History WesternAnimation / TheLastUnicorn

* FreezeFrameBonus: When the Unicorn glances back at her forest a final time before leaving, there are a couple of [[DumbDodoBird dodo birds]] among the animals watching her go.

* FamousLastWords:
** "The last! I '''knew''' you were the last!"
** Mommy Fortuna's "You couldn't have freed yourself alone! I held you!" Mommy Fortuna is clearly akin to those people who keep venomous snakes as pets.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Amalthea is naked when turned human, and it is quite uncomfortable to see Molly and Schmendrick touching her body.
** There's a female tree with breasts that gives Schmendrick MarshmallowHell.
** The harpy's nipples are visible. They are gone in some releases.
** Also for a more scary example, the Harpy has more exposed and human like breasts.
** Molly Grue's "Where have you ''been''?" speech to the Unicorn will sail right over the heads of youngsters, but adults, especially those who know a thing or two about [[VirginPower the lore of unicorns]], will get what she is saying. Especially the line "How '''dare''' you come to me now, when I am ''this''?"
** The enchanted tree calls the unicorn a "Hussy" when clutching Schmendrick to her. While not commonly used nowadays, the word was a very nasty curse slang as recently as a few decades ago in some areas. [[note]]For a 2010s context, imagine if the tree had called the unicorn a "slut/bitch/whore"[[/note]]

The film's script was written by Peter S. Beagle himself. In July 2011, he finally got paid.

** Mommy Fortuna has a carnival of supposed magical creatures that are really ordinary animals bewitched with illusions (for example an old lion appears as a Manticore to the people). When Mommy Fortuna catches a real mythical creature (the Unicorn), she must put a fake one on her to make them believe she's a real unicorn.

* TheArchmage: Mabruk, King Haggard's court magician, is a master sorcerer. When Haggard replaces him with Schmendrick, Mabruk tries to attack his former employer with powerful magic, only for Amalthea to step between them and cancel his spell. Recognizing what she truly is, Mabruk leaves, laughing and remarking that Haggard has let his doom in through the front door.

* BittersweetEnding: The unicorn [[spoiler:saves her people at the cost of the happy human life she could have known, as well as having to live an eternal, immortal life with the pain of regret. However, she also knows what human love is like, and it's implied that Lír will have some share in her immortality, since she will remember him]].

* GoryDiscretionShot: Being a G-rated film, we don't actually see the damage done to Mommy Fortuna or Rukh by the Harpy, but NothingIsScarier.
** We also don't really see Lír being run over and killed by the Red Bull.
* GossipEvolution: When the unicorn asks Schmendrick to tell what he knows of Haggard and the Red Bull, he reveals just how garbled accounts have become. "Some say the bull is real, the bull is a ghost, the bull protects Haggard or else it keeps him a prisoner in his own castle..."

* {{Herald}}

* InvisibleToNormals: Unicorns just look like white horses to people who don't believe in them.

** Mommy Fortuna has a carnival of supposed magical creatures that are really ordinary animals bewitched with illusions (for example an old lion appears as a Manticore to the people). When Mommy Fortuna catches a real mythical creature (the Unicorn) humans can't see the horn so she must put a fake one on her to make them believe she's a real unicorn.

** Well what did you expect? it was animated by the Japanese. Of course this movie will have nudity fetishes in it.

* EmergencyTransformation: Schmendrick to the unicorn when she is in trouble. [[spoiler:He is eventually able to pull off an Emergency Re-Transformation.]]
* EmotionlessGirl: Lady Amalthea initially has no comprehension of emotions, though the longer she spends as a human the more human she becomes.

* EmptyEyes: Haggard immediately becomes suspicious of Amalthea when he cannot see his reflection in her eyes, and correctly guesses that she is a unicorn. When she becomes more human, he sees his reflection in her eyes
-->'''King Haggard:''' ''(to Amalthea)'' Your eyes! Your eyes have become empty as Lír's, as any eyes that... never saw unicorns.
* EyesNeverLie: Haggard knows there's something up with Lady Amalthea when he can't see his reflection in them, and instead sees a vision of the Unicorn's forest.
* FacialMarkings: The unicorn has a pink star-shaped mark where her horn is. She keeps it as Amalthea, but it vanishes as she becomes more human.

