The Last Unicorn

Chapters 4 through 6 shift the setting out of Mommy Fortuna’s Midnight Carnival and back onto the main road of the journey. Here, following the hero’s journey formula, Schmendrick secures his position as an ally by asking to accompany the unicorn. Chapter 5 introduces Molly Grue, who also becomes an ally to the unicorn after an emotional meeting between the two. 

In Chapter 4, the theme of mediocrity is explored again through Schmendrick and his relationship to his magic. Schmendrick is capable of great magic, but he isn’t in control of that magic. As seen in Chapter 3, Schmendrick can summon beasts, shrink cages, and create illusions for the unicorn, but none of this is what he intended to do. When the unicorn grants a boon to Schmendrick, he remarks that she “could never have granted [his] true wish” (59), to which the unicorn responds that she “cannot turn [him] into a true magician” because she “cannot turn you into something you are not” (59). Schmendrick’s fear of mediocrity is expressed through this exchange, but Schmendrick knows that only he can improve his own abilities.

Schmendrick’s mediocre magic plays an important role in pushing the plot forward in Chapters 4 and 5. In Chapter 4, after having a bit of wine and enjoying his time with a prosperous town, Schmendrick is faced with disrespect from Jack Jingly and his men. To retrieve his stolen hat, Schmendrick performs magic to make his hat float through the air and retrieve water from a trough. Schmendrick is triumphant that the hat is doing what he wishes, but the confidence is short lived when “the hat’s flight began to curve, gradually at first, and then much more sharply as it bent towards the Councilmen’s table” (69). Schmendrick’s loss of control of his magic leads to Jack Jingly taking him away from the town ostensibly to protect Schmendrick from the mayor, shifting the setting of the story to Captain Cully’s forest hideout and diverting Schmendrick and the unicorn from their course. Schmendrick’s magic gets him in trouble once again at Cully’s camp. After messing up several tricks, Schmendrick “let go all his hated skills and closed his eyes” to command the magic to do what it wishes to do. With this, he summons the illusive figures from Robin Hood, captivating most of the members of the camp, causing them to run after the figures. Cully and Jack Jingly, angry at Schmendrick’s magical diversion, secure him to a tree, where, in Chapter 6, his magic fails him once again. The Robin Hood illusion pushes the plot forward by separating Schmendrick from Captain Cully’s men, allowing him an opportunity to slip away from them. Schmendrick’s mediocrity with magic gets him into trouble and creates tension between him, the mayor, and the men of Captain Cully’s brigade. The failed hat trick and the unwitting creation of the Robin Hood illusion show that Schmendrick is capable of great magic, but his mediocre abilities and lack of control create unfavorable outcomes for him. 

Chapters 5 and 6 introduce Molly Grue as a character, setting her up to become an ally to the unicorn and a foil to Schmendrick. The tension between Molly and Schmendrick is evident at their first meeting, when Molly exclaims “He’s no townsman. I don’t like the look of him. Slit his wizard” (75). Molly believes Schmendrick is just there to manipulate Cully to take advantage of Cully’s hospitality. Later, as Schmendrick performs his tricks, he notices the “disappointment in Molly Grue’s restless eyes” (85), prompting him to invite the magic to “Do as you will” (86), resulting in the Robin Hood illusion. Molly’s way of challenging Schmendrick pushes him to another level of his magic. Upon Molly’s introduction to the unicorn in Chapter 6, the differences between Molly and Schmendrick become apparent. Schmendrick is youthful yet “older than [he] look[s]” (44). Molly, on the other hand, has been aged by her hard life with Cully’s crew, with “a pale, bony face [...] tawny eyes, and hair the color of dead grass” (75). Cully describes her as “pinched, dour, prematurely old, [and] even a touch tyrannical” (76-77). Though Molly is presumed to be around the same age as Schmendrick, her hard life and disposition have aged her beyond her years. Through Molly, the theme of The Loss of Innocence is introduced. When Molly meets the unicorn she cries, wondering where the unicorn has been, and laments, wondering “what good is it to me that you’re here now? Where were you twenty years ago, ten years ago? How dare you come to me now, when I am this?” (96). This emotionally intense moment shows how Molly believes she has lost her youth. She believes seeing a unicorn when she was younger might have saved her from a life of hardships. As Molly is now, she has known a cruel, unicorn-less world and has lost her innocence long ago. Molly continues to foil Schmendrick as she joins their quest despite Schmendrick’s protests. Molly immediately undermines Schmendrick by pointing out that the party is traveling the wrong way. Her role as a foil grows as they travel, with Molly gaining energy and youthfulness from being around the unicorn while Schmendrick feels he’s “coming undone” and that the unicorn cannot heal him of his despair (105). 

The themes of The Loss of Innocence and The Tragic Inevitability of Aging are explored when the group witnesses a prince and princess perform a premarital ritual. The princess calls for a unicorn to come to her and sings a sweet song. The princess insists she is pure and has a golden bridle, so there must be no unicorns left if none came to her. Having satisfied tradition, the prince and princess cannot wait around for a unicorn forever, so they leave to wed. The tradition suggests the princess will not be able to summon a unicorn once her purity and innocence have gone. As Schmendrick describes earlier in the chapter, “Unicorns are for beginnings [...] for innocence and purity. Unicorns are for young girls” (97). With the unicorn being the last of her kind, it represents a loss of innocence and purity in the world. The moment with the prince and princess also contributes to the theme of inevitable aging. When the unicorn explains that she doesn’t have time to stop for princesses, Molly counters that “It’s the princesses who have no time” adding that:

“The sky spins and drags everything along with it, princesses and magicians and poor Cully and all, but you stand still. You never see anything just once. I wish you could be a princess for a little while, or a flower, or a duck. Something that can’t wait.” (103)

Molly’s assessment of mortality and the way it impacts those who are subject to it helps to emphasize how differently mortals must live their lives when they lack the time for everything. 

Finally, the themes of Mediocrity and Mortality are explored through Captain Cully and his ballads. Cully is enthused by the idea that Schmendrick could be the famous Mr. Child in disguise. Cully wants nothing more than for his ballads “to be collected, to be verified, annotated, to have variant versions, even to have one’s authenticity doubted” (82). Cully worries that he’ll be forgotten upon his death if he doesn’t write his own ballads and put them forth into the world to create his own sense of immortality. Cully understands that “No ballads will accumulate around my name unless I write them myself; [...] And when professors prowl through the old tales, [...] they will never, never find my name” (90). However, Cully does not create truthful ballads. In fact, shortly after admitting to writing the ballads himself, he speaks of himself in the third person, saying “He was a good, gay rascal who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. In their gratitude, the people made up these simple verses about him” (90-91). Though Cully lives a life of mediocre crime, stealing from the poor and not keeping his word, Cully has written himself to be a grand and merry adventurer with righteous intentions. This emphasizes the fear of mediocrity that lives within him and others.