| CUT SCENES |
| Willow Visits Sorsha's Tent |
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In the movie, Elora gets sick once and Willow enters Sorsha's tent once. The
original plan called for each of these events to happen twice.
Willow's preparation of a magic potion in the cage at the snow camp is interrupted by the arrival of General Kael, who has a brief conversation with Madmartigan. Before he can resume work on the potion, Willow is dragged off to Sorsha's tent. The baby is quite sick, and Sorsha is now demanding the help that she scorned earlier. After restoring Elora to good condition, Willow is returned to the cage, where he makes his first attempt to transform Raziel. The novelization serves up an improbable version of events, with Madmartigan talking way too much to Kael, Willow getting uppity with Sorsha, and Sorsha making nice with Willow. The graphic novel and junior novelization versions have a more authentic feel. The exchange between Kael and Madmartigan is hilarious, and I wish this part of the scene had been left in the movie. In addition to the humorous dialogue, the scene adds depth to the characters of both men. This little scene would have provided us with a much-needed chance to see more of Kael. It demonstrates Madmartigan's ability to think quickly. At the same time it raises questions about his integrity, which later on would add uncertainty about Madmartigan's intentions when Airk calls him a worthless thief. The main scene is less interesting. It's mildly engaging to see Sorsha display an interest in Madmartigan (while insisting that she despises him) even before he starts making declarations of love. Willow's secret efforts to apply fire to his potion provide a little more insight into what's involved in making magic. But on the whole, this Nurse Willow scene would slow the movie down without really contributing anything to the story. |
| Late Script Excerpt |
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MADMARTIGAN: Well it stinks. This whole thing stinks.
RAZIEL: Ignore him, Willow. He's a fool. (Madmartigan gives her a dirty look) Now repeat the incantations. Willow stirs the concoction with the wand. WILLOW: Earth, water, sky: What's next? RAZIEL: Fire - it must be burned to a fine ash. WILLOW: How are we gonna get fire? The torches are out of reach. Madmartigan digs a flint out of his pocket and scratches it against the cage: it sparks. He grins. MADMARTIGAN: "Ignore him, Willow. He's a fool." But suddenly Madmartigan hides the flint: Kael comes up and stares at him. KAEL: I know you. MADMARTIGAN: No... I'd remember you. KAEL: Madmartigan. MADMARTIGAN: No-no. Madmartigan's dead. KAEL: Good! He stole my woman. MADMARTIGAN: He stole mine too. I killed him. I'm a master swordsman. Lemme out of here, I'll win this war for you. Kael instantly grabs Madmartigan by the throat and yanks him right up to the jail bars. KAEL: This war's already won.! He flings Madmartigan to the ground and stomps off. MADMARTIGAN: If only I had a sword.... He makes the same exotic fluorishes he made back at the crossroads. WILLOW: If only you'd quit talking about it. Willow hears the baby crying. WILLOW: Elora is sick. They're not taking care of her. RAZIEL: Willow, worrying won't help her. Finish your work! You must make the wand your own and change me back tonight. WILLOW: Tonight?? I'm not ready. RAZIEL: You'd better be. Suddenly bootsteps clomp toward them. Willow quickly folds the mud-ball inside some cloth and hides it in his pocket. The lieutenant unlocks the cell and grabs Willow. LIEUTENANT: Peck! You're coming with me. He slams the cell door in Madmartigan's angry face and drags Willow away. INT. SORSHA'S TENT - NIGHT The Lieutenant flings Willow into a tent and exits. Sorsha, still in uniform, comes out from behind a flap, holding the crying coughing baby. SORSHA: There's something wrong with this baby. Make it shut up. She thrusts the baby into Willow's arms. WILLOW: She has a fever. This is bad. SORSHA: Do something, Peck. WILLOW: She's wrapped up too tight, she can hardly breathe. SORSHA: Do you think she's hungry? I tried to feed her but she just spat it out. I'm not a mother. Willow loosens the swaddling and the baby calms down. WILLOW: My son Ranon had this cough and he almost died. We need lots of steam. Here... Willow holds the baby up to Sorsha. SORSHA: No -- she'll start crying again. WILLOW: Hold her up, on your left shoulder. She likes that. Sorsha takes Elora. Willow hooks a pot of water over the fire. Then he takes the pouch of mud from his pocket and ignites it. SORSHA: Who's that horrible friend of yours? WILLOW: You mean Madmartigan? SORSHA: (with some contempt) Madmartigan, yes. Who is he? WILLOW: I don't know very much about him. SORSHA: He's very bold. WILLOW: He says he's a master swordsman. Sorsha laughs. SORSHA: We'll see about that... The mud flashes slightly then burns to an ash. Willow accidentally drops it. He turns to Sorsha so she won't see it. WILLOW: Bring Elora here, near the steam. Somebody will have to stay up with her all night to make sure she keeps breathing. Sorsha shows a flash of fear. She squats down and gives the baby to Willow. SORSHA: Don't let her die, Peck. My mother needs her alive. She turns and goes to the sleeping area. Willow rocks the baby by the steam. He quickly scoops up the ash and stuffs it in his pocket. EXT. NOCKMAAR CAMPSITE - MORNING It is nearing dawn. Madmartigan is asleep. He wakes up as Willow is thrown back in the cell. MADMARTIGAN: What happened? WILLOW: Elora was sick. But she's going to be all right now. (looks up at Raziel) Raziel, I did it. I fired the potion. RAZIEL: Good, we are ready. You must transform me. Quick. Get me down. |
| Graphic Novel Illustrations |
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| Novelization Excerpt |
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[In the novelization, Willow is chained to a barred wagon that has
Madmartigan locked inside, instead of them both being locked in a cage.]
