Magic is everywhere! “The Magician’s Elephant” is the story of Peter, an orphan raised by a soldier. In a life full of dangers and hardships, Peter finds his little magical world. This 2023 animated film showed Peter’s perspective on life. He knew there was much more to life, but his foster father, Vilna Lutz, wanted Peter to dedicate his life to being a soldier. Peter lived in Baltese, a town filled with happiness and magic, and people in this town enjoyed their lives until the Great Foreign War. People lost hope and began to think if life was worth living or not, and their disbelief covered the town with an eternal cloud cover that did not move. Gradually, Baltese could no longer experience the joys of sunlight. The whole town wanted things to change, and Peter was engulfed in this sorrow too until he came across a fortune teller who could answer all his questions, which were connected to finding his sister, Adele. But he had to make a difficult decision: If Peter had his questions answered, he would have to go without food for a day. Vilna gave him money to buy food, and Peter was ready to spend it for his own purposes. Peter had only one chance to ask a question because he had to exchange a coin for an answer. So, he had to be very careful because a single mistake could get him into big trouble. After analyzing the whole situation, he came to a conclusion and asked his final question.
Peter knew that he had seen his little sister as a child, but for some reason, Vilna lied and told him that his sister had died in childbirth. Peter asked the fortune teller to show him a way to find his sister, whereupon she simply told him to follow the Elephant. Peter was skeptical about the whole thing because Vilna would scold him for wasting the money. According to Vilna, innocence and convenience could corrupt a person’s mind, and these qualities would prevent him from becoming a strong and ruthless soldier. But things changed when Peter found the Elephant that would take him to his little sister and restore the missing balance of Baltese.
Spoilers Ahead
How Did Peter Find The Elephant?
The fortune teller didn’t provide any more answers, so Peter decided to look for her again, but the fortune teller was nowhere to be found. For a moment, it looked like Peter had a fairy godmother of his own. Meanwhile, the citizens of Baltese attended a Magician’s performance. He was not that good at his skills, but he knew that no one was interested in magic anymore. So, he tried to cast a powerful spell that would change his reputation throughout the town. But something went wrong, and a huge Elephant fell from the sky. The Elephant fell on Lady LaVaughn and paralyzed her. In a fit of anger, Lady LaVaughn locked up the Magician and the Elephant to punish him. As for Peter, he couldn’t believe that the fortune teller was right, but he had to save the Elephant from the death sentence because she was his only hope of finding Adele. So, Peter’s neighbor, Captain Leo Matienne, decided to help him rescue her. Leo came to the Countess’ castle to ask for her help and humbly asked her about the whereabouts of the Elephant. But, the authorities thought the Elephant was a criminal since she had appeared out of nowhere and the Magician could not find a way to send the Elephant back, so the authorities had decided to end their lives.
Leo had no choice but to meet with the king, who had never visited Baltese before. He knew that the Elephant’s story would bring the king to Baltese, and without another thought, the king immediately set out to experience the magical moment for himself. Both Peter and Leo knew that this was their only chance to see the Elephant. The king’s arrival helped Peter, and he was surprised to meet her because the Elephant was beautiful and very cooperative.
The King And His Tasks
The crowd began to rejoice in the beauty of the Elephant until it pounced wildly on the ground. The castle guards decided to attack her, but Peter noticed that there was something wrong with the Elephant’s eye. The castle workers painted on the Elephant which irritated her eyes but Peter carefully stepped towards the Elephant and helped her. The whole castle began to praise Peter, and the Elephant trusted him, so the Countess decided to appoint Peter as the Elephant’s keeper. But Peter refused to stay in the castle and wanted the Elephant to be free. The Countess refused to let the Elephant go free because it could be dangerous, but the king had other plans. He accepted Peter’s offer, but only in exchange for a tricky quid pro quo because he wanted Peter to perform three impossible tasks. After completing them, Peter would be allowed to take the Elephant with him. Peter’s first task sounded quite difficult, as he had to fight the king’s toughest soldier the next day. But Peter accepted the challenge and decided to take action. While Vilna kept Peter from exploring the world, Leo motivated him to become stronger. He knew that hope could be a good thing, as it led to changing the world. Now Peter had found a way to get his sister back, and Leo decided to give him the push that could help Peter stand up for himself.
