History Film / Stardust

* IWasQuiteALooker: The witch sisters. We only see what [[MsFanservice Lamia's youthful self looks like]], but they all intend to restore their youth and beauty.
** There's a small MissingTrailerScene that briefly shows them all posing in front of the mirror in all their youth and beauty.

** Lamia stops by a goatherd's hut and offers to buy his goat. When Bernard points out that one goat isn't strong enough to pull her cart, she quips, "Hmm. You're quite right," [[BalefulPolymorph turns Bernard into another goat,]] and takes them both. The hapless goatherd gets dragged along by the villains for most of the rest of the film. It does turn out well for him in the end, though, as he's seen [[spoiler: sitting next to Captain Shakespeare and cheering when Tristan is crowned.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: Both instances of {{Animorphism}} are applied by witches to unwilling subjects: Lamia turns Bernard into a goat, and Ditchwater Sal turns Tristan into a mouse.

* ExactWords: Ditchwater Sal promises Tristan that she'll get him to Wall Market, dropping him off there in the exact condition he is at that moment. [[BalefulPolymorph She never said anything about his condition during the journey.]]

* ProtectiveCharm: The glass flower that Dunstan purchases from the witch's stall with a kiss is left in Tristan's baby basket along with him. It provides total protection from a witch's harmful magic, preventing Ditchwater Sal from applying her BalefulPolymorph until he trades it back to her, and forcing Lamia to attack him with thrown objects and [[spoiler:Septimus's]] animated dead body instead.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: The witches were collectively known as the Lilim in the book, with the eldest of them (Lamia's counterpart) going by the alias Morwanneg at one point. In the film, their roles are expanded to become Lamia, Mormo and Empusa. Interestingly enough, the names Lamia and Empusa also appear in other Neil Gaiman works.

* ShoutOut: In the montage of Tristan and Yvaine's time on Captain Shakepeare's ship, there's one scene where she plays the piano with the Captain. A reference to Claire Danes' previous piano-playing role in ''Film/LittleWomen''?

* TitleDrop: Not verbally, but visually. Tristan brings Victoria a lock of Yvaine's hair, but it has turned into ''stardust'' after crossing the wall.

When a star falls from the sky, Tristan Thorn (Creator/CharlieCox) sets out to find a fallen star for Victoria (Creator/SiennaMiller), the girl he's in love with. Only to find that the "star" is a humanoid woman named Yvaine (Creator/ClaireDanes)... and that three evil witches, led by the scheming Lamia (Creator/MichellePfeiffer) want to capture her. Yvaine is also being chased by heirs to the throne of the magical kingdom of Stormhold who seek Yvaine's ruby necklace, Prince Septimus (Creator/MarkStrong) foremost among them.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: Yvaine can only shine bright enough to [[spoiler:destroy Lamia utterly]] when she is feeling true love for Tristan after he comes to rescue her. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]:

* AbductionIsLove: Tristan starts out trying to force Yvaine to come back to England with him to show her to Victoria, then the two subsequently fall in love. Of course, by that point Yvaine isn't Tristan's captive and she's going with him as a favour to a friend (and part of the agreement is Tristan using the Babylon Candle to let Yvaine go home as soon as Victoria meets her). Yvaine gives us this gem when Tristan first tries to convince her to come with him:

* AdaptationExpansion: The Lightning Pirates get a brief mention in the book, but have a significant subplot in the movie.
* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: [[spoiler: The book ends with Tristran dying of old age and Yvaine mourns him for eternity, while remaining the immortal ruler of Stormhold. The film has them ruling for about eighty years, then leaving the realm to their children and lighting a Babylon candle to ascend to the sky and live together as stars]]. Neil Gaiman actually suggested this ending, feeling it fit the film better.
* AdaptationalBadass: Tristan learns to sword fight in the movie, the witches use more combat-oriented spells, and Septimus was a poison master in the book, while in the movie, his preferred weapon is a knife (using poison only once), and he fights with blades.

** Septimus and Lamia were both villains in the book, but are more so in the movie: Septimus kills more people and is more ruthless, with the ending implying [[spoiler: that while all the other brothers, despite their sins, are going to heaven, he's going to Hell]], while Lamia is considerably more sadistic.

