lexis betrothed

There is a great melancholy to it, an iconic impact, similar to the tales we know from the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Anderson. It reminds me of the Grimm version of The Little Mermaid, a tragic tale of a hopeless romantic that never got the guy and dissolved into sea foam.

Except, you could say Beagle's story had both the sadness of the original but the triumph of Disney's version.

Like my three part essay of Jack and the cuckoo clock heart, this one will have separate parts as well. I am still deciding if I settle with three—oh well, we will have to see.

Edit: This will be the first and last iteration of the essay. I decided to give up as many video essays have already discussed themes and analyzed the story thoroughly.

I will study the three iterations (the original book, the film, and the vision comic) and deliberate from there. STAY TUNED AND MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

I was probably too you to understand the significance of this film, but I recognized the melancholic aspect to it immediately. From the choice of tones, colors, and story. There was only one "comedic" moment and wasn't even the butterfly's nonsensical ramblings. Tell me why did the magic tree do him like that😅.

But I digress. The Last Unicorn is truly an interesting story because, to this day, it is still talked about in video essays, reddit threads, and comment sections under the posted clips of the movie.

It is unique because we usually don't associate unicorns with a tale that would mostly suit an elf story. They are always magical happy creatures, or in recent media, either aggressive animals or pests (in the movie Onward). But they were never depicted like a tragic figure.

I assume that there will be readers who may not have seen this and are interested in checking it out. Please check out the movie on YouTube. It is entirely free!

Now, to my actual content, I noticed differences in the book, the film, and the visual novel.

First, the film, of which is much more familiar to most, and the visual novel (which references the book directly). In the first two parts, I will be referencing the film and visual novel. By the last part, I might mention more of the original book.

Just a few notes ahead:

The Unicorn and Amalthea are two different versions of the same character. I will refer to her original form as a capitalized Unicorn and for her human form as Amalthea

Film: Butterfly serves as a catalyst for the Unicorn to search for the others.

Visual Novel: The Unicorn meets the butterfly after she leaves the forest. However, it still serves as a messenger.

I did prefer the film's plot structure with this. It just made more sense for the Unicorn to ponder a little more about what the hunters said in the beginning of the story and have a catalyst come to push her to a quest. The butterfly (molded after Beagle in the film) did just that. He gave her an omen, a thought that may be closer to truth than just a bothering comment. She needed multiple information for her to just up and leave her forest.

The visual novel portrayed the inner monologuing of the Unicorn, which immediately prompted her to wander off to find more of her kind. It was the butterfly's role to intensify her search as they may be in danger. It's just that the timing was off in the original tale. Why would she leave with one instance, right?

Anyway, I did find this a good choice.

Film: Mommy Fortuna's carnival featured a few illusions as well as two actual ancient creatures: Celaeno, the Harpy, and the Unicorn.

Visual Novel: There were two more— a spider who believes she is Arachne, and Elli, which is just Mommy Fortuna, in disguise.

The Last Unicorn also has another reoccurring theme: profound and deep statements, stories, and passages. The spider is sold on the master's illusion. She truly believes she is Arachne, and when the Unicorn was freed and attempted to free the others, the spider begs to stay deluded. Mommy Fortuna's disguise as Elli might just be another way to generate more income.

Film: A unicorn turning into a human was introduced to us directly through Schmendrick turning the Unicorn into Amalthea

Visual Novel: Schmendrick introduces this spell long before Amalthea—in a form of a story

Schmendrick talks so much more in the visual novel, a lot more stories. The film did mention that he was older than he seems, but the visual novel really hammered this home through his vast knowledge.

He told a story where a great wizard, Nikos, turned a unicorn into a male whilst saving it from three hunters. The unicorn was on the lap of a virgin maiden at the time. When it turned into a man, he eventually decided to live with the maiden, for quite a long time too. Though married, they did not have children. The Unicorn commented that the wizard likely trapped the unicorn in a "burning building," which would have been worse than death by the Red Bull.

Film: Schmendrick has two tones, his self-boasting and his caring and understanding tone brought from his actual age

Visual novel: He was surprisingly also juvenile—like a sassy Young Sheldon

It was just funny to me that this moment was so different from the film. He was much more gentle to Molly but also so Schmendrick of him to also be forbidding (almost scolding) Molly to join them in such a boastful tone when referring to himself. It was even funnier when I read the visual novel, hands on his hips like a sassy little nephew saying, "She's not here for you girl".

Film: Molly was visibly middle-aged, sassy, and emotional.

Visual Novel: Molly looked a tad bit youthful, probably to visualize some purity in her heart?

Well, Molly was just as direct as she was in the movie, but looked a little more youthful. I just might analyze this with character tropes in terms of design, Like how heroes have capes, villains have green eyes, or how wizards have pointy hats. But that's another topic. Anyway, I think her appearance in the novel just subtly hints her personality and her pure heart? As told in the novel as well, the only people who see these magical creatures are magicians, other magical creatures, animals, and virgins. Obviously, I don't think Molly is a virgin (I don't mean it in a bad way, but she also kind of hints this), but other than purity, maybe her pure belief that unicorns exist? Similar to the concept of the Rise of the Guardians, when belief enables children to see the Guardians.

Just a thought. There is a lot of food-for-thought in this story.