The unicorn is a legendary beast — associated with all things magical, beautiful and happy. The mythical rarity of this symbol of royalty has evolved over the years. It can be anything from a equine-like beauty to a term meaning someone special (i.e., “Bro, that girl is definitely my unicorn”).
We recognize the unicorn by its flawless white coat, long, spiraled horn and shimmering eyes. Scientifically, however, a unicorn is any animal with only one horn. By that account, there have been unicorn goats, cows and deer who grew their horn either by way of genetic mutation or by transplanting the horn buds to the center of the head. And let's not forget the unicorn's illegitimate child, the narwhale.
See also: 10 Unicorn Accessories to Sparkle Up Your Office
Commonly found in artwork at the forefront of a rainbow or battling a lion, the majestic unicorn exists in many places, spanning both Western and Eastern history. Here, we take a look at some of the most prominent unicorns in pop culture.
One of the earliest mentions of a unicorn was in the 5th century by Greek physician and historian Ctesias. He wrote about white, powerful creatures with red heads, dark blue eyes and singular, multi-colored, foot-and-a-half-long horns.
Unicorn experts (Double-thinking your "cool job" yet?) like Odell Shepard believe that Ctesias heard secondhand from Indian travelers, perhaps unwittingly describing rhinoceroses.
Other prominent historical figures who have been connected to or written about unicorns include Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Julius Caesar.
These unicorn tapestries are thought to be some of the most recognized legitimate unicorn art, and certainly some of the most beautiful tapestries to date.
Painstakingly handwoven in the Southern Netherlands from silk, wool and metallic threads, the seven hangings are known as “The Hunt of the Unicorn” or “The Unicorn Tapestries.” Each is about 12 feet tall. A monogram of the letters “A” and “E” is woven into the corners, but no one knows for certain what they stand for.
The La Rouchfoucald family of France owned the unicorn tapestries for a number of centuries. In 1923, John D. Rockefeller purchased them for more than a million dollars. He eventually donated the tapestries to the Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its value is inestimable.
"The Lady and the Unicorn" is a very similar series of six tapestries, woven in Flanders, and considered one of the greatest surviving works of the Middle Ages.
The Queen of England evidently wanted in on the sparkly unicorn obsession.
The explorer Martin Frobisher acquired the horn in northern Canada and gave it to the Queen when he returned from his journey. It came to be known as the “Horn of Windsor,” likely for the royal residence Windsor Castle.
Alleged unicorn horns during this time period were worth their weight many times over in gold and valued for their healing properties.
But years later, it was deduced that the unicorn horn is actually from a narwhal ... or is it?
The King James version of the Bible uses the word “unicorn” nine times. The term is used by Balaam, Moses, David, Isaiah and even God in the book of Job.
The original Hebrew word is “re’em,” which the actual translation is still a subject of debate among scholars today. None of the other modern versions of the Bible use the term, many replacing it with “ox.”
A tribute to unicorns would not be complete without the modern purveyor of fantastical creatures: Lisa Frank. The company was founded in 1979, and has since become a global franchise of colorful stationary and merchandise.
Markie the Unicorn was one of Lisa Frank’s classic characters, resplendent in all its rainbow glory. The original Lisa Frank characters continued to be favored throughout the spike in popularity during the '90s.
Although it premiered more than 30 years ago, The Last Unicorn is perhaps the most prominent unicorn movie yet produced. The 84-minute animated film is Peter S. Beagle's adaptation of his 1968 novel and is voiced by an A-list cast including Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, Christopher Lee and Angela Lansbury.
The storyline follows a beautiful white unicorn who searches for the rest of her breed, fearing she is, indeed, the last of the unicorns. Adventure ensues.
Upon its release, Variety praised the children's film for the voice talent, claiming that it significantly outshined the animation.
Other unicorn films include Unico and Nico the Unicorn.
Similar to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the IPU is a parody religion popular with atheists and religious skeptics. The unicorn is a paradoxical goddess, both invisible and pink.
The IPU's earliest documented reference was around 1990 in a Usenet atheist group discussion, then gained traction in 1994 from a digital bulletin board system at the University of Iowa.
“Once upon a time so far away
A unicorn was born one day in May
Keep Mystic with you, she’s a prize
You’ll see the magic in her blue eyes!”
Mystic the Unicorn was part of the Beanie Babies fad during the '90s — the first generation came out in 1994. There are six retired and three current iterations of Mystic, with varying degrees of iridescence and sparkle.
One of the ‘90s fondest childhood unicorns, albeit a minor one, Rapidash first appeared in Pokémon Red and Blue, the first U.S. game versions of the Japan-imported craze. Rapidash is one of the original 150 pokémon and the evolved form of Ponyta.
Fire runs down the back of this fire-type pokémon to form a mane and tail, burning anyone it doesn’t trust. It’s highly competitive and gallops at nearly 150 miles per hour.
Like unicorns, YouTube videos don't have to make sense in order to develop a viral following.
The four-minute cartoon documents the short-lived adventure of a lethargic unicorn, Charlie, as he journeys to Candy Mountain with Pink and Blue, two high-pitched, cloying unicorns.
Independent animator Jason Steele of production company FilmCow originally created the video in 2005 as a flash animation test — his mother likes unicorns. It was uploaded onto YouTube in 2006 by Geoff Swanson, where it rapidly gained attention. Two years later, FilmCow uploaded the same version, and together, the video has more than 83 million views.
Unicorns show up from time to time in games — consider Borderlands 2’s Butt Stallion. But the first unicorn to be a bona fide star in its own hit game hails from Adult Swim’s Robot Unicorn Attack. Somehow, we’ve gotten to a point where 20 to 30-year-old males are the target market for game with unicorns and sparkles. Progress?
The mega-popular side-scrolling online game was produced by Spiritonin Media and features the 1994 synthpop ballad “Always” by Erasure. It was later released on iOS and Android.
Sequels and parallels include Robot Unicorn Attack 2, Robot Unicorn Attack: Evolution, Robot Unicorn Attack Christmas Edition, Robot Unicorn Attack Heavy Metal and Retro Unicorn Attack.
There’s also a parody game featuring Nyancat — Nyanicorn.
Though the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic brand has widely taken over since it launched in 2010, each generation of kids since the '80s have their own version of the MLP. Unicorns are one of the types of ponies in the MLP universe — others include Earth ponies, Pegasus ponies and alicorns (unicorns that eventually sprout wings).
The first generation of MLP's unicorns were Moondancer, Sunbeam, Twilight and Glory, who is arguably the inspiration behind Rarity, the fourth-generation unicorn pony from Friendship Is Magic.
Following the viral popularity of regular horse masks in 2010, a white, dainty unicorn mask became available for purchase. The masks spawned an Internet meme, featuring photos of people in the masks performing everyday tasks.
But the real takeaway is that we're now closer than ever to actually being able to turn into unicorns.