Lamia is the main antagonist of Stardust. She is a member of the Lillim Coven, as well as the oldest and most powerful of the three evil witch sisters. Her one goal is to capture Yvaine, cut her heart out and eat it to regain her youth and beauty. However, she was ultimately destroyed by Yvaine's starlight.
Story
Film adaption
When Yvaine fell, Lamia of the Lillim quickly woke her sisters, Mormo and Empusa, informing them a Star had fallen at long last. Due to her having used the Lillim's last Babylon Candle 200 years ago, the sisters instead resorted to divining Yvaine's location through animal's entrails, after which they made a second test of divination to see which of them should go and capture the Star. However, Lamia secretly cheated on this test, ensuring that she won by getting the animal's heart.
Lamia then consumed what was left of the last Star that the Lillim had captured 4 centuries ago, and regained her youth and beauty: her bald head was covered by a wealth of thick, wavy golden-blonde hair, and all the age spots, wrinkles, and lines vanished from her skin, leaving it taut and flawless. In a fit of vanity, she threw off her clothes to admire her nakedness in the mirror - making her sisters roll their eyes in exasperation and jealousy at how beautiful she had become.
Nevertheless, Mormo and Empusa still helped her to get ready for her hunt - dressed her in a new, more appropriate gown, a set of divination runes, a magic ring, and a knife with which to cut Yvaine's heart out when she found out. With an assuring promise to her delighted sisters that she would not fail, Lamia left their lair, which was revealed to be located in a canyon in Stormhold.
She meets the goat-boy Brevis/Bernard and turns him into a goat and makes a chariot, after receiving information from him that one goat was simply not enough to pull her along. She later encounters Madame Semele/Ditchwater Sal who gave her Limbus grass forcing Lamia to tell information of Yvaine. Sal or Semele realizing Lamia is the Dark Witch Queen,begs not to seek the star. Outraged, Lamia puts a spell on Sal/Semele so that she is not able to see Yvaine, touch, smell or hear her. Her runes to locate Yvaine were not being precise so she contacted her sisters Mormo and Empusa through a magic ring and communicated through a grand standing mirror for information that Yvaine was coming to her. Lamia conjured up an inn as a trap.
When Yvaine came to Lamia's Trap (Inn), Lamia gave her a hot bath, food and water. She also magically heals Yvonne's broken leg. When she offered her a massage she told Yvaine to close her eyes so she can rest, while secretly she would cut out her heart. Primus and Tristran knocked on the door. Outraged, Lamia attempts to poison Primus but he didn't want the wine. She murdered him by slitting his throat.Yvaine's Unicorn turned Billy back into a goat, then Lamia set it on fire. She sets fire to the inn to trap Tristan and Yvaine for herself. While walking towards them to cut her heart out, she said "The Burning Golden Heart of a star peaces so much better than your frightened little heart even so, better than no heart at all". Tristan used the Babylon candle to teleport to the clouds. Before they left she attempted to stab Yvaine but broke her knife on the wall, she screamed in anger for her failure.
For days, she spent looking for Yvaine in Primus' carriage while her beauty faded, when she touched her hair, the bunch falled of her head. At one point she gets close when she realized that Captain Shakespeare's ship had landed near by but was to late. She put an animal curse on the trader when he tried to court her and took a wig with her.
Lamia finally meets Yvaine near the wall, and again meets Ditchwater Sal. The two engage in a magical duel and Lamia, being the more powerful witch, kills Ditchwater Sal by beheading her. This uses up the last of the star's power and Lamia is now completely a hag. She brings both Yvaine and Una back to her coven's lair. There she attempts to cut out her heart. Prince Septimus barges in with Tristran and Empusa uses magic by throwing the element of fire at him. Septimus uses a sword and stabs Empusa. Lamia gets a voodoo doll and drowns Septimus. Tristan goes into the fight when Mormo uses her physical strength to confront him but the animals are released by Tristan and they maul Mormo and eat her alive.
