Plot

In 1944 Spain, a girl is sent to live with her ruthless stepfather. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun. He tells her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks.

In 1944 Falangist Spain, a girl, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.—ahmetkozan

Ofelia's love of fairy tales is obvious from the beginning of El Laberinto del fauno. Set in the not so tranquil Spanish woodlands of World War Two, where a small band of anti-Falangist rebels are hiding out. This is where Ofelia and her pregnant mother have come to live, in the company of Capitán Vidal, Ofelia's new stepfather and soon to be father of her half-brother. It is with the brutal, unforgiving and totalitarian idealist Capitán Vidal, and his Falangist troops, who must weed out these resistance fighters of the hills and woods, that Ofelia finds her release and distraction of the new world order and its warring factions and delves into the older, mysterious and enchanting world of fairies, faun's and giant frogs. Beautiful, charming, graphic and deadly. El Laberinto del fauno.—Cinema_Fan

Set in Spain during World War II. This is the story of a young girl named Ofelia. She is a girl who has a passion for fairy tales, which causes her to see one during her trip on the forest that is not quiet. She goes to her stepfather's home in the country along with her pregnant but sickly mother, he is the sadistic Captain Vidal. Ofelia creates an imaginary world of her own to escape the cruel and harsh realities of the world. When she encounters a faun, she must complete three tasks in order to obtain immortality according to the legend of a princess.—Emphinix

In a fairy tale, Princess Moanna (Ivana Baquero), whose father is the king of the underworld, visits the human world, where the sunlight blinds her and erases her memory. She becomes mortal and eventually dies. The king believes that eventually, her spirit will return to the underworld, so he builds labyrinths, which act as portals, around the world in preparation for her return.

In 1944 Francoist Spain, ten-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) travels with her pregnant but sickly mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) to meet Captain Vidal (Sergi López), her new stepfather. Vidal, the son of a famed commander who died in Morocco, believes strongly in Falangism and has been assigned to hunt down republican rebels. A large stick insect, which Ofelia believes to be a fairy, leads Ofelia into an ancient stone labyrinth, but she is stopped by Vidal's housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú), who is secretly supporting her brother Pedro (Roger Casamajor) and other rebels. Mercedes has access to Vidal's strategy against the rebels and passes crucial info to them, which allows the rebels to stay one step ahead of Vidal's plans to hunt them down.

That night, the insect appears in Ofelia's bedroom, where it transforms into a fairy and leads her through the labyrinth. There, she meets a faun (Doug Jones), who believes she is the reincarnation of Princess Moanna. He gives her a book and tells her she will find in it three tasks to complete in order for her to acquire immortality (and to ensure that her essence is intact and that she has not yet become a mortal in spirit as well) and return to her kingdom.

Ofelia completes the first task - retrieving a key from the belly of a giant toad - but becomes worried about her mother, whose condition is worsening. The faun gives Ofelia a mandrake root, instructing her to keep it under Carmen's bed in a bowl of milk and regularly supply it with blood, which seems to ease Carmen's illness. Accompanied by three fairy guides and equipped with a piece of magic chalk (which allows her to create a door anywhere she wishes), Ofelia then completes the second task - retrieving a dagger (she uses the key from the previous task to open a vault that contains the dagger) from the lair of the Pale Man (Doug Jones), a child-eating monster. Although warned not to consume anything (from the massive feast laid out) there, she eats two grapes, awakening the Pale Man. He devours two of the fairies and chases Ofelia, but she manages to escape. Infuriated at her disobedience, the faun refuses to give Ofelia the third task.

During this time, Ofelia becomes aware of Vidal's ruthlessness in the course of hunting down the rebels. After he murders two local farmers detained on false suspicion of aiding the rebels, Vidal interrogates and tortures a captive rebel. He asks Doctor Ferreiro (Álex Angulo) to tend to the captive, whom Ferreiro then euthanize at the rebel's own urging. Realizing that Ferreiro is a rebel collaborator, Vidal kills him. Vidal later catches Ofelia tending to the mandrake root, which he considers delusional. Carmen agrees and throws the root into the fire. She immediately develops painful contractions and dies giving birth to Vidal's son.

Mercedes, having been discovered to be a spy, tries to escape with Ofelia, but they are caught. Ofelia is locked in her bedroom, while Mercedes is taken to be interrogated and tortured. Mercedes frees herself, and stabs Vidal non-lethally in her escape to re-join the rebels. The faun, having changed his mind about giving Ofelia a chance to perform the third task, returns and tells her to bring her newborn brother into the labyrinth to complete it. Ofelia successfully retrieves the baby and flees into the labyrinth. Vidal pursues her as the rebels launch an attack on the outpost. Ofelia meets the faun at the center of the labyrinth.

The faun suggests drawing a small amount of the baby's blood, as completing the third task and opening the portal to the underworld requires the blood of an innocent, but Ofelia refuses to harm her brother. Vidal finds her talking to the faun, whom he cannot see. The faun leaves, and Vidal takes the baby from Ofelia's arms before shooting her. Vidal returns to the labyrinth's entrance, where he is surrounded by rebels, including Mercedes and Pedro. Knowing that he will be killed, he hands the baby to Mercedes, asking that his son be told about him. Mercedes replies that his son will not even know his name. Pedro then shoots Vidal dead.

Mercedes enters the labyrinth and comforts motionless, dying Ofelia. Drops of Ofelia's blood fall down the center of the spiral stone staircase onto an altar. Ofelia, well dressed and uninjured, then appears in a golden throne room. The King of the underworld tells her that, by choosing to spill her own blood rather than that of another, she passed the final test. The faun praises Ofelia for her choice, addressing her once more as "Your Highness". The Queen of the underworld, her mother, invites Ofelia to sit next to her father and rule at his side. Back in the stone labyrinth, Ofelia smiles as she dies in Mercedes' arms. The epilogue completes the tale of Princess Moanna, stating that she returned to the Underworld, ruled wisely for many centuries, and left quiet traces of her time in the human realm "visible only to those who know where to look."