Dr. Facilier

Doctor Facilier, also known as The Shadow Man, is the main antagonist of Disney's 2009 feature film The Princess and the Frog. He is an evil bokor (Witch Doctor) who plans to rule New Orleans with help from his "Friends on the Other Side". Since his inception, Facilier has reached critical acclaim and with Disney fans; making him one of Disney's most popular villains. He is voiced by Keith David.

Personality
Dr. Facilier is shown in the film to be very smooth-talking and charismatic, which leads many people to come to him for help... but he is also very manipulative and cunning, as he supposedly uses his powers to help people, but, in actuality, it is for his own benefit and it usually ends up hurting or humiliating them. Facilier is quite swindlous and crafty.

Role in the film
He is a voodoo witch doctor and palm reader from Louisiana who tricks Prince Naveen into a fake palm reading and turns him into a frog. He is then aided by Naveen's valet, Lawrence, by turning him into a Naveen look-a-like in order to trick the people of New Orleans. Doctor Facilier plans to take over New Orleans and the shadow demons who gave him his powers will take the souls of the citizens. But in the end, his plans were thwarted when Tiana broke his talisman, which caused his "friends" to turn on him and drag him to their world forever, leaving behind a tombstone with his name and his horrified face, his soul condemned to Hell for eternity.

Powers
Doctor Facilier has the ability to give shadows a life of their own and then give them orders. These shadows he can command can interact with the shadows of other people and, by doing so, can control them, resulting in the nickname "The Shadow Man". He is also a master of the dark arts, which allows him to cast curses or spells on both humans and objects, such as turning Prince Naveen into a frog. He can also alter his appearance, giving him more of a skeletal look. He claims that this is all possible because of his "friends on the other side". It is unknown exactly how he got such powers, but it is implied that he struck a deal with powerful voodoo spirits in order to obtain them and he has owed them a debt ever since. This is possibly the reason he is not in command of his own shadow; it has a life of its own. There are several major drawbacks to this power, primarily being that Facilier cannot use his powers on himself, only on others, hence why he requires Lawrence to impersonate Naveen. Another serious drawback is the increasing debt he continues to run up with the voodoo spirits. In order to gain additional power during the film, he convinces the spirits that, should he be successful in gaining control of the LaBouf fortune, he will provide them with the souls of New Orleans as payment. Since Facilier needs the amulet for Lawrence to continue impersonating Naveen so that Facilier can ultimately repay his debt, the spirits lose patience when it is destroyed and decide to instead claim Facilier himself as collateral.

Physical Appearance
Facilier bears many physical traits that are similar to Jafar, such as being tall, skinny, mustached and dressed in very linear black-and-red clothing. Facilier has purple eyes and a thin mustache, as well as a gap between his front teeth. He has long, boney fingers and lanky arms and legs. Dressed to resemble the infamous Baron Samedi, Doctor Facilier wears a top hat with a purple feather in it and a skull; the skull can be magically removed and change into a skull make-up as shown in the song "Friends on the other side". Under his top hat, Facilier has a huge hairdo to fit in his hat. Around his neck, he wears a necklace with two crocodile teeth. Facilier wears a dark maroon undertaker tailcoat and black pants, white spats over black shoes, a purple vest under his coat that doesn't entirely cover his midriff and a red cummerbund. On the whole, he looks and performs like a showman. He wields a cane with a purple globe on top (which was possibly a crystal ball, though it is never revealed or shown to be true). Facilier seems to use his cane for show performances, a tool or a weapon. He carries a voodoo talisman, which is the fragile source of his powers. As shown, a person who wears the talisman becomes whoever they want, provided it has that person's blood- but the transformation wears off quickly. Facilier is accompanied by his sidekick shadow that actually has a life and personality of its own, being able to move of its own free will and move objects like the voodoo shadow spirits. It may be suggested that it may be a similar spirit given by Facilier's "friends," though it fears the same fate that he will if failed to pay back his debt and it is, perhaps, a physical representation of Facilier's inner evil and seems to show how Facilier is feeling at certain points (kicking Lawrence to get him going, turning into a serpent when about to trick Naveen, etc).

Disney Parks
Facilier has made his debut as a meetable character at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort mid 2009. He is currently a semmi-common meet and greet character but rather common in several shows and entertainment.

Facilier plays a starring role in Disney's Maleficious Halloween Party and Mickey and his Magic Halloween Night as well.

Tiana's Showboat Jubiliee
Faciler appears in the temperary show in Disneyland and Walt Disney World's, Magic Kingdom. Facilier attempts to trick Naveen yet again with his voodoo.

