What are the differences between the four confirmed versions of LEGEND?

[1] The American version vs. the European version:

• Early in the American version we see someone being tortured by demons before an open view of the star filled Void. Darkness is shown in blue with yellow glowing fingernails and he delivers a different opening soliloquy. In the European version we do not get the torture scene nor to we see more than the arm of Darkness.
  
  
• When Lili enters Nell's cabin there is a shot of Nell's sleeping husband in the European version.
  
  
• Lili is a princess in the European version, but called merely a Lady in the American version.
  
  
• In the American version, Lili has a vision of the future when she sees the revolving figures of the clock (death chasing a maiden) become encased in ice for a moment--no ice in the European version of this shot.
  
  
• The cutting of the scenes with Jack, Lily, and the stalking goblins is arranged differently between the two version.
  
  
• Lili asks Jack to teach her rabbit in the European version, whereas she asks him to "tell me our future" in the American version.
  
  
• Lightening strikes a tree just before the unicorn falls in the American version. We also see the cutting of the alicorn in this version.
  
  
• In the American version we see Jack struggling through the dark forest snow calling Lily before he succumbs. We also see an extra shot of the goblins riding in the snow. In the European we cut from Lili in the cottage to the shot of Jack sleeping in the snow.
  
  
• When Gump queries Jack in the American version, Jack immediately admits that he took Lily to see the unicorns. In the European version, Jack first denies that he did anything and then admits his transgression. Gump becomes bug-eyed and threatening in the European version and makes Jack solve a riddle before all will be forgiven. The American version does not contain the riddle and is much shorter and simpler.
  
  
• The scene of Blix and the goblins intoxicated with the power of the alicorn is split into two segments in the European version separated by the scene with Jack and Oona in the cave. In the American version, the cave scene is followed by the goblin scene in its entirety.
  
  
• The scene with Meg is very short in the American version, whereas in the longer sequence from the European version, Jack uses flattery to distract her before killing her.
  
  
• When we see Lili in the dungeon for the first time, there is a shot of Darkness that appears to be taken from the goblins fire sequence in the European version. In the American version, the camera explores the walls of the dungeon where we see to "eyes" light up.
  
  
• After Lili enters Darkness's hall, the American version cuts to a scene not in the European version of an attack on Gump and Jack by what the script refers to as Pygmies.
  
  
• The Dress Waltz scene is shorter in the American version and contains a flash cut to Lili suddenly wearing the dress--no flash in the European version.
  
  
• The American version contains some added footage showing wine filling up a cup magically and is missing a scene where Darkness attempts to get Lili to sit on his throne (he does this twice in the European version vs. once in the American.
  
  
• There are some added lines to the American version just before Darkness falls into the abyss having been defeated by Jack: "You think you have won. What is light without dark? I am a part of you all. You can never defeat me. We are brothers eternal."
  
  
• When Darkness falls into the abyss it causes three shooting stars to be generated in the American version.
  
  
• The scene of Jack diving into the pond for Lili's ring is inter-cut with the unicorn's horn being restored and his subsequent revival in the American version. These shots are missing in the European version.
  
  
• One last shot of Darkness laughing can be seen in the American version.
  
  
• The American version does not contain any of the songs sung by Lili in the European version, or the Goldsmith score. It contains a score by Tangerine Dream whose score was also altered (against the wishes of TD) to include a song by Jon Anderson of Yes and an ending song by Brian Ferry.
  
  
• For more information about the differences between the American and European versions of LEGEND, check out Fairy Dust : Reconstructing LEGEND by Sean Murphy (This article compares the American, European, Television and French widescreen versions of LEGEND and attempts to reconstruct the original version of the film.) and the article LEGEND - What's wrong with this picture?
  
  
• Check out the American Version of LEGEND Shot By Shot Breakdown and European Version of LEGEND Shot By Shot Breakdown for more information.

[2] Television Version

• Same print as the American version except for three differences:
  
  
• The opening crawl is read by an unidentified voice over
  
  
• Jack's first meeting with Gump is almost the same as in the European version with small differences that are outlined in the article LEGEND - What's wrong with this picture?
  
  
• Jack's encounter with Meg Mucklebones is logner. The extra footage of Meg and the Faeries was most likely taken from a test print and contains the Goldsmith score.
  
  
• Check out the Television Version of LEGEND Shot By Shot Breakdown for more detailed information.

The Director's Cut of LEGEND is an entirely new and different viewing experience. Additional footage and dialogue is spent getting to know the characters and the story is given the space to breathe and be told at its own pace. This Director's Cut does not begin with a prologue as is found in the American Cut.

• Lili is presented as a Princess and her relationship with Jack onfined to a kiss that Jack is afraid to return in fear of having Lili break his heart.
  
  
• Unlike in the American Cut, Lili sings several songs during the film, one of which she uses to first attract and then calm a charging Unicorn.
  
  
• A different song gives Jack the clue he needs to answer Gump's riddle and save himself from a dance of death when he first meets the fairies.
  
  
• The focus of the Director's cut is most definitely on the need to save the world by freeing the Unicorns and, while saving Lili is also important, she is not the focus of the film as in the American cut.
  
  
• Jack is portrayed as a forest child who has to learn to be a hero and is not a perfect warrior at all.
  
  
• When he encounters the water hag named Meg Mucklesbones in the American cut, he has no problem quickly dispatching her with a sword. In the Director's Cut he has to use his wits to distract her by using his shield as a mirror while he fumbles with the sword. When he finally does succeed in killing her, his stunned reaction, “I did it!”, make sense as he almost didn't survive.
  
  
• The biggest difference between the American Cut and the Director's Cut that will definetly cause the most discussion amongst LEGEND fans is the replacement of the “happy ending” with an ending that doesn't tie up all the loose ends. The new, bittersweet ending has Jack always promising to be there for Lili while she asks him if it will be all right for her to visit him again tomorrow. The tone and texture of their relationship has changed because of the events that they have survived in the story and now only time will tell if their relationship will continue to flourish. The ending is hopeful and sweet and sad all at the same time and much more in keeping with the overall tone of the Director's Cut.

The following footage is not found in the Director's Cut of Legend :

• Tangerine Dream score
• Opening prologue
• Seeing Darkness at the beginning
• Jack and Lili kissing at the beginning of the film
• The shot of the unicorn horn getting cut off
• Gump and Jack attacked by the wild beasts
• The footage of the horn being reattacheds
• Jack and Lili running off in the woods together

Check out What is the extra footage in the LEGEND Director's Cut? and Director's Cut Version of LEGEND Shot By Shot Breakdown for more information