The next morning, the whole town gathered at the castle to watch Peter’s fight. Peter had to fight with Sergeant De Smedt, but he suddenly realized that he was the soldier Vilna had spoken of. When De Smedt was young, he used to read a storybook that his mother had lent him. This helped the sergeant be calm and sensible in his battles. But Vilna decided to steal the book to make him a ruthless soldier. So, Peter escaped from the castle and sneaked into his house to find the book while De Smedt tried to look for him everywhere. Peter managed to show him the book, and he won the battle. The sudden nostalgia caused De Smedt to revert to his old self. This time, De Smedt knew that he had made many mistakes in the past, and he chose to make a change for the better.
Adele’s Pursuit For The Elephant: How Did Peter Complete The Final Tasks?
The story introduces Adele, Peter’s little sister. She is housed safely in an orphanage with Sister Marie, but every night Adele dreams about Elephants, and she knows that this dream has a great meaning for her life. She found out that an Elephant had appeared in Baltese, and Adele wanted to see her as soon as possible. So, she managed to convince Sister Marie to let her visit. Sister Marie and Adele arrived at the castle and witnessed Peter’s challenge with the second task. The king had asked Peter to fly like a bird and thus Peter climbed on the roof and decided to jump. Fortunately, Peter had a parachute attached to his bag, which he used to fly. The king was impressed, and Peter exceeded the king’s expectations. While the whole town cheered for him, Adele also cheered for Peter.
When everything was back in order, the king announced the third and final task. Peter had to make the Countess laugh, as she was famous for her grumpy mood. But people began to disperse, thinking that Peter would never complete this task. Meanwhile, the competition didn’t matter to Adele; she approached the Elephant and began to talk to her. Adele noticed that Peter was doing the same. They eventually began to communicate, but Peter could not talk to Adele for a long time because Sister Marie interrupted their conversation and took Adele away.
The next day, Peter failed to complete the third task and couldn’t make the Countess smile, but he did not want to continue the task anyway because he knew that the Elephant was sad to have left her family behind. He wanted her to return home and asked the king to help her. But the king did not listen to him and wanted to take the Elephant by force. Fortunately, the fortune teller came and stopped everything. With the help of her magic dust, the Elephant sneezed and drenched the king. This helped Peter to complete the task, as the Countess laughed, and the king decided to hand over the Elephant to Peter.
‘The Magician’s Elephant’ Ending Explained: How Did Peter Find His Baby Sister?
Peter completed the task and decided to send the Elephant back, and the Magician was the only one who could send her back. But, the Magician lacked confidence and knew that his spells would fail. The Magician was demotivated because people did not believe in him, but now the whole town depended on him to send the Elephant home. This time the Magician was confident, and he had to make things right. So, Peter, Vilna, and the whole town marched to find the right spot for the Magician to cast his spell. Luckily, Adele spotted them from the window and requested Sister Marie to accompany them because she was ready to leave the city with Adele. She had to decode the meaning behind her dream because Adele always followed the Elephant in her dreams. Eventually, Sister Marie agreed, and they decided to follow the Elephant. Once they arrived at the right location, the Magician began to use his spell, and for this magic to work, people had to believe in it, and this time the whole town knew that the Magician’s magic would work, and he sent the Elephant back successfully. But Peter’s search for Adele acted as a beacon, giving the town back its lost hope and belief in magic, which led the clouds to disperse, and after what felt like an eternity, Baltese saw the sunlight again.
Eventually, Vilna and Sister Marie recognized each other, and Adele was back home once again. In the past, Sister Marie had no choice but to save Peter or Adele. She could not take care of them herself, and the war made it impossible to save the children. So, Vilna decided to take Peter with him and leave Adele with Sister Marie. All these years, Vilna thought Adele was dead, while Sister Marie thought Peter had lost his life. “The Magician’s Elephant” has a beautiful message and shows that although life brings difficult challenges, hope can solve everything. You have to believe and have hope to make things work, and Peter proved that finding his sister was not impossible. Leo and his wife Gloria adopted Adele and Peter, while Vilna and Sister Marie decided to live with them too. Meanwhile, the Elephant was reunited with her family, and even though she missed Peter, the Elephant knew that she had made a great friend for herself in the human world.
