Willow

A live action movie from 1988 produced by George Lucas and directed by Ron Howard about a young farmer named Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis), one of a hobbit-like people called Nelwyns, who is drawn away from his sheltered home to save Elora Danan, a baby girl with a destiny, from the evil Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) who would see her destroyed.

Willow is aided by the disillusioned master swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer), who has turned to a life of roguery, sorceress Fin Raziel (Patricia Hayes), who has been turned into a possum by Bavmorda, as well as two diminutive brownies Franjean and Rool. They are initially thwarted, but later joined, by the queen's daughter Sorsha (Joanne Whalley). As their journey continues, they face troubles and hardships beyond what any of them had imagined. Through it all, they find love, friendship, and wisdom. In the end we learn that the people we would never suspect are sometimes the bravest of all.

Notable for many reasons, including the use of dwarf actors as major characters, as well as one of the breakout films for Val Kilmer (who played the Jerk Jock, later Jerk with a Heart of Gold Madmartigan). Despite performing poorly at the box office it quickly became quite a cult film, if the books were any indication. The current reception is that it is a fun, enjoyable story with some great casting and was very well made for its time and still holds up well today.

This film has had three game adaptations: one in 1988 by Mindscape for the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS; two in 1989 by Capcom for the Arcade and NES. The Arcade one is a side-scrolling action game, while the NES game is more of an Action RPG.

There is also a trilogy of sequel novels by George Lucas and Chris Claremont. They do provide a great deal of additional Character Development, as well as World Building that the movie lacked.

Not to be confused with the Cute Witch from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the daughter of Will Smith.

"Llug: Not a woman! Madmartigan: Gentlemen, meet Llug."
 * Action Girl: Sorsha.
 * Adaptation Expansion: The NES game adds quite a bit to the story, as well as giving the title character a much greater focus since he's the only playable one.
 * Aerith and Bob: Madmartigan and Willow.
 * All There in the Manual: The novelisation added extensive back stories for half the cast, including Vonkar, and explains Sorsha's.
 * All Trolls Are Different
 * Animate Inanimate Object: In the last battle a stray bolt of magic turns an urn on legs into a moving creature that Willow briefly fights.
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: "I'm the greatest swordsman who ever lived!" He may well be, too.
 * Badass: Madmartigan. Among his deeds we have him.
 * Baleful Polymorph: Finn Raziel has fallen victim to this. She changes shape several times over the course of the film.
 * This is pulled on the good guys' entire army near the climax.
 * Berserk Button: Played for laughs when Llug discovers Madmartigan's true gender.

"Llug: Wanna BREED? Madmartigan: Tempting, but... no."
 * Llug then spends the entire barfight continuing his rant. Hilarious.
 * Big Damn Heroes: When Rool & Fanjean.
 * Billing Displacement: Warwick Davis gets third billing, despite playing the main character.
 * Body Horror: We are treated to simply delightful shots of the army's hands morphing into pig hooves.
 * Bond Villain Stupidity: Justified. Elora is just a baby, and is born in captivity. They don't just kill her because she'll be reborn elsewhere. Instead, Bavmorda plans to use the Ritual of Obliteration to banish her soul from the world permanently.
 * Born-Again Immortality: Elora has this power.
 * Capulet Counterpart: Sorsha.
 * Character Title
 * Chekhov's Gun: Subverted in the magic acorns; although Willow tries to use them in several situations, and they work, he is unlucky and misses against everything but the Big Bad, who is powerful enough to shake off the effect.
 * Chekhov's Skill: The pig trick. Willow actually screws it up when he tries to perform it for his fellow Nelwyn at a festival, but later succeeds.
 * To be fair, he actually succeeds in the pig trick - it's the pig itself that gives the trick away.
 * The Chosen One: Elora Danan is prophesied to bring about Bavmorda's end.
 * Contemptible Cover: The DVD release doesn't use the well-made movie poster for its artwork, but rather a rushed clip job featuring Willow doing an extremely cheesy "Ta-da!" flourish.
 * Dawson Casting: Inverted. Warwick Davis was 17-18, playing a father of two. Either a case of Dawson Casting, or Willow made all the wrong decisions in life...
 * Or Nelwyns just age slower than Daikinis?
 * Could just be a cultural thing. People started families much earlier in olden times. It's not like he had to drop out of school to take care of them.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen:.
 * Disguised in Drag: Madmartigan, in a hasty attempt to avoid the wrath of his paramour's husband. The trope is furthered by the husband's sudden lust for Madmartigan.

