The Last Unicorn

by Peter S. Beagle
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When I was a kid, I saw a really amazing animated movie called The Last Unicorn. Later, I found the book it was based on. While the movie is really good, the book is even better.

Unicorns live forever, and they tend to stay in one place and not travel. Places where they choose to live become special – the animals learn a little bit of magic, and winter never comes. One day a group of hunters visit a unicorn’s forest but cannot find anything to hunt. They eventually realize that something is wrong, and as they leave, the warn the unicorn that all the others are gone, and that she is alone in the world.

The unicorn had never minded being alone before that, but she is disturbed by the thought that there were no other unicorns left. She isn’t sure what to do, or even whether to believe the men, but she decides to leave her forest and find some answers.

She soon learns that humans can no longer see unicorns. When they look at her, they see a fine horse, but not a magical unicorn. Eventually she meets a butterfly, who appears to be a little bit crazy, but he also seems to know about unicorns. He claims that something called the Red Bull chased all the other unicorns, but that she can save them if she is brave. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell how much of that is serious and how much of that is the butterfly just saying random things.

The unicorn is taken prisoner by Mommy Fortuna, a witch who runs The Midnight Circus, a pathetic collection of animals that she has enchanted to appear magical. While in the Circus, the unicorn meets Schmendrick the Magician. Schmendrick is a real magician, by which I mean he can actually do magical stuff. However, he isn’t a skilled magician, by which I mean he can’t really control what happens when he does magical stuff. However, he does recognize a unicorn when he sees one, and he is able to help her escape.

Schmendrick and the unicorn meet up with Molly Grue, the wife of a second-rate bandit king. Molly knows a unicorn when she sees one, too – she has always believed in them, and she has always dreamed of seeing one. Together these three head toward the castle of King Haggard, who owns the Red Bull.

They eventually meet the Red Bull, but it proves to be too strong for them to deal with. Schmendrick works his most powerful spell yet, and that’s when things take a sudden left turn. Eventually, our misfit heroes triumph, and unicorns and wonder are returned to the land, but the ending is kind of bittersweet. Unicorns are unicorns, and people are people, and the two don’t really mix. It will make sense when you read it.

One of the things that I really like about this book is that none of the villains are really evil. They’re bad people, but they aren’t evil in the same insane way that a lot of fantasy villains are. They’re people, and you kind of feel sorry for them. Mommy Fortuna is a sad old woman running a sad old monster show. Captain Cully is a two-bit bandit lord who has to write heroic folk songs about himself, because nobody else will. King Haggard rules a vast country and his son is a great hero, but he can find no joy in life. Actually, I think pretty much all the characters are more complex than you usually find in stories.

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Where to Find It

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