They are shown as a married couple by the events of the sequel; her character has a major role as Donkey chooses to leave home on the grounds that she was behaving uncharacteristically ill-tempered, but is reunited with her husband towards the ending of the movie when it appears that her grouchy behavior was a result of pregnancy, and presents Donkey with their newborn hybrid children, the Dronkeys. Dragon's importance in the films has been known to shift and revert every now and again, she is usually depicted as Donkey's romantic interest, and seems to be acquainted with Fiona and the princesses featured in the films. She often appears as a running gag because of the convenient possibilities presented by her abilities, albeit she can serve as an effective means of protection because of these as well (such as her consumption of Farquaad towards the end of the first film, which Donkey insists in "Scared Shrekless" was an accident). A silent character, Dragon has no spoken lines throughout the course of the franchise, though other characters, including Donkey, are able to somewhat understand her language when she communicates through hushed roars. Dragon appears in all 4 "Shrek" movies and "Shrek 4-D". She is notably absent from "Scared Shrekless" and "Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular", and neither was she mentioned in the latter film. The Gingerbread Man (voiced by Conrad Vernon) is a live talking gingerbread man and one of Shrek's friends. He is also known as "Gingy" and was created by The Muffin Man. He is small and a fast runner, making him difficult to catch. He is made out of a normal carved-out gingerbread with icing and gumdrop buttons. He adores those buttons and begs Lord Farquaad not to pull them off. In "Shrek the Halls" he is afraid of Santa, who has eaten his girlfriend. In the first film, he is first seen when Lord Farquaad ordered his bodyguard Thelonious to torture him in numerous ways, such as cutting off both of his legs and dunking him in a glass of milk. After an interrogation from Farquaad, he is thrown into a trash can when the Magic Mirror arrives and Gingy yells "Don't tell him anything!" He is impatient. In "Shrek 2", for example, when Pinocchio could not move himself while freeing Shrek and the trio from prison, Gingy sighs, and goes to help.