"Willow: Don't call me a peck! Mad Martigan: Oh, I'm sorry. Peck. Peck. Peck, Peck, Peck, Peck, Peck!"
 * Dissonant Laughter: When, she gives a laugh that's downright creepy, suggesting that, even if she was a good person, maybe her motives here weren't so noble.
 * Even without the novel's added backstory of the bad blood between them, what is explained in the movie is enough to give her a pass. Sometimes you can do things for noble reasons and still enjoy the vengeance it brings in the process.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Madmartigan. In his defense he was under the effects of a powerful love spell. And  was looking very hot at the time...
 * Later the roles are reversed when is very much taken by Madmartigan's battle prowess.
 * Door Step Baby: Elora Danan
 * The Dragon: General Kael.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: in the sequel novels.
 * Evil Matriarch / Evil Overlord: Bavmorda.
 * Expanded Universe: Three novels by Lucas and Chris Claremont.
 * Expy: A case can be made that all the characters are expys of ones from Lucas' previous Star Wars movies, but in a fantasy setting. Willow=Luke, Madmartigan=Han, Sorsha=Leia, General Kael=Darth Vader, Bavmorda=Emperor Palpatine and so on.
 * The Fair Folk: Cherlindrea and her fairies
 * Fanfare
 * Fantastic Slurs:

"Fin Raziel: (shocked at her own age) Has it been so long?"
 * "HELP!! THERE'S A PECK HERE WITH AN ACORN POINTED AT ME!!"
 * Flynning: Notably averted in Madmatigan's first fight scene.
 * Fiery Redhead: Sorsha
 * Foe Yay: Madmartigan and Sorsha. So. Much.
 * God Save Us From the Queen: Queen Bavmorda.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Airk's actor (Gavan O'Herlihy) was Brother Chuck Cunningham on Happy Days.
 * Also the Jerkass character, Brad, from Superman III.
 * And Madmartigan is Iceman.
 * Furthermore, Willow is Wicket the Ewok from Return of the Jedi.
 * So perhaps the main reason Willow was able to defeat Queen Bavmorda was because The Force was with him?
 * Years later, Warwick Davis returned to play a number of roles in Episode I, including an unnamed person seated in the tier above Watto at the pod races...wearing a blue costume, creating the momentary effect of "Willow goes to the pod races?," furthered by Star Wars.com creating a character page combining Willow and the unnamed spectator as an April Fools joke.
 * Heel Face Turn:.
 * Interestingly, both the novelization and Marvel Comics adaptation include a scene where Sorsha comes across her long lost father, who had been cursed by Bavmorda years ago.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Ethna, the midwife who saved Elora from certain execution after she was born and who eventually lost her life protecting the child. All this despite owing neither her mother nor the child any loyalty at all.
 * Heroes Want Redheads:.
 * Hobbits: The Nelwyn are basically halflings with the serial numbers filed off, being a collection of homebodies who live in burrows and tend to be shorter than humans. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, mind you.
 * The novels, perhaps actually inspired by the look of the actors, actually describes them with traits more often used in association with fantasy dwarves than hobbits/halflings: stocky, broad, and with impressive upper-body strength.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:.
 * Home, Sweet Home:.
 * Human Snowball: A rare live-action example.
 * Inept Mage: In a fashion, the High Aldwin. He admits to Willow that the bones he uses for prediction purposes are really useless, and he purely interprets them according to his own judgment. However, he does supply Willow with genuine magical artifacts.
 * Indy Ploy: Right at the climax, Bavmorda has Willow and Elora cornered. The only thing Willow can think of is to try and protect Elora . And it works.
 * Jerk Jock
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Madmartigan.
 * Large Ham: Bavmorda, so very much.
 * Lilliputians: Brownies
 * Love Potion: Well, dust, actually; and the love itself is unrequited.
 * MacGuffin: Elora Danan.
 * MacGuffin Escort Mission: Willow spends a lot time taking the baby places. First he takes Elora Danan to the Crossroads then to the Tir Asleen. With a few side trips to re-rescue her.
 * Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Sorsha.
 * Magical Incantation: Most magic which doesn't make use of some kind of object is of this type, and Willow is usually channeling it through Chelindria's wand. Strangely, it includes various ritual chants in its own language as well as English.
 * Magicians Are Wizards: Invoking this trope is Willow's main goal throughout the movie, struggling to transition from performing stage magic to real magic.
 * Meaningful Name: A clever one. Madmartigan claims he serves "no one". Later, he says he serves "the Nelwyn", which is very similar to "no one".
 * Mistaken Age: We are told that.
 * Mistaken Age: We are told that.