Lamia attempts to turn Tristan into a frog or tadpole but the protective flower shields him. Lamia telekinetically bashes a vase against him but with the lightning from Captain Shakespeare, Tristan blasts Lamia back. Lamia gets the voodoo doll and uses it to make Septimus's dead body fight with Tristan. Tristan cuts the rope and a chandelier lands on the undead warrior and with the rope swings up the staircase and lands on Lamia.
Lamia angered uses two daggers in a sword fight with him but instead of killing Tristan she lets Yvaine go. Lamia breaks down crying because of her sister's deaths and pretends to no longer want youth or beauty but as they are reaching the exit, she closes the door telekinetically and laughs hysterically while using her magic to smash all the mirrors in the hall sending sharp glass pieces towards them and forcing them to come back to the foot of the stairs. Lamia picks up a cleaver and walks toward them ready to cut the star's heart out as it was broken now it's fixed. Yvaine tells Tristan to hold her tight and reminds him of what stars do and their love shines as Lamia is vaporized in a blinding flash of starlight into a million pieces dead at last.
Powers and Abilities
In the film adaption, it was never confirmed as to whether Lamia and her sisters were witches born and bred, or women who just learned how to use magic very quickly upon their initiation into it. However, it was an undeniable fact that each sister was a powerful witch in her own right, and the strongest and most dangerous of the three was Lamia, who was feared by even other powerful Dark witches as "The Witch Queen." Her magic enabled her to perform numerous terrible yet spectacular feats:
- Psychokinesis: Lamia lit up the chandeliers of the lair that she and her sisters shared by clicking her fingers (Photokinesis). And during her final confrontation with Yvaine and Tristan, Lamia closed all the doors and windows using only the power of her mind, and even made all the windows shatter through mere hand gestures (Telekinesis). Lastly, Lamia was able to control the element of fire (Pyrokinesis) by conjuring it to fend off a unicorn and to prevent Yvaine and Tristan from escaping.
- Conjuration: Lamia was able to conjure an elaborate inn out of nothing.
- Transfiguration: Lamia transformed a farm boy into a goat, then into a girl, and a goat into an adult male.
- Voodoo: Lamia used a voodoo doll to control Septimus' body and to kill him by dropping the doll in water, drowning him.
Lamia also had the fundamental skills of a magical witch in the Stardust universe:
- Spell Casting: Like every witch who possesses magic, Lamia had the ability to cast spells. This is shown when she placed a curse on Ditchwater Sal for crossing her. The curse also caused her to forget their encounter the moment she left. Lamia also placed an animal hex over Ferdy the Fence for annoying her.
- Divination: Lamia was able to divine information she needed through casting a set of runes or observing animal entrails. It appeared that her divination skills were superior compared to other witches, as seen by her knowing Ditchwater Sal's name and true identity without being previously told about it.
Though she was undoubtedly the most powerful witch shown on the film, Lamia's magic still had limitations:
- With each and every time she used magic for whatever purpose, her youth and beauty will be diminished, and should she try to restore them with her magic, it will backfire on her and make her older.
- Though Lamia's divination skills were advanced, they were not of the degree where a precise and accurate answer will always be provided whenever she asked, and hence occasionally she has to employ her sisters' divination skills for assistance.
- Lamia's magic is unable to affect those who were protected by a Snowdrop Flower.
Physical Appearance
Due to her advanced age and excessive usage of magic for evil purposes, Lamia's true form is an ancient, hairless, and decrepit hag who wears a wig to hide her baldness.
However, if she eats a Star's heart, Lamia would regain her youth and beauty, transforming from an ancient ugly crone into a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair, ocean-blue eyes, and flawless fair skin.
Personality
Though she may seem young and beautiful after eating a Star's heart, Lamia is an evil, shrewd, and extremely manipulative witch. She could be as single-minded as an animal when it comes to her heart's desires, as seen by her relentless pursuit of Yvaine in order to regain her youth and beauty. Despite seeming to genuinely care for her sisters throughout the film, during her final confrontation with Yvaine and Tristan, she confessed that she was relieved by their deaths as it meant she could have the Star's heart all to herself, which shows an utter lack of humane feelings even towards her own family - she saw her own sisters as useful pawns at best, and irritating nuisances with whom she was forced to share whatever she had gained at worst.
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