The VERY Strange History of Unicorns
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2023
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Who doesn't think unicorns are neat? Today they're a fantasy icon, but they weren't always that way. They were once seen as ferocious and very real beasts, and the lengths people went to capture them reached WILD heights. Come learn with me about this magical myth!
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Sources
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
The Unicorn Tapestries by Adolfo Salvatore Cavallo for the MET Cloisters
Believing in Unicorns by Stephen D. Winick stevewinick.com/unicorns
The Virgin Capture Myth in the Hunt of the Unicorn During the Middle Ages by Angelica Federici
The Unicorn: A Mythological Investigation By Robert Brown
Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to the Present Day By Juliette Wood
The Lore of the Unicorn By Odell Shepard
The Natural History of Unicorn By Chris Lavers
Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore by Michael J. Curley
Historical Account of the Most Celebrated Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries From the Time of Columbus to the Present Period By William Fordyce Mavor
The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure vol 72, 1783
Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Or, Enquiries Into Very Many Received Tenents, and Commonly Presumed Truths By Sir Thomas Browne
Mythical Monsters By Charles Gould
Speculum Mundi, or, a Glasse representing the Face of the World By John Swan (Minister)
The Works of the Learned Sr. Thomas Brown By Sir Thomas Browne
An Exposition with Practical Observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second ... chapters of the Book of Job By Joseph Caryl
Pursuit of the Unicorn by A.E. Voss
Peter S. Beagle's Transformations of the Mythic Unicorn by Weronika Łaszkiewicz
The Unicorn in the Old Testament by Allen H. Godbey
The Unicorn Trade by Timothy S. Miller
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Other good games like this are New York Mysteries & Lost Lands by Five BN games 💯
Love your costume. It's like a blend of Amalthea from The Last Unicorn & Asra from The Arcana.
Hey what is the thought process behind leaving out the movie adaptation by just mentioning the strike? Is it that the strike demands it? That it actually helps the strike? Did you look up the strike's demands and recommenations? Do they truly ask people to avoid promoting old movies? Or do they actually say the exact opposite? Cause they do. They encourage people to act as normal and to consume pre-established media and they define what actions do cross the colloquial picket line. I highly suggest researching it before making such decisions for your videos!
@@NathouuuutheoneGeneral consumers, yes. They have different requests for influencers and media personalities. I suggest you follow your own advice.
It's the Constellations after Virgo and before Libra, which are the scales that fall from Saul's eyes. Also where hearts are weighed by Osiris, God of the Dead, who roamed the earth three days at Halloween, the Celtic, Phoenician, Egyptian, Assyrian, and Jewish New Year. It's the harvest festival and the house of Ophiuchus, the Stable or Cave where Jesus is born and is buried, 13th house of the Zodiac and of Esus, Celtic God of death. Unicorns are derivative of the golden hats Druids wore, on which were inscribed the 19 year Metonic Solar Lunar Calendar of the Chaldeans, and from where the name Solomon derived
I had an almost concerning obsession with unicorns as a child so this video is like my Roman Empire lol 😂🦄
Thank goodness I’m not the only one!
So, how often do you think about Unicorns?
There's at least four of us!!
@@UsenameTakenWasTakenSo when I was about 8/9, I was DETERMINED to be a unicorn for Halloween. My family and I probably went to at least 10 stores looking for a unicorn costume but we couldn’t find one. It wasn’t until we were on the other side of our home-state visiting my aunt that we were able to find one at my aunt’s local Target. As soon as we came back home with it my little sister and I would take turns wearing it and give each other horse rides while in the costume lol. It’s honestly one of my favorite childhood memories and my parents still have the costume in their attic because I can’t bear to part with it and I’m in my late 20’s now lmao 😂
You too, huh?
As a Scot this video makes me happy, the unicorn is our national animal. Interestingly the national animal of England is a lion, as Kaz mentioned unicorns and lions are often depicted as battling each other
You know, I've never understood how y'all bypassed Nessie for the 🦄. I'm all down for nations deeming their national animal to be a mythological creature but nothing is more associated with Scotland (at least in my very American opinion) than Nessie! 😂
Also, on the British seal, the lion has a chain around the unicorn's neck as a free unicorn would be too powerful. What a lovely visual for our Union!
yes exactly what i was thinking
@@PMickeyDee probably because the unicorn comes from a long tradition of medieval heraldry and has symbolic significance while Nessie only really got popular 90 years ago and doesn't "represent" anything?
Like the US isn't going to change its national animal from the bald eagle to Mothman for similar reasons
@@tinyetoile5503 okay but in fairness *that* would be pretty kickass.
While working as an equestrian camp counselor, they encouraged us to come up with our own programs for our kids. Because I worked with the 5 years olds who's day was only 10% horseback riding and 90% horse - themed art projects, I started to set aside one of the art projects for a "unicorn sighting". I strapped a fake horn to our pony Merrylegs and crouched beside him in the bushes so he was half hidden. A helper would bring the kids on a trail walk and they would spot him, close enough to see he had a horn but far enough that they couldn't tell that he was wearing a light halter. It was adorable to see those little kids get super excited and hear them talk about it for the rest of the day. Only a few truly believed they had seen a unicorn by the end of camp a few days later, but it was still fun to spread a little magic.