"Bah!" Madmartigan said. "That stinks!" Willow shrugged. "Earth, water, sky," he said to Fin Raziel. "What's next?" "Fire." "I can't do it, Raziel. I can't get fire. It's too far away. They've got me chained up here!" "Don't give up, Willow! A way will come, I promise. Repeat the incantations!" "Hither walha, bairn deru, bordak bellanockt..." "No sword," Madmartigan grumbled. "Just gibberish and a stinkpot!" "It's not gibberish!" Fin Raziel hissed, shaking her small fist. "It's the charm for the life-spark. All we need now is the fire." Boots sloshed toward them through the icy mud. "Look out!" Willow whispered. "Kael!" Madmartigan faded into the shadows of the wagon, but not quickly enough. "You!" Kael growled. "I know you!" He strode up and grabbed the bars. "Come out here where I can see you!" "Know me? No, sir. I'd remember you. Oh yes, I'd..." "Madmartigan!" "What?" No! My name's Runge. Elbert Runge. But I knew Madmartigan. Oh yes, sir, I knew that scoundrel! And I'm glad to tell you he's dead." "Good! He stole one of my women!" "One of mine, too! That's why I killed him. What a fight that was! Took half an afternoon before I skewered him. He was a good swordsman, I'll give him that. But I'm better. I'm a master, General Kael. Let me out of here, and I'll win this war for you." Kael's fist jabbed through the bars and seized Madmartigan by the throat, jerking his face against the bars. "This war's already won! Bavmorda'll decide what to do with you, you scum!" He flung Madmartigan onto the floor of the wagon and slogged away toward his tent. "Willow?" Fin Raziel said when he had gone, and when Madmartigan had stopped cursing. "Are you all right? Are you practicing?" "I can't, Raziel. I'm shaking too much. And I'm too worried about Elora." "You must practice! Worrying won't help her. Only action will. Only the charm. You must make the wand your own and transform me now. Tonight!" "Tonight! But I'm not ready!" "You have to be, Willow. You have to be! Watch out, now!" Sorsha's lieutenant came trudging up through the mud. He gave Raziel's cage a shove that sent it swinging wildly, slamming against the wagon and toppling the little creature inside. He laughed at her confusion, and bent to unlock Willow's manacle. "Come on, Peck! You're wanted!" He seized Willow by the collar and hauled him off. "The bowl," Raziel moaned, still swinging. "Take the booowl." Somehow Willow managed to do that, concealing inside his coat the mixture of earth, water and sky that needed only fire to be a magic potion. The lieutenant had a firm grip on his collar, and he dragged him unceremoniously through the mud of the camp. Crouched around their fires, drunken troopers shouted as they passed. "A Peck! Just what we need! Let's have him, lieutenant. We'll gut him and spit him!" Horses stomped in the darkness. From somewhere amid the tents came the sounds of a brawl. Willow bit his lip in terror, but he clung to the bowl. Sorsha's was the only round tent in the camp. It stood apart from the others, on higher ground. Its roof sloped from a central pole down to other poles supporting a wall twice as high as Willow. The shields of Sorsha's personal guard ringed its periphery. Her pennant surmounted its peak, drifting in the smoke from inside. Willow heard Elora crying as they approached, and the sound struck fear into his belly. It was no ordinary crying. It was the desperate, choking wail of a very sick child. He knew it too well; Ranon had made that sound after he fell through the river ice and hovered five days between life and death. And Mims also had made that sound when she was an infant with such spasms of coughing that for awful moments she had stopped breathing entirely. "Your Highness, I've brought the Peck." "Send him in." The lieutenant let him go, and Willow straightened his coat and pushed aside the flap. The tent was dry and warm, lighted by several large candles and a fire in a brazier in its center. Freed of her armor and in looser garb, Sorsha sat cross-legged on a thick sleeping-carpet, with Elora beside her. She looked tense and worried. She glanced at Willow and then back at the screaming and coughing child on the floor. "I've