* FeatheredFiend: Celaeno the harpy, who persuades the Unicorn into freeing her -- "We are sisters, you and I..." -- and then tries kill her once she does so.
* FisherKing: King Haggard's kingdom.

* FriendlySkeleton: The skeleton that guards the way to the Red Bull is jovial, though he isn't exactly on the protaganist's side.

* FunctionalMagic: For most of the movie, Schmendrick sucks majorly at wizardry and his attempts to cast spells constantly backfire. It is only by [[WildMagic letting the magic do as it will]] that he is able to cast proper spells, though he has no control over their outcome. By the end of the film, however, he has full control of his powers.

* TheGlovesComeOff: The unicorn's fear of the Bull is shattered when she sees the dead Prince. At that point, she stops holding back.
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath: The skull, during the "HAGGARD! HAGGARD!! '''UNICORN!'''" tirade.

* GracefulLoser: The Bull doesn't bother counter-attacking the Unicorn. It simply concedes defeat and walks back into the sea.
* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Celaeno the harpy, part of Mommy Fortuna's traveling circus.

%%* {{Herald}}
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:That would be Lír, trying to protect the Unicorn from the Red Bull.]] [[BackFromTheDead He gets better.]]
%%* TheHerosJourney
* HiddenDepths: Haggard has sent away everyone except the absolute minimum staff in his castle, because he won't keep anything around that doesn't make him happy. There are so few people left, in fact, that he and Lír have to help with the cooking and doing shifts on guard duty. However, this indicates that doing these things actually ''does'' make Haggard at least a little happy. If they didn't, he would be happier with the extra employees (which makes sense - having work he needs to attend to is better than just sitting on his throne all day doing nothing).
* HumanityEnsues: The unicorn is transformed by Schmendrick into a human woman, against her will. The longer Amalthea remains human, the more human she becomes.
-->'''Haggard:''' ''(to Amalthea)'' But your ''eyes''. You eyes have become empty, as Lír's. As any eyes... ''that never saw unicorns.''

* AntiMagic: One of the powers of the Unicorn, which is used several times during the story, in order to destroy magical locks, turn back an enchanted tree to normal, and prevent the use of magic against her.
* AntiVillain: King Haggard, when he explains ''why'' he [[spoiler:captured the unicorns. Not from greed, or a lust for power... but because they're the only thing that makes him ''happy'']].

* AttentionWhore: Captain Cully. He gets rather put out when "RobinHood" appears.
* AuthorAvatar: Beagle has stated frequently in interviews that the butterfly who constantly quotes song lyrics is supposed to be him. In a meta-sense, he explains that he, the author, needed a reason for the Unicorn to start her quest, therefore he inserted himself in the form of the butterfly to tell the story of the Red Bull that the unicorn could not have otherwise learned. In the film adaptation, it even has a scruffy beard resembling Peter's own at the time he wrote the book.
* BadassBoast: After Haggard's HannibalLecture below, he parts, saying, "You may come and go as you please. My secrets ''guard themselves''... may yours do the same."
* BarbieDollAnatomy:
** Amalthea, although the GodivaHair might contribute a bit.
** [[FanDisservice Rather disgustingly averted]] with the harpy, whose three saggy breasts have rather visible nipples.
* BecomingTheMask: The danger of the unicorn's human guise.
* BerserkButton:
** The unicorn detests being mistaken for a horse, and lashes out at a farmer when he calls her a mare.
** Captain Cully is offended when Molly requests a song about Robin Hood, deriding him as a myth.

* BigBad: King Haggard, kidnapper of unicorns

* BornAsAnAdult: Amalthea, the unicorn's human form, is a young woman.

