The "Girls Underground" Archetype Continued

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	Legend movie Lily, a young woman, is brought in touch with the Otherworld after she stupidly touches a unicorn, which is sacred, and brings the death of one of the unicorns and eternal winter upon the world. The clocks freeze. She is almost immediately separated from her companion and lover, Jack (and his companions, the fairies), and must navigate the strange forest herself, in search of the castle of Darkness, her nemesis. His goblins have captured the other unicorn and plan to cut off its horn, which will let Darkness rule the world. Once she arrives at the castle, Darkness woos her, but she refuses him. However, he hypnotizes her with a lilting song and dance, and she begins to forget herself and become what he wants. Finally, he puts her in a position to show her loyalty by killing the second unicorn, but at the last minute she frees it instead, to the relief of Jack and the fairies.
	The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope Kate, a young woman, is banished to a faraway castle because of her sister's stupidity. Once there, she learns the family secret: the lord's daughter "fell" into the Holy Well and disappeared, and the lord's younger brother was blamed for it. However, she slowly discovers that in fact the little girl was taken by the Fairy Folk who live beneath the well, to pay their teind to the gods. The brother, Christopher, agrees to take her place and is led underground to be kept until his death, and Kate is also imprisoned because she knows too much (and is caught by the enemy - her stupid mistake). Her adversary is the Queen, the Lady in the Green, who tempts her with a drug that will erase her pain. But Kate refuses, determined to rescue Christopher before he is killed. The Queen eventually becomes almost fond of her and invites her to stay with the Fairies forever, then tries to hypnotize her so she will not spoil the ritual. But Kate tricks her, finds her way through the labyrinthine tunnels, and saves the day, winning Christopher's heart along the way.
	Guardian's Key by Anne Logston Dara, a young woman, deliberately enters an Otherworld (a magical keep) in search of the magical ability she needs to win her lover. She meets and befriends a couple of denizens of the keep along the way to finding the mysterious Oracle, hidden somewhere in the myriad landscapes within. She is specifically guided and helped by the wise and powerful Granny Good. Dara and her companions must evade the dark and beautiful Lord Vanian and the less pleasant residents of the keep. However, little by little Dara changes her feelings about Vanian. At one point, she eats some plums that erase part of her memory. Near the end, she comes to a replica of her own home and is so comforted that she almost forgets her quest and stays there. She also gets glimpses of her love through a magical mirror, but begins to realize that he is not worth the trouble. Time runs much more quickly here, and in the "real world" over a year has passed since she arrived. The final showdown is more with herself than with Vanian, when she realizes what she's had inside her all along. This book is very similar to the movie Labyrinth, but unlike it and every other example because this girl actually ends up falling in love with the Adversary and staying with him in the Otherworld (something I've always hoped to see in other stories).
	The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith Jenny, 16, first enters the "Shadow World" by means of a magical door that appears from nowhere down a sidestreet. There she meets Julian (making her adversary her initiator), who entices her to buy a strange game which, when played by Jenny and her friends (companions) at a party, transports them all to Julian's realm (at first into a labyrinthine Victorian house). Over the course of three novellas, in both his world and theirs, he and his minions (a spectral snake and wolf) pursue and torment the teenagers in hopes of making Jenny relent and agree to be with him romantically. It is revealed that Julian first made contact with her when she was only five (when she foolishly opened a door that had trapped him and his kind) and has been in love with her since. The final showdown happens in an amusement park which is an otherworldly parallel of a real park Jenny went to as a kid. In some of the games, there is a time limit, and in the first game a clock chimes ominously with each passing hour. Many times Jenny is separated from her friends to face Julian alone. She must also solve riddles (a recurring theme in the archetype). This book has so many similarities, down to exact phrases used, to the movie Labyrinth that it cannot be a coincidence. This is also one of the most complete examples of this archetype that I've encountered.
	A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle Meg, who is between the two common ages (around 13) is brought into an otherworldly life by her brother and is also accompanied by a friend and three female spirits. Her goal is to rescue her missing father, who is being held on another planet by an evil entity called It and Its mindless subjects. She has to travel through a maze of time and space to do it. At one point, she is drawn into Its hypnotic mind and almost loses herself, but is rescued by her companions. Finally, Meg faces off with It to save her brother, and conquers it by revealing Its one weakness - the inability to love.