tried everything. She won't eat, won't drink, won't stop this howling. What's wrong with her?" "Well, all this time you've been hounding us she's been wet, cold and hungry. For another thing, these clothes are too tight. She's half strangled. There, Elora. Is that better?" The baby stopped thrashing and sobbing, but she was coughing still. "And for another thing, Princess, babies like to be held. "I'm not a mother. I don't want..." "Here. Against your shoulder. Like this." Willow place Elora in her arms. The child's fretting subsided a little. Her hand brushed Sorsha's cheek. The princess almost smiled, but then her brow clouded again. "This child must be kept alive...." "Oh yes!" "...for a time. My mother needs her for the Ritual." "She won't die. I promise you. Not if I can help it. Please, rock her while I warm some milk." Willow turned and busied himself at the brazier with the bowl of milk that Sorsha had laid out before his arrival. Behind, after a bit more coughing, Elora laughed, and when he looked around the princess was smiling. "That man, Peck. Your companion." "Madmartigan." "Madmartigan, yes. Who is he? "Just a warrior, Your Highness. A renegade." "A wanderer." "Yes. Please, give me Elora now." Cradling the child, Willow dipped his finger into the warming milk and fed her. She hiccuped, waving her tiny fists for more. He smoothed the wisps of her hair; she was coughing still, very hot and flushed. Sorsha yawned. "I'll look after her, Your Highness, if you want to sleep." "Ha! Steal her, you mean!" She went to the door and summoned her lieutenant. "Check often," she told him, "and when this child sleeps, take the Peck back with the other prisoners." "Yes, Your Highness." Sorsha loosened her belt, turning back toward her bed. She hesitated as she passed Willow and the restless child. "You've fallen into deep waters, haven't you?" "Yes, Princess." "Far from the place safe for Nelwyns. Tell me, is it true that in your valley the Freen flows pure and clean, and that great fishes might still be caught in it?" "Oh yes, Your Highness. At our village we fish every day." "And is it true that in the woods there, wild boars still roam?" "Wild boars! It certainly is true! Why, one morning on the bank of the river, right beside Ufgood Reach..." Sorsha smiled, yawning again. She waved her hand. "No more." She lay down on the rug, drew her furs over her, and was soon fast asleep. When he had fed Elora until she would take no more, Willow cautiously slipped the bowl containing the muddy mixture out from inside his coat. Into it, he dropped a small coal from the brazier. Instantly the potion flashed so brilliantly that Sorsha tossed and murmured in her sleep. When the glow had subsided, only a strange dust lay in the bowl, gleaming like dull silver. Particles clung to his fingertip when he touched it; they tingled, now hot, now cold. Willow's arm felt suddenly very strong - as big and strong as any Nockmaar warrior's. On impulse, he touched the fingertip to Elora's forehead. Instantly, the last of the child's fretting ceased. Her fever vanished. She grew cool. She slept. Willow stared in awe. "I-I've done it," he murmured to the child, to the shimmering coals, to the magic ash. "I am a sorcerer!" "She asleep?" The lieutenant stuck his head around the flap. Willow nodded. "Put her down then. There." Willow barely had time to pull his coat back on and hide the bowl of dust inside it before the lieutenant seized him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him back through the camp. It had grown colder, and winds had piled snowdrifts against the side of the cart. The lieutenant clamped the leg-iron on Willow and hurried back to his fire. Fin Raziel lay curled in a tight ball in her cage. Madmartigan huddled shivering in a corner of the wagon. "What happened? he asked. "Elora was sick, but she's going to be all right now." Raziel stirred. "Did you fire the potion?" "Yes! And what's more..." "Good! We're ready, then. You must transform me. Quick, get me down!" |
| Junior Novelization Excerpt |
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"Well, it stinks," Madmartigan growled. "This whole thing stinks."