"Lug: Wanna breed? Madmartigan: Tempting, but... no."
 * Either that or, because she was in an animal form, she may have aged like an animal.
 * They should have picked up on it instantly - Bavmorda and were contemporaries.
 * Moses in the Bulrushes: Elora Danan very literal-- she is sent down the river in a basket and found in the rushes.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Madmartigan. He runs around with his shirt open.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero
 * Not Using the Zed Word: In an interesting twist, this is used on the humans, who are called Daikini.
 * Our Dragons Are Different
 * Our Fairies Are Different
 * Our Monsters Are Different
 * Papa Wolf: Willow is very protective of his children even Elora Danan.
 * Prophecy Twist: Elora Danan is prophesied to bring about Bavmorda's end. However.
 * And, of course, it also never would have happened if Bavmorda hadn't been trying to kill Elora because of the prophecy in the first place.
 * The Quest
 * Rage Helm: General Kael's skull-faced helmet.
 * Rasputinian Death:
 * Retreat! Retreat... Attack! Attack!: Madmartigan and Bavmorda's army run away from the two-headed dragon. Then Madmartigan realize he's with the the army. Then he runs back inside the castle where the dragon is, with the army chasing after him.
 * Road Apples: Well Troll Apples Madmartigan steps in some troll poop.
 * Romance on the Set: Val Kilmer and Joanne Whalley got married in real life after meeting on the movie. Their marriage lasted eight years and produced two children.
 * Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
 * Sexual Karma: Madmartigan Paper Thin Disguises himself as a woman to dodge an angry husband, only to catch the hulking oaf's eye (which is pretty darn chauvinist of him, considering he barged into the room in a jealous rage). Hilarity Ensues.

"Sorsha: You're no woman! (tears off Madmartigan's Paper-Thin Disguise wig) Lug: Not a woman! Madmartigan: Gentlemen... (smirks) Lug: NOT A WOMAN! Madmartigan: Meet Lug! (ducks) Lug: RRRAAARGH!"
 * It does work out for him when Sorsha shows up and He Needs A Distraction.

"General Kael: Destroy the beast! Find the baby!"
 * Skeletons in the Coat Closet: General Kael’s helmet.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": One could be forgiven if, when you were young, you thought his name was Martigan and everyone was just really conscientious of using his nickname.
 * Airk's name is basically pronounced as "Eric", or close enough to mistake for it.
 * Supporting Leader: Madmartigan.
 * Take That: George Lucas named General Kael after Pauline Kael, the New Yorker film critic who famously gave Star Wars a bad review.
 * The two-headed dragon goes unnamed in the film, but is referred to as the "Eborsisk," after film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
 * Taken for Granite: Willow's magic acorns can turn whoever touches them to stone. Also,
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Not content with.
 * Ultimate Evil: Bavmorda seems to follow orders from an unknown entity.
 * Bavmorda and Raziel were both servants of the spirits, Bavmorda just let her power go to her head.
 * The Unfettered: Villainous General Kael is utterly unfazed in the face of not only facing an arriving enemy army but a monstrous two headed dragon. They are simply obstacles to destroy.
 * Bavmorda and Raziel were both servants of the spirits, Bavmorda just let her power go to her head.
 * The Unfettered: Villainous General Kael is utterly unfazed in the face of not only facing an arriving enemy army but a monstrous two headed dragon. They are simply obstacles to destroy.


 * Unholy Nuke: Bavmorda wants to use a ritual whose end is to wipe the victim away from existence.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Madmartigan after.
 * "Well Done, My Daughter" Girl: Sorsha often seems desperate to impress her mother, who constantly insults and berates her.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Madmartigan calls this on Airk after the latter greets him eagerly when they find him in a tough situation, after Airk rather smirkingly left Madmartigan to die horribly in a cage.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Trolls: Before his adventure begins Willow expresses a deep fear of trolls. Lo and behold he ends up in a fortress crawling with them.
 * Wizard Duel: Between Fin Raziel and Bavmorda. Willow very briefly tries, but Bavmorda obviously is too powerful to combat.
 * X Meets Y: The Fellowship of the Ring meets The Book of Three.