Thank you for giving those kids an awesome memory for their childhood ❤
You are the best kinda person
Gods, as a kid, I would have loved you. I was *obsessed* with unicorns as a child. lol
Not only do I love this story, I adore the fact your camp's pony is called Merrylegs ❤
Very sweet!
Just a heads up, the WGA/SAG strike does not preclude people from watching, dicussing, or promoting work that already launched before the strike began. The Last Unicorn movie came out in 1982, there's nothing in strike rules that would preclude you from discussing it. In fact, the WGA and SAG have released statements clarifying what is crossing a picket line and encouraging people to support non-struck media. Neil Gaiman even made a post on his Tumblr telling people not to boycott past work unless the WGA/SAG specifically called for a boycott. It's actually really bad for actors/writers if their work flops due to misunderstandings like this, and perpetuating the idea that to support strikes you have to boycott any and all work ever made by affected parties can have negative ramifications for the striking workers even after the strike ends.
🙌🏻
yeah i was super confused as to why that choice was made in this video
I was so confused, too, as to how this choice was supposed to help anything. Really weird choice.
She’s only hurting herself and her viewers, and it’s weird that she wouldn’t bother to look this up, if it were important to her. 😒
Yeah I found that part in the video odd, I wasn’t even sure what was happening 😭😭 I love that movie to death, the animation is beautiful
Jesus Christ being unicorn-kin was not what I expected from history but I should’ve really
I imagine him as like a My Little Pony Alicorn now…
@@ravenpotter3 so twilight sparkle, basically
What would really make your head explode is the fact that Christians before Constantine associated the unicorn with the cross! 🤯
Crazier still was that the cross was described not like our cross but a male instrument that the crucified "rode". 🤯
Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho 91.1-2
Irenaeus Against Heresies 2.24.4
Tertullian Ad Nationes 1.12.3-4
Tertullian An Answer to the Jews 10.7-8
Tertullian Against Marcion 3.18.3-4
@@cecilb8287twilight sparkle is jesus christ confirmed
The horn supposedly symbolises one who is single eyed. And the unicorn poking the nubile maiden, is kinda representative of uniting the devine feminine and the devine masculine. Alchemical wedding shizzle. This would be the kingdom of the blind. Jesus the one eyed man would be king
I'm kinda surprised you didn't touch on Molly Grue at all (though I also understand you must have been strapped for time). She was basically an inversion of the virginal maiden trope. I don't have the book on me so I can't pull exact quotes, but there's a scene where the unicorn and Schmendrick come across a noble woman who is calling out for a unicorn as part of a prenuptial ritual, and the unicorn doesn't go to her. When Schmendrick asks her why she didn't show herself, she replies with something along the lines of, "she would have been terrified of me."
Yet when the pair meet Molly (completely accidentally on the part of the unicorn), Molly actually SEES the unicorn for what she is - not as a pretty mare, but a real, true UNICORN, and she weeps. She demands to know why now? "Where were you when I was one of those innocent young maidens you come to? How dare you. How dare you come to me now, when I am this!" And the unicorn consoles her.
It's never outright stated, but her age/appearance and her relation to Captain Cully imply that she's far from virginal. Yet Molly is the only one whom the unicorn allows to touch her.
Idk that always struck me, even when I was a little kid watching the movie for the first time - that Molly Grue, a woman "past her prime" and "impure" would not only be allowed to touch the unicorn, but to be consoled by her, to be befriended by her? It definitely made little me think long and hard about what makes a person "pure."
Same, even as kid it struck me that it was about having a pure heart / soul or longing for one.
yeah. it's so sad. I feel like Molly is like all of us grown up women who longed for magic in her life. Been disappointed to no end and seeing the unicorn really hurt but gave Molly's child self closure.
I'm a forty year old guy and that scene absolutely destroys me every time. It actually gets more painful with every year. Still one of my favourite movies ever made, and Molly Grue is still one of the best parts of it. ♡
I haven't read the book only seen the movie and when I was a child I didn't realize this but when I was 20 and realized it it hit me so hard that to this day this movie is one of the top five favorite of all time for me it's it's a date movie.
I show it on like the second date and if my date does not like this movie it's over that we cannot go on. I mean she doesn't have to like love it she just has to appreciate its nuance
Funny enough I’ve never seen the movie, but I did read the book The Last Unicorn and it has one of my favorite quotes. “Real magic can never be made by offering up someone else’s liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.”
Well, when I had liver transplant, other people tore it out for me. And I will never get it back, because they pulverized it to see if it had any more living cancer cells. It didn't. But they gave me a new one.
I don't know what kind of magick would. enable a person to go on with no liver. Without a liver, one can not live.
Charlie the unicorn reference?
@@mihalyponyiczki1855other way around my friend
@@mihalyponyiczki1855 more likely Charlie the Unicorn referenced the last unicorn
@caycecarson yes! I remember reading that scene as a teen and being like wow that should have been in the movie
As a Dane I remember reading about how people in Scandinavia, especially Northern Scandinavia, who hunted the narwhals, took great care to perpetuate the myth of unicorns.
Because that meant that they could keep a monopoly, and sell "unicorn" horns at extremely high prices.
While no one else were able to find those beings, because they were looking in forests, not in the sea.
