From Jessica Davidson, "Pan’s Labyrinth and the Power of Imagination":

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"The fantasy world is presented as real, as in Magic Realism where the fantastic is treated as a normal part of the real world.

From the beginning, Pan’s Labyrinth blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy. The magical reality of the story reflects Ofelia’s real-world experience... making you question whether the magic is real or just a fantasy she’s conjured to help her cope.

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The rule of three applies to both worlds, real and fantasy... The final clue is the location of the story... In fairytales, a mill symbolises the psyche and how the mind processes information to produce meaning. The forest is a liminal place of transition and represents the unconscious and a descent into the psyche.

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The labyrinth also represents the psyche and is often used to symbolise life and the search for meaning. It stands for the spiritual journey that loops around towards the centre of the soul. The stones are crumbling and overgrown with roots, and... the entrance is carved with a Latin saying:

'In your hands is your destiny.'

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Ofelia’s magical world is an inner world full of curves and circles that represent a return to nature and the feminine. The quest also mostly happens by moonlight, showing that it’s intuition and imagination guiding her, not the rational conscious mind.

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The faun tells Ofelia she’s a princess – for real! – and wasn’t born of man. 'It was the moon that bore you.' But in order to return to her rightful home, she must prove she hasn’t been contaminated by the world, i.e. become mortal. He gives her The Book of Crossroads to guide her through three tasks designed to reveal her true essence. The name of the book is a clue that the tasks are about making a choice – the question is: on what values do you base your choices?

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...The tree looks like a womb and the entrance is shaped like a Vesica Piscis – a symbol of the Great Mother goddess that represents a portal to another world. The fig tree also represents the Tree of Life, only in this case, it’s dying...

Initiation always comes at a cost. You have to make a sacrifice or give something up because it’s about surrendering to your deeper Self and letting go of the ego. In the first test, Ofelia sacrificed her dress; in the second, she disobeyed so the fairies were sacrificed instead; and in the final test, she sacrifices herself.

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Ofelia enters the dining hall of the Pale Man who sits at a table laden with a feast he never eats. His eyes are on a plate in front of him and he appears to be asleep or dormant. There’s a pile of children’s shoes and around the walls are paintings of the Pale Man eating innocent children, inspired by Goya’s painting Saturn Devouring His Son.

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Having eyes in his hands means he can only see what he can touch – in other words, he has no imagination so can’t see anything that isn’t physical...

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When Vidal enters the labyrinth, he sees Ofelia apparently talking to herself because he can’t see the faun. But this doesn’t prove the faun is imaginary. It just means he can’t see him – perhaps because of the medicine Ofelia put into his drink, or because he doesn’t have the correct perspective. He doesn’t have the imagination – his eyes are in his hands." (Davidson, 2019).