* BrokenAngel: Played straight immediately after the unicorn's transformation into a human, then gradually deconstructed.
* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind:
-->'''Skull:''' Oh, no. No, you don't. Not ''that'' one. Unicorn! Unicorn! Haggard! Haggard! '''''UNICORN! UNICORN!''''' Haggard, where are you? There they go! Down to the Red Bull! The clock, Haggard! There they go! Unicorn! '''''UNICORN!'''''
* CatsAreMean: Well, not entirely, but the kitchen cat at Haggard's castle is a [[TheTrickster trickster]], and could give more help than he does.
-->'''Cat:''' No cat out of her first fur has ever given a straight answer to anyone. ''(removes the eye patch to wink at Molly with an '''undamaged, working eye''')''

* TheChewToy: Schmendrick, around other wizards. He eventually says he's tired of being laughed at.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The butterfly sings songs, recites poetry, quotes a warning from a matchbox at one point, and ''occasionally'' says something useful. It's at least implied, if not stated outright, that verbatim parroting what he's heard others say before is actually the only way ''any butterfly'' can talk at all. He seems to ''understand'' what the unicorn is after well enough, though. ("The king is in the counting house -- counting, counting!")

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: The butterfly has some good advice hidden in his string of nonsense songs.
* CursedWithAwesome: The unicorn becomes the only one of her kind to have known love, a terrible pain for a pure immortal creature. However, this is also really useful since it [[spoiler:is her love for Prince Lír and anguish over his death]] that gives her the power and motivation to [[spoiler:best the Red Bull and restore unicorns to the world]].

* DeathSeeker: Mommy Fortuna knows full well that the harpy will eventually escape and kill her. In fact, that's what she ''wants'' to happen; the harpy is immortal, and will ''never'' forget the woman who captured and held her. "So there's ''my'' immortality, eh?"
-->'''Unicorn:''' She chose her death long ago.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Lady Amalthea. She starts out as an EmotionlessGirl who only wants to find the other unicorns so she can return to her original form as soon as possible, but after she falls in love with Prince Lír she comes to gain emotions and starts to wish to stay human and live her mortal life with Lír, even begging Schmendrick to not turn her back.
* DemBones: The guardian of the passageway that leads to the Red Bull.

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Prince Lír]] is killed by the Red Bull towards the end of the film, but the unicorn uses her magic to bring him back to life.
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:King Haggard falls into the ocean when his castle crumbles]]
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Molly Grue goes barefoot, possibly due to BarefootPoverty.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Lír. From the moment he meets Lady Amalthea, he falls madly in love with her and does everything he can to get her attention, even killing giants and dragons.
%%* ADogNamedDog
* DoorstopBaby: King Haggard reveals Prince Lír is not really his son; some peasant abandoned him at his doorstep when he was a baby. King Haggard adopted him to see if raising a child would bring him happiness, but it didn't.

* HumanityIsInfectious: Amalthea eventually gains enough humanity to the point where she "dies" when Schmendrick changes her back into a unicorn.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: In stark contrast to her earlier horror at being turned into a human, after falling for Lír Amalthea begs Schmendrick not to change her back into a unicorn.
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Haggard isn't fooled by Schmendrick's claims about Amalthea and almost immediately sees her for what she is, and both know it.

* ItMustBeMine: Haggard and "his" unicorns. His speech provides the trope page quote.
-->'''Haggard:''' There. There they are. There they are! They are MINE! They belong to ME! The Red Bull gathered them, one by one, and I bade him drive each one into the sea! ...I like to watch them. They fill me with joy. The first time I felt it, I thought I was going to ''die''. I said to the Red Bull, "I must have them! I must have ''all'' of them, ''all there are''! For nothing makes me happy... but their shining, and their grace." So the Red Bull caught them. Each time I see the unicorns - MY unicorns - it is like that morning in the woods, and I am truly ''young'', in spite of myself!
* ItsAllAboutMe: Haggard's biggest vice, and greatest danger, is his selfishness and obsessiveness.

* JustLikeRobinHood: Captain Cully and his outlaw gang certainly aspire to be, but instead are quite the opposite. They rob the poor because they can't fight back, and pay off the rich to turn a blind eye.

* KnightInShiningArmor: Lír develops into one in order to woo Amalthea, fighting monsters and bringing her trophies and tributes.
* LastOfHerKind: The Unicorn is shocked to learn from a pair of hunters and a butterfly that she is the last of her kind. [[spoiler:But not exactly. It turns out that there ''are'' more unicorns... but they have all been imprisoned in the sea by King Haggard, with the help of the Red Bull.]]