And yet it should be clear, as Haggard drove them all into the sea. All except one.. :3
@@ruzi.the.spider Who?
@@ruzi.the.spiderlovely 😭👌
@@SIC647king haggard (the last unicorn)
Oh the alicorns?
As a German, sadly I have never laid my eye on a real unicorn....except for that one poor horse at a carnival they strapped a plastic horn onto
Really? Now, I see them just about every day! Could just be my neighbours horses tho I‘m not sure
That reminds me of something I’d often see while visiting family in Tijuana, Mexico: donkeys painted to look like zebras 😂
It was a real unicorn. They had to strap the fake horn there because the people have stopped believing and therefor couldn't see it.
One horned rhinoceros exists in India, Nepal and other parts of Asia.
This is exactly what I would say if I wanted to keep people away from my countries Unicorns 🤔
There's a mural in the kid's section of the local library i grew up with combining medieval fantasy iconography with local (Alaskan) flora and fauna. Something about a unicorn and a moose coexisting felt more magical than just a unicorn on its own
Moose are majestic as fuck. I always forget how tall they are in person and get stunned whenever I see one! They're like mysterious forest gods.
@KaiInMotion my thoughts exactly! They almost feel like a relic of an older time, like a wooly mammoth
@@KaiInMotion I would love to see a moose. I never realized how tall they were till I saw a video of one walking next to a line of cars.
in Sweden all new cars have to pass a test requiring them to pull off the type of quick turning that is necessary to avoid collisions with moose crossing the road, in order to be street legal
@@KaiInMotion lol i never thought of them as majestic, but then i'm also disappointed that i've lived in the lower 48 for like 2 years now and have yet to see a racoon so maybe i'm the weird one. Then again it's hard to see an animal as awe-inspiring when you grow up hearing them described as eating up your mom's greenhouse, charging cars for being on the same road as them, and "it's rutting season so they're horny and stupid"
On Unicorns in Germany: Duo Lingo had me translate "Ein Einhorn hat ein horn." The idea of it is "A Unicorn has one horn", but in German the statement is even more mind-numbingly obvious with, "A one-horn has one horn".
This is amazing.
I don't think I realized how bittersweet my experience with unicorn media was until watching this. That sense of yearning and vanishing and the end of things is woven through the unicorn media I've interacted with and I never put the dots together
Looking back, there was a yearning for magic and a wistfulness for me too.
As a German, I can confim that we have Unicorns! They run free in the forest.
But speaking of the "Last Unicorn" - Haggard in the german movie dub got the voice of Christopher Lee. He apperantly spoke German. What a madlad.
Yes, he would have spoken TO Germans, while studying for the role of Dooku in 1940's.
He was a classic actor and had learned to pronuonce german texts, yes. As a kid I did not know anything about the dub but loved Haggards accent. I can still perform a perfect "Das letzte! Ich wusste daß du das letzte bist!"
Ya, he was an Intelligence Officer in WW2. So, knowing German was probably tied to that.
That cartoon movie is so sad and raggedy. Good animation but it's among the worst examples of a depressingly ancient children's movie. Makes me think of the last days of the horrible urban movie theatres that were attached to low income youth groups attached to the YMCA or shudder catholic churches
I'm happy Germans got his lovely performance as well as the English-speaking audience! He was a terrific Haggard.
I always love your uploads. As someone who grew up conservative, your videos are a lifesaver both for learning history without the anti-queer bias and also are just well made and researched.
100% agree!
Absolutely 💖
As a German, we're still a collection of forest dwelling tribes in our heart of hearts and I long for the primeval, untouched forests of old Germania full of aurochsen, bears, wolfes and God knows what. A part of me is like hell yeah, Cesar did see the unicorns, and there was Siegfried's dragon and probably everything else from German mythology living and breathing. Idk, I had too much imagination as a kid.
Nein nein nein hier im Odenwald gibts keinen Fafnir und keine Einhörner. Und ich habe keine zwei Wölfchen adoptiert (Husky Mixe) und wir wollen doch keine Turisten die uns die letzten ihrer Art in Zoos enführen.. also hier gibt es gaaaanz bestimmt keine Einhörner, ne..
love this comment so much tbh 💛
It’s always great to imagine these things, I always like to believe the welsh dragon is out there somewhere watching over us
Forests full of bisons, mufflons, lynxes... with Nixen in the lakes and Wichtel in the mountains.
@@redwiltshire1816 dragons used to be gods in some mythologies, then there is a chance that, with a new contract, they do be watchin
Fun fact - the unicorn is the symbol of Scotland, and the lion the symbol of England. So if there is ever a painting/tapestry depicting a unicorn stabbing someone or a lion defeating a unicorn ...it may be symbolising that age old struggle between the two countries. Commissioned paintings usually are to remind everyone of some great victory of the rich lord of the manor and his heritage.
This reminds me when my friend found out that narwhals were real animals, and were not sadly called uniwhales
"That's the spirit Eleanor they're real to me too!