"Ignore him, Willow." Raziel said. "He's a fool." Madmartigan glared at her. "Repeat the incantations," she instructed, unruffled. Willow stirred the mixture with Cherlindrea's wand. "Earth, water, sky. What's next?" "Fire," she said. "It must be burned to a fine ash." "How are we going to get fire?" Willow asked, frustrated. The torches were all out of reach. Calmly Madmartigan dug a flint out of his pocket and scratched it against the cell. Sparks showered down. He grinned. " 'Ignore him, Willow,' " he repeated, glancing at Raziel. " 'He's a fool.' " He broke off, shoving the flint back into his clothes as someone approached their prison. It was General Kael. Kael stared at Madmartigan. "I know you." "No..." Madmartigan shook his head earnestly. "I'd remember you." "Madmartigan," Kael snarled. "N-no." Madmartigan backed up a step, beginning to sweat. "Madmartigan's dead." "Good!" Kael rumbled. "He stole my woman." "He stole mine too," Madmartigan said indignantly. "I killed him. I'm a master swordsman. Lemme out of here, I'll win this war for you." Kael lunged forward, grabbing Madmartigan by the throat. He yanked him up to the bars. "This war's already won!" He flung Madmartigan to the ground and stalked away. Madmartigan picked himself up, slowly and painfully. "If only I had a sword..." he muttered. He gestured, going through the empty motions of exotic swordplay that were becoming all too familiar to Willow. Willow sighed. "If only you'd quit talking about it." He went back to his work, but stopped and looked up again as he heard the baby crying. "Elora is sick," he said worriedly. "They're not taking care of her." "Willow, worrying won't help her," Raziel said. "Finish your work! You must make the wand your own and change me back tonight." "Tonight?" Willow protested. "I'm not ready." You'd better be," she said. They all turned at the sound of boots approaching again. Willow folded the ball of mud into a piece of cloth and stuffed it into his clothes. Sorsha's lieutenant unlocked the cell door and grabbed Willow, jerking him forward. "Peck!" he snarled. "You're coming with me!" He dragged Willow out, slamming the door in Madmartigan's face as he tried to follow. The lieutenant hauled Willow to Sorsha's tent and shoved him inside. Willow got up and shook himself out, just as Sorsha stepped from behind a curtain, still in uniform and holding the crying, coughing baby. "There's something wrong with this baby," she said. "Make it shut up." She thrust it into Willow's arms impatiently. "She has a fever," Willow said, feeling how hot Elora Danan's tiny body was even through her wrappings. "This is bad." Sorsha frowned. "Do something, Peck." "She's wrapped up too tight; she can hardly breathe..." Willow began to loosen the blankets around her. "Do you think she's hungry? " Sorsha asked, irritable and anxious all at once. "I tried to feed her, but she spat it out. I'm not a mother." The baby quieted as Willow made her comfortable. "My son, Ranon, had this cough and he almost died," he said, his mind racing. "We need lots of steam. Here..." He held the baby out to her. "No--" Sorsha stepped back. "She'll start crying again." "Hold her up, on your left shoulder," Willow instructed. "She likes that." Sorsha took the baby reluctantly, following his advice. Elora Danan lay against her shoulder, resting quietly, while Willow hooked a pot of water over the fire. With his back to Sorsha he took the pouch of mud from his pocket and set it ablaze. "Who's that horrible friend of yours?" Sorsha asked, patting the baby's back awkwardly. "You mean Madmartigan?" Willow asked. "Madmartigan, yes," Sorsha answered, contempt dripping from her words. "Who is he?" Willow shrugged. "I don't know very much about him." "He's very bold," Sorsha said. "He says he's a master swordsman," Willow volunteered. Sorsha laughed. "We'll see about that..." she murmured. The mud flared up and burned to ash. Startled, Willow dropped it. He turned, facing Sorsha so she wouldn't notice. "Bring Elora here, near the steam. Somebody will have to stay up with her all night to make sure she keeps breathing." He saw fear flicker across Sorsha's face, just as he had hoped. She crouched down and handed him the baby. "Don't let her die, Peck," she said. "My mother needs her alive." She turned away and went back into the sleeping area of her tent. Quickly Willow scooped up the ash and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he settled down at Elora Danan's side to watch over her through the night. Madmartigan woke with a start as Willow was thrown back into their cell at dawn. "What happened?" he asked. "Elora was sick," Willow said. "But she's going to be all right now." He looked up at Raziel. "Raziel, I did it. I fired the potion." "Good, we are ready." Raziel nodded. "You must transform me. Quick. Get me down." |
| Willow Read-Along Storybook |
The Willow Read-Along Storybook doesn't mention this incident, but
it does have a picture of Willow being taken into Sorsha's tent.
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