* LossOfIdentity: After being transformed into a human, the unicorn gradually forgets who she was, to the point she doesn't know anymore who (and what) she is.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Prince Lír falls in love with Lady Amalthea the moment he meets her.

* MagikarpPower: Schmendrick's magic. Similarly, see also CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass.

* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: The unicorn's frightening personality change following her transformation.

* MorphicResonance: Lady Amalthea retains the Unicorn's mane of white hair, purple eyes, and the starburst mark on her forehead. The latter disappears as she becomes more human.
* MotiveRant: King Haggard has one when he wistfully tells Lady Amalthea why he holds all the unicorns prisoner in the sea.
* {{Multiboobage}}: The Harpy has three breasts.
* MysticalHighCollar: Schmendrick wears a flared collar with his robes.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Amalthea, the unicorn's human form, has long white hair.
* NakedOnArrival: Due to an aversion of MagicPants, the unicorn's human form is naked after she is transformed. Copious amounts of GodivaHair were used, naturally; though when she transforms back, her clothes simply disappear.
* {{Nephewism}}: Gender flipped and invoked. When Haggard tries to get Schmendrick to admit the truth about who Amalthea is, he claims that she's his niece.
* NoNameGiven: The protagonist is called simply "the unicorn." "Amalthea" is just an alias used when in human form.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Schmendrick is unfazed by the unicorn/Amalthea being completely nude after he turns her into a human.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: When asked what he sees when he looks at the unicorn, Schmendrick claims to see only a white mare. But by his earlier startled look and stammering, it's obvious he knows exactly what she is.
* OddlySmallOrganization: Haggard will have nothing around him that does not make him happy, so he cut his castle's staff to such an absolute minimum that he and his son have to take a shift guarding the castle gates on occasion.
* OlderThanTheyLook: WordOfGod says Schmendrick is anywhere between his early 40's to his ''60's''. (In the book he is TheAgeless, made immortal by his old magic teacher to give him time to figure out his magic).
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The Red Bull is a massive, fiery red bull with tusks and glowing eyes.
* PersonalHorror: Amalthea starts losing her sense of self when she's transformed into a human.

* PrinceCharming: Prince Lír.
* PrincessClassic: Amalthea, especially as her humanity becomes more evident, acts like this, and nearly becomes an actual princess.

* PunnyName: As well as being a Yiddish word (see above), "Schmendrick the Magician" is also a pun on "ComicStrip/MandrakeTheMagician."

* RapunzelHair: Lady Amalthea.
* ReallyWasBornYesterday: Amalthea.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Skull displays such eyes when he recognizes the eponymous character for what she truly is. See also GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath.
* RelativelyFlimsyExcuse: As noted above, Schmendrick says that "Lady Amalthea" is his niece when he meets King Haggard. They don't really buy it, but they don't ask any more questions.

* ScrewDestiny: Just before the final encounter with the Red Bull, Lady Amalthea wants to back out, marry Lír, and live happily ever after. Lír is the one who insists that the story can't end that way.
* SculleryMaid: Molly takes a job as one in Haggard's castle.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Captain Cully. He thinks of himself as a romantic folk hero, but in reality he's just a petty brigand who doesn't understand the hopes and dreams of his crew.
* SpeaksInShoutOuts: The Butterfly speaks only in poetry and song.

* TalkLikeAPirate: The cat, who also sports an eyepatch and pegleg (the former apparently a complete affectation, since at one point he switches which eye it covers to reveal a perfectly normal eye had been behind it).
* ThatWasNotADream:
-->'''Lír:''' Father? I had that dream again... no... [[spoiler:I was ''dead''. ''(with awe) I was dead.'']]

* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: The Skull turns rosy-cheeked as it empties a bottle of "wine."

