Lilim (Stardust)

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The Lilim are three ancient, malevolent witches who appear in Neil Gaiman's novella, Stardust. They seek a fallen star named Yvaine, because devouring her heart will grant them centuries of youth and beauty. Despite the fact that stars of Faerie are conscious, sentient beings, the Lilim have no qualms about cutting Yvaine's heart out while she is still alive, a testiment to their vicious and evil nature.

Contents 1 Background 2 Role in the Novel 2.1 Eldest 2.2 Middle Sister 2.3 Youngest

[edit] Background

The exact age of the Lilim is uncertain, although it has been suggested that the eldest of them may be as old as the world itself (see following article). They have been falsely rumoured to have been dead many times throughout history, and one such rumour is widely believed at the time of the novel. They are apparently the leaders of a Sisterhood of witches, in that the oldest of them swears an oath to a fellow witch "by the puissance of the Lilim". This also suggests that they are widely revered among witches, despite the fact that they are thought to be long-dead. They are never named individually, their names having been lost and forgotten. However, upon an encounter with a lesser sorceress, the eldest witch-queen (i.e. the eldest) adopts the alias "Morwanneg". This is a sort of personal joke, as "Morwanneg" means "waves of the sea", and her true name was lost centuries ago after Carnadine sunk beneath the waves, in a similar fate to Atlantis.

The Lilim were once the beautiful queens of a magical kingdom called Carnadine. When this kingdom was lost, an enormous amount of age caught up with them. Long, long before the events of the novel, they found a fallen star, whose heart they cut out and ate to restore their youth and beauty. This youth lasted for several centuries or perhaps even millennia, but by the time of the novel, it has long since deserted them, and there is only a very small amount of the heart remaining. They desperately seek the heart of another star, which will allow them to be young again "well into the next age of the world".

[edit] Role in the Novel

At the time of the novel, the Lilim are withered old hags. They have retreated to a peasant cottage in the centre of a deep wood. Their age having apparently both dulled their desire to keep up appearances and made them too exhausted to use their true magical power, they are living in wretched filth, and are reduced to using petty sorceries, such as divination by entrails. They own one large bed and two small truckle beds, and the three take turns to cook meals, draw water, set traps for animals in the woods and sleep in the large bed. They possess a mirror which appears to show both them and their home as they would be, were the witches young again: The cottage, when reflected in the mirror, is a magnificent hall, whose floor is made of onyx and whose pillars are made of obsidian, with a huge courtyard beyond it, in which a fountain shaped like a mermaid releases black water into a pool. The Lilim themselves are shown in their younger form, as three beautiful women described as "slim, and dark and amused." Numerous references are made to the Lilim's young forms being "dark". The purpose of the mirror is probably to show the Lilim the way they want to be as opposed to the way they are, and possibly to spur them on in their quest to regain their eternal youth.

Early in the story, the second youngest of the Lilim kills a stoat and uses its entrails to divine knowledge of a fallen star, a fact of which she tells her sisters. The three draw lots from the stoat's innards to decide which of them will go to retrieve the star, and the eldest wins, having drawn his heart. She rejuvenates herself by consuming what remains of the heart of the last star they killed, and sets out. The other two remain behind.

The eldest sets off on her quest for the star, yet throughout the course of the story she repeatedly uses magic, which cancels out the renewing effects of the star, causing to her age with each spell she casts. So by the end of the novel, she is even older than she was at the start. Rather than succeed in her quest, the ancient and shrunken witch-queen simply grows too old and tired to continue with her pursuit of the fallen star Yvaine. She decides to return home, yet not without confronting Yvaine first. She demands to know why she can no longer locate the star's precious heart in any of her magic. Yvaine, no longer fearful of the once-mighty witch, replies that she has fallen in love with the story's protagonist, Tristran Thorn and has given her heart to him completely. The witch-queen retorts that Yvaine would have done better to give it to the Lilim, as they would have put it to better use than Tristran ever would. They would have been young again, for several more centuries. In the sorceress's opinion, Tristran would only break the star's heart, waste it or lose it. As the witch-queen believes that is what all men do eventually. There is a slight hint here that the witch is speaking through experience. Accepting that she will never be young or beautiful again, the witch sets off back to her squalid home, fearful of the cruelty her sisters will inflict on her for failing. What happens to the Lilim is ambiguous, but it is most likely that they die due to extreme old age.

