I was looking at the Angry Birds Twitter a while back and found this art (credit to the artist, @CowboydaDevil) with a comment from the Official Angry Birds account.

I don’t think there’s been much seen or heard about the canon relationship between Smooth Cheeks and his father, so this is one of the closest things I’ve seen at least from the official Angry Birds account of what his childhood was like and what the past royal family was like. And I started to wonder, why would his father make him king at such a young age if their relationship wasn’t the best (at least when he was a child)? The answer;

HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A STAND-IN (at least for a time) AND WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE KING!

(Note: in this theory I’m mostly referring to the classic/toons universe in this post, only using the cut content for the first movie to reference the crown differences between heir and king. Leonard is the closest thing we have to a canon King Mudbeard appearance, but Leonard Mudbeard and the Classic King Mudbeard I’m referring to are in different universes. I hope this clarifies some things going forward.)

In the scrapped show “Bad Piggies: Legends of stuff” and the movie concept art, Smooth Cheeks and his father both have crowns, but with different designs (his being more simple (similar to the classic version) while his father’s is more detailed (similar to the toons version)). While this is the movie universe and was scrapped, this can lend to the idea that the king of Piggy Island wears the more detailed crown, while the heirs of the throne have the simpler crown.

It is stated in “The World of Angry Birds: Official Guide” that Smooth Cheeks was given the throne by his father, and we can actually see how young Smooth Cheeks was when given it with the crown logic. We have in-media images of him as a prince (Angry Birds Friends) and as a king (Angry Birds Toons “cave pig”), meaning he was still a piglet when Mudbeard gave him the throne. He also has stated directly in one of the magazines that he got his exact crown from his father and that it was his!

Why would he be made king while still a small piglet? BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE COULD, at least that’s what his father wanted to prevent.

In the AB comic issue 11, we find out in “King Minion” that, when the king cannot perform his duties, the replacement is picked through random chance, meaning ANYONE in the kingdom could rise to power, at least for a time.

The royal family couldn’t afford to have a random pig have the throne, whether they were a common pig or a secret scheming servant, as it could possibly lead to them easily being overthrown and losing their power to the stand-in king. King Mudbeard is talked about like he’s gone, but it’s not confirmed if he’s dead or just away, though it can be inferred that he stayed long enough to give his only heir the throne so that no random pig could take it in his absence. I believe he was most likely going to explore the sea to try and find an island with more eggs, similarly to what happened in the first movie. Knowing that he couldn’t perform his duties while all the way across the sea, and not wanting a random pig to take his place and possibly overthrow him, he left the throne to his piglet son, Smooth Cheeks.

But it was never supposed to be permanent**…**

While the fanart above is most definitely supposed to be a little joke, the official AB account mentions it being an “unreleased picture of them”. And, if you replace “chud” with “king”, could easily reflect on how Mudbeard might have viewed his son and Smooth Cheeks’ later insecurity in his role. Mudbeard might not have viewed his son, even as a child, as never being a king like him. And he was most likely not in Smooth Cheeks’ young life while growing up as king, as shown in “Battling Butlers”, where we see a little Smooth Cheeks with a butler, and in that same room we see a similar picture much later in life of him with the same butler, meaning that butler has practically raised him.

So, the inheritance was most likely supposed to be temporary until he came back which was never, whether he’s still out on the sea or passed while abroad. So, how could he make sure his son never became king? THE EGGS!

It’s stated numerous times how, to OFFICIALLY become king, a pig must eat an egg. And, at the same time, it’s mentioned how Smooth Cheeks has never had an egg and that there are actually NONE in the royal treasury!

But how could it be empty if many kings before him had collected massive amounts of them and most likely had many of them saved for later heirs? And why would it seemingly run out just as Smooth Cheeks was supposed to become king? MUDBEARD! He knew that, as long as his son never ate an egg, he would never officially become king. That way, when/if Mudbeard ever comes back, he could easily reclaim the throne from his son. I believe, whether he took the eggs with him or he simply ate all of them, he’s the reason there are no previous eggs left for his son to eat, and also the reason for his son’s insecurity about his royal status and darkest secret that takes up at least a quarter of his mind, as he believed his son could never be half the king he was and he wanted to make sure of that.

King Mudbeard traded his own son’s royal legitimacy for his personal position as king.

Since the trailer for the third movie is coming out soon, possibly on father’s day due to its subject matter, this is how I think the movie will go. I’m sorry if this is to wordy. I could be entirely wrong, as I’ve never done a theory like this before, but I figured I’d get it out there.

Red and his family (Silver, Teen daughter, kid son, and egg) are on the beach. Red and daughter are struggling to understand each other and are arguing. Suddenly, a tiny sailboat is coming to the beach. Inside is Leonard and a few other pigs. Apparently, he’s been overthrown due to the peace treaty with the birds and his refusal to take their eggs again. The pigs who overthrew him are planning to attack bird island to capture their eggs and have a “proper king” (pulling from the classic universe, according to the Bad Piggies “Book of Wisdom”, “To prove they are worthy of the title of King Pig, the monarch-in-waiting must publicly eat an egg in front of his subjects”) with the help of an ancient artifact called the “Golden Egg”. Leonard is also worried about something happening to his own teen son, Rupert “Smooth Cheeks” Mudbeard, as he had to leave in a hurry due to the coup and didn’t get a chance to take him with them.