Lol since finding out that unicorn's horns where, actually, narwhal's tusks I could never been to understand how somebody would think that falsifying one-horned-horse/donkey was more magical than presenting an actual whale with long spiralled tusk. I guess, one was easier to believe than the other 🙄🤔
Hell of a lot easier to strap something on a horse's head than to catch a narwhal, and show it to people 😂
Horse girls have existed throughout the centuries I guess
You say that yet sailors still believed in mermaids so I honestly wonder why a horse with a horn was more special than a sea unicorn
I got to meet Peter S. Beagle at Fan Expo Vancouver in 2014. He signed my copy of The Last Unicorn, and was very much one of those authors who tries to find something special to say to everyone...which meant I got a little bit about "oh, you have the same name as my first serious lover--we met in Paris after the war." It was a moment.
My mom got her book signed in the early 2000s! It was the second time she had tried to get the book signed but the first time she got hit by a car on her way to the signing. Beagle seemed to like the story and said he was glad she made the trip 2nd time around
The humour, the editing, the casual worship of Hildegard von Bingen, this was a blast to watch
Tanith lees the black unicorn made such an impact on me as a child. Its such a great tale that just plonks you down in this world where little is explained yet fantastical things abound. The final scene where she follows the unicorn into its strange Paradise and marvels at it only to look behind her and sea a path of death everywhere she touched was wild.
Tanith Lee is a brilliant writer
As always this was so great. Two things hit me.
Dragons in modern fantasy feels like they have overtaken the lion. They aren't often depicted against unicorns but as far as taking up the same cultural space...
Of the Seven theses, the fact that it is always a symbol but rarely a thing in of itself is fascinating. Unicorns are being sold for their rainbow-ness now more than the horn by itself. Lisa Frank's effect has its stamp
Yeah, I had made a series of linked symbols of a dragon, the moon, and time, and then thought about what would be the animal representation for the sun and space and settled on a unicorn. I haven’t really done anything with that symbolism to construct a character, in part because they’re meant to be diametrically opposed in a way where mutual understanding becomes nearly impossible beyond “we are both a necessity and must cooperate for the universe to continue existing.”
@@darkstarr984That sounds so cool! Did you put your linked symbols up on any media? I think that is such a intriguing symbology
@@darkstarr984 Personally, I would associate the Dragon with the Sun (because of fire) and the Unicorn with the Moon (calmer, gentler).
There is a romantasy series by Thea Harris starting with the novel "Dragon Bound" and it features mythic creatures that can take human form.
The male lead is a dragon and the female lead a unicorn. He even loses interest in his hoard because of her. Now that I watched Kaz's video about how unicorns are wanted by everybody, it makes even deeper sense. 😂
The following books became more and more boring to me, and I also started to dislike a few elements out of ideological reasons, but I still like the first book and generally find the worldbuilding and the two main characters great.
So, if you like steamy fantasy romance that actually has a plot, you can go read it. It's set in an alternate contemporary USA.
I’m playing a unicorn who was cursed to be a human (paladin) in a new dnd campaign, very much based on the last unicorn and it’s more gothic themes. So this is very timely!🖤
i just realized im so used to seeing you in vintage/vintage inspired clothes that seeing you in modern clothes is like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs
I got to meet Peter on tour! He is so, so, so very kind of appreciative of the love his book gets. The line was so long and he must've been there far longer than his contract stated, but he didn't leave any fans wanting. Everyone got anything they wanted signed and pictures. He is precious.
I got to meet him as well! He was just the sweetest man.
You can't fathom how MUCH I love unicorns, and your channel. So having both together is amazing.
PBS has a channel with a show called 'Monstrum' that covered unicorn mythology only a little before Kaz did!
The unicorn was one of the first animals I learned how to draw as a pre-teen. I subsequently drew unicorns All. The. Time.
Also, I met Peter S. Beagle at a book signing event. We had a short but pleasant conversation, and he was very kind to everyone there.
I also made lots of unicorns. And figured they should occasionally have something go wrong so their horn forms in the wrong spot occasionally.
Peter Beagle came to our theater for a special screening and it completely sold out. I was very impressed by how popular it was.
To be honest, a Unicorn makes more sense than a Bone Eating Snot Flower, and that’s a thing…makes more sense than a platypus too, and those little weirdos are everywhere. Love your horn headdress Kaz, loved this video so much :)
When my guide pointed out the frog in the unicorn tapestries no one in my group was hyped as I was about it so I’m so glad you mentioned it here because I love that little guy!!!
Ok so the "covering the potatoes" part of their history is my favoite part of those tapestries. Something so beautiful and precious being used so mundanely then returned to glory. Its a beautiful story
There's an interesting story behind the '80s "unigoat". The neo-Pagans Oberon and Morning Glory Zell speculated that many of the goat-like unicorns shown in Medieval art might in fact have been artificially created by simple surgery, rather than by grafting. When goats are young their horns aren't actually attached to their skulls, so if the horn buds are attached together, they grow into a single horn which secures naturally to the skull as it develops. The Zells experimented (using necessary topical anesthetics, etc.) and found that it worked, creating a small herd of unicorn goats. They were a beloved fixture on the Renaissance Faire circuit during the late '70s.
Watching "The Last Unicorn" is a christmas staple here! No christmas without unicorns. One of the best anime ever :)
I’ll have to look it up… I’ve never heard of it
Same here. Also, german tv deliveres each christman.
The movie is currently on Tubi
Kaz, you have my heart. Ugh. My mum raised me on movies like Legend and The Last Unicorn, and now as an adult I'm a huge history nerd. This video is a perfect mix of everything I needed today. Thank you🖤
You mention Legend and I immediately hear “Loved By the Sun”. ❤
I've recently come to accept that I'm still a horse girl to this day, so this is some uncanny timing. The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite stories.
