“ | With the customers all buying, and the money multiplying, and the PR people lying, and the lawyers all denying, who cares if... some things are dying? I don't wanna hear your crying! This is all so gratifying! | „ |
~ The Once-Ler. |
The Once-ler is the deuteragonist of Illumination's 3rd full-length feature film The Lorax, the film adaptation of Dr. Seuss's 1971 children’s book of the same name, and the main antagonist of the unfinished demo version of the film.
He was an ambitious individual who became rich when he kickstarted his business company of Thneeds, fabric objects that could potentially be used for anything. However, in the process, he ended up destroying the ecosystem, against the advice of a mystical orange creature called the Lorax.
His singing voice in the demo soundtrack songs is provided by Gabriel Mann.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- While he seemed to be a nature lover as shown in "I Love Nature", it's clear that he was just happy because he found something he could use to make a profit, and he was completely willing to destroy the environment during the events of "Biggering".
- Upon seeing the success with his Thneed, he ran a company and multiple factories, leaving him in a position where he was responsible for most of the environmental pollution outside of Thneedville while he became a materialistic and capitalistic businessman.
- His actions of destroying the environment led to Thneedville becoming a materialistic society where everything was made of steel and no nature was present, and none of the citizens cared about anything but their possessions.
- Despite how many times the Lorax tried to call him out on his greed and pride leading him to commit more atrocities, he still refused to listen.
- His final lines in "Biggering" showed that not only was he aware of the damage he was causing, and all the animals are suffering, he didn't care as long as he could further his business, admitting all of that was gratifying.
- Unlike in the finished movie, his family was not mentioned a single time in the soundtrack, so they did not have any part in molding the Once-Ler into being a cruel businessman.
- Although he had a pet mule named Melvin, there was no further indication which he displayed care for Melvin other than the time where he complained to Melvin about them having nothing do in "The Once-Ler's Traveling Madness". Given how he was willing to destroy the environment for the sake of profit, it's safe to say he lost any care he had for Melvin.
- While there were some comedic moments between the songs, he lost all of them in "Biggering", being taken seriously with his pollution and lack of empathy.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- While his redemption isn't explicitly mentioned in the song, there are elements that suggest it. First, the original plot of The Lorax is somewhat ambiguous, as the few songs in the story don't provide a clear narrative. This leaves room for the possibility that the Once-ler's redemption is included, even if it's not directly stated. Additionally, while "Let It Grow" differs from its final version, its existence still supports the idea of redemption. Since Ted, a key character, appears in the song, it's likely that he would have spoken to the Once-ler, learned about his past, and received the Truffula seed as part of the redemption process. This implies that just like his final version, he recognized the wrong in his actions, began to feel remorse and ultimately gave Ted the last Truffula seed, allowing him to plant it and restore the environment.
Trivia[]
- The final version of the Once-Ler in the film doesn't meet the criteria for Inconsistently Heinous and falls short of the baseline, largely because many of his worst actions are driven by Fridge Horror elements.
- Additionally, his final iteration is portrayed with more redeeming and sympathetic traits, such as being coerced and manipulated by his family into perpetuating his villainous deeds in pursuit of expanding the business.
- He is the second version of The Once-Ler to qualify as Inconsistently Heinous, alongside his counterpart from WhySoAnimated's Biggering Storyboard.
- He was once on the Pure Evil wiki, but was cut due to not meeting the criteria and still redeeming himself like his final counterpart.
External Links[]
- The Once-Ler on the Unpublished Villains Wiki
- Biggering on the Villain Song Wiki