** In the book, Ditchwater Sal was her original name but she now goes by Madam Semele.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Victoria. In the book, she's SpoiledSweet, and issues the EngagementChallenge without realizing how serious Tristran is being; she's genuinely remorseful when he takes her at her word and goes off on a quest that will likely get him killed. When he returns, they have a proper conversation about where they stand with each other, and part as friends. In fact, Victoria's marriage to Mister Monday is one of the two conditions of Una's CurseEscapeClause. In the film, she's a SpoiledBrat whose only sweetness is that she's nice to Tristan out of pity, and stops being nice the minute she actually expects something of him. Otherwise, she [[ItsAllAboutMe only thinks of herself]]. She's no better when he returns from his quest, and their conversation quickly becomes him telling her exactly what he thinks of her.
* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In the book, Tristran's parents came together briefly in a relationship that was good for both but wouldn't have developed into anything long-term even if his mother hadn't been in constrained circumstances; his father moves on and ends up in a more settled relationship, and when Tristran finds his mother she's pleased to meet him but not interested in renewing her acquaintance with his father. The movie streamlines things by giving them a more conventional relationship arc; in the movie, Tristan's father never marries and he's seen sitting with Tristan's mother in the big crowd scene at the end, suggesting that they're going to get together now that she's free to make her own life choices.

* AllMenArePerverts: Bernard is ecstatic when he gets to help Yvaine undress for her bath. However subverted when Tristan and Yvaine admit their love and presumably sleep together; one of the ghost!princes tells the others to come and watch, but they're not interested.

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: The dead princes can't pass on until a new King of Stormhold is chosen. [[spoiler: They're understandably unhappy about all of them dying before getting crowned--luckily for them, they have a long-lost nephew in Tristan.]]
* BathtubScene: Yvaine has two, one at Lamia's inn where she narrowly avoids it ending up being a DeadlyBath and the later when Tristan [[AccidentalPervert walks in on her]] [[ShowerOfAwkward bathing in his bathtub.]]

* BerserkButton: You really shouldn't betray Septimus, or mock him for that matter. To be fair, Ferdy can't make clear he isn't trying to mock Septimus, given that he was cursed by Lamia so that he can only communicate with monkey sounds.
* BettyAndVeronica: Played with. Victoria seems like she's the Veronica - since she's something of a RichBitch and rather materialistic - in contrast to Yvaine's more down to earth and insightful Betty. But Victoria is the small town human who's rather passive, while Yvaine is a more active, with a sassy side and as a supernatural creature is far more exciting.
* BigBadEnsemble: Lamia and her sisters are a BigBadTriumvirate, plus the various competing princes. By the end, though, Lamia is the last villain standing, so she probably takes precedence as ''the'' BigBad. Septimus and Tristan also work together to try and stop the witches.

** Tristan does the same thing later on [[spoiler: when he hears from the gate guard that Yvaine was captured by Lamia]].

* BlueBlood: When [[spoiler:Lamia cuts Primus's throat in the bath, he bleeds blue.]] It's unclear if it's just because [[spoiler: he's royalty,]] or if all inhabitants of Stormhold have such blood, since nobody else in the movie is seen bleeding; WordOfGod states the decision for the color was made to avoid the "R" rating that [[BlackBlood red blood]] would have caused, with the added benefit of being a visual gag for the character.
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Lamia and her sisters; Lamia is the Blonde, Empusa the Brunette and Mormo is the Redhead.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Tristan says he would do the following for Victoria: bring her back her weight in gold, find a diamond the size of her hand, or chop off a polar bear's head. The last one acts as a MomentKiller.

* ButtMonkey: Poor Bernard. First he gets kidnapped by Lamia, who turns him into a goat to drive her cart, then he gets put into a girl's body, almost trapped in a burning inn, kidnapped and kicked around by Septimus, before finally making an appearance at the end sequence looking surprisingly happy for all he's been through--probably because everybody who did those things to him had died horribly and the people who were nice to him just became King and Queen. Also, according to the DVD commentary he was found by Captain Shakespeare and joined his crew.

* CastFromLifespan: Lamia. Well, more "Cast from Youth," as each spell she uses drains a little bit of the good looks she got from eating the last of the previous star. This leads to a funny scene where she repeatedly tries to use magic to undo signs of age in one spot on her body only for it to cause signs of age to appear on another spot.

* ChekhovsGun: Loads and loads--the glass flower, the silver chain, the [[ChekhovsBoomerang Babylon candle]], the tube of lightning, the spell Lamia casts on Ditchwater Sal, and [[ChekhovsGunman Tristan's mother]].
* ColorCodedCharacters: The Princes of Stormhold all have outfits in different bright colours: Primus wears [[PurpleIsPowerful shades of purple]], Secundus wears [[RedIsHeroic bright red]], Tertius wears [[GreenAndMean green and gold]] and Septimus, naturally, [[EvilWearsBlack wears black.]] It's impossible to tell what color the ghostly princes' clothes once were, but presumably they had their own individual color schemes as well.
** Which they indeed reveal when they fly away at the end to their afterlife destinies.
* CombatPragmatist: The Pirate Crew. When facing [[spoiler:Septimus's men]] they bow, and while their opponents do the same out of courtesy, they take the chance to get the first strike.
* CurbStompBattle: The elderly Wall guard administers one to Tristan.
* DanceOfRomance: Tristan and Yvaine's dance on the ship where [[spoiler: Yvaine starts glowing as she's realizing her feelings for him]].
* DeadlyBath: Lamia kills Primus in her inn's bath by cutting his throat. Before this, she tries to do the same with Yvaine but the arrival of Tristan and Primus interrupts her.