Oh hey, PBS did a thing on unicorns about 5 months ago (and it turns out, another one about 2 months before that!)! I highly suggest watching both that one, and this one! They both have information that the other does not - which I love! More unicorn facts! And Kaz is always here to give us the juicy inside details! (Thanks for all your hard work, if you see this Kaz! I never want to stop learning, and you always keep it kinda light-hearted and funny where you can, which I appreciate. Also? A+ outfit at the end! Absolutely stunning!)
To note: The SAG-AFTRA strikers have specifically said that avoiding their media HURTS THEM and does not help at all!! If you avoid watching and engaging with things they're in, then they lose money and the people who don't want to pay them go "Look, no one is watching your stuff, so why pay you?" There's more than a few detailed posts about it on tumblr, though things are hard to find on tumblr, so I'm sure you could check my facts elsewhere on the internet (like SAG-AFTRA's specific page on tumblr - though no doubt they have pages elsewhere online, but I avoid most social media.)
Video essays like this are just infodumping with a better production value and honestly, hell yeah
The Noah story about unicorns has sat in my head for years. A priest fr used it in a sermon one Sunday.
Are you talking about the song sung by some Irish guys about Noah loading the ark but the unicorns were too busy playing to get on in time?
@@annbrookens945 wait you mean to tell me my priest lifted lyrics from a song by some Irish guys? Because that's exactly what he said.
.Is that the Shel Silverstein song? We sang that in elementary school and the music teacher told us about a really beautiful recording of it by an Irish tenor, but I never looked it up. Maybe I will now.
@@andrewtime2994 this story is getting wilder by the day
@@andrewtime2994 update: yes, this is at least the general vibe this priest was giving. Mind you it was nearly 20 years ago and I was very little so I can't remember whether he was reading verbatim or taking creative license with some prose. Will check out the song soon
I got to meet Peter Beagle when he did a promotional tour. He told me a little story when he signed the book and I was instantly as transfixed as I was when I saw the movie as a child. He's a beautiful storyteller and beyond gracious.
Oh also, as a very quirky early 2010s teen, I wrote and presented a speech in my 11th grade French class that was about unicorns and where they came from for a speech project we had. I had some jokes in it in the last couple explanations stating unicorns missed Noah’s ark or just gained some weight and are actually rhinos. I then learned our French teacher had signed us up to take our speeches to a large speech competition so I had to make this ridiculous speech to super serious French judges, which was pretty stressful bc I’m very socially anxious yaay. Didn’t win anything but they liked it at least apparently lmao.
I'm literally working on a DND campaign where the player has to guard a Dragon Unicorn hybrid, in a world where all the dragons are gone. Took a lot of inspo from Last Unicorn. This couldn't have come at a better time
I found "The Lore of the Unicorn" in middle school and it was like my new Bible. So tickled to hear it mentioned.
As an elder millennial, my obsession with unicorns started at a very early age largely fueled by She-ra and My Little Pony. "The Last Unicorn" was the first animated film I'd watched with a curse word 😅. The movie "Legend" practically traumatized me (also my first encounter with Tim Curry). I appreciate your video!
Swift Wind!
Team Pinkie Pie!😊🎉🎉🎉😂
"The Last Unicorn" is one of my favorite novels of all time. It was a great honor to have met Peter S. Beagle at a reading he was doing. In "The Last Unicorn" there are so many exquisite phrases, unique similes and metaphors, and insightful observations. Many quoted here: The introduction to the novel, the unicorn's regret, being full of tears, and hunger, and the fear of death. "...she could feel herself bending under the heaviness of knowing their names." "...the tiny, dry sound of a spider weeping." And Molly Grue:
“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."
It's been my favourite book for over 30 years. And re-reading this part just made me cry today.
Dude, just reading this and I'm crying.
I remember finding a book at the library that was an anthology of unicorn stories, each with beautiful black and white cover illustrations. I can’t for the life of me remember it’s name but I still think of it with longing from time to time. We really are all still captivated by this magical beastie
Omg, I think I’ve read that book too (also found at library), I recognized your description immediately! I don’t know the name either anymore 😢 but I’ll probably end up on a monster search before long now that you’ve reminded me. I used to think of it as a sort of companion to E. Nesbit’s collection of stories The Book of Dragons (though she didn’t write the unicorn one). Hope a copy crosses your path again!
@literaterose6731 reminds me of a childhood picture book I read about a girl/princess who had long blonde hair with pastel streaks and a unicorn friend or maybe many, and her hairbrush was a main theme. wish I could remember it's name.
Your anecdote sounds like a unicorn story itself. A brief encounter of something beautiful that leaves you forever pining to recapture the moment.
@@lunaskisses OMG your comment sent me on a nostalgia search for a book starring a dragon i remembere loving as a kid. The search turned up Serendipity books (some of which i still own), The Knight and the Dragon, sevral other related books i loved as a kid and totally forgot about. Ultimately i found Winne the Lovesick Dragon by Mercer Mayer (who also wrote all of the Little Critter books, which i also still have, one on casset tape) and i will now have to aquire a copy. All that to say Thank You for reminding me of that and i bet you could find the book youre remembering as well
There was a unicorn short story compilation I was OBSESSED with as a kid and the edition I had also had some beautiful black and white illustrations in it. It was A Glory of Unicorns compiled by Bruce Coville. I still think about the one story where the girl rips down all her unicorn posters after meeting a real unicorn in her backyard.
