Death, for the most part, isn't playing that game.
No character questions why he doesn't just kill Puss outright. There are no gags about him being inconvenienced by Jack Horner losing so many men. Nobody makes any self-aware fourth wall breaking jokes about why he bothers with the whole whistling thing.
We all know why he does the whistling thing. It's the same reason why Little Red Riding Hood has to go through the whole "what big eyes/ears/teeth you have, Grandma" rigamarole. The same reason why the wolf takes care to knock before blowing the little pigs' houses down.
The Wolf is scary because he's the only actual fairytale creature in this entire setting. He's not bound by rules of logic or common sense, or his own will, he's bound by the narrative.
And that's also why he backs down at the end.
The first time he and Puss fight, in the bar, Puss is arrogant. The second time, in the Cave, Puss is scared out of his wits. It's the third time, on the wishing star, that Puss learns his lesson. Of course the Wolf backs down after that! The rules say he has to.
But, on another level, there is also the issue of Puss realising that he wants more from his life than just to be a legend.
They say "legends never die", but the most famous part of any given legend tends to be the story of how the hero finally bites the dust.
And "he was such a great fighter that Death himself had to kill him off, personally!" is just the sort of ending that would fit the legend Puss has constructed around himself. In a sense, the Wolf is giving Puss exactly what he proclaims to want— the chance to go down in history.
Puss realising he doesn't want that anymore is the catalyst for sending the Wolf away. Through his own egotistical and reckless attitude, he turned himself into a story and thus summoned a narrative device. Only by choosing to value his life over the legend is he able to escape that trap.
The Wolf's defeat is both the natural ending of the story that he and Puss have been playing out since the film began, and a rejection of the natural ending to the story Puss has been telling about himself since he first became the hero of San Ricardo.
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