"Dad, look at the size of that skillet."
"But I'm still having nightmares about that big skillet."
Prince Derek Grunkwitz of Dreamland[1] is the son of King Zøg and Queen Oona, younger half-brother of Queen Bean, and the older half-brother of Jasper. At the time, he was the youngest child and only son of Zøg, so he was the Crown Prince and heir apparent to the Throne of Dreamland. He was crowned king after Zøg's physical (and later mental) inability to rule until he left Dreamland to be with his mother. However, he was actually a puppet king under the thumb of his adviser Odval all along.
After Dagmar's downfall, he goes with Oona to the sea and becomes a pirate prince permanently.
History[]
Derek as an egg.
Derek was born to King Zøg and his second wife Queen Oona one year after Queen Dagmar's supposed death and was delivered by Bunty. He was born as an egg which Oona dropped on the floor to make him hatch, the egg landed at Bean's feet and a fully formed baby came out. As soon as he was out of his egg, he said his first word "Derek", therefore naming himself. As heir to the throne of Dreamland, he got many privileges like learning sword fighting and horse-riding, much to the jealousy of his older half-sister, Princess Tiabeanie, who was only allowed to learn manners and how to become a proper princess and future wife, this resulted in the siblings having a very poor relationship.
When it came to his parents Derek seemed to be closer to his mother than his father since Derek was shown to be afraid of him. As a young child Derek could sometimes wake his father up from his nap and this resulted in Zøg chasing his son through the castle.
When Queen Dagmar returned and petrified all of Dreamland in "Dreamland Falls", Derek was one of the few people who escaped petrification because he was in his room. He spend several weeks afterwards living there, eating birds. After Oona left Dreamland to become a pirate, Derek became very lonely to the point where he begged his sister to let him hang out with her and her friends but she refused as she still held a grudge against him. Elfo then took pity on Derek and played with him for awhile, while Derek also formed friendship with a one-eyed octopus he named Slimy.
Becoming King[]
In "Tiabeanie Falls", after King Zøg was accidentally shot with a gun from Steamland and seemingly mortally injured, Odval and the Arch-Druidess seized the chance make Derek the new king so they could rule Dreamland through him. They also convinced him to have his sister Bean acccused of Witchcraft and sentenced to death. Derek remains king for the first 2 episodes of Season 2, in which Odval and the Arch-Druidess have him install a totalitarian theocracy. Odval's plan of using Derek backfired when Derek, encouraged by Prince Merkimer, started thinking for himself and making his own laws instead of just reading the ones made up by Odval and the Arch-Druidess.
Love and almost marriage[]
When Bean and King Zøg both returned to Dreamland alive, Derek stepped down as king and gave Zog back his crown. Unsure what to do with himself, he wandered around Dreamland, fell victim to three elf bullies, and ended up in the Enchanted Forest. Here he met the fairy Sagatha, who along with her friends thought Derek to man up and stand up for himself. Derek took their lessons to heart and returned to Dreamland with more confidence, as well as his first facial hair. With Zøg's blessing, Derek asked Sagatha to marry him, but during the wedding ceremony in Dreamland's Cathedral, Derek discoverd the Arch-Druidess was carrying a gun in her sleeve and exposed her as a traitor. The wedding was thus cancelled while the Arch-Druidess was forced to flee Dreamland.
Later on, when Zøg was declared insane and send to an asylum, Derek decided to leave Dreamland with his mother Oona, thus foregoing the chance to become king again. Bean was thus crowned Queen in his place.
Returning to Dreamland and capture in Steamland[]
After spending some time at sea with his mom, Derek returned to Dreamland in Season 2 part 2, and settled back into his birthplace. After Zøg brought Jasper to the castle with him, he and Derek quickly developped an intense sibling rivalry; something that the living puppet Freckles took advantage off. He tricked both boys into running away from Dreamland after making them believe Derek had killed an elf, and go to Steamland, where they were caught by P.T. McGee and made into exhibits of the P.T. Freak Show.
Derek remained in the freakshow till "I Hear Your Noggin, But You Can't Come In", when Bean Mora and Zøg freed them all. Along with the other freaks, they tried to escape in the Electrofish, but the submarine sank. Fortunately, they were all saved by Oona.
Life as Pirate[]
Derek's life as pirate.
Derek participated in the final battle at the Crystal Cavern against Dagmar's soldiers.
After Dagmar's downfall, he became a permanent pirate alongside Oona, and served as the lookout and First Mate for the crew.
Abilities[]
Derek knows how to read. Being taught swordfighting at a young age, he's also a decent swordsman. Under the tutelage of the fairies, he learned to be street smart. He also knows how to hunt seabirds by using bait.
Appearance[]
Like his mother, Derek has blue skin, black straight/leaf-like bangs and curly black hair which is tied in a ponytail by a bow which is later braided by one of the fairies, whilst his facial features and body build resemble his father, Zog. He also has five fingers on each hand like humans do. Derek's hair covers half of his face, but when he removed it from it's obstructing position, it is shown he has an unibrow.
He starts the series with no facial hair. After manning up thanks to Sagatha's mentoring, he grows his first stubbles, and in his last appearance at the end of "Goodbye Bean", he has grown a full beard.
Personality[]
Derek is shy, quiet, naive and introverted. He is shown to love to play with his toys, and loves to watch the news. Derek is afraid of skillets due to being almost cooked alive. He has a tendency to do things that embarrasses his father but to a lesser extent than his half-sister such as walking into his parents' bedroom when the both of them are naked and having a private conversation on their bed in episode 6 of season 1.
In "Love's Slimy Embrace", he admitted that he did not even want to become King.