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the series Buffy, 16 at the beginning of the show, moves to the Hellmouth - a town teeming with vampires and demons - after burning her last school down. She meets three companions - friends Willow and Xander, and the older Watcher Giles, who initiates and guides her. Together they battle the forces of darkness (who mostly live underground). The adversary changes each season - in the first it is the Master with his hordes of vampires, in the last it was Glory and her demon servants. Time is often an issue. In one episode, Buffy forgets who she is and is helpless against the demons. She is often separated from her companions before she has to face off with the adversary.
	Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street movies Both of these horror series fit the archetype in some ways. A young female heroine battles the forces of evil, specifically the adversaries Pinhead and Freddy, whose strange, dark, labyrinthine realms keep seeping into her life (through the magic box and through dreams, respectively). In fact, in both movies the girl returns to her own home or other "normal" setting within the Otherworld at some point. She has a number of companions, in particular another young girl who's going through the same thing who she helps and guides.
	Coraline by Neil Gaiman Coraline (of the younger archetype) moves into an old house with her parents, which is shared with a number of strange characters. One day she finds that a door in the living room which had previously opened to a bricked-up wall now gives her entrance to a duplicate of her own house, complete with her Other Mother and Other Father. At first she likes the new place, which is more interesting than her normal life. But she soon realizes that her Other Mother has less-than-maternal intentions towards her. Coraline is accompanied at times by a strange cat that can move between the worlds, but only talk in the Otherworld. Eventually, she has to beat the Other Mother at her own game to win back her stolen real parents and return to the world she came from. Along the way are many dangers and obstacles to overcome. A very creepy and disturbing version of the archetype, especially for a children's book!
	Abarat by Clive Barker Candy, in the middle of the age range (around 13), lives an uninspiring life in Chickentown until one day she walks out of school, walks beyond the town, into an adventure. She is initiated into this new world by a very strange creature named John Mischief, who enlists her help to save him from a terrible enemy. By following his instructions, she actually summons the Otherworld into her own, enabling his escape, but choosing at the last minute to follow him. Once in the Otherworld (an archipelago called Abarat, where each island is an hour of the day) she is joined on her adventures by a number of different companions. There are two adversaries here, the classical dark prince who wants to make the whole world darkness, and a more modern evil, a man who wants to turn the world into Disneyland, essentially. The former has his eye on her, and tries to capture her, with the possible end being a romantic relationship. At various times she is left by her companions (or taken from them) to make her way alone. In one example of this, she confronts an evil magician and must defeat him to save herself and his slave - in doing so, she reveals the fraudulent source of his power. The twist in this story is that Candy has been to the Abarat before, it seems, though perhaps in another life. We have yet to see how this ends, because this book is the first in a series. UPDATE: the second book has continued the storyline nicely, and it still fits the archetype.
	Comus adapted by Margaret Hodges A short, picture book version of the archetype, based on an older tale by Milton. A young girl (around 7) named Alice - of all things - becomes separated from her brothers in the strange, dark woods at night when she foolishly suggests they leave her to look for the path home. She is then approached by the adversary, Comus - an evil magician dressed in robes who beguiles her and leads her to his castle. Meanwhile, her brothers are befriended by a good spirit who helps them in their quest to rescue Alice. The castle is filled with creatures part animal, part human, dressed in gaudy costumes. Alice is enthralled, unable to move from her throne, a queen for Comus, who is now revealed as a satyr-type creature. The brothers burst in to fight the adversary, but he escapes. So the good spirit calls on a powerful river goddess for help, who dissolves Alice's enchantment so they may all leave. Although this story is missing some points, it still has the spirit of a girls underground plot. Especially enchanting are the beautiful illustrations, by Trina Schart Hyman.
	Snow White - fairy tale A classic example: a beautiful girl envied by her evil stepmother is saved from death by a kind-hearted servant but nonetheless cast out into the wilderness alone. She then meets a strange group of creatures, dwarves, who shelter her. But the adversary comes, disguised, to trick her into eating a drugged apple, at which she falls into a death-like sleep and is prepared to be buried. However, just in time a prince comes and miraculously saves her, and punishes the stepmother horribly for her wickedness. The best film version of this is Snow White: A Tale of Terror starring Sigourney Weaver.
	Beauty and the Beast - fairy tale An older girl enters the Otherworldly Beast's castle as prisoner willingly in order to save her father from his stupid mistake. She roams the castles many halls and rooms alone, but has to face the Beast nightly and do as he wishes. She does not encounter a drug, but does have portentous dreams and she receives a magic mirror that allows her to see her sick father at home. When she is permitted to leave and rescue him again, she finds that the Beast is dying without her presence. She must rush back to his side and give him the love that will make him human again. More of a happy ending than is common between the girl and Adversary.
