The Last Unicorn’s Molly Grue: For Every Woman Who Thinks It’s Too Late
On grief, timing, and finding magic after you’ve given up on it.
A few weeks ago, I watched the movie The Last Unicorn for the first time. I’ve never seen it, or heard of it as a child. However, during the last few years I noticed so many stills from the movie on Pintrest, and on aesthetic fairy-like Instagram pages. Mesmerized by the ethereal feeling it’s art radiated, I decided to watch it. Although the story does revolve around a unicorn, and it is an animated children’s movie, I wouldn’t particularly recommend it to children just because of a few scenes towards the end, I don’t know, but knowing myself, if I were a child I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night after watching the end of the film lol. However, this is not a movie review, so I’ll let you guys be your own judges of that. As ethereal as the movie was, there was one scene in particular that stood out to me among the rest, which is what I wanted to talk about today.
At one point of the movie, while the beautiful unicorn was on her journey through the woods with the magician, Shmendrick, she notices a group of bandits near by. Keeping her distance to ensure her safety, she comes across a woman, Molly Grue, who makes her appearance known after stepping out from behind a tree. Shocked, she raises her palms towards her chin. With her widening, glistening eyes she allows her grief to awaken from within her. A whisper, that has been sleeping for what feels like an eternity emerges from her soul, and she says,
“Where have you been?" she cried. "Damn you, where have you been?" She took a few steps toward Schmendrick, but she was looking beyond him, at the unicorn.
When she tried to get by, the magician stood in her way. "You don't talk like that," he told her, still uncertain that Molly had recognized the unicorn. "Don't you know how to behave, woman? You don't curtsy, either."
But Molly pushed him aside and went up to the unicorn, scolding her as though she were a strayed milk cow. "Where have you been?" Before the whiteness and the shining horn, Molly shrank to a shrilling beetle, but this time it was the unicorn's old dark eyes that looked down.
"I am here now," she said at last.
Molly laughed with her lips flat. "And what good is it to me that you're here now? Where where you twenty years ago, ten years ago? How dare you, how dare you come to me now, when I am this?" With a flap of her hand she summed herself up: barren face, desert eyes, and yellowing heart. "I wish you had never come. Why did you come now?" The tears began to slide down the sides of her nose.
The unicorn made no reply, and Schmendrick said, "She is the last. She is the last unicorn in the world."
"She would be." Molly sniffed. "It would be the last unicorn in the world to come to Molly Grue." She reached up then to lay her hand on the unicorn's cheek; but both of them flinched a little, and the touch came to rest on on the swift, shivering place under the jaw. Molly said, "It's all right. I forgive you.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
This was a quote from the book. For those of you who don’t know, The Last Unicorn was a story book before it was turned into an animated film. However, the scene played out the same way, and she said pretty much the same things as well (you can find the clip at the end of this blog post). I haven’t read the book yet, but after looking into this scene, I found so many things online about Molly’s past and how she became who she was. Which kind of made me wonder if her back story was shared in the book or not. Molly is the bandit leader’s mistress, she is the only woman shown in this scene. Her hair is a mess, and she is dressed in rags, but the shine in her gaze when she first laid eyes on the unicorn were those of an innocent little girl.
So many emotions rushed through me as I watched this scene. I went back and replayed it immediately, and before I got too distracted, I wrote down the minutes and seconds of when this took place in order for me to come back and study this part of the film.
Molly’s innocent eyes when she first laid eyes on the unicorn, and her laugh at the unicorn’s answer shows us how hopeful she used to be as a child, versus how empty she has grown to be as an adult. Molly’s frustration with the late arrival of the unicorn shows us that she spent a big chunk of her childhood believing in the unicorn hoping to meet her one day, only to be disappointed, and eventually swallow the harsh reality that unicorns may not be real. This goes beyond childhood innocence, or the belief in fairy tales. However it has everything to do with believing in the magic of the unseen. If we look at the act of prayer and the concept of God, perhaps Molly’s frustration wouldn’t be that odd at all. God, is unseen in the physical plane, we can only access the energy of God, and to reach that energy, we must perform an act of prayer. Whether it’s physical, emotional, or energetic. Everyone’s approach to prayer is different, but what everyone has in common when performing a prayer is the state of emotional vulnerability we get to when we feel so helpless, that we result in seeking help from an unseen force larger than us, and larger than anything in this world. With full trust, we hand our burdens over to the unseen hands of that large out of this world force that is, God.
