Hero's Journey: The Last Unicorn

Joseph Campbell teased out the 12 steps of every hero’s journey.  Although every hero (or heroine) is different, they all go through the same stages.  Recognizing these stages is a great opportunity for a writer to improve his or her writing.  Although writers may worry about being predictable, without these stages, stories are often considered unsatisfying or shallow.  They say the best way to learn the stages is to see how they apply to other stories.  So I’m taking my favourite movies and books and applying the stages.  If I’m brave, I’ll even apply them to movies and books I didn’t like and show why they don’t work.

Hero’s Journey:  The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn is based on the book of the same name by Peter S. Beagle.  His story is a fascinating example of creative book-keeping and how creative artists (including authors) can be ripped off by large corporations.  In this case, the studio.  More on that next week.

This is one of my favourite films from when I was a child and I still enjoy watching it.  It’s a great voice cast and I really enjoy that style of animation.  And I secretly love the songs from America enough that I’ve been  looking for a copy of the soundtrack for the last two years.  I highly recommend it to anyone who still has a little spark of childhood wonder tucked away.

1)      Ordinary World, the baseline:  The film opens with two medievally dressed men hunting in a forest.  The older man tells the younger they will find no game in a unicorn’s forest, that it is always spring there and the animals learn to disappear.  The younger man suggests they turn around and hunt somewhere else.  It is a very brief sequence but does a good job of establishing everything visually.  We know we are in a fantasy world with medieval-esque people and that unicorns exist.

2)      Call to Adventure:  As the two men leave, the older shouts out to the unicorn telling her to stay where she is and “keep her trees green and her friends protected” for she is the last unicorn in the world.

3)      Call Refused:  The unicorn steps out, surprised at this human tale.  Unicorns are immortal, though they can be hunted or trapped.  There should be many of them in the world.  Her hesitancy to either believe or discard the information is wonderfully voiced by Mia Farrow.  No matter what the outcome, her peace and tranquility have been destroyed.

4)      Meeting with the Mentor: This is a wonderful example of how the mentor does not always have to be especially wise.  In this case, it is a butterfly repeating scraps of poetry and songs.  The unicorn repeatedly asks if the butterfly knows who she is and just as she is about to give up, he identifies her as a unicorn.  (Old French: unicorne, Latin: unicornis.  Literally, one-horned: unus, one and cornu, a horn.  A fabulous animal resembling a horse with one horn.)

He then tells her: “You can find the others if you are brave.  They passed down all the roads long ago and the Red Bull ran close behind them and covered their footprints.”

The butterfly can add nothing more but his information spurs the unicorn into action.

5)      Crossing the Threshold: The unicorn leaves her forest, abandoning the animals and trees which depend on her.  It is difficult but she literally crosses the threshold, leaves the unicorn’s forest for the world of men.  A montage of seasons changing as she searches suggests she looks for a long time, moving invisibly through the world since men cannot see her.  When they look, they only see a white mare.

6)      Tests, Allies and Enemies:  Although she deals with several challenges, I will only cite the ones where people recognize her as a unicorn.

Mommy Fortuna/Schmendrick the Magician: Mommy Fortuna is the owner of a travelling carnival show and a witch.  She recognizes the unicorn and captures her for the carnival.  Schmendrick is a bumbling wizard who also recognizes the unicorn and helps to free her.  When he does, they also free a harpy who has been held captive.  The harpy slaughters her captors but the unicorn takes Schmendrick away.  In return, he asks to accompany her.

Captain Cully/Molly Grue: Although the Captain doesn’t recognize the unicorn, he does capture Schmendrick.  He is a wannabe Robin Hood and Molly Grue is his equivalent to Maid Marian.  Schmendrick escapes by conjuring illusions of Robin Hood, scattering Cully’s men but is then recaptured and rescued by the unicorn.  Molly Grue abandons Cully after recognizing the unicorn.  She has a beautifully written and delivered speech where she demands to know where the unicorn has been all her life:  “Where were you when I was new?  When I was one of those innocent maidens you always come to?  How dare you!  How dare you come to me now!  When I am this!”  She breaks down sobbing and the unicorn comforts her.  That moment speaks to me more as an adult.  As a child, it is easy to believe in magic and it would be heartbreaking to discover the magic was real after abandoning hope for cynicism.

One interesting note is that the unicorn is actually relatively unaffected by these adventures.  She claims to feel no regret for the death of Mommy Fortuna and is equally indifferent to the fate of Cully’s men.  She has no desire to change their situation yet does allow Schmendrick and Molly to accompany her.  If she truly did not care, she would abandon Schmendrick when Cully captured him and leave Molly to the forest.  It is the first signs of the changes which are being wrought upon her.

The next test is when they reach King Haggard’s kingdom and face the Red Bull.  The Bull overpowers the unicorn and threatens to capture her but Schmendrick performs a magic spell and turns her into a human girl.  This is one of the few points in the story where the unicorn actually displays a strong emotion.  She panics at the feel of a mortal body dying all around her, attempting to tear off the flesh.  When her fear subsides, she agrees to remain human to learn what has happened to the other unicorns.

7)      Approach/Preparation: The three of them stay with King Haggard and Prince Lir.  The unicorn adopts the role of Lady Amalthea.  They learn that Haggard ordered the Bull to collect all the unicorns and drive them into the sea where he could keep them for himself.

As the companions try to learn what they must to save the unicorns, Lady Amalthea slowly begins to forget her true self.  It becomes a race to find them before she becomes just another mortal woman.  As an added twist, Lir has fallen in love with her and Amalthea is tempted to remain with him and live a simple life without having to face her fears.

8)      Face Your Fear: There are two points which could qualify as facing her fears.  The first is when she denies she is a unicorn to Prince Lir.  He tells her she cannot abandon her quest and she agrees, allowing Schmendrick to transform her back.  If she had remained human, they might have escaped past the Red Bull but she returns to her true form, re-accepting her role in this quest.

The second point is after her confrontation with the Bull.  Initially, the Bull is able to drive and dominate her.  Lir attempts to rescue her but falls beneath the Bull’s horns.  When she sees this, the unicorn fights back against the Bull, eventually driving him into the sea and allowing the other unicorns to escape.

9)      Seizing the Sword: With the Bull defeated, the unicorn returns to Lir and heals him with her horn.  She must leave him but she has saved his life and accomplished her quest.

10)  The Road Back: The unicorn visits Schmendrick one last time before going home.  She tells him that “having been mortal, a part of me is mortal yet.”  She has learned to regret and she is afraid to return to the others since she is now different.  She tells him that she is overjoyed to have unicorns in the world again and her only sorrow is having to abandon Lir.  (This isn’t said outright but is strongly implied.)

11)  The Return: There is another montage of the unicorn returning to her home.  The colours are subtly different, suggesting a revitalized world.

12)  Elixir/Healing: The final shot before the credits is almost identical to the one where she leaves her forest.  She returns to find it intact.  She hesitates before re-entering but her horn glows with resolve and she gallops inside.  The credits finish with various scenes of a forest in spring.