	Monsters, Inc. - animated movie This may seem a bit silly, but it actually does fit the archetype in many ways. Very young girl walks into the world of Monsters unwittingly (too young to be scared at first), and quickly befriends one of them, who becomes her protector. Together they have to thwart the evil monster (and his cohorts) who are trying to abduct children in order to extract their screams. At one point she sees her room again, and almost goes home, but it is a trap. Eventually, she learns that she doesn't have to be afraid of the evil monster, and defeats him.
	Spirited Away - Japanese animated movie One of the best new examples of the archetype to come along in a great while. A young girl finds herself in the Otherworld after her parents become bewitched at an abandoned park that becomes a resort for spirits after dark. She is initiated and helped throughout by a boy who is not what he seems. She encounters many trials and dangerous creatures along the way, but also befriends some people. She must fight against the old woman who runs the resort to rescue her parents (who have forgotten themselves) and return to the normal world. Beautiful animation, wonderfully complex storyline.
	Tithe by Holly Black An excellent example of a faerie story without the schmaltz. Kaye is a real teenager - she drinks, smokes, dresses strangely - with real problems. When her mother's boyfriend goes bad, they move back to their old home, where as a young girl Kaye played with faeries, friends she now fears may have been only imagined. One night she stumbles upon a wounded man and helps him, which begins to entwine her in the battle between faerie kingdoms. Her old faerie companions return and seem to help her, although they also put her in danger. She cannot tell if the man, a knight, is on her side or not, but she is definitely attracted to him, even as he seems to be leading her to her doom. There is an evil queen, and a slightly less evil queen. In a way, Kaye has spent her whole life forgetting herself, as she only now finds out her real identity. Time is definitely an issue, as the tithe of the title is to be paid in only a few days. At one point, she must rescue a friend who is trapped in the faerie realm. She also must solve riddles to escape her doom.
	The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen Donaldson (and sequel, A Man Rides Through) Terisa is a young woman with a dysfunctional family who lives on her own in an apartment covered in mirrors - the only way she feels real. One day a young man, Geraden, appears to come right through her mirror from out of nowhere, and begs her help - and she returns with him to his own world. He becomes her guide and friend. Meanwhile she is sucked into the drama of a danger that threatens to destroy Geraden's kingdom. She meets a beguiling man named Master Eremis; she is attracted to him, but doesn't trust him. He tries constantly to seduce her. Yet she is also developing feelings for her friend Geraden. Through two books, the struggle continues, danger is at every turn, and Terisa must understand her own surprising abilities in order to save the people she has come to love. Once she accidentally returns to her own world, but leaves again quickly. At the end, she must face Master Eremis alone, and prove him to be evil.
	Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle Kate is a teenager in Victorian England, who has come (with her younger sister) to live with their aunts on ancestral land after the death of their father. One night the sisters get lost in the woods and stumble upon some strangers who fill Kate with dread. She discovers they are goblins, and are terrified that she and her sister will be captured and taken away to their underground kingdom. The king of the goblins desires her as his bride. But she has another adversary as well, her human "guardian" who does not have her best intentions at heart. He hopes to send her away to an asylum after she rants and raves about goblins. Eventually, her sister is abducted and she must sacrifice herself to the goblin king to save her. She is helped occasionally by a strange otherworldly cat with magical powers. The door between the goblin world and above-ground can talk. The twist in this story is that after her terror abates at being married to the goblin king, she comes to love him, and when he and his kingdom are threatened by a terrible power, Kate comes to the rescue.
	The Silver Crown by Robert C. O'Brien Ellen wakes up on her tenth birthday to find a magical crown waiting for her. Then follows a series of horrible events - her house burns down, her family is apparently all dead, and she is nearly kidnapped. Then her adventures really begin. She is aided in her quest to get to the safety of her aunt's house by a clever boy who lives in the woods. They have to avoid a strange man who seems to be looking for them, although they don't know why. Eventually, Ellen learns who the real adversary is. Then she must rescue not only herself, but her companion, and indeed perhaps her family as well. She must expose the true power behind an evil king, and defeat the threat to all humanity.
