Peter S. Beagle did something dangerous when he wrote The Last Unicorn. He took a creature defined by its immortality—a being that doesn't know what it's like to end—and forced it into a human skin. That skin belongs to Lady Amalthea. If you grew up watching the 1982 Rankin/Bass animated film, you probably remember the haunting soundtrack by America and the way Amalthea’s lilac eyes seemed to hold a world of grief. But there is a lot more going on with her than just a 1980s aesthetic of flowing hair and diaphanous gowns.
Amalthea is the tragic heart of the story. She isn't just a unicorn playing dress-up. She is a literal displacement of soul. When Schmendrick the Magician transforms her to save her from the Red Bull, he doesn't just change her shape. He inflicts mortality on her. That’s the "curse" of being Lady Amalthea. She starts to forget.
The Horror of Becoming Lady Amalthea
Most fantasy stories treat transformation like a power-up. Not here. For the unicorn, becoming Lady Amalthea is a slow-motion car crash of the psyche. In the original text and the film, her human body is described as a prison. It’s heavy. It’s loud. It feels "small" to her.
Think about it for a second. Imagine you were once an eternal being who could hear the breathing of the stars, and suddenly you’re stuck in a body that gets cold and needs to eat.
Honestly, the most terrifying part isn't the Red Bull; it’s the way her memories start to fray. There’s a specific scene where she looks at her hands and doesn't recognize them. She starts to feel things she shouldn't—regret, fear, and most importantly, love. In Beagle’s world, unicorns can't love because love requires the possibility of loss. As Lady Amalthea, she finally learns how to lose.
Why Prince Lir Fell for a Ghost
Prince Lir is often dismissed as your standard-issue fantasy prince. He’s voiced by Jeff Bridges in the movie, giving him this sort of earnest, slightly confused charm. He kills dragons for her. He writes bad poetry. He does the whole "hero" thing because he’s trying to reach the person inside the Lady Amalthea.
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But here is the catch: he’s falling in love with a mask that is slowly becoming the face.
The tragedy of their romance is that for Lir to win the girl, the unicorn has to die. If she stays Amalthea, the unicorns stay trapped in the sea. If she becomes the unicorn again, she loses the capacity to stay with him. It’s a classic "no-win" scenario that elevates the story from a kids' movie to a genuine piece of literature.
The Voice of Mia Farrow and the Visual Identity
You can’t talk about Lady Amalthea without talking about Mia Farrow’s performance. It’s airy. It’s detached. It sounds like someone who is perpetually about to drift away. Farrow brought a specific type of vulnerability to the role that made the character's internal struggle feel tangible.
Visually, the Japanese studio Topcraft (the team that eventually became the core of Studio Ghibli) gave Amalthea a look that blended Western medieval tapestry art with Eastern delicacy. Her hair isn't just blonde; it’s this strange, almost translucent white-gold.
- Her design reflects the "Uncanny Valley" for the characters around her.
- King Haggard knows she’s not human the moment he sees her.
- Molly Grue sees the unicorn beneath the skin instantly.
- Only the "normal" people see a beautiful lady.
The animation team used specific lighting cues—often a soft glow that followed her—to remind the audience that she was a supernatural entity inhabiting a meat suit. It’s subtle, but it works.
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The Last Unicorn and the Price of Regret
By the time we get to the climax at King Haggard’s castle, Lady Amalthea is almost gone. She wants to stay human. She tells Schmendrick to leave her as she is so she can grow old with Lir. This is where the movie gets incredibly deep for a "family" film. It argues that mortality, despite all its pain, has a pull that even the eternal can’t ignore.
But the unicorn returns.
When the Red Bull is finally driven into the sea and the other unicorns are freed, the transformation is reversed. But something is broken. The unicorn is the only one of her kind who can feel regret. She says it herself: "I am the only unicorn who knows what it is to be human."
That’s a heavy burden. She’s no longer "pure." She has been tainted by the experience of being Lady Amalthea. This is why the ending feels so bittersweet. The quest is a success, the unicorns are back, but our protagonist is forever changed. She can never go back to the way she was before the magic touched her.
Misconceptions About the Transformation
People often think the transformation was a mistake by Schmendrick. It wasn't. It was his only successful "high" magic moment because he did it out of pure desperation. It worked because it was the only thing that could hide her from a creature that only hunts unicorns. The Red Bull couldn't see her because he didn't care about humans. To him, humans are invisible. Being Lady Amalthea was the ultimate camouflage, but it came with a soul-deep cost.
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Why We Are Still Talking About Her 40 Years Later
We live in an era of "girl power" protagonists who are often written to be invincible. Lady Amalthea is the opposite. She is defined by her vulnerability and her loss of identity. That resonates. Everyone has felt like they are wearing a mask at some point. Everyone has felt the weight of time and the fear of forgetting who they really are.
Beagle’s writing, combined with the haunting visuals of the 1982 film, ensured that Lady Amalthea remained an icon of "sad girl" fantasy. She isn't a damsel to be saved; she is a god forced to live as a mortal, and that is a much more compelling story than a simple fairy tale.
Applying the Lessons of The Last Unicorn
If you are looking to revisit this story or share it with a new generation, keep these specific nuances in mind to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch the 1982 film with a focus on the background art. The contrast between the vibrant forest and the grey, crumbling castle of King Haggard mirrors Amalthea’s internal decay as she loses her unicorn memories.
- Read the original Peter S. Beagle novel. The book goes much deeper into Amalthea’s internal monologue and her growing resentment toward Schmendrick for "making her real."
- Listen to the lyrics of the soundtrack. Songs like "That's All I've Got to Say" aren't just love songs; they are literal descriptions of the characters' inability to communicate across the divide of mortality.
- Explore the 2011 graphic novel adaptation. It uses a different visual style that emphasizes the "otherness" of Amalthea’s human form in a way that the 80s animation sometimes smoothed over.
The story of the Lady Amalthea serves as a reminder that being "human" isn't about how we look, but about our ability to hold onto our memories and handle the inevitability of change.