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- For the 1982 feature film, see The Last Unicorn (film).
Story and themes
The story is about a unicorn who realizes that she is the last of her kind and then sets off on a quest to find out what became of all the other unicorns. The unicorn learns from an addled butterfly that something known as the Red Bull has herded her kind to the ends of the Earth. She begins a journey to find them and bring them back. Along the way she picks up two traveling companions: the incompetent magician Schmendrick, and Molly Grue, care-worn lover of Captain Cully of Greenwood Forest.
When the unicorn nears the castle of King Haggard, supposed keeper of the Red Bull, she comes face to face with the great beast and learns she cannot withstand him. At the last moment before her final surrender and capture she is changed by Schmendrick's unpredictable magic into a mortal woman. In this form, the Red Bull is uninterested in her and leaves. Schmendrick, Molly Grue, and the strange young woman go to King Haggard's castle and seek entry. Schmendrick identifies the transformed unicorn to King Haggard as the Lady Amalthea. The wizard seeks a way for all three of them to stay there as members of Haggard's court, only to find that there isn't any such thing: the only occupants in the castle are Haggard, his adopted son Prince Lir, and four ancient men-at-arms. Haggard, for dark and mysterious reasons of his own, does allow them to stay, replacing his competent on-call wizard with Schmendrick, and setting Molly Grue to work in his scullery. Gradually forgetting who she was, Amalthea becomes more and more human with each day, and eventually falls in love with Prince Lir. Caught in a complex web of fate and feelings, she must struggle with losing her immortal self even as she continues to seek an answer to the mystery of what Haggard has done with her people.
The central theme in the book is the tradeoff between immortality and love. Illusions, destiny, and satire are also present.
Years before, Schmendrick's teacher had cast a spell on Schmendrick, making him immortal until he finally realized his true potential as a magician (the spell was so he could live long enough, being so incompetent and such a slow learner). Schmendrick tells Amalthea that mortal things are more beautiful because they don't last forever.
Love, similarly, can only exist when it's temporary. The unicorn reveals that immortals cannot love, regret, or cry. When the unicorn is transformed into Amalthea she begins to fall in love with Lir, but the more she does, the more she becomes mortal.
Schmendrick accidentally enchants a tree, which falls in love with him and vows to "keep the color of your eyes when no one else in the world remembers your name." Various songs and poems throughout the book mention mortality ("the shackles of my skin", "what is gone is gone", "I will love you as long as I can/However long that may be").
There are many illusions in the story. Almost everything at Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival is an illusion. Ironically, when the unicorn is on display at the carnival she is given an illusory horn so that carnival-goers can recognize her (most people can't see the unicorn's real horn because no one believes in unicorns anymore). Schmendrick conjures illusions of Robin Hood to distract Captain Cully and his men. The Lady Amalthea is a unicorn disguised as a woman. Schmendrick looks young but is at least 20 or 30 years older than he appears, and perhaps more. Schmendrick tricks a talking skull into thinking he's transformed water into invisible wine.
Several characters are affected by destiny. Schmendrick cannot escape his destiny to become a true magician because his teacher made him immortal. Lir fulfills a prophecy by doing things which lead to the destruction of King Haggard's castle. Mommy Fortuna realizes that her captive harpy is destined to kill her, but does not try to avoid her fate.
There's also satire. Hagsgate is a hilarious satire of Greek tragedy ("it was so obvious, so mythological"). Captain Cully is a takeoff on Robin Hood. Characters and events at King Haggard's castle poke fun at medieval stories ("Sorry for killing a dragon!").
The book is filled with religious undertones and symbology dating back to the 14th century, which it blithely mixes with modern references and deliberate anachronisms. The author did this because he wanted the book to be set in no discernable time, and so it could simultaneously be both a legitimate fairy tale and a satire on fairy tales.
Film adaptation
In 1982 the novel was made into an animated movie by Rankin/Bass for ITC Entertainment, with a screenplay by Peter S. Beagle based on his own novel.
Peter S. Beagle is currently in a public conflict with Granada International, successor to ITC Entertainment, seeking to be paid what he is contractually owed for the 1982 film from these sales, other distribution, and merchandising.
Other versions and new sequel
The author, Peter S. Beagle, recorded an unabridged audiobook of his novel in 2005 for Conlan Press. That company is making the audiobook available as a downloadable MP3, an MP3 CD, and in an eight CD collector's set (seven CDs for the audiobook, and the eighth containing an exclusive interview with the author).
Thirty-seven years after the book's initial publication, Peter S. Beagle finally published a sequel novelette called "Two Hearts" in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, and in a limited edition hardcover from Conlan Press. This story is a coda to The Last Unicorn and a bridge to a full-length sequel novel that is expected to follow some time in 2007. In March 2006, "Two Hearts" was nominated for the Hugo Award in the "Best Novelette of 2005" category.
New film development
A live-action adaptation of the original book has been announced as in development for several years, but it is not clear what progress (if any) has been made towards production. A minor controversy erupted in 2005 over the producers' plans to create their screen unicorn by filming trained horses and then using CGI to modify them. This runs directly counter to the physical description of the unicorn in the book, which explicitly states that the unicorn looks nothing at all like "a horned horse," and has thus upset the book's fans.
In February 2006, Continent Films unveiled a new official website for the project which made clear that the film was still in development, not pre-production. It was not yet funded, did not have a shooting script, and had not been cast. In the new website, all actor names but Christopher Lee's had been removed; and even Mr. Lee's involvement was revealed to be nothing more than a promise to appear in the film if he was available and if terms could be worked out with his agent.
On March 8th, 2006, the Internet Movie Database shut down their page for the project because they were unable to verify that the film was actually being made.
Adding to the complexities of the situation, in the fall of 2005, Peter S. Beagle announced that he was actively seeking a film deal for one or more independent sequels based on new material he was writing (including his already-released coda story, "Two Hearts"). As part of any such deal he stated that he would seek to reacquire the rights to the original, enabling the production of a single unified multi-film franchise.
This announcement may explain why the new Continent Films website for their effort dropped the title Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn in favor of simply The Last Unicorn.
External links
- Conlan Press, Beagle's affiliated American publisher and source for autographed Peter S. Beagle books, audiobooks, media, etc.
- Official Peter Beagle website
- Peter S. Beagle's fans speak out in support of his legal fight
- Conlan Press champions Beagle's fight for his royalties
- The Last Unicorn's Development Website - the development website for the proposed new adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn
"The Last Unicorn"