Disney Villains Mix and Mingle
In 2011, Facilier became the lead villain of the show and performs Friends On the Other Side at the opening for the show. After the song, Facileir summons several Disney Villains and together they have a dance. Right after, a meet and greet with the watching guest follows.

World of Color
Facilier appears in the live nighttime water show at Disney California Adventure. Facilier appears during the villains scene know as "Colors of Fear" as a cameo appearance.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
At Walt Disney World, Facilier revived from the dead by Hades and is recruited to find the legendary crystal of the Magic Kingdom. Facilier also decides to extract revenge on Tiana for his demise and take over New Orleans. He assigns his shadows to find the crystal and frees Lawrence from prison to poison the food at Tiana's Palace having the citizens of New Orleans under his control. Meanwhile, he kidnaps Tiana but while he has a conversation with Hades, Tiana is freed by the park guest. Facilier retrieves the crystal and plans on getting Tiana after he becomes ruler of the city. Facilier battles the park guest after Lawrence and his shadows were defeated. Facilier himself is turned into a frog and taken back to the Underworld as a result of his failure.

Trivia

 * Facilier also claims to practice Hoodoo, or traditional folk magic.
 * Like most Disney Villains, Facillier wears mostly purple, red, and black in his clothing.
 * Facilier also shares many similarities to Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid:
 * Both being in Disney movies based on classic fairy tales and taking on the role of the one who transformed the titular character of those stories. Both, despite being powerful practitioners, are outcasts who despise those that are more powerful than them (Big Daddy La Bouff, King Triton) and are driven by their desire to take that power for themselves throughout their respective films.
 * Both operating a business where they claim to use their powers to help make the dreams of others come true, when in reality, they do what they do for their own benefit and enjoyment, ultimately double crossing their victims and ruining their lives.
 * Both being known and feared by those they terrorize, and both singing songs ('Friends On The Other Side, 'Poor Unfortunate Souls') to entice the protagonist into accepting a deal with them (both, ironically, being royals i.e Prince Naveen and Princess Ariel), and their songs ending with the protagonist undergoing a magical transformation (Naveen turning into a frog, Ariel becoming human).
 * Both using a mystical amulet as part of the transformation process of the protagonist which takes something from the protagonist (Naveen's blood, Ariel's voice), then said amulet is used again as a part of their master plan which involves another mystical transformation (this one being more of a disguise) and marriage, only for said plans falling apart when the amulet is destroyed (interestingly, in the Broadway version of The Little Mermaid, Ursula's shell served as the life source of her powers, much like Facilier's voodoo talisman, and like Facilier, met her demise when her talisman was smashed. What's more interesting is that in both cases, it was the female protagonist, both being a princess, that destroyed the talisman),
 * Both having henchmen who are shown to be competent (Faciler's shadows, Flotsam and Jetsam
 * Facilier shares many common points with Scar from The Lion King too:
 * They both act in order to take the control of a geographic place (Pride Land for Scar, New Orleans for Facilier)
 * They use simplicity's people to achieve their goals (Simba's in Scar's case, his customers for Facilier)
 * They have a dedicated song in their respective movie where they praise themselves their skills
 * They both kill a character who's in the good side (Mufasa for Scar, Ray for Facilier)
 * They are beaten (killed in Scar's case) by an entity which they used as henchmen: the hyenas for Scar, the Voodoo spirits for Facilier.
 * Facilier is the third Disney Villain to tempt a Disney Princess (Tiana) with an offer to make her dreams come true; the first two being the Queen from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and Ursula from "The Little Mermaid", tempting Snow White and Ariel, respectively. Unlike them, however, his offer doesn't work on Tiana, who finally realized what mattered.
 * Facilier also shares similarities with Jafar from Aladdin, in that he can manipulate others to do his bidding and that their outfits consist of red, black and purple clothing.
 * The way Facilier moves is quite similar to Michael Jackson's dancing movements.
 * In an earlier script, Dr. Facilier would not just be a dark wizard who wants to conquer New Orleans with the help of his friends, he would have been Mama Odie's son, who followed the path of the dark arts unlike his mother. In this same script, there was to be a showdown between the two of them, which would have converged into a major battle during the Mardi Gras.
 * Facilier's ultimate downfall is very dark: When he loses the method he needs to pay back his debt to his "Friends", they take his soul as collateral and drag him into their world - In other words, Facilier was dragged into Hell.

Gallery
El Doctor Facilier