** An inversion, a Decoy ''Villain''. Septimus seems like he should become a major problem for the heroes. [[spoiler:Not only is he actually Tristan's uncle, but the only time he actually meets the two main characters is in the film's climax, just in time to help fight the [[BigBad Big Bads]] and get killed.]]
** And before, Secundus--he gets a great entrance, only [[spoiler:to be pushed a minute later from the window]].
** Played straight with Tristan's father at the beginning--although he is important. To get the real protagonist, he and [[spoiler:Una]] go into the back room and have ''fun''...

* DestinationDefenestration: Secundus's fate at the hands of Septimus during the KingOnHisDeathbed scene--[[BlackComedy much to their father's delight]].
* DigitalBikini: The scene where Tristan cuts a lock off Yvaine's hair while she sleeps was originally shot with him shirtless, implying that they'd made love during the night. It was eventually decided that this was too racy so a shirt was painted onto him in post-production to make the events of the previous night [[DidTheyOrDidntThey more ambiguous]].

* DoorstopBaby: Tristan's mother leaves him with his father to care for when he's born, since he can give their baby a better life in England.

* EnemyMine: Sort of. At the end of the film we have a hero/villain team-up (between Tristan and Septimus) to take down a more dangerous villain (Lamia), but the two characters weren't enemies beforehand--in fact, they'd never ''met'' (though Septimus did beat up Tristan's mentor, Captain Shakespeare). Septimus lampshades it nonetheless -- he points out while neither of them can trust the other, neither do they have much choice but to work together.
* EngagementChallenge: From Victoria to Tristan. As Yvaine points out, this only ''shows'' that Victoria is a FalseSoulmate.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Una disappeared for years and is presumed dead, and Septimus is known to have killed several of his older brothers, but he is still deeply offended that everyone assumes he must have killed Una as well. As he points out, he would have no ''reason'' to kill her, given that Stormhold is an HeirClubForMen--as a daughter she wasn't a competitor in the line of succession anyway.
* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: The 98-year-old Irish shepherd guarding The Wall is proficient in Shaolin Kung Fu in spite of living in 19[[superscript:th]]- to early 20[[superscript:th]]-century England all his life.

* EvilPrince: Septimus, and presumably most of his brothers, though none of them get a chance to perform evil acts onscreen. It's a tradition in Stormhold that the princes be evil--they're encouraged to kill each other off, proving that the survivor will be a strong king. Primus is an aversion, and the bishop supports him as the first potentially benevolent ruler, but though he takes precautions against Septimus's assassination attempts, he's killed anyway when he happens to get in Lamia's way.
* EvilVersusEvil: Toward the climax, Septimus vs Lamia.
* ExactWords: Ditchwater Sal promises Tristan that she'll get him to Wall Market, leaving him there in the exact condition he is at that moment. [[BalefulPolymorph She never said anything about his condition during the journey.]]
* FakeShemp: The inn scene was particularly tricky to shoot, as not all the actors were available at the one time. So there was heavy use of this technique to give the impression that Lamia, Tristan, Yvaine, Primus, Billy and Bernard are all in the scene together.
* FallInAngel: Story begins with a young man finding a fallen star in the form of a girl.
* FallingChandelierOfDoom: Subverted twice, then played straight--when Lamia is controlling [[spoiler:Septimus's]] dead body via VoodooDoll and making it fight Tristan, he tries to take it out by dropping a chandelier on it, but severs the wrong rope twice before he finds the right one. When he does, he also uses the rope to lift himself up to Lamia's balcony before she can [[spoiler:cut out Yvaine's heart]].

* GameBetweenHeirs: Before he dies, the king of Stormhold announces that his heir will be the one who manages to obtain the ruby necklace he threw into the sky. But it all gets complicated when it crashes onto Yvaine and she falls to Earth...
* GameFace: Lamia delivers a brief but pretty creepy one to Ditchwater Sal after she realizes she's been fed [[TruthSerums Limbus Grass]].

* GoodTimesMontage: The sequence with the Lightning Pirates features as both this and a TrainingMontage. In addition to Tristan learning how to swordfight, Yvaine gets to learn how to play the piano and they both learn the waltz.

* GreenAndMean: Lamia's dark magic is coded with green light. Even when she conjures up the fire in the inn, the flames are green. Part of her dress is also dark green.
* HappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler: Tristan and Yvaine are crowned King and Queen and rule for a long time before finally returning to Yvaine's home.]]