He gained more confidence after being trained by Sagatha and her fairy friends.
Relationships[]
Family[]
King Zøg[]
Zøg is Derek's father. Like with Bean, Derek's relationship with his father was a weak one since Derek was scared of having to be alone with his father. While Derek's childish behavior frustrates Zøg, Derek was happy when Zøg visited him his bedroom while Zøg had the guards take Derek away so that Oona couldn't find him.
Zøg does show to care for him, as he was worried when he realized Derek had been left unattended too long in the tower but with Oona gone and Zøg's selfishness and Derek's half-sister ignoring him, Derek was once again neglected. This made him vulnerable to manipulation.
Queen Oona[]
Oona is Derek's mother. They don't interact much in the series although Derek seems to like her better than Zøg and was very sad when Oona left Dreamland although she promised to visit him and bring him gifts. After her departure, Derek felt very lonely without her to the point of wanting to spend time with Bean, much to his half-sister's annoyance.
In The Madness of King Zøg, she visits her son and Bean and after she decides to return to the sea she bid farewell to her son, telling him not to follow her but he still does and swims after her since his emotional issues and his estranged sister and father were worse than "her scorn". Derek is then brought aboard her ship while she seems slightly annoyed by him disobeying her but she didn't bring him back to Dreamland.
Queen Bean[]
Bean is Derek's older half-sister. He served as the flower boy for her first wedding and seems to respect/listen to her to a degree.
Bean has a big resentment towards him. One part is part of his somewhat clingy personality, another is because she hates that due to him being male he was allowed to do things she wasn't. One example, would be sword fighting and horseback riding. Due to the rules separated for them, Bean was never allowed to do things princes could. This made her very resentful and often takes it out on him. Later in Part 2 he seemed to hate her for being so mean to him for his whole life yet the fact that he felt lonely drove him to beg her to let him hang out with her and her friends, which she refused. However, Derek still loves his half-sister, as he refused to burn her alive although he didn't do anything when Odval smacked the torch out of his hand to burn Bean, Elfo and Luci.
In the first episode of Part 3 he feels great remorse over Bean's alleged death and while announcing edicts he announces that he intends to have a statue of bean erected in her honor.
When Bean was revealed to be alive and returned to Dreamland, Derek hugged his sister and apologized but she simply pushed him away and told him to "never burn her alive at a stake again" and things went back to normal between them. Derek later describes his sister (and their father) to be "emotionally draining" and eventually left Bean and their father to go live with his mother but nearing the end of season 4, he returns to live with them back in his birthplace.
The Fairies and Sagatha[]
In "Beanie Get Your Gun," the fairies rescue Derek from the Enchanted Forest and help him overcome his childish ways. Later, Derek proposes to the fairy Sagatha, but their wedding is called off at the altar.
Elfo and Luci[]
Elfo and Luci are Bean's friends. Derek had little interaction with them. Luci ignored the boy but Elfo took pity on him after he saw how lonely he was after being driven away by Bean and spend some time with him, even helping him organize his toys.
Nevertheless, this didn't stop Derek from trying to burn them and his sister at a stake after being crowned King (he didn't want to kill them but was forced to by Odval). In Part 3, Derek expressed remorse for what he did and wanted some sandwich at a deli to be named after Eldo and Luci. After the trio returned, Luci expressed his desire of making Derek's life misarable but "he already had his hands full with [Derek's] sister" while Elfo declared that he was going to break all of his toys.
Elfo and Luci later served as the ring bearers at Derek's wedding with Sagatha, although it is unknown if their conflict is resolved.
Cultural Reference[]
- Charles Edward Stuart (1722-88): The moniker Bonnie Prince Derek is a reference to Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender to the British throne.
Trivia[]
- He has a pet swan.
- He has a teddy bear called Mr. Bear, which is his favorite toy.
- He likes to sit on his tuffet.
- He develops a fear of skillets in the episode Swamp and Circumstance.
- He is one of the two known hybrids in the series, the other being Elfo.
- He is one of the few survivors of Dagmar's attack on Dreamland, others being Bean, Luci, Oona, Merkimer and King Zøg.
- He is revealed to be fourteen years old in Part 2. However, he was actually twelve years old in Part 1.
- He likes to read.
- He likes Harlequin outfits.
- He has a lot of stuffed animals but they're crawling with lice, except for Mr. Bear.
- Derek is possibly the only one out of all his paternal male ancestors whose name doesn't end in "-øg". It is unknown if this is because there is no letter after Z (Zog's name) or because his parents decided to use the name Derek said when he was born.
- Like his mother, he is amphibious, a trait he reveals when he is depressed and thinks about committing suicide by drowning before remembering that he cannot drown. Apart from this detail, he seems to have more human characteristics than most Dankmirians.
- His hands alternate between having the 3 fingers of his Dankmirian heritage and the 5 fingers of his Human heritage, though this could be an animation error (he is usually seen with 5 fingers).
- Unlike his sister, he doesn't mind having his hair braided as shown when a fairy was braiding her hair until Oona appeared in his window to say goodbye.
- Derek's personality and appearance is quite similar to Ralph Wiggum.
- Disenchantment: Untold Tales Vol. 1, story "Happy Campers" reveals he is a member of the Little Princeling Scouts, and quite good at surviving outdoors.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Bean's full name is Princess Tiabeanie Mariabeanie de la Rochambeau Grunkwitz, not "Drunkowitz" - she just called herself that while drunk. Grunkwitz is Zøg's family name from the House of Grunkwitz (like House of Windsor or House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg) - Twitter post of Josh Weinstein's verified account