The Last Unicorn
I am so glad when clients I adore and have been off traveling the country, return home and fill their sessions with stories of sights seen and adventures experienced. Sometimes they even come in with new body art and that is always quite thrilling for me, as a connoisseur of tattoos myself. This week a client came in with a new tattoo that vividly reminded me of my childhood.
The Last Unicorn is an 80’s anime classic that has been on my top 5 movies of all time for my entire life. There are many reasons, including the soundtrack being performed by the iconic group America, but as I have ushered into this most recent perspective of life having entered my 40s where all wisdom lies, the allegorical story has shifted a bit and taken on a more personal revelation. The outer shell of this story about the last unicorn on earth and the two brave souls that try to save her, the story seems to be a version of the Eden story, the loss of innocence, and fall from grace. A version of the rites of passage from girlhood to becoming a woman.
And it is those things. Yet, this week, during a conversation with a client about the Enneagram and how that understanding- your- personality- tool was an important one that I used to propel me on my journey of self discovery these past 4 years… I realized that all the characters in this movie were really all variations of ONE character. Self.
There will be some spoilers in this, so I highly recommend going to watch this movie now and coming back to this post later.
You have your beautiful Unicorn. The last of her kind. Driven with disbelief that she is alone in the world and determined to find her kin. In plain sight of man, she is seen as just a white mare and not for who she really is, and this frustrates her that people can be so blind to her truth.
On her journey she meets Shmendrick, a gangly wizard who creates a little bit of magic and a whole lot of party tricks, who DOES see her for who she is and longs to protect this creature he thought was long forgotten.
Unfortunately he works for the wicked Mommy Fortuna, a sorceress that also sees the Unicorn for who she is and greedily claims her and cages her for herself so that she can exploit her beauty and her magic. She locks her up in a cage and casts a spell on her to reveal her as a unicorn to those who pay to see her.
Good triumphs over evil and Shmendrick is able to make good on his word to protect her, and off they go in search of her kind. However, she learns of the fate of the unicorns- all being gathered by a greedy King Haggard with his terrifying Red Bull that has herd the unicorns into the sea so that only he can have them. This saddens her greatly, and yet she forges on.
She meets Molly Grue, who has waited her whole life to meet a unicorn and never stopped believing that they existed and was so angry that the Unicorn finally finds her at a time in her life when she is ragged, and dirty and unpresentable to this mythical creature.
Together Molly and Shmendrick walk with the Unicorn on her quest.
When danger arises, and all seems to be lost, Shmendrick calls up every ounce of his magic and turns the unicorn into a human girl, named Amalthea. She is so beautiful and mysterious and this human form saves her from the bull.
They arrive at the decrepit castle of Kind Haggard and his son, Prince Lir who falls in love with Amalthea.
But there is an unfortunate side effect to being human, she begins to forget that she is a unicorn… and the more she forgets who she is, the more likely she will be trapped in the mortal form.
The adventure takes a predictable turn where she wakes up and remembers who she truly is and instead of being driven into the sea like so many before her, she fights back and drives the Red Bull himself into the sea saving herself and those she has learned to care for all while freeing herself and others like her….
Not that I’m a Unicorn or anything ( or maybe I am) … But I really identify with this one. And all the characters that had a part to play in her redemption and freedom. All these characters, while they look separate, are all her.
We are all born so unique and intricate. There is no one else on this earth as remarkable as ourselves. We are wonderfully and perfectly made and no one can fulfill our life’s purpose the way we can. And how often do we feel hurt when others around us don’t see us for who we are? In this film, the Unicorn was pretty clueless about her own identity as well- and how often can we identify with that? Not understanding who we are, what our purpose is, how we fit into the tapestry of life? How many times have you asked yourself, Who the heck am I? And gotten a satisfactory answer?
So you go searching. And you run into someone who sees you for who you are. In your surprise, you get a glimpse of yourself as well, and then when it seems that still no one else sees you and you are still hurt and confused, you trap yourself in a cage with a false identity that reveals your true identity until that charade falls apart.
And you go searching again. With the part of you that sees you for who you are and wants to protect you, and the other part that is baffled that no one sees you. And then you run into someone else, that represents a younger part of you- that is angry and bitter that you have taken so long to find her. She could have been youthful and vibrant when you found her, but she is dirty and old instead. But she loves you anyway… and there is this conflicting feeling of love and the loss of time.
And you go searching again bringing all of these parts with you. This time you are feeling driven against and in the best, most well meaning efforts, you muster all the power within you to protect yourself from what you think is certain doom of the Red Bull- and you become something completely opposite of what you are. That force herding you to the sea, is your own will pounding down the version of yourself that was unseen by all but you. You feel the struggle and the loss of being someone, something, that you were not designed to be. But you don’t know how to get back to the way you were. So you carry on. Step by step you keep moving forward searching for whatever it was that started you on this path that you have now forgotten. So much time has passed, and your memory has slipped away little by little. The you you were born as, is diminishing under the new identity that serves a purpose of protection. That catches a suitor’s eye, that eludes the danger’s snare.
Until one day… when the last bit of the truth of you is about to slip away, never to be seen again… there is something electric that jolts through you and brings you back to life. You push through yourself to wake up and remember who it was you were meant to be and you drive yourself out of the water and claim your rightful place. You shed all that you pretended to be to keep you safe, accepted and visible to others in an artificial way. You claim your rightful identity. Your true identity. With a bit of shakiness, because this experience is unforgettable, you accept that you are a forever changed and a bit scarred up person. And in the end, you forgive those who didn’t see you to begin with. They weren’t given eyes to see your majesty. You forgive yourself for all you had done to yourself to be what you were not meant to be. And you celebrate your freedom, at last.
“I think love is stronger than habits or circumstances. I think it is possible to keep yourself for someone for a long time and still remember why you were waiting when she comes at last.”