Stardust Themes

In Stardust, young Tristran Thorn journeys from his rural English village into the bordering land of Faerie in search of a fallen star, which he plans to bring back to impress his love, Victoria Forester. Tristran embodies youthful naivety and optimism: it never occurs to him that he won’t be successful, despite the fantastical nature of his task. The novel shows how youthful qualities, including naivety and optimism but also youthful appearances…

At its heart, Stardust is a love story. Tristran Thorn embarks on his journey through Faerie to catch a falling star in an attempt to impress his love, Victoria Forester, and convince her to marry him. But along their journey back to Tristran’s village, Tristran and the star, Yvaine, ultimately end up falling in love with each other, while Victoria ends up happily marrying Mr. Monday. As the novel’s various love triangles play…

Both worlds that Stardust portrays—the mortal world and the magical Faerie—are governed by rigid rules. In Wall, guards are posted constantly at the gap in the wall leading into Faerie, and nobody is allowed through except for every nine years, when the Faerie market is set up in the meadow. Faerie, meanwhile, is guided by strict rules of conduct and inheritance. The eighty-first Lord of Stormhold’s death, for instance, sets in motion the subplot…

Stardust is extremely interested in poetry, nursery rhymes, and literature in general. As Tristran travels through Faerie and encounters numerous odd things, he regularly uses his knowledge of literature and poetry to guide his behavior. For instance, when he encounters a lion and a unicorn fighting, he thinks of the nursery rhyme “The Lion and the Unicorn.” In the rhyme, Tristran believes, the lion just wants to win—and so telling the lion in front of…