Kaz Rowe tackling mythical monsters and their related cultural history? christmas for monster nerds like myself have arrived early! Hope you do similar videos on other such creatures, like the turn-of-the-century hoopla behind the Loch Ness Monster or the wild fantasy beasts created by American lumberjacks, Paul Bunyan included if need be.
SECOND! Nessie was my unicorn as a kid, would love a video from Kaz on them.
It's sad-funny... I see Unicorns in folklore as fundamentally representing "that which is too pure for this corrupt world." It's almost baked in, like how virtually every Medieval tale has humans luring a Unicorn to its doom with a deceptive illusion of purity. Even their arguable corruption at the hands of capitalism reinforces this theme. Unicorns are too good for us, and we continue to prove it.
Except in Gravity Falls. Its unicorns are one of my favorite jokes in the series. 😀
The fate of the Unicorn in T.H. White's, "The Queen of Air and Darkness" is pretty grim.
The set dressing and costume for this video is very on point. 🦄
With the addition of the horn, Kaz looks like she should be a member of the Golden Dawn.
The final costume change is gorgeous and beautifully lit (luminous; like an illustration by Jean Giraud, aka Mœbius).
Thanks for another entertaining and informative presentation.
Your "railroad conductor" fit reminded me more of the bisexual panic over the Mummy cast than anything else LMAO
Kaz uploads >>>>
i recently did a fair amount of research about unicorns because of a project ive been working on for over a year now and it always amazes me how in comparison to dragons, the other traditional western fantasy icon, unicorn stories generally remain the same. they're this untouchable icon that lives in an enchanted forest, a symbol but not really a character. they're meant to represent something but in the old stories, never have any agency of their own
The other night as I was falling asleep I had a random thought about unicorns. What if unicorns aren't what we think? What if it's not a horn but a shell, and it's just a bizarre coincidence of convergent evolution that these creatures are the exact size and shape of horses when they're actually giant snails that can fully contract into their shells, can extend their eyes out on stalks, and are absolutely covered in slime?
The last unicorn fit is giving me life it’s so iconic🦄✨
this feels like an excuse to skip my math class ngl
Unicorns are forever. Math is for people. Bail on math 😂
that bit about the last unicorn explains where my existential anxiety came from lmfao. really great video as always, i love you outfit choices too
I work at Starbucks but I missed the Unicorn Frappuccino by like a year. I'm so thankful I was not working there at the time because partners who WERE and I have asked about literally described it as if they were in the trenches at war. One partner I asked about it, he kind of stared off for a moment, buffering, before telling me the tale.
i find it so interesting that the last unicorn and stardust were both mentioned sequentially. i had no idea that the stardust novel had a unicorn in it, as i’ve only seen the movie, but both stardust and the last unicorn were shown to me by the same person, for whom they were absolutely formative pieces of media. i think it’s really cool that they had this deeper link that i never knew about, as though they belonged together all along (even beyond the superficial similarities in tone and vibes).
Love the Lady Amalthea look. Mommy Fortuna's death is due to hubris, not so much greed. But she knew that her end laid in the harpy, but accepted it because of the vanity of being the only which to hold a harpy, and then a unicorn in a cage.
This video references so many of my personal experiences.
Peter S. Begal was a family friend that I met a number of times. He was a genuinely good person. When I was a kid, I spent a weekend at his place with his kid about the same age. It was filled with an amazing amount of animals. Horses, dogs and cats lived outside. Inside, there were so many caged animals that the cages were stacked floor to ceiling. At night, he took out a nocturnal marsupial and let it walk around.
Later, living near San Francisco, he was invited to read at a writing group called "Writers with drinks. I had a trans woman MC and had lots of GBLT writers and audience. Peter, who was by then borderline elderly and straight, said, "I was the oldest person there and probably the straightest person there. They seemed so worried that they might say something that would offend me. So I said, "I'm a quarter sexual. I will do anything with anybody for a quarter." Silly as the joke is, it had the desired effect of getting the folks around him to relax.
I also saw the uni-goat and knew the guy who created The unicorn/one horned goat. He was Oberon (AKA Otter) Zell, founder of a neo-pagan group (now basically gone) called "the Church Of All Worlds." He had grafted the two horns of an ordinary goat together to create what he called a unicorn. You are not alone in not approving of this. Somebody called him a"A goat mutilator," which seems over the top to me. But I have no idea if the process was painful for the goat or not.
I also saw the unicorn tapestries at the wonderful met closure museum in Manhattan. But That is not the only one.I saw unicorn tapestries in Paris, too, so apparently these were not the only one created. If that many still exist, even more of them were probably made.
Anyway, thanks for the unicorn walk down unicorn memory lane.
Peter Begal is still alive but now truly elderly.
Older writers got screwed by a law passed by Ronald Reagan. Prior to that, businesses were taxed upon merchandise only at the time of sale. But this so called anti-tax crusader had the changed to that it was taxed over and over based on the value of the stock. So they had strong incentive to scrap anything that wasn't selling quickly, which older books generally do not. So they lost a lot of the royalties that were supposed to have been their retirement plan. So do him a favor and buy some of his books.
