What’s up my know-it-alls! In celebration of the brand new Willow series from Disney+, I’ve decided to put together a very special Know-It-All Files. Unlike the normal Files, where I answer questions, this one I’m actually going to talk a little bit about the subject. So we’re covering the original 1988 film Willow, plus a little bit about who the Nelwyn are, specifically our protagonist, Willow.
Willow is a 1988 American fantasy film directed by Ron Howard, produced by and with a story by George Lucas, and starring Warwick Davis. You may remember him from Star Wars fame. He played Wicket the Ewok. He also, for a short while, helped with R2-D2 when they needed him, filling in a little bit, but ultimately he did not play R2-D2, and I don’t want anybody thinking I said that directly. Alongside him you’ve got Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh and Billy Barty.
It tells the story of Willow Ufgood, a Nelwyn farmer who reluctantly finds himself drawn into a mission to save Elora Danan, a baby princess who’s been prophesied to bring about the downfall of Bavmorda, the evil queen who wishes to destroy her.
Man, you have no idea how funny Baby Know-It-All thought that was. She was like, Bavmorda? And I was like, yeah, totally. Those names back in the 80s. Tell me that’s not a bad guy name.
Our Own Mythology, Re-Wrapped
According to Lucas, the story of Willow is entirely mythical in nature, so it really doesn’t take place anywhere. He did say, however, that the story is set in roughly the third or fourth century BC.
Mrs. Know-It-All pointed out there’s a lot of commonalities, and I had said it’s kind of like a Christ type story. Mainly because Star Wars is always seen as what’s called Occidental mythology, which is mythology from the other side of the world. This one decided to kind of re-wrap our mythology here in the West.
So the story begins with an aspiring magician from a Nelwyn village and an infant girl destined to unite the realms, who together help destroy an evil queen and banish the forces of darkness.
How We’re Handling the Books
Willow Ufgood is the main protagonist of the film of the same name and of its novelized sequel series, Chronicles of the Shadow War.
When Disney bought Lucasfilm, the first thing they did was announce that a lot of the Star Wars material that had been considered extended universe, outside of the actual canon itself, which had originally been part of canon, was going to be called Legends. The idea was they could pick and choose from Legends what they wanted to reintroduce as canon proper.
I’m going to make an assumption that the books are going to be the same exact thing, unless you hear about them in the series. So Chronicles of the Shadow War, and some of the other books that came out shortly after the film and in the time between then and the series, are considered Legends within the Willow universe until you see differently from Disney. That’s how we’re going to handle it here on Mr. Know-It-All.
Who Willow Ufgood Is
Willow is a Nelwyn, born to the simple farming family of Schnorr Ufgood and Treeda. He was named for a fallen willow tree near the River Freen. He showed magical talents as an infant, and the High Aldwin declared that he was special upon his birth.
Most of the content you’re going to find online talks about a lot of the things that happened after, or in the book series. We’re going to stick to the movie itself.
So during the planting festival of the year 1342, years after Willow got married, he was one of the hopefuls the High Aldwin would choose from for his next apprentice. The High Aldwin asked his initiates to identify which finger held the power to control the world. Willow felt like pointing at his own finger, but not trusting his intuition, not having faith in himself, he chose one of the Aldwin’s outstretched digits.
Not long after, Elora Danan was rescued from the River Freen by his children. The village was afterwards raided by death dogs. Death dogs. Oh yeah, that’s a thing. The villagers were angry and looking for the one who caused the disaster. Willow wanted to keep the baby secret, but then it was decided that he should take the child to the Daikini crossroads, where she’d be given to a Daikini, a human.
The Road to Tir Asleen
Meegosh was going to accompany him. If this was Lord of the Rings, Meegosh would be Willow’s Sam. If Willow’s Frodo, then Meegosh would be Sam, in that he really went with him. Unfortunately, they didn’t really do much with that relationship in the film, but that’s okay.
The trek was lengthy, until they met a captive swordsman, Madmartigan, played by none other than a very, very rising star at the time, Val Kilmer. Willow gave him the baby, only to find her a short while later captured by mischievous brownies. Awesome. That’s one of Mrs. Know-It-All’s favorite scenes.
They led Willow to Cherlindrea of the forest, who explained the child’s fate: the future empress of Tir Asleen and vanquisher of the evil queen Bavmorda, whose forces were conquering all lands. The fairy tasked Willow with taking Elora to the sorceress Fin Raziel, held captive on an isolated island. She would lead them to Tir Asleen, where a great army awaited to repulse Bavmorda’s forces.
Willow soon crossed roads with Madmartigan again, who joined him in his quest. Eventually they found Fin Raziel, shifted into animal form by a spell that Willow was unable to dispel. Upon finding Tir Asleen, they discovered that it was cursed. No army waited to fight off Bavmorda’s forces. Tir Asleen was invaded, and ultimately Bavmorda’s forces took the baby.
The Trick That Finally Works
The survivors of Galladoorn, recently decimated by Kael’s army, arrived in time to join the team. They took the fight to Bavmorda’s castle keep at Nockmaar. As the battle raged, Willow restored Raziel and entered Bavmorda’s citadel. The two forces were engaged in a magical battle, and Willow rescued baby Elora Danan from the sacrificial altar using a really simple trick that he did early on.
You want to talk about threading the needle, and you want to talk about taking an opportunity to really work this thing. Early on he does the same trick, and you’re like, oh, it doesn’t really work, it doesn’t really work, whatever. And then ultimately to have it work here? Unreal. It was a wonderful moment, especially because for a split second Bavmorda’s like, there’s no way that you’re powerful enough to do that. Oh, it’s great. It’s chef’s kiss. Wonderful stuff.
Willow made it seem as if he’d teleported Elora to safety. Bavmorda lost control of her roiling spells and was consumed by her dark powers. With Bavmorda eliminated, the dark pall she cast over the world vanished. Raziel restored Tir Asleen, and Elora Danan was delivered to foster parents. Raziel gave Willow her book of magic, and Willow returned to the Nelwyn village.
So there you go. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. You’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.
The Verdict
Willow, the 1988 film, is a very good 8 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
Why isn’t it a nine or a ten? When the movie came out, I remember very clearly how it was seen. Everybody thought of it as hot off the heels of Star Wars, but there wasn’t any of that glitz and glamour. It’s a little more difficult to sell magic than it is to sell a laser sword.
Now mind you, the effects weren’t that great at the time in Star Wars either. I mean, they were mind-blowing and industry changing. But at the end of the day, they had to find a way to translate the magic of Star Wars into the magic of Willow, and it was something that didn’t really translate that well at the time.
Afterwards, Willow was on HBO and some other movie channels they licensed it to, and on TV it played once or twice. But for the most part, until it got on VHS and really hit the underground scene and became kind of a cult classic, it really didn’t get seen. So this is more of a resurgence, a resurfacing, a reawakening if you will, of the franchise.
I can’t wait to talk more about the series itself. Our review of the first two episodes of Willow, the new series from Disney+, drops the same day as this one. Don’t miss it.
What did you think of Willow from 1988, and do you remember where you were when you saw it? I’d love to know your thoughts. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