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Yvaine's ability to glow as a humanoid star later turns out [[spoiler: can be used as an offensive attack to defeat Lamia. Quite literally too, as she can only do it when her heart is happy]].
* HeirClubForMen: The fact that only males can inherit the throne means that Princess Una isn't a target of her other brothers, who are busy killing each other off because the law also demands that there be only one male contender. It also helps they have no idea where she is. This is also the reason that [[spoiler:the throne passes directly to Tristan once his relation to her is revealed]].
* HeroTrackingFailure: During the final BossBattle, Lamia hurls spells and makes rows of windows dramatically explode one after the other, but seems persistently unable to hit Tristan or Yvaine ''who are running away in a straight line,'' [[OutrunTheFireball staying just in front of the explosions]]. They don't even get a scratch from the flying shards. This is probably intentional; given that she needs to cut out Yvaine's heart and eat it, she's likely just terrorizing them ForTheEvulz and herding them back towards her.
* HeroicFantasy: Set in a high magic world but the stakes aren't high enough to qualify as HighFantasy, and emphasis is on the adventures of the characters rather than a battle of good vs evil.

* HighDiveEscape: Septimus's escape from Captain Shakespeare's ship when cornered by the crew is to crash through the window and jump into the water.
* HookedUpAfterwards: Tristan's parents only met during a one-night stand, but formally get together at the end of the film.
* HotWitch: When Lamia consumes what's left of the last star, she is restored to her youth and beauty - even disrobing briefly to check herself out. Sadly for her, overusing her magic causes her to eventually wither back to her elderly form.

* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: The wall on the border of the magical land is only chest high, yet an old man guards a gap in it--but then, who's to say you'd end up in the same place if you climbed over it than if you went through the gap?

* IronicEcho: "What's it to be? Heads or tails?" When Lamia initially meets Ditchwater Sal, the latter offers her half of a rotisserie rabbit with this line. When they next cross paths, [[spoiler:it's a PreMortemOneLiner--Lamia blasts off Sal's head]].
* ItCanThink: The Unicorn Yvaine befriends never speaks a word, but he/she demonstrates critical thinking and nonverbal communication skills on par with humans. Such examples include freeing Yvaine from her SuperNormalBindings with his/her horn, lying down so Yvaine can better mount him/her after seeing Yvaine's limp and last but absolutely not least, charges into Tristan's hand knocking over his cup and then pointing to the spill showing that [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink Lamia poisoned his drink.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: What Victoria seems to think, even after Tristan flat out tells her to "get over herself."

** There's a small MissingTrailerScene that briefly shows them all posing in front of the mirror with the appearance of their youth being shown.
* IWorkAlone: Primus, once the [[GameBetweenHeirs race for the ruby]] is afoot...
** Both have their strengths and weaknesses as a result. Septimus travels on horseback with an entourage of no more than a dozen men, Primus drives his own horse-drawn carriage. Septimus must rely on a soothsayer to interpret divination runestones for him, but Primus knows how to consult them on his own. Primus' approach [[spoiler:pays off as Septimus is delayed for the entire first day of the race, as the soothsayer is Primus' man and misinterpreting them on purpose]].

* JacobMarleyApparel: The princely ghosts, who have the clothes (or lack thereof, for Primus who died in his bath) and injuries (burns, smashing, axe in head) they had at death. Primus can be seen appropriating the tails of his brothers' coats or cloaks to cover himself in some scenes.
* JerkJock: Humphrey gets a line that implies he's been bullying Tristan since their school days--specifically that he whupped him in their fencing lessons.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: [[spoiler: At the end, Lamia nearly kills Tristan and Yvaine, but stops when she sees her sisters' bodies, and then lets them go, as immortality means nothing without them. When they leave, she shuts the door, and reveals that she was kidding, to lure Yvaine into a sense of security (happy stars give more years).]]

* LettingHerHairDown: Inverted. Yvaine's hair is down at first but she and Tristan don't properly begin to fall in love until she starts wearing it up. In fact, when she mistakenly thinks Tristan has left her, her hair is down again.
* LighterAndSofter: The book is a bit darker and more adult, with explicit sex and violence. The movie is a bit more tongue-in-cheek, emphasising some of the comedy and relying more on innuendo. The film also has a straight-up [[spoiler: happy ending as opposed to the book's BittersweetEnding]].

* MadeASlave: ''Twice'', to poor [[spoiler:Una]]. How she was lost to [[spoiler:the royal family of Stormhold]] is unknown, but she ends up enslaved to a witch, only to be freed when the witch dies. Unfortunately, the witch is killed by a more badass witch, who immediately takes possession of her magical chain.