Legend (film) - Plot

Plot

"Once, long ago" in a world of unicorns, fairies, goblins, and demons, the Lord of Darkness beseeches Mother Night for her protection, lamenting his isolation, exiled underground by an unseen force. He senses the presence of the Two Unicorns who safeguard The Power of Light, and bids his goblin servant, Blix, to find and destroy them. They are to bring him the horns, to create an eternal night of cold darkness, so he can roam the lands freely and ensure sunshine's warmth never returns to the realm of Light.

Mischievous Princess Lili goes alone to the forest to meet her friend Jack, a "forest child" who is teaching her the languages of animals. He takes her to visit the unicorns when the hidden goblins attack with a poisoned blowpipe dart, hitting the stallion. The unicorns bolt, and Jack thinks it's because of Lili, but she makes light of his fears and sets him a challenge by throwing her ring into a pond, declaring she will marry whoever finds it. Jack dives in, and the surface freezes because the unicorn has been wounded, causing the world to turn to ice. Jack breaks through the ice but Lili has gone. She hides from the rampaging goblins, but when she hears them crowing that her beauty "led the beasts to bay," she swears she will make it right, and goes after them. Jack and Lili embody the pure innocence of the male and female Unicorns of Light, suffering and overcoming alongside them.

Jack cannot find Lili but meets Honeythorn Gump (an elf), Oona (a fairy), Brown Tom and Screwball (two dwarves). They believe Lili is to blame for the world turning to ice, but agree to search together for her. They find the fallen stallion and his mate instead, and Jack tells them that the alicorn (the unicorn's horn) must be recovered for the world to return to normal. He is shocked when Gump tells him he must be their champion, and they leave Brown Tom to guard the unicorns while they get weapons for Jack.

Lili finds the unicorns, but the goblins attack again, and she is captured along with the mare. When she awakens underground, Darkness is enchanted with her and begins to seduce her. He tells her that her sins make her a perfect match for him, and she is disgusted at first. He tries to impress her with promises of shared power, glory, and immortality. Furious with herself and scornful of Darkness' arrogance, Lili pretends to be mesmerized and accepting of his displays of power. She is swept into a Dance with Darkness, transforming physically and psychologically from innocent to enchanted and confused to coldly ambitious, as Darkness showers her with lavish jewels, luxurious apparel and tables heaped with treasure. Darkness tells her there will never be another dawn because he will kill the unicorn by sunset; sunlight would destroy him, he says. She agrees to marry him if she can kill the mare, and he is ecstatic. Jack and his friends have found them and overhear, giving Jack the key to his demise. From the ghoulish wedding banquet preparations they take giant metal platters to design a sunlight mirror relay, or heliotrope, of the beams of light before it sets, as Lili and Darkness prepare to sacrifice the mare. But Lili frees the unicorn instead, and Jack attacks Darkness while the others relay the light of the setting sun to kill him. Darkness shouts that he can never be destroyed, claiming "I am a part of you all," just before he is blasted away by the light.

They emerge from the underworld under a starlit sky, but Lili is still under a spell. Gump restores the horn to the stallion, and as the world returns to normal, Jack dives into the pond again. When he puts the ring on Lili's finger, she awakens and gives it back to him. Jack invites her to return and runs off into the sunrise as the others wave goodbye.

The U.S. theatrical cut ends with Jack and Lili running off into the sunrise together. As Gump and his companions wave goodbye the shot fades to Darkness laughing one last time.