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Fergus detains Merida and follows Elinor with the other clans. Fergus attacks Elinor, thinking she is Mor'du, but Merida blocks his path and Elinor escapes. In horror and despair he enters the tapestry room to find Merida pulling the tapestry off the wall and discovers Elinor in her bear-self. Fergus enters Elinor's room to tell her about what happened, but finds the room in ruins instead. The lords reluctantly agree and as they celebrate, Merida and Elinor climb up into the tapestry room to fix the torn tapestry.
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Merida makes a moving speech, convincing the clans that she must restore their bond and that the lords' sons should marry whomever they choose. The two of them rush back to the castle, where they discover Fergus and the lords brawling over Merida, who steps into the great hall and stops the fighting. Merida realizes that "mend the bond torn by pride" would mean fixing the family tapestry, which she had damaged during their arguments. Merida convinces her mother that if they don't break the spell, she'll become a wild bear forever like Mor'du. Suddenly Mor'du attacks Merida but Elinor saves her and they escape. The wicked prince had become the dreaded demon bear Mor'du. A trail of wisps appear and they lead them to the ruins of an ancient castle, where Merida discovers that the prince in her mother's story was the same one who received a similar spell from the witch. After they do so, Merida gets attacked by a bear which looks identical to her mother but discovers that the bear is her mother herself. The next day, Merida and her mother bond together as they help each other look for food. Merida and Elinor, who still retains most of her human senses, arrive at the witch's cottage, where the witch leaves a message in her cauldron, saying that the spell will be permanent by the second sunrise unless she "mends the bond torn by pride." Merida gets Elinor out of the castle, as her father is a bear hunter. The witch gives Merida a spell cake and she gives it to Elinor, but it transforms her into a black bear.
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Merida asks the witch for a spell to change her fate. A trail of them soon lead her to a witch's cottage. After she wins the competition herself, Elinor forewarns Merida that feuding set right, but Merida leaves and encounters a wil-o-the wisp. Merida chooses archery to win her freedom. The lords arrive with their sons, who are not her type. One evening, Merida discovers that the king's allied clan lords are presenting their sons as suitors for her hand in marriage.
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