[edit] Eldest

Main article Lamia (Stardust)

As an old woman, the oldest of the Lilim is described as being "the smallest... most tangle-haired of them". Like her sisters, she is described as having eyes "the colourless grey of extreme age" when in this form. In her young form, she is described as being "a tall, handsome woman with black hair and dark eyes and red, red lips." She appears to have an affinity with the colour red, as, following her rejuvenation, she dons a scarlet kirtle, a crimson headpiece and a scarlet bracelet in the shape of a snake. It is implied that she may be as old as the world itself, in that, following the failure of her first attempt to magically transform her chariot, she complains that she is getting old, and bemoans the fact that "in the dawn of the world, (she) could transform mountains into seas and clouds into palaces. (She) could populate cities with the pebbles on the shingle".

She is chosen to retrieve the fallen star, and so as to be as vigorous as possible on the quest, rejuvenates herself with the last of their reserves of "years" (later revealed to be the heart of another star). She puts on beautiful clothing and takes with her two ancient knives with handles made of bone and blades made of volcanic glass, with which to cut out the heart. She finds a boy named Brevis at the crossroads, and buys his goat from him to draw her chariot. She then transforms him into a goat, so as to have "a matched pair". She later encounters Ditchwater Sal (or Madame Semele as she prefers to be called), another witch, and, after swearing a binding oath to do her no harm, shares her meal. The lesser witch tricks the witch-queen into flavouring the meal with a herb which forces anyone who eats it to speak the truth, forcing the queen to tell her about the fallen star when Semele enquires where she is going. In revenge, she places a curse upon Semele, rendering the star invisible to her, and then departs.

She arrives at the southern pass of Mount Belly, where she transforms the original goat into a man, and the goat which was once Brevis into a young woman. She tries to transform the chariot as well, but her first attempt fails, forcing her to use more powerful magic. This succeeds in turning the chariot into an inn, but it counteracts some of the rejuvenating effects of the heart, creating grey streaks in the witch's hair, and giving her several wrinkles. She orders the former goat to pretend that he is the innkeeper, and the former Brevis to pretend that she is the pot-maid. She herself chooses to pose as the wife of the 'innkeeper'. When Yvaine arrives, the witch provides her with a warm bath and a good dinner, hoping to cause the star's heart to shine with joy, so as to maximise its rejuvenating properties. Once Yvaine is suitably relaxed, the witch takes her to a table, where the knives are laid out so as to seem like cooking implements. Before the witch can kill the star, however, Tristran Thorn and Lord Primus of Stormhold arrive at the inn to seek accommodation. She sends the 'pot maid' to give Tristran a tankard of poisoned wine, but the unicorn which had been travelling with Yvaine saves him, and he bursts in to warn Primus. The witch kills Primus, but the unicorn then kills her transformed goats, and attacks the witch herself. The witch battles with the unicorn, which eventually impales her through the shoulder, and prepares to kill her, but she stabs it to death before it has the chance. She attempts to kill Tristran and Yvaine, but they escape using a magical candle.

When the witch-queen is next seen, she is much aged by various magical acts, and is driving Primus' carriage across the Barrens. She contacts her sisters, and decides to go to Diggory's Dyke so as to intercept the star as she makes her way to Wall. There, she sets up a makeshift cottage and waits for the star. Lord Septimus sets fire to her cottage, in revenge for her killing Primus, but she uses magic to either shield or restore the cottage, and then animates her snake-bracelet, which bites Septimus, fatally poisoning him. This costs her a considerable amount of her youth. The witch encounters Madame Semele as she makes her way to Wall, and uses magic to force the Semele to reveal what passengers she carries. Semele's ignorance of Yvaine's existence, owing to the curse, prevents her from informing the witch-queen of the fact that the star is in fact sleeping within the caravan at that moment, so the queen fails to catch Yvaine.

The witch-queen is now older than she was before she had set out: She is blind in one eye, her hair is white and she is bent with age. She goes to Wall herself and finds the star, but by this time Yvaine has already fallen in love with Tristran, and because her heart is now no longer her own, it is now useless to the witch-queen. Yvaine tells her of this, and she grudgingly accepts the fact. She tells Yvaine that things would have worked out better if the star had allowed the Lilim to have her heart, as Tristran will ultimately break it, or lose it, or waste it, because that is what all men do eventually. The old witch then sets off home, fearful of the punishment which awaits her for failing.

[edit] Middle Sister

The second oldest of the Lilim is barely described at all. Almost no information is given about her appearance as an old woman, although we are told that her young form, like that of her sisters, is "slim and dark and amused." It is this witch who uses a stoat's entrails to divine the existence of the fallen star, and informs her sisters. It is also the second of the sisters who caught the last fallen star and cut her heart from her chest. In the film she is called Mormo.

[edit] Youngest

Not much description is given of the youngest of the Lilim, although Gaiman mentions her having "been old when the wood they lived in was still beneath the sea", suggesting immense age. Her young form is described as having dark eyes and high, small breasts. In the film she is called Empusa.