- "Vale of the Unicorns" redirects here. For the location, see Vale of the Unicorns (location).
"Vale of the Unicorns" is the eighteenth episode of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. It is a character episode for Moondance. Its international titles include Catalan "La vall dels unicorns", German "Das Tal der Einhörner", French "La Vallée des licornes", Portuguese "La Vallée des licornes", Russian "Приключение единорогов", Serbo-Croat "Staza jednoroga", and Spanish "El valle de los Unicornios".
The unicorns, the most magical animals in Avalon, are in danger. Sierra, the Queen of the Unicorns, is missing and a successor must take her place. The leadership must fall upon one of her relatives. Moondance, a daughter of Sierra, must go to the magical place and preform a series of tests to determine whether she should become the new Queen. The Jewel Riders journey to learn about the mysterious secret of the unicorn magic. Moondance must choose where her loyalties lie, becoming the new Queen or staying with her best friend, Fallon.
Plot summary
On some rocky seashore somewhere outside Avalon, the evil witch Morgana appears to force Sierra the Unicorn Queen to walk the Path and retrieve the Unicorn Jewel, which is apparently one of the Wizard Jewels. But Sierra walks off the Path on purpose and mysteriously vanishes to not allow Morgana to get the jewel.
Now without a ruler, all the unicorns are summoned to the titular Vale of the Unicorns to observe or participate in a series of trials. Shadowsong, being the resident unicorn who does not live with the Jewel Riders in New Camelot, has the honor of summoning Moondance, Sunstar, and Cleo from the Crystal Palace to the Vale. The Jewel Riders accompany them and arrive too.
At the Vale, Sunstar’s father explains that, with Sierra missing, the descendants of the first unicorn have to undergo the trials in order to become the new unicorn monarch. The participants are Violet, Toriel, Kiernan, and Moondance. Unfortunately, none of the unicorns can have magical help of any sort, so Moondance has to give up her Moon Stone during the trial. And if Moondance succeeds, she has to quit being Fallon’s mount, to Fallon's despair.
Moondance undergoes the trial in a labyrinth filled with Indiana Jones style deathtraps and invisible paths. Kiernan decides to follow Moondance the whole way, because he thinks that is the easiest way to survive. Moondance helps him when he nearly falls off the invisible path.
Meanwhile, the Jewel Riders decide to figure out what happened to Sierra. So they check out the Path, which apparently sends unicorns who fail to walk it correctly into the Wild Magic. The girls summon the Gliders to send them into the Wild Magic, where they find not only Sierra but also an another version of the Path. By this time, Moondance and Kiernan have reached the actual Path, and they decide to walk it together.
But then Morgana attacks and forces them to retrieve the Unicorn Jewel. Moondance and Fallon help each other walk the path, the Jewel Riders and Sierra escape from the Wild Magic, and Moondance uses the Unicorn Jewel to fight off Morgana.
Unfortunately, after the battle, it seems that Kiernan and the jewel are lost to the Wild Magic. But then Kiernan shows up with the jewel, thus proving that he can be a decent Unicorn King in the future. Sierra gives the Unicorn Jewel to the Jewel Riders to help them out on their quest to vanquish evil.
Behind the scenes
Original script
- Main article: Vale of the Unicorns (script)
Avalon: Web of Magic connections
- The plot of this episode is basically Cry of the Wolf, in which Stormbringer is summoned to Aldenmor, and Adriane follows her. Adriane and Stormbringer even communicate mentally in the same way as Moondance and Fallon.
- Sierra shows up in Avalon as a human mage who lives outside Carlsbad, New Mexico. She helps the mages hide a herd of unicorn foals in Song of the Unicorns.
- Violet shows up in Song of the Unicorns as one of the unicorn foals.
- Song of the Unicorns also contains a subplot concerning the selection of the new unicorn prince/princess.
- Two Unicorn Jewels show up in Avalon. Kara is equipped with one, and the wishing Power Crystal she finds is shaped like a unicorn horn. The latter is more similar to the one in this episode.
- The Practice Web at the Unicorn Academy is similar to the Path. Both are crystal pathways that lead into the Wild Magic / Magic Web.
Media
External links
