MovieChat Forums > Stardust (2007) Discussion > Lamia shouldn't have died that way *spoi...

Lamia shouldn't have died that way spoilers

posted 14 years ago by cyberose23
27 replies | jump to latest

Lamia wanted the star to be as happy and glowy as possible before she cut out the heart- then couldn't hack it when the star got too glowy? Tristan was also standing right in the path of the burning hot star glow when Lamia was evaporated. So Tristan should have also died.

If it was just because she was looking at the light, Lamia might have been blinded if it wasn't hot, but since when does one die from standing in a bright light?

Nit picky I know. If someone has read the book, perhaps you could explain the situation better.

[–] ViperXVII 14 years ago

It's a metaphor, cyberose. She's the queen of darkness, as you can hear ditch-water say. She was not defeated by heat, but rather by light.

[–] cyberose23 14 years ago

I am familiar with metaphor thank you.

But her destruction by light seems to be incongruent when all along her character's aim has been to attain the brightest star possible.

If accepting the premise that light banishes the darkness, to remain congruent, you would expect that if the queen of darkness ate the light of a star heart, it would instead be harmful, rather than giving her strength.

[–] ViperXVII 13 years ago

Yet you can't know the effects nor reality of the heart cyber. To my mind your example would be akin to saying eating a porcupine's heart should be lethal, simply because the exterior is harmful wouldn't you say?

And let's not forget its a fantasy movie :p

[–] cyberose23 11 years ago

No a porcupine's heart would not be expected to be spiked.

Her heart should be "glowing when you cut it out" (mormo quote)- the glowing state of the heart informs how brightly the star shines externally.
So both the star heart and the star herself glow when the other is glowing

Porcupine heart does not share a common connection to its spikes

[–] moundshroud 14 years ago

If someone has read the book, perhaps you could explain the situation better.

The source material doesn't help in this case because the witch's fate in the book is vastly different from the movie.

[–] chris_chain 13 years ago

So you read it? Can you briefly tell us what happens to her in the book? Thanks :)

[–] moundshroud 13 years ago

Book spoilers below...

In the book (as in the movie) when the witch uses her powers, she ages. By the time she encounters Yvaine, she is old, small, and powerless. She also realizes that she can't have Yvaine's heart because Yvaine has given her heart to Tristran. Yvaine feels pity for her, and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

As you can see, what one would expect to be a climactic encounter between Yvaine and the witch becomes a quiet, anticlimactic meeting. It lacks the whiz-bang razzle-dazzle that movie audiences desire, so I completely understand why Vaughn decided instead to stage a spectacular finale.

[–] UberNoodle 13 years ago

That's like complaining if somebody was dropped into the sun, that they disintegrated. There is such as a thing as "too much of a good thing". The level of Shine Get that she wanted was not at all what she received, due entirely to the TRUE LOVE factor. The previous and only known fallen star beforehand was just really really happy.

[–] cyberose23 11 years ago

Yes and tristan was performing the equivalent of HUGGING THE SUN so should have been disintegrated. People can truly love the sun, and guess what- they get sun burnt

[–] chilone 9 years ago

Well then carrying it to it's "logical" conclusion instead of cherry picking your fantasy rules, the earth would have been totally obliterated if a star crashed into it.

I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!

[–] RemusMoon 13 years ago

It's fantasy. I know that's a cliché answer, but it can't really be explained. Just the same as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz - since when does one melt into the ground from having a bucket of water chucked over them?

[–] otlndr 13 years ago

Haven't any of you heard the old belief that you conquer something when you eat it? By eating the light the darkness conquers it and gains it power for itself.

Don't you love Haiku?
Its order, the way it flows?
Gives me a headache!

[–] borgter 13 years ago

Love the redundancy in the title OP.

I haven't seen this film - but now I know the Lamia dies. Thanks.

[–] cyberose23 11 years ago

Anyone silly enough to enter into a discussion forum about a film before they've seen it will be exposed to cetain plot details at their own risk - you want to read all about a movie before you've even watched it?... that's redundant

[–] borgter 11 years ago

Yes I agree Cyberose - I don't know what I was thinking when I posted this a few years ago lol. Sorry - benefit of hindsight!

[–] tehck 13 years ago

As Yvain tells Tristan, "I couldn't have done it without you." Although Lamia has said she wants the star healthy and glowing, I'm assuming that she's never tried to cut the heart out of one that wasn't bound, weakened, and dispirited. As for the "path" of the light, Yvain is evidently able to direct or control it to some extent because the only thing she harms is the evil witch. The witches' palace suffers no (more) damage. More importantly, recall that Yvain tells Tristan to close his eyes and hold tightly to her, suggesting there is some risk to him if he's not protected in this way. So there is some internal logic to the manner of Lamia's death, but such hairsplitting is sort of ridiculous in a story in which a rock wall separates a village in Victorian England from a magical domain called Stormhold where witches can turn men into goats and goats into men and stars can whisper warnings to their sister's protector but not to their sister herself. If you're looking for plot holes I suggest that the mystery of the whispering stars (as well as the unexpectedly brief distance from the hole in the wall to the witches' castle)is far bigger than a star on earth being able to burn a queen of darkness.

[–] BrotherZed 13 years ago

It's magic, they don't have to explain *beep*

[–] Blueghost 13 years ago

Dane's character was protecting Tristan when she glowed. So there is a logic there.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sErpEnt_v 13 years ago

It could -beautifully, I think- be interpreted as an underlying message that says:
ultimately all dark things - whether they know it or not - seek the light, even if it kills them.

_____
I don't know, Butchie, instead.

Lamia shouldn't have died that way *spoilers*

Lamia shouldn't have died that way spoilers