Rumpelstiltskin in "Shrek Forever After"

I went and saw the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" over Easter weekend and saw a preview for a fourth Shrek movie called "Shrek Forever After." This latest installment of the Shrek series is set to come out in May this year. It will have at least one new fairy tale character, Rumpelstiltskin, who is the new villain in this continuation of the story. From the previews that are out so far, Rumpelstiltskin is portrayed as being very tricky, manipulative, and power hungry.

Based on the previews for the movie, Shrek is experiencing some nostalgia and wants to remember what it was like being a "real ogre." In exchange for one day in Shrek's life, Rumpelstiltskin promises him a day of being a "real ogre" again. What Rumpelstiltskin doesn't tell Shrek is that the one day he plans to take from Shrek's life is the day that he was born. This of course changes everything about Far Far Away. Rumpelstiltskin is king, Fiona is the leader of a band of rebellious ogres and can't stand Shrek, Donkey is afraid of Shrek, and Puss in boots is fat and lazy (and wearing a pink bow instead of his usual attire).

I think that this portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin shows how he is commonly, and somewhat unfairly, considered an evil trickster. It is true that in the fairy tale "Rumpelstiltskin," he did plan to take the first born child of the miller's daughter/Queen (did she even have a name?), but he was very upfront about his plan unlike in the newest Shrek movie. Granted, it is a very odd and horrible request, especially since Rumpelstiltskin never explains why exactly he wants the child. But he did save the miller's daughter from being killed by performing the miraculous feat of spinning straw into gold. The miller's daughter made a deal with him, and failed to hold up her end of the bargain. If anyone should have been punished in that fairy tale it should have been the miller, who got his daughter into that horrible situation in the first place by falsely claiming that she could spin straw into gold.