I'd love to hear about ghost trains in a video sometime! The history of trains is very interesting, and ghost trains are surprisingly common. My mom even has a story of her own that her aunt told her!
Good suggestion!
Great suggestion!!
The historical evolution of unicorn folklore is an interesting topic indeed, I have also read Chris Lavers' "The Natural History of Unicorns" which is a highly fascinating book - yet much of the information in this video is still new to me. I'm as always impressed by your ability to dig up new and obscure information about topics I used to think I knew inside out Kaz! And you look as amazing as always, being able to successfully pull off many different fashion styles while adding your own unique twist to them.
No! I was actually admiring the outfit, I didn’t get conductor at all!
Someone else I watch has a similar harness but she always super dresses it up which I’d rarely ever have a reason to do so I was like, ooh over a button down is a great styling😊
22:35 22:38 If the family de La Rochefoucauld acquired the tapestry in the 1680s, then it must have been François VII (and not V, as Kaz said) de La Rochefoucauld (or even François VI, who died in 1860) who owned it, seeing as François V died in 1650.
I love this video though! I did not expect to learn about the history of unicorns today. You made my day!
Interestingly, the modern depictions of unicorns also include wings like the other mythological horse pegasus. I wonder when those two fused together. This video reminded me of growing up watching the original 80s My Little Pony series ❤
..where it only became a thing in the 4th generation. Unipegs were only used by fake pony brands before, to stand out. And when it became a thing in merchandise and media I do not know but I guess it was a try to look even more special. Possibly as unicorns had become something mundane, just a horse with a horn instead of its own mystical being. Interesting to see who started the wing design..
@@ruzi.the.spider I appreciate that in D&D a winged unicorn is just a celestial unicorn, 'celestial' is a descriptor for everything that lives in a heaven.
I’ve never read the book, but love the movie of “The Last Unicorn.” It was my all time favorite movie for years when I was very little(5-8ish). My siblings thought it was creepy and scary. Every time we’d go to Block Buster I’d pick it and watch it on repeat. I love the deep dive on unicorns. I’m not a unicorn lover, but a lover of that particular story for sure. Outside of that story I was never interested in unicorns at all, even for my kids.
I think you’d love the book truly! And I think your kids may too!
So excited to learn about unicorns, I found your channel recently, and you make learning fun again! ❤
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Even before seeing The Last Unicorn as a kid, I'd heard the 1968 folk single The Unicorn by The Irish Rovers with lyrics by Shel Silverstein, so my first unicorn story was that they missed the boat in Genesis and drowned in the flood 😂
I love weird unicorns. The subspecies featured in medieval bestiaries are such a delightful mix of adorable and grotesque 🤣 great topic
You have such a knack for storytelling and for identifying how ancient symbolism reveals truth about even modern incarnations. Loved this.
This is the wording I was looking for!! Such a beautiful mix of accident and modern.
Bruce Coville (I believe, books aren't right by me and I sometimes mix authors, I'll edit if incorrect) is the author of the unicorn series that introduced me to the genre as a kid. I had two copies with different artwork for some reason, and in my late teens my mom got rid of one and I'm still devastated. I can only hope that wherever she donated it to, it managed to find another future fantasy fan and got them started on their glorious journey
Oh! Was it The Unicorn Chronicles? I loved that series!
I love when someone quotes the last unicorn….you have my heart.
As a translator this unlocked a new fear in me. Imagine translating a SUPER important book, getting your translation wrong and accidentally create a mythical creature that exists for centuries to come. 🥴
oh, i did not realize how unicorns and lions were connected throughout history? i just thought C. S. Lewis was as unhinged as usual when he put that whole wrestling scene between them with the cake in the Through the Looking Glass book... which horrifically burned itself into my memory thanks to the the 1982 soviet cartoon series (which i adore and artistically made me the weird adult i am today)
Through the looking glass is by Lewis Carroll btw. C.S Lewis wrote Narnia
reminds me of how long it took me to realise that Upton Sinclair and Sinclair Lewis were 2 different authors@@theoddbox
Do you mean Lewis Carroll, because I can’t remember Aslan fighting a unicorn? And I thought that scene was something to do with how England and Scotland are always fighting each other (being of mostly Scottish descent but with an English family name, I heard about that sort of stuff a lot even as an American)
@@theoddbox I do get those two confused ! Both of them were unhinged story tellers. But I do wanna point out that CS Lewis (Irish protestant) vs. Tolkien (English Catholic) is the last really good religious debate. I love reading their letters debating on religion and the power of fantastical storytelling derived from one fantastical story that is supposed to be true (the resurrection)
this is bizarre i was thinking the other day about how interesting it would be to do a deep dive on the history of the unicorn, specifically from you, and here it is!
i’ve always been intrigued by unicorns in medieval art, so this will be a fun one :)
The Last Unicorn always makes me cry. This was a great video. Thanks
While working on an art project in the 90's, my research uncovered an article about the Lascaux cave paintings Unicorn. It may have been a typo as the animal they referred to had 2 horns, but I found another in the photo that looked like a Unicorn. 🦄
I had a friend in grade school who wrote a speech on how unicorns USED to exist but went extinct and godspeed to her 😂😂😂 fascinating video though, very interesting and your storytelling is fantastic!