Molly’s dreams of seeing the unicorn shows us how easy it is for children to pray and to believe in their prayer, not allowing anything to get in the way of that belief. No matter what they come across, they will always have hope, which means they will always believe in God. Unfortunetly, life comes with it’s hardships. Which will eventually challenge our spirit, and challenge our ability of believing in our prayers. Leading us to stray away from the path of the unseen magic of God. Hardships like disappointment, heartbreak, and grief are a part of life, and it’s human nature to stray away from God. But life is also filled with good, laughter, love, healing, and answered prayers which bring us back to the path of God. These things are proof of his unseen existence. In Molly’s case however, it seems to show that her spirit was challenged too many times, which eventually drove her to leave behind the shattered and irreparable childhood innocence she worked so hard to protect.
She lets out a single disappointed laugh at the Unicorn’s clueless answer, she feels disappointed that the life she could have had is gone, and can’t be accessed anymore. She feels old, used, and empty.. she further proves her inner feelings when she hears that the Unicorn is the last of her kind. It’s as if she thought, of course.. of course I’m the last to get my moment with the Unicorn. I don’t mean this in a way that Molly’s victimizing herself, but she purely has lost all hope and truly believes that she is unworthy of good. Which to me, is the most heartbreaking part.
She then moves on to tell the unicorn that she wish she had never came. At this point in life, Molly accepted her fate, enough time has passed for her to move on from her inner girl’s hopes and dreams. She accepted the role of being an outlaw, of being the bandit leader’s mistress. She has accepted the fate of being mistreated, looked down upon and worthless. To Molly, she hit rock bottom a long time ago, and has made peace with that, which kind of helped her quiet the feeling of disappointment she faced as a child. She accepted the path of the disbelievers, that magic doesn’t exist, that prayers are acts of foolishness. She came to terms with the fact that it’s easier to live a life based on what you see rather than based on what you feel. Which normally results in the belief of something more. A part of her feels angry, because it probably took A LOT for her to finally give up trying to put back together her shattered hopes and dreams she tried so hard to hold on to. She finally closed a chapter of her life she knew she’d never get, only to see it appear right in before her eyes so many years later? It feels like a lot to take in. It would be easier on her if she were to carry on as she was, but no.. the Unicorn’s late appearance forces her to revisit her inner girl once again.
As frustrated as she might be with the unexpected situation, she was still able to lovingly cup the unicorn’s jaw with her palms and truly forgive her. Which was another speechless moment for me.
She reached up then to lay her hand on the unicorn's cheek; but both of them flinched a little, and the touch came to rest on on the swift, shivering place under the jaw. Molly said, "It's all right. I forgive you.”
It truly takes a lot for a person to go through as much as Molly has, and still maintain a strong sense of faith. But here’s the thing about faith, the only way to water it is through hardship. Now, I’m not saying that an easy life doesn’t mean you don’t have faith or a strong sense of belief. But I believe that, the true believers of magic, prayer, and God are those who face hardships time and time again, and still keep believing that God is always accessible, and is always listening to their innermost wishes. Molly’s frustration ran deep, and so it was only natural for her to finally vocally express that towards her answered prayer. However, when her inner storm settled, she recognized the miracle of an answered prayer. She knew in her heart that prayers show up at the right time, in the right form. Even though we might not be able to recognize it, or understand how, or why it showed up in the way that it did, but there are reasons for that. Reasons that the eyes will never be able to see, and the mind will never be able to understand. Molly knew that her difficult path was a blessing in disguise, to lead her towards this moment. The moment when her answered prayer would turn her life around for good.
What may have appeared to Molly as her empty heart, had been a safe haven for her tender soul to rest in while her outside world felt like an uncontrollable mess. Beating along a quiet, but continuous prayer that not even Molly herself could hear, her soul was determined that one day all of this would end, and she would finally feel safe at last. In that moment she chose forgiveness. Through each tear stream on her cheeks she forgave herself, her life path, the bandits, and the Unicorn’s late arrival. She knew that the only way forward was to dissolve the strings of the past, and the only elixir for that would be true forgiveness. Just like that, Molly was finally at peace. With a grateful heart she held on tightly to the blessing before her eyes, joined the Unicorn and Schmendrick’s quest, and never looked back.
