Lord Farquaad is the comically short-in-stature, ruthless ruler of Duloc. Several times in the film it is commented that, in his capital city Duloc's towering height, Farquaad may be compensating for something. His birthday is April 15.

In his pursuit of perfection, Farquaad attempts to rid his Kingdom of Fairy Tale creatures, offering a bounty for their capture and then exiling imprisoned creatures to Shrek's swamp. However, because Farquaad is not of royal stock, he cannot become a king until he marries a princess. He decides that Princess Fiona can be the perfect wife and queen, but she first must be rescued from her tower which is guarded by a fire-breathing dragon.

Unwilling to perform the rescue himself, Farquaad holds a tournament to discover the knight who will rescue Princess Fiona. Shrek and Donkey arrive at Duloc during the tourney and become involved. They defeat the knights, so Farquaad decides to send Shrek on the quest. Farquaad agrees to move the Fairy Tale creatures out of Shrek's swamp if he rescues Fiona and grant Shrek a deed to the swamp to prevent any future squatters or resettlements on his land. Shrek delivers Fiona to Farquaad and he immediately proposes marriage, unaware that she becomes an ogress at sunset. Shrek later disrupts the marriage ceremony, delaying a kiss between Farquaad and Fiona until after sunset. Fiona makes the transition from human to ogress form, upon which Farquaad rejects his new bride, banishing her back to the tower and claiming the title of King. He also sentences Shrek to death at that time. Before Farquaad finishes his claim of becoming the new King, the dragon who had guarded Fiona, and who developed a crush on Donkey while Fiona was being rescued from her castle, crashes through the window in response to a beckoning whistle from Shrek. She then devours Farquaad. Moments later the dragon burps out his crown. Farquaad was apparently not well-liked in Duloc; when he is eaten, the citizens laugh and cheer.

Farquaad also appears in the short musical film "Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party", which takes place just before Shrek and Fiona leave on their honeymoon. He is shown singing Stayin' Alive inside Dragon's stomach.

Despite being alive in the "Shrek In The Swamp Karaoke Dance Party", Farquaad is implied to be killed and enters as a ghost in the Shrek 4-D ride at Universal Studios. He also appears as a ghost in the 30 min Shrek Special on Nick in which he attempts to murder Shrek and Donkey, and kidnap and kill Fiona so she can be his ghost queen. Princess Fiona is rescued when Lord Farquaad is presumably destroyed by the Dragon again.