german here! caesar was right, there used to be tons of unicorns roaming the german forests (especially the Schwarzwald area) but they have unfortunately been hunted to extinction :(
Yes exactly, that is why we do not want any hunting or littering turists here in the deeper forest of Odenwald. No unicorns left, no no no, nothing here, especially no dragon called Fafnir. Stay away everyone! ;)
Thanks so much for making this video! I am working on a fantasy story which heavily features unicorns and I had to do my own digging because this video did not exist yet. I'm so glad that you've made this so more people can learn about unicorns and what they have represented and feel inspired by them like I did. Unicorns just haven't been properly appreciated in recent years and I hope to see more unicorn appreciation from now on.
I’ve loved the last unicorn since I was very young and that’s mainly because it confused me and scared me. that goes for a lot of things in my childhood, salad fingers, Cyriak Harris, courage the cowardly dog… honestly I could go on for ages how much this made me love the weird, scary, and sometimes very existential side of everything in media.
Omg my dream video. I’m a medievalist obsessed w the last unicorn. THANK YOU KAZ.
The atmospheres you attain in your videos are always immaculate imo, but this last one just transported me to another realm 🥺
My unicorn story that cemented a lifelong love for them is The Firebringer Trilogy, which I need to go reread now-assuming I can find my copy. Cannot recommend it enough. It has an insane king, a bastard child prince who rebels against society, and so very much more. Oh and yes, all of those are unicorns. They also meet fauns, gryphons, and actual horses.
Kaz, I love both outfits you wear for this video! This was a well done rundown of the unicorn in fact and fiction over the centuries. I've been a unicorn fan for a large part of my 70 years.
I found a copy of The Last Unicorn on a drugstore paperback rack in 1968 when I was 15. I read that book numerous times over the next 4 years! Disappointingly, I never felt like the film version did it justice. In the 80s, I collected a number of nice unicorn ornaments, some of which I still have. I currently own a unicorn onesie; very cozy!
Been looking forward to this video! Your Amalthea cosplay is beautiful and I love your take on the character!
I was THAT unicorn freak as a child 😂 thank you for making my inner child happy 😊 ❤
Love the Unicorn Tapestries, I'd love to visit the Cloisters someday! Also the guy in The Last Unicorn wanting to own all the unicorns and coveting their beauty reminds me of Conan O'Brien and Bill Hader's Clueless Gamer "God of War" segment where they were making a joke like "look at this mythical creature, it's beautiful and has done us no wrong.... I want to wear it"
Professional level research, storytelling and moderate snark. Love it!
I want the last unicorn audiobook narrated by you, or any book for that matter, you voice and intanation are Incredible!
I remember learning about the unicorn hunt tapestry in high school. I was obsessed with the tapestry for its artistry!
I got a small copy from the one behind Kaz as a kid from a german medieval market and felt like I had known it forever. Then found out there are 2 sets of unicorn tapestries and am fascinated since, especially knowing one almost was forgotten rotting in an abandoned castle. They are precious!
I’ve heard that in the tales which involve the killing of a unicorn, those responsible for this innocent’s death are destined to a wicked death themselves. Dunno if medieval tales of unicorn hunts concur with this idea. Can’t help but recall T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, when in Book II Arthur’s nephews (still kids) decide to hunt a unicorn to prove their love of their wicked mother Morgause. They get a maiden girl from the stables and everything to properly capture it. It’s one of the most disturbing chapters of the novel. Ultimately they all faced horrible deaths in their old age.
I was not expecting LAD Amalthea and nearly swooned. So excited for this video!
Watching the movie Cabin in the Woods shows me that unicorns can be evil🦄🦄🦄
Lmao I remember that part❤
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One unicorn usage that has stuck with me is in T.H. White’s The Once & Future King, which showcases the young Orkney brothers killing a unicorn. It’s a bizarre mixture of Oedipal violence and a foreshadowing of Morgause’s ultimate fate.
Also, if you haven’t had the shock of seeing one, the white chocolate unicorns they make for Easter baskets look INSANE.
I read one T.H. White novel and wanted to commit suicide, it was so depressing. I often find people admire things that make my chronic depression stronger.
10:00 A Unicorn in Greek is called Monokeros (Μόνοκερως) meaning the one with one Horn. Rhinoceros on the other hand is the same as in English (Ρινόκερως) meaning the one with a horn on the nose and it's the actual animal we all know. There's no overlap to my knowledge.
I love all the history content, but what always gets me the most are your amazing outfits!!
the last unicorn is genuinely one of my favourites of all time. thank you for covering this! so interesting!!
I always loved unicorns but hated the unicorn craze of the 2010s. I could never explain why but now I have the words. Also, the last unicorn changed my brain chemistry as a child and is probably why I’m obsessed with dark, melancholic fantasy media.
when you mentioned the jackalope, you showed a picture of a wolpertinger! it's like a jackalope with wings
New favorite cryptid unlocked. He's a precious boy I would die for him. 😩 Mad scientists need to figure out how to create winged bunnies already.
he is a thing here in Germany and oroginated from a taxidermists joke, love them too @@KaiInMotion