I was seven when the animated movie The Last Unicorn came out, so my memories of it border somewhat on the nostalgic. But I do remember how it made me feel. It unsettled me in ways that my short life had not really been unsettled before. I probably watched the movie multiple times and, in many ways, I think I was watching it to understand why I felt the way I felt.
I’m not one to watch movies before reading the book, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I realized the movie was actually based on a book (one more suitable for older children or young adult readers). I picked it up, and within the first few chapters started to feel like I was seven again and wrestling with the disturbance this story welled up within me.
The Last Unicorn is a fairy tale in which all of the other unicorns have disappeared and the nameless titular unicorn decides to leave the safety of her forest and search out her people. This story has so many layers and, while she is on a quest to find others like her, we meet many different characters that join her quest and subsequently embark on their own.
I think this story unsettles me because it mirrors life—I’m an emotional mess when it comes to stories about loneliness, and this unicorn is lonely. Beagle’s writing is so honest and eloquent that the same sense of loss and loneliness I felt watching the movie as a kid came storming back.
Apparently, unicorns are solitary creatures, but it’s one thing to be a solitary creature and another to realize you are the only one in the world, no matter how beautiful your home is. And it’s not just the unicorn who is lonely: almost every character we meet is dealing with some sense of loss, isolation, or loneliness.
We meet the magician Schmendrick first and while he isn’t the last magician in the world, he’s been repeatedly told he is the worst. When he first chats with the unicorn, Schemendrick launches into an amazing conversation:
“It’s a rare man who is taken for what he truly is. We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream.”
He’s clearly wrestling with the disappointment that he is to himself, yet during his monologue the unicorn starts to forget her difficult situation, and we get a sense that there is more to Schmendrick than even he knows.
King Haggard and his son Lir are also wrestling with who they are: Haggard with his deep dissatisfaction and continual search for happiness, and Lir whose experience as a hero still seems insufficient to hope for winning the impossible hand of Lady Amalthea.
The humble Molly Grue appears to be the only character in this story who is constant. She actually is at peace with herself and she embraces the tasks in front of her with a complete sense of contentment —not out of resignation, but honest joy of serving and caring for others. It is what she does. She sees the unicorn for what she is and loves her from the very beginning. She embraces the unicorn like everything else in life; with her whole heart.
The one thing that unites these characters is their ability to actually see the unicorn. As the unicorn wanders, she comes across so many people who see a beautiful white horse that sparks some sense of wonder in them, but not enough to fully reawaken them. In order for others to see this unicorn as she is, they have to believe that a unicorn is even a possibility.
Madeline L’Engle speaks in so many of her books about wonder, creativity, and the suspension of disbelief. We cannot fully appreciate the God who created us without suspending that part of us that demands domesticity from Him and understanding for ourselves. Knowing Him requires faith, and faith requires a kind of surrender.
When the struggling magician Schmendrick succeeds in producing some deep magic, he wrestles with letting that power leave him. That glorious overflowing power that is pouring through him is too good to let loose, but it’s in letting it out that the most amazing things occur.
In the very end they all want Schmendrick to put things right. They’ve seen what he can do and they know that he could speak a word and all would be well. But he reminds them that true beauty only comes with embracing the task in front of us, and there is joy in seeing the fruits of the things we’ve made.
We are all artists, L’Engle reminds us.
She savors quiet moments with a cup of tea when she’s able to catch those words and find the courage to write them down.
- Review: Two Delightful Forest Books - October 7, 2024
- The Last Unicorn - September 16, 2024
- Further In - May 1, 2023
This movie made a huge impact on my life. I\\\’m glad I get to share it with my daughter now. And, yes, there\\\’s a lot of deep truth treasures scattered throughout. When I was young, I really identified with the animated unicorn. Now I think I identify more with Molly Grue — which now I realize is a wonderful thing Mr. Beagle did, turning the young-girl-and-unicorn trope on it\\\’s head. It\\\’s a story that continues to yield treasures as I age.
Peter S. Beagle later wrote two novellas in the world of The Last Unicorn, with \\\”Two Hearts\\\” being a sequel to the last unicorn. Ms. Aimee Davis, if you haven\\\’t read it, I recommend it.
What a joy to find a kindred spirit when it comes to this story! I didn\’t realize there was a sequel! I\’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!