The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K.

[1] It has sold more than six million copies[3] worldwide since its original publication, and has been translated into at least twenty-five languages (prior to the 2007 edition).

[5] It was recognized in 2024 as belonging to a "New Canon" of fantasy literature by Palgrave Macmillan, which published an academic study dedicated exclusively to it titled Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn: A Critical Companion.

Doubt and worry drive the Unicorn to travel through the land, discovering that humans no longer recognize her; instead they see a pretty white mare.

During her journey, she is taken captive by a traveling carnival led by the witch Mommy Fortuna, who uses magical spells to make regular animals appear as mythical creatures.

Schmendrick tells her that he is immortal and cannot make real magic unless he is mortal, and encourages her to continue her quest.

Following clues given to them by a cat, Molly, Schmendrick, and Amalthea find the Red Bull's lair, joined by Lír.

As they pass through the now-ruined town of Hagsgate, they learn that Drinn is Lír's father, who abandoned him to fulfill the prophecy.

Realizing that he has new responsibilities as king after seeing Hagsgate, Lír returns to rebuild it after accompanying Schmendrick and Molly to the outskirts of his kingdom.

He stated that though the idea for the novel was "just suddenly there", he also said that he had "read tons of fantasy and mythology" from childhood, and that his mother told him that he had shared a story about unicorns during a visit to one of the elementary school classes she taught.

[6][7] Beagle stopped working on this initial manuscript in 1963, stating that "[i]t was a dead end", but picked the project up again in 1965.

An MP3 CD, and as an eight-CD collector's set containing the audiobook on seven audio CDs and an exclusive interview with Beagle on the eighth was due to be released.

[13] [14] Connor Freff Cochran of Conlan Press was liable for financial elder abuse, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty in 2019.

[17] Beagle published a coda story to The Last Unicorn titled "Two Hearts" in the October/November 2005 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine.

[19] At the end of December 2008, Peter S. Beagle announced that he had written several new stories which were directly or indirectly linked to The Last Unicorn.

"The Green-Eyed Boy", which earlier appeared in the September/October 2016 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine, describes the early days of Schmendrick's apprenticeship under Nikos.

2017 saw the publication of a novella titled In Calabria, in which the appearance of a unicorn on a quiet Italian farm leads to upheaval, violence and death.

The voice actors include Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, René Auberjonois, and Mia Farrow.

[21][22] In addition, a live-action adaptation of the original book has been announced as in development for several years, but it is not clear what progress (if any) has been made towards production.

Peter S. Beagle wrote the script, which was a musical presented in collaboration with Pacific Northwest Ballet.