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scans_daily2016-05-30 12:51 pm
janegray) wrote in scans_daily2016-05-30 12:51 pm
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The Last Unicorn Part 2
I've already mentioned that the comic series omits a lot of info because it had to tell the story of the novel in just 6 issues. One of the things it skims over is the fact that, feeling immensely depressed because of his inability to hold magic when it finally answered his call after many years of desperate longing, Schmendrick acts like kind of a dick to Molly. He is jealous of the fact that a random stranger that popped out of nowhere immediately developed a closer relationship with the unicorn than he could manage in many months, (in his mind) really driving the point home that he is an utterly hopeless nobody. So he does stuff like refusing to acknowledging her presence and feeling schadenfreude when she is scared.
That said, even in the novel he gets over that pretty quickly. As soon as the unicorn gets in trouble, he understands that he needs to be a team player and starts cooperating with Molly, and they soon become a tight-knit team.
They make their way to Hagsgate, the town right before Haggard's castle. Rumor has it that Hagsgate is a hellish vile craphole, but they find a wealthy and beautiful place where everything looks perfect. They barely have time to wonder if they got lost and ended up in the wrong place, when they get "invited" to dinner by armed thugs. Turns out the city has been under a spell for 50 years.
Drinn had a change of heart when it occurred to him that Schmendrick could simply tell Haggard about the prophecy, and Haggard would then send the Red Bull to kill them all as punishment for producing the child that will doom him. So Drinn sends his men to kill Schmendrick and Molly.
But before they can do anything, the Red Bull shows up and starts chasing wildly after the unicorn and ravaging everything in its path. Molly desperately begs Schmendrick to do something, anything, and magic answers his call once again.
(From issue #4)
The three of them make their way to Haggard's castle, and two guards let them in and lead them to the throne room.
(From issue #5)
The TVTropes page of The Last Unicorn states that "Word Of God says [Schmendrick]'s anywhere from 40 to 60." I googled and googled but couldn't find confirmation anywhere. It sounds extremely baffling to me (here we have a magician who was cursed/gifted with immortality so he could live long enough to unlock one of the greatest secrets of Magic, and he is DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN forty years old! Wtf?). Does anybody know is there is any reliable info on Schmendrick's age?
Anyway. Prince Lir falls madly in love with Amalthea. In order to impress her, he works hard to improve himself and becomes a famous hero. He travels around the world to rescue maidens, slay orcs and dragons, free kingdoms, and so on and on and on, always hoping that lady Amalthea will like his deeds.
She never does. She just doesn't care. Even trapped in a human body, she is an immortal godly being and does not care for human romance.
But eventually, as time passes, Amalthea starts forgetting her real self. Her memories are like dreams, or rather nightmares, and she asks Lir to sing to her to drown them out so that she may find peace of mind. They get closer and closer, and eventually she starts returning his feelings.
But, just as it seems that Amalthea and Lir can live happily ever after together, Haggard creepily informs her that he has figured out what she really is. He reveals that he had the Red Bull kidnap all the unicorns in the world and imprison them into the sea below his castle, so that they may be his forever.
Amalthea honestly can't remember her previous life as a unicorn, which thankfully convinces Haggard to hold back for now, but it's obvious that they don't have much time left until he runs out of patience and does something terrible. So, even though their last encounter with the Red Bull was a disaster, the three of them decide that they have no choice but to face it again to try and rescue the other unicorns. Lir comes along, claiming that she doesn't care what Amalthea is because he'll always love her.
The Red Bull finds them, and it's about to kill Lir and Amalthea. Schmendrick manages to turns Amalthea back into a unicorn just in time, but she still can't win against the horrible monster.
Furious, the unicorn finally manages to get the upper hand and defeat the Red Bull, freeing all the unicorns. Their charge destroys Haggard's castle, and he falls to his death.
The unicorn uses its miraculous horn to bring Lir back to life, but she can't love him anymore because divine creatures can't be in love with humans. Her experiences as a human make her able to feel humans emotions such as regret, but a love story is beyond her now.
Lir is heartbroken. Schmendrick and Molly take him on a short trip around the kingdom (his new kingdom, as Lir is now the king) to show him that his people need him to guide them. Though still sad, he agrees to take care of them, and leaves to go aid a damsel in distress.
Schmendrick, now a mortal man and a powerful magician, leaves with Molly.
(From issue #6)
The sequel, Two Hearts, reveals that they spent the rest of their (very long, because Schmendrick's spells kept them healthy) lives together. They never got married though.
“A good wife isn’t supposed to argue with her husband,” I said. “My mother says you wait until he goes out, or he’s asleep, and then you do what you want.”
Molly laughed, that rich, funny sound of hers, like a kind of deep gurgle. “Sooz, I’ve only known you a few hours, but I’d bet every penny I’ve got right now - aye, and all of Schmendrick’s too - that you’ll be arguing on your wedding night with whomever you marry. Anyway, Schmendrick and I aren’t married. We’re together, that’s all. We’ve been together quite a long while.”
“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know any people who were together like that, not the way she said it. “Well, you look married. You sort of do.”
Molly’s face didn’t change, but she put an arm around my shoulders and hugged me close for a moment. She whispered in my ear, “I wouldn’t marry him if he were the last man in the world. He eats wild radishes in bed. Crunch, crunch, crunch, all night - crunch, crunch, crunch.” I giggled, and the tall man looked over at us from where he was washing a pan in the stream. The last of the sunlight was on him, and those green eyes were bright as new leaves. One of them winked at me, and I felt it, the way you feel a tiny breeze on your skin when it’s hot. Then he went back to scrubbing the pan.
I'm not sure what that means. Presumably they are platonic best friends, but then why all the references to marriage? Somebody suggested that they are "living in sin" because Molly may technically be married to Cully, but it's rather ambiguous.
Well, I hope you enjoyed these posts :)
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I assumed important movies like La Dolce Vita and La Vita è Bella were, but that's about it. I'm kinda happy to hear even the much more obscure stuff gets a bit of a spotlight abroad ^_^
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For an entirely separate class on adaptation from text to screen, however, our strikingly English professor set "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo" as our penultimate studied film alongside the New Testament. So maybe the faculty was just generally well-educated.
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