* UnderstandingBoyfriend: Learning that Lady Amalthea is actually a unicorn in human form doesn't affect Prince Lír's feelings for her at all.
-->'''Prince Lír:''' Unicorn, mermaid, sorceress... no name you could give her would surprise ''or'' frighten me. I love whom I love.\\
'''Schmendrick:''' Well, that's a very nice sentiment. But when I change her back into her true self --\\
'''Prince Lír:''' ''(firmly)'' '''I love whom I love.'''
* UnfortunateNames: Schmendrick, a {{Yiddish|AsASecondLanguage}} word meaning [[https://www.etymonline.com/word/schmendrick "stupid person"]].
* UngratefulBitch: The harpy, who immediately attacks the unicorn three times after she sets her free before turning her wrath on Mommy Fortuna and her assistant. (The unicorn expected this to be the case. She freed the harpy anyway, because she couldn't bear to leave a fellow immortal being caged.)
* {{Unicorn}}: One of the most famous.
* UniquenessValue: The Last Unicorn is so very, very precious to all involved because she is the last of her kind. [[spoiler:After freeing all the other unicorns she remains unique because she's the only one to have ever experienced (and will remember) human emotion.]]

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Of course, in a world with dragons and harpies, Molly isn't shocked the cat can talk, just that it didn't speak up sooner.
-->'''Molly:''' Oh! You ''can'' talk!

* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Unicorns don't have or understand human emotions, so Amalthea doesn't know what love is at first. She eventually gets to know it thanks to Lír and by the end she's the only unicorn to know what love is.
* WildMagic: Every time Schmendrick tries to do magic, he can barely control it. The only spell he can cast without it backfiring on him for most of the film is "Magic, do what you will."

* TheWisePrince: Lír grows into this.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Not explicitly stated, but when the most beautiful creature in the world [[HumanityEnsues becomes human]], this seems to be the result. It's worth noting however, that as [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody she becomes more human]] she stays beautiful, but the mystical quality of her beauty fades away.

Character traits have been moved to the Characters Page

* CelebrityEndorsement: Folk rock band Music/{{America}} provides the soundtrack for the film.

-->'''Prince Lír:''' Unicorn, mermaid, sorceress... no name you could give her would surprise ''or'' frighten me. I love whom I love.

* ItMustBeMine: Haggard and "his" unicorns.

* MarshmallowHell: When Schmendrick accidentally converts the tree he's tied to into a living entity, he finds himself in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCvEL41kIQg this.]]

* HannibalLecture. King Haggard launches into a furious tirade when he reveals to Amalthea that he knows she's a unicorn in disguise.
-->'''Haggard:''' I ''know'' you! I nearly knew you as soon as I saw you on the road, coming to my door. Since then, there is no movement of yours that has not betrayed you! A pace, a glance, a turn of the head, the flash of your throat as you breathe; even your way of standing perfectly still -- they were all my spies!

* HumanityEnsues: The unicorn is transformed by Schmendrick into a human woman, against her will.

* TheMagicGoesAway: The longer Amalthea remains human, the more human she becomes.
-->'''Haggard:''' ''(to Amalthea)'' But your ''eyes''. You eyes have become empty, as Lír's. As any eyes... ''that never saw unicorns.''

* YouCanSeeMe: Most ordinary people mistake the unicorn for a white horse, and Mommy Fortuna has to put a fake horn on the unicorn to exhibit her to the public. Mommy Fortuna, Schmendrick[[note]]who lies to Mommy and tells her he only sees a white mare[[/note]], Molly, and (terrifyingly) the Red Bull all know the unicorn when they encounter her. The cat is also able to see her, because "No cat out of its first fur can ever be deceived by appearances. Unlike humans, who seem to enjoy it." Haggard isn't sure at first, but he's spent enough time staring at unicorns that he quickly begins to suspect who Amalthea really is.

* GoryDiscretionShot: Being a G-rated film, we don't actually see the damage done to Mommy Fortuna or Rook by the Harpy, but NothingIsScarier.

-->'''Haggard:''' I ''know'' you! I nearly knew you as soon as I saw you on the road, coming to my door. Since then, there is no movement of yours that has not betrayed you! A pace, a glance, a turn of the head; even your way of standing perfectly still -- they were all my spies!

* BittersweetEnding: The unicorn [[spoiler:saves her people at the cost of the happy human life she could have known, as well as having to live an eternal, immortal life with the pain of regret.]]