Hearing that Bird Island’s eggs are in danger again, now including one of his own children, Red reassembles the flock to find the golden egg before the pigs do. Daughter wants to come to help, but Red and Silver refuse, wanting her and her siblings to stay behind with Matilda and Terence. Daughter sneaks along anyway. After arriving at Golden Island, Red discovers that Daughter snuck along. Since they can’t just send her back across the sea alone they bring her along, but Red keeps a close eye on her.

Sometime after, the flock (plus Leonard and some other pigs) run into the pigs looking for the egg (led by Corporal Pig, Foreman Pig, Chef Pig, and a small, black hooded figure). While the flock fights Corporal and his troops, the rest of the pigs run off to try and find the golden egg first. Daughter tries to chase after them, with Red calling for her to come back, and she almost gets caught in a booby trap when Chuck saves her just in time. This causes a major fight between Red and Daughter about how she’s acting too recklessly and how he is too cautious. Red and Leonard later talk about their teens, with Leonard telling Red he’s doing better with Daughter than he did with Rupert, as he wasn’t the best father (being a bit neglectful of him, both due to having him more out of necessity than wanting and that Rupert isn’t the smartest pig, actually being quite dim and the exact opposite of his father).

After booby traps, shenanigans, and introspection, the flock gets to where the golden egg is held shortly after the pig group (now just the hooded figure, Chef Pig, and some other pigs) find it first. Before the pigs can grab it, the hood slips off, revealing Rupert “Smooth Cheeks” Mudbeard, Leonard’s own son, was the one the pigs were trying to make king after the coup. Rupert didn’t know about the coup, being manipulated by Chef and other pigs, told that his father stepped down and took a “sudden, indefinite trip out to sea”, leaving Rupert to become “King Smooth Cheeks”. He was told by Chef (who’s actually just using the prince to gain power over the kingdom as his “regent”) that the golden egg was a special egg the king had to eat to legitimize his power (with Rupert not knowing about its actual powers or what Chef plans to use it for on Bird Island).

Rupert is visibly excited about getting the golden egg to eat it and “be just like his dad”. It turns out, Leonard told him about his raid on Bird Island and the battle after, but (either on purpose or by accident) omitted the detail of Red saving the last egg before Leonard could eat it, and Rupert never found out about their peace treaty with the bird. The flock is surprised by this and forces Leo to tell his son the truth. He admits he never actually ate any of the eggs he stole, shocking Rupert into disbelief. He turns to the other pigs, hoping it’s a joke, but they confirm it (Chef especially, hoping to use it to turn him against his father).

In a fit of teenage anguish and rashness, finding out his father and hero is a lie, he rushes ahead and takes the golden egg, screaming that he’s going to be a better king than his father ever was. He tosses it to one of the minion pigs, and everyone finds out its powers when the pig turns to gold when it hits him. A fight breaks out, and everyone is scrambling for the golden egg. Eventually, Red and Chef are tussling when the massive fight eventually causes the jungle ruins to start to crumble. Rupert is trying to take the golden egg to use it to take over Bird Island and steal their eggs, as Chef planned. Daughter, realizing her entire family is in danger now, tells everyone to run. While everyone else is running to get out, Daughter turns back to get Rupert and the golden egg. Red realizes she’s going back into the ruins and tries to get her, but the ceiling crashes down, forcing him to leave without her.

The two teenagers face off in the crumbling ruins. They fight for control of the golden egg when they start to run out of floor to fight on, crumbling into the river before. Eventually, in a parallel to the first movie, Daughter gets Rupert to let his guard down by flattering him, before tackling the egg, and accidentally turning him into gold. The floor crumbles beneath them, plummeting both teenagers into the river.

Outside the temple, everyone is worried about the fates of the two teens, with Red beginning to blame himself for leaving Daughter. Seconds later, they hear Daughter yelling for her dad, and they rush to find her and the golden Rupert washed up on the riverbank. The birds are relieved to see Daughter okay, but the pigs, especially Leonard, are devastated to see what happened to Rupert. While Leonard is beginning to mourn the possible loss of his son, Chef begins to lament not being able to become regent now, which earns him a hard punch square in the face from Leonard that knocks him out cold.

The golden egg washes up shortly afterwards, with Leonard looking at it in anger and disgust. In a fit of rage, he attempts to toss it away, but it hits the pig who was turned to gold earlier and they turn back to normal, revealing the golden egg also works in reverse. Red takes the egg and taps Rupert on the forehead, turning the prince back to normal. While he’s still dazed and wondering what happened, Leonard quickly grabs his son and hugs him tightly, promising he’ll try to be a better dad from now on. Before they leave the island, the flock tosses the golden egg into the sea, hoping no one ever finds it again.

The movie ends with Leonard becoming king again and Chef, along with any other traitor pigs not willing to take some type of deal, ending up in the dungeon. He’s now trying to have a better relationship with his son (though Rupert still secretly plans on trying to take eggs when he’s older and is actually “King Smooth Cheeks” one day). Back on Bird Island, Red and Daughter are now closer. The final scene involves Red, Silver, and Daughter telling the son and egg their “epic adventure” while they were on the island.

If they do include one, there would be a post-credits scene of Stella and her flock (Willow, Poppy, Luca, Dahlia, and Gale) arriving on Golden Island for a long vacation. As they walk into the jungle, the golden egg washes back up on the beach behind them, with the camera ominously zooming in on it before cutting to black, possibly hinting at a Stella movie, though it’s highly unlikely.