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Donkey (Shrek)

Shrek character

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ748427
Source-derived summary

Donkey is a fictional character created by William Steig and adapted by DreamWorks Animation for the Shrek franchise. He is voiced by Eddie Murphy. Donkey is an anthropomorphic donkey and his appearance is modeled after a miniature donkey named Perry. He is depicted with grey fur, brown eyes, and a black mane. In the franchise, he is the sidekick and best friend of Shrek, husband to Dragon, and father to a litter of Dronkeys (Dragon-Donkeys). As the series' comic relief character, Donkey is well-regarded by critics for his humor, wisdom, energetic nature and Murphy's performance.

Donkey in Shrek films

Shrek (2001)

Donkey made his debut in the 2001 film Shrek at a sale of mythical characters from old fairy tales, being sold to the evil Lord Farquaad's knights. Donkey's special power was his ability to talk, which his owner, an old woman, tried to capitalize on. Following a lucky escape, he befriends Shrek, who, although annoyed by Donkey's non-stop chatter, slowly and reluctantly develops an affection for him.

Donkey requests to stay with Shrek since he has no one else.

Editorial summary

“Donkey (Shrek)” enters the record as shrek character. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Donkey, Shrek and character can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1990. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Donkey, Shrek and character.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Donkey (Shrek)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Donkey, Shrek and character provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q748427. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Donkey (Shrek)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.