	The Nightmare Club: The Initiation by Nick Baron Kimberly is at a new private horseriding school, desperately trying to fit in. She falls in with the popular clique, having no idea what she's getting herself into. Her companion is a new boyfriend who she doesn't always trust. She is having dreams of placing children on the back of an eerie horse who then drowns them. Then children start disappearing, and people are being killed. Her friends turn out to be in league with her adversary - the bloodthirsty spirit of the lake, who takes the form of a horse. She gets swept away in their promises of magic and power and must fight to get back the person she once was, save her boyfriend, and stop the killings. This is an interesting example because it taps into the reality of female adolescence...when girls will often take up an interest in (and talent for) magical abilities and the supernatural, especially in small groups, which can have dangerous consequences.
	Phantom of the Opera - by Andrew Lloyd Webber I have not seen the stage production, but I did just see the movie and it was phenomenal. It is also a Girls Underground story. Christine, a young ingenue of the Paris opera, is tutored in secret by a mysterious figure who she believes to be the "angel of music" sent by her dead father - and who she (foolishly) trusts. On the night she must suddenly take the lead role in the opera, the Phantom comes to her afterwards and leads her to his underground lair in the labyrinthine depths of the opera house, and confesses his obsession to her. Throughout the story, Christine is alternately attracted to and repulsed by the Phantom; there is a sexual chemistry between them, but she is also horrified by his murderous rage. Her mortal companion is her childhood sweetheart, who is determined to rescue her from the Phantom. But in the end, it is she who must rescue him, when the Phantom captures him. She must show the disfigured Phantom love and compassion, while at the same time exposing his real flaw: his dark heart, twisted from years of solitude and rejection. And as this is a musical, it includes songs - more songs than dialogue.
	The Cat Returns - Japanese animated movie A teenage girl saves a cat's life, and the cat turns out to be a prince in the land of cats, so the Cat King decides to shower her with gifts, and then to forcibly take her as a bride for his son. She goes for help to the "Cat Bureau" which is run by a statue (of a cat in a suit) that comes to life, and when she gets taken, he and a big fat white cat accompany her on her journey. The Cat King is her adversary, the other cats his minions. The longer she stays in the cat kingdom, the more she begins to become feline herself. She must escape before she is forced to marry the cat prince.
	The Ancient One by T.A. Barron A thirteen year old girl, Kate, comes to stay with her great-aunt in the woods of Oregon, and becomes entangled in the aunt's struggle to save an ancient redwood forest which lies in a crater from the loggers who would destroy it. When she foolishly separates from her aunt and is threatened by the loggers, she takes an action that thrusts her hundreds of years into the past, when the same world is populated by natives and fairy creatures and threatened by the dark spirit of a volcano. Her guide is a young native girl, and she is also accompanied by a fairy creature and an unwilling human. She must confront the evil volcano god (alone) in time to save their world as well as return to her own time and make sure her aunt is safe from the loggers.
	Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman A twelve year old girl, Alexa, longs to go beyond the walls that enclose the towns she knows. Suddenly she is thrust into a world of mystery and danger, and must journey far from her home in order to save it. She is accompanied by a dwarf and talking animals. Alexa must uncover who leads the threat against her country, and thwart the rebel forces he leads, before they enter the city and destroy it. This is the beginning of a series, hard to tell if the whole thing will follow the archetype or not.
	The Darkangel by Merideth Ann Pierce Aeriel is an orphaned slave; one day she accompanies her mistress/friend on a slightly dangerous task, and the latter is abducted by a horrid creature called the darkangel. Aeriel returns (stupidly, or perhaps bravely) to attempt vengeance, but gets abducted herself, now to be slave to the darkangel and his many "wives" who are now just apparitions. She is helped by a dwarf who lives in the labyrinthine caverns beneath the darkangel's castle. When the dwarf sends her on a dangerous mission on hopes of killing the darkangel, she is also befriended by a majestic beast. Along the way, she must solve the meaning of an old rhyme, and return with a magic talisman before the darkangel takes his final wife and becomes completely evil. In the end, Aeriel does not kill him, but rather finds a way to return him to his former, benign state. Together, they must go on new adventures, and I believe the next book in the series has her confronting the darkangel's "mother", an evil witch-queen.

Honorable Mentions (not enough plot points to qualify, but have the essence of the story): 
The Goblin and the Princess by George Macdonald
Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint (and perhaps also his Blue Girl)
Little Red Riding Hood - fairy tale
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (if looked at from Wendy's perspective)
The College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
Kiki's Delivery Service directed by Hayao Miyazaki (a reverse story, where the girl goes from otherworld to regular world)
Inu Yasha - anime series (I haven't seen this yet myself, but a friend assures me it fits the archetype)
Resident Evil - Alice the goverment operative fights the Red Queen computer in an attempt to save the world from zombies.
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

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