Having come from a poor background, Facilier grew to resent the rich and prosperous—none so much as the most powerful man in the city, Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff. Facilier sought to supersede his rival using voodoo and pawns while offering the souls of New Orleans' denizens to his "friends" as recompense.
Dr. Facilier's motives are to make money, so he can gain social power. After witnessing Eli “Big Daddy” LaBouff, the wealthiest man in New Orleans, give a large tip to the newspaper boy, Dr. Facilier decides that there surely is away, somewhere, to make himself just as wealthy as that, if not even more wealthy.
However, when Naveen figured Facilier meant wealth when he promised to give green, the doctor tricked the prince and magically transformed him into a frog and imprisoned him. As for Lawrence, he became a recruit for Facilier's plot to become incredibly wealthy and dominate New Orleans.
Even he is afraid of his so-called friends; though he gets his power from them, he owes them a lot in return. His terror is especially evident after Tiana breaks the talisman, and he and his shadow are dragged away by his so-called "friends", even leaving behind Facilier's terrified expression on a tombstone.
Facilier doesn't qualify as Pure Evil given his apparent tragic past, as he implies that he was shunned and ignored by the rich and wealthy of New Orleans, coupled with his supposed sympathy towards the city's poor.
The Messed Up Origins™ of Dr. Facilier (Baron Samedi) | Disney Explained - Jon Solo
What is Dr. Facilier's backstory?
Having come from a poor background, Facilier grew to resent the rich and prosperous—none so much as the most powerful man in the city, Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff. Facilier sought to supersede his rival using voodoo and pawns while offering the souls of New Orleans' denizens to his "friends" as recompense.
Baron Samedi appears in Zombi Child, portrayed by Nehémy Pierre-Dahomey. The Disney villain character Dr. Facilier in the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog is inspired by Baron Samedi with how he dresses.
Facilier 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 festivities.
In New Orleans, Dr. Facilier makes his deals and conjures his voodoo magic in hopes of gaining wealth and power. He's smooth, possesses practically unlimited abilities and even admits “I'm a royal too on my mother's side.” He seemed set up for success, but how did he get here?
There are several major drawbacks to this power, primarially 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.
Odie is Queen of the Bayou. which practically makes her royalty. it is said that Mama Odie is married to her snake Juju. as we see her being very affectionate with him.
Dr. Facilier : Don't you disrespect me, little man! Don't you derogate, or deride! / You're in my world now, not your world, and I've got friends on the other side... [ushers Naveen and Lawrence into his shop, from which murmurs are heard...]
The Shadow could be interpreted as Dr. Facilier's soul personified. The “friends” on the other side are actually the voodoo spirits or ancestral souls. When he made his pact with the voodoo spirits, he threw his own soul into the mix, thus separating it slightly from his physical body.
Dr. Facilier is the villain in "Princess and the Frog", and Mama Odie is a wise, mysterious voodooiene. She is described as a "Voodoo Queen" by Louis the Alligator. During Facilier's song, he says "I'm a royal myself, on my mother's side." He then holds up a shrunken head, implying it to be his mother's - a queen.
His skin is brown, but he isn't African-American. "A lot of moms had issues with that," Coleman said. "It felt like it was a slap in the face to black men." Coleman asked a Disney executive if Prince Naveen was Creole and was told that his background was made up; he's whatever ethnicity they have in fictional Maldonia.
At some point, James was possibly killed in action (K.I.A.) during the war, so he probably never got to see Tiana get her restaurant. As shown briefly in the film, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (given for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force).
Mama Odie is a supporting character in Disney's 2009 animated feature film, The Princess and the Frog. She's a blind, 197-year-old voodoo priestess who resides deep in the swamps of Louisiana.
Dr. Facilier, also known as “The Shadow Man,” first materialized in “Princess and the Frog” in 2009. Tricky and manipulative, he strikes up a deal with Prince Naveen to make his dreams come true – for a price. But his “friends on the other side” get the better of Dr.
Dr. Facilier was a big trickster, and Baron Samedi is kind of a trickster in a lot of ways. Facilier did tell the prince that he was going to have a lot of money, but not in the way that he expected.
