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Big Jack Horner, formerly known as Little Jack Horner, is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 43rd full-length animated film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a spin-off of the Shrek franchise and the sequel to both Puss in Boots and Shrek Forever After.

He is a feared pastry chef and crime lord who has a history of stealing various magical items, creatures and people ever since he was snubbed of fairy-tale fame. Horner plots to reach the Wishing Star in order to enact his wish to harness all of the magic on the planet, racing against Puss in Boots and Goldilocks for the wish.

He was voiced by John Mulaney, who also played Ferguson Toddle in Saturday Night Live and Andrew Glouberman in Big Mouth.

Appearance

Big Jack Horner is a very large man in stature and very overweight both in body and in cheeks disproportionately larger than the rest of the face. He has pink bob hair and blue eyes. He wears a long purple jacket over a light purple buttoned shirt with a double triangular cut, a white shirt, a pink tie, brown trousers and black boots with small heels. His legs are much smaller than the rest of his body. His right hand thumb is maroon, probably from all the times he's stuck it into cakes, pies and other pastries while reciting his nursery rhyme.

When he was a child, Little Jack Horner was already overweight, and he already had pink hair in a bob. Instead, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt over dark brown trousers with suspenders and black boots.

Personality

Big Jack Horner is a cruel and sadistic megalomaniac of the highest order (which is only masked by his comedic portrayal), whose desire to control all magic in existence borders on obsession that stems from his petty envy of how his story is nothing more than a nursery rhyme compared to actual fairy tales, and bitterly recalls how people ignored him in favor of magical beings, such as Pinocchio.

As a result, he became obsessed with collecting and hoarding magical objects, weapons, tools, and even creatures or their parts (having a large collection of horns from baby unicorns) though Jack has little interest in what he collects other than their magical nature and usefulness, as he thought the Ethical Bug was a cursed locust and didn't even know what using his unicorn horns would do to his victims and was pleasantly surprised to see them burst into glitter and confetti (which also killed them). He also hates being reminded of his nursery rhyme, as he killed one of the Serpent Sisters by using the Midas Touch to turn her into gold after she mockingly recited his rhyme, as well as a twisted play on his promise to reward them with "their weight in gold".

He cares nothing for the lives of others, even those of his own subordinates, whom he views as disposable cannon fodder in his quest for power, and he has no appreciation for the good things in his life, as he claimed to have not much as a boy other than "loving parents, stability, a mansion, and a thriving baked good enterprise to inherit", dismissing them all as "useless crap". When the Ethical Bug denounces Jack as an "irredeemable monster", Jack doesn't deny it at all and even calls the Bug an "idiot" for taking so long to realize it. This indicates that Jack has full awareness of his vile actions and has no remorse for the pain he has caused. His vile behavior/nature and obsession with both the star and map led him to his own demise.

Biography

Past

Jack was born into a wealthy family who owned a pie enterprise for their son to inherit. His family had done sideshows in order to advertise the enterprise. In these sideshows, "Little Jack Horner" would perform his nursery rhyme, and at first gained fame for these performances. However, the performances became stale, and Jack and being overtaken by magical creatures like Pinocchio, leading to Big Jack Horner believing that that side of him "that had nothing magical about it" is long dead.

Since then, even though he inherited the pie enterprise his family owned, he saw it as "useless crap", and didn't feel he'd be fully satisfied until he obtained all of the world's magic. To that end, he hired numerous thugs to steal and retrieve various magical items. One such case of this was shown in The Trident, where he had sent Kitty Softpaws to retrieve Poseidon's Trident, which he would later try to use to attack Kitty and Puss with when they try to retrieve the map from him.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Big Jack Horner is introduced in the film judging his company's new pie connoisseur, when he is joined by the Serpent Sisters who have brought him the map to the Wishing Star as requested. Big Jack Horner takes them to his trophy room where he shows them all the magical memorabilia he has collected and collected over the years, but still calling them "trinkets" compared to the Wishing Star. While viewing the map savoring the wish with which he would become the master of all magic, however, one of the Serpent Sisters asks him about the rhyme for which he became famous, reminding him of the time when his fame had deteriorated due to not having any magic.

When paying the Serpent Sisters, Jack Horner offers them the Hand of King Midas so that one of them will be turned into gold, as he promised "their weight in gold". At that moment Baby Bear bursts into the room, causing Goldilocks, the Three Bears, Puss and Kitty to face Jack. The latter immediately recognizes Kitty, having worked for him in the past, but in the confusion generated by the Three Bears the two cats escape with the map. Big Jack Horner tries to block them using a trident to hit the flying carpet they were escaping with, but in the end Puss and Kitty still manage to escape and Big Jack Horner decides to gather the Baker's Dozen, to take all his magical objects and creatures and put them all inside his bag (except Cinderella's glass slipper which he promptly throws to the wall) and, having transformed a pumpkin into a tank with Fairy Godmother's wand, set off in pursuit of the enemies by locating them using a crystal ball.

Once they arrive in the Dark Forest, they find Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Jack throws them off the road by hitting them with Excalibur, and then continues on to the field of flowers, the first evidence of the map wielded by Perrito. Jack orders his subordinates to cut them down, but when the plants rebel and start killing some members of the Baker's Dozen Jack Horner decides to resort to his weapons. He brings out what he thinks is a magical locust and orders it to eat the plants, but it turns out to be the Ethical Bug (the movie's version of the Talking Cricket from Pinocchio), who tries to convince him to help his subordinates despite Jack saying he doesn't want to bother with what happens to his subordinates. After that, Jack takes the Phoenix out of his endless bag and uses it as a flamethrower, burning the plants and thus being able to continue his journey.

Once they get to the river, Jack kidnaps Perrito and, threatening him with the unicorn's horn despite the Ethical Bug trying to dissuade him, tries to persuade Puss and Kitty to give him the map, however as Goldilocks and the Three Bears arrive, a free-for-all battle ensues to get the map. Jack tries to hit Puss using the unicorn horn, however he ends up hitting three of his underlings killing them and exploding them into confetti, to the shock of both Puss and the Ethical Bug. Eventually, Kitty is distracted by seeing Puss running away and Goldilocks takes the map, changing locations and separating from the other two groups, despite Jack Horner trying to shoot her and the Three Bears with unicorn horns.

As he continues his journey through the Dark Forest, Jack keeps an eye on the cats and Goldilocks through his crystal ball, wondering whether to let the cats retrieve the map and then kill them or kill them all and forget about it, all while traversing a ravine using his subordinates as a bridge. This leads the Ethical Bug to ask him about his past hoping to bring out the good in him, but Jack claims he's always had junk like "parents, stability, and a business to inherit one day" and that only after expressing wishing to have all the magic in the world just to himself would be truly happy, which leaves the Ethical Bug totally shocked. Jack Horner ignores this and still takes his tank through the bridge of his underlings, which doesn't hold and ends up collapsing along with the tank, with all of the Baker's Dozen dead except for one underling, who clung to the ravine in time, horrifying the Ethical Bug, who then renounces trying to change Jack and defines him as an "irredeemable monster". For his part, Big Jack Horner sarcastically tells him that it took too long to understand this and flicks him away, only to save his only surviving subordinate because she's only one who does not talk too much.

Jack Horner and his only underling make it to the Wishing Star just before Puss can make his wish in front of Kitty and Perrito, claiming it for Jack. However, upon the arrival of Goldilocks and the three Bears, a free-for-all battle ensues to take possession of the map. Big Jack Horner uses a magical scepter to shoot first at Puss and then Kitty to take the map from him, but as he shoots the latter, he hits his last subordinate who ends up disintegrated from the edge of the star, despite her having asked Jack for help and him, ignored her as he continuously attacks his opponents. As Mama Bear takes the map, Jack prepares to blast her, but is knocked down by Baby Bear who threatens to kill him and steal his dress. Jack awkwardly hits Baby by firing his magic scepter and knocking him off the edge, distracting Goldilocks, Papa and Mama to rescue him and allowing Jack to retrieve the map. Kitty manages to get it out of his hand and Jack tries to hit her with poison apple-shaped bombs, but the cat takes one with her velvet paws and throws it at Jack Horner, sending him to the ground. The man tries to use a hatchet to attack her, but Kitty with a double kick sends him into his endless bag and locks him inside, trapping him.

After the battle between Puss and Death, Big Jack Horner reemerges from the endless bag after eating an "Eat Me" cookie, growing large as a giant. After taking the map from Puss and Kitty, he prepares to grant his wish to take all magic, but just before succeeding he is distracted by Perrito who, using his bewitching gaze, tries to convince him to give up his wish. Jack Horner does not fall into the trap because he defines himself as "dead inside", but Perrito confesses that it was just a way to distract him so that the "Team Friendship" could attack him. In fact, with a combined attack Puss, Kitty, Goldilocks and Baby Bear manage to take the map from Jack Horner's hand to recover it before Puss, Kitty, and Goldi (as they no longer need the wish already having what they want) rips it into pieces before Jack could recover it. Jack Horner desperately tries to recover the pieces of the map as the Wishing Star begin to collapses before everyone flees escapes in time. Jack manages to recover most of it, but a piece is taken by the Ethical Bug who, resigning as his conscience after all terrible acts he did during the journey and abuse he gave him, uses the angered and abused Phoenix to burn it, causing the destruction of the map and the total collapse of the Star. Big Jack Horner, wondering what he did to "specifically" deserve this, crashes into the Wishing Star and dies in the star's explosion.

In Other Media

Main article: "Robbin' Big" Jack Horner

Quotes

Trivia

• He is based on the English nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner.
• Big Jack Horner's personality and goals makes even more sense if one is familiar with how the nursery rhyme was received throughout history - it was common for political cartoonists to use him to depict self-serving politicians.^[1] For example, this and this.
• He had blonde hair in his concept art.^[2]
  • He also wears purple under his clothes.^[3]
• Jack Horner's nickname "Big" is a reference to the nickname "Little" he had as a child, and underlines how Jack Horner no longer considers himself the child of the nursery rhyme but a man capable of controlling magic.
  • His nickname "Big" could also be a reference to his size.
• Big Jack Horner is the fifth villain of the Shrek franchise to die after Lord Farquaad, the Fairy Godmother, Humpty Alexander Dumpty and Le Chuchoteur.
  • He is also third villain to be based on a nursery rhyme after Humpty Alexander Dumpty and Jack and Jill. Coincidentally, all are from the Puss in Boots films.
• Jack Horner is the second Dreamworks character to use a crossbow, the first being Grimmel the Grisly.
• A frequent gag in the film is that Big Jack Horner doesn't know how to properly use some magical items and uses them incorrectly or with much difficulty. One of these is when he attempts to pull Excalibur out of his bag, causing a holy light to surround him and disappear again and again as he struggles to yank the sword and the stone out together.
  • Another notable example is when he accidentally summons the Ethical Bug, believing him to be a magic locust that could help eat away the flowers in the Pocket full of Posies.
• In the Junior novelization of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the vision of Big Jack Horner's wish shows Puss and Kitty being deprived of their magic sentience, solidifying that Big Jack Horner stealing all of the world's magic would've led to the death of every creature whose awareness was magical.
• During his death scene, his hand was the last to go down into the star's remains giving a thumbs down, parodying the scene from Terminator II: Judgement Day, where the T-800 that saved John Connor gave a thumbs up as he sank into the molten metal.
• Jack Horner is an evil counterpart and a dark parallel to Goldilocks, as both are human antagonists to Puss' quest for the Wishing Star and each lead their own respective teams (the Baker's Dozen for Jack, the Crime Bear Family for Goldilocks). They both had committed multiple crimes to get what they desire in their selfish paths for the Wishing Star. However, Goldilocks, despite all her faults, genuinely values and cares for the Bears while Jack doesn't care about any of his underlings. While Jack and Goldilocks each did held Perrito hostage, Goldilocks and the Bears only used him as bait while seemingly taken his advice as they even considered adopting him as their new family member while Jack attempted to murder Perrito in cold blood by shooting him with a unicorn's horn despite the objections of Puss, Kitty, and the Ethical Bug. Goldilocks wanted to wish for a human family out of pure insecurity as she herself is not a bear, Jack wanted to wish for ultimate power out of pure ingratitude and selfishness as he believed himself to be a god capable of handling more in hand. Goldilocks soon gives up the Star to save Baby Bear from his sudden death and realizes the Bears were her "true" family all along, while Jack still attempts to get the Star through violence and murder, not growing or learning. Jack is what Goldilocks could have become if she lacks a moral compass, but also if she gets completely corrupted and consumed by her obsession for a "true" family.
  • He is also a more malevolent counterpart to Death as both are sadistic villains who are after Puss with intentions to kill him (Death wants to kill Puss for wasting away his first 8 lives, and Horner wants to kill Puss for getting in the way of his plans to gain the power of the Wishing Star). However, Death is honorable and reasonable in nature as he handles his job well without causing needless havoc; he even spares Puss when the latter learned his lesson and vowed to dedicate the remainder of his life to help his friends. Horner, on the other hand, has proven himself to be far more despicable as he remains vindictive on his plan to control all magic. Ironically, Death himself is the only character in the film that Horner hadn't crossed paths with.
• Opposing the movie's message of appreciating life, Big Jack Horner represents people that seek meaningless things for selfish needs, which are often the cause of their own downfall, which is exactly what happens to him in the end.
• Prior to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, he was mentioned in the "Baking News" episode of Swamp Talk.
  • He was referred to as "Little" Jack Horner, and was said to have been pulling out plums from the mincemeat pies at Georgie Porgie's pie shop, ruining the experience for Shrek.
• In order to enchant the pumpkin in to the carriage for the Baker’s Dozen, he uses a magic wand. This wand looks similar to the Fairy Godmother’s wand from Shrek 2, only it has an eight-pointed star instead of a five-pointed star.
• It's revealed that the trident Big Jack Horner throws at Kitty and Puss during their escape from the factory is Poseidon's Trident, where it's revealed in the short The Trident that Puss first attempted to steal it from a pirate ship to restore Del Mar's water.
  • As one of the pirates bears a close resemblance to a member of the Baker's Dozen, it's possible that after the events of the short, Jack personally went to Del Mar to claim the Trident and hired said member on the way.
• Jack is the only main character in the movie who didn’t find out about Death.
  • Ironically he is also the only main character in the movie who died permanently.

External Links

• Big Jack Horner on the DreamWorks Wiki
• Big Jack Horner on the Shrek Wiki
• Big Jack Horner on the Universal Studios Wiki
• Big Jack Horner on the The Adventures of Puss in Boots Wiki

References

1. ↑ https://www.vedantu.com/poems/little-jack-horner
2. ↑ https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/516/519/d51.jpg
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/trixirita/status/1629488721912545280/photo/1

Navigation

Villains

San Ricardo Humpty Alexander Dumpty | Jack and Jill | Raoul Jack Horner Pie Co. Big Jack Horner (Novelization) | Baker's Dozen Netherworld Bloodwolf | Bloodwolf Avatars | Evil Puss | Evil Dulcinea | Blueberry | Tiny Tuffs (Tiny Queen) San Lorenzo Uli | Fartholomew Fishflinger | Duchess | El Moco | Thieves | Brandt, Dom, Chad and Lamar Others Death | Goldilocks | Three Bears | Serpent Sisters | Perrito’s Former Owners | Governor of Del Mar | Sleeping Giant of Del Mar | Pirate Captain | Le Chuchoteur | Three Diablos | The Evil Queen | No | Red Shivra | Malaranea | Maliflua | Jack Sprat | Beast | Scimitar (Evil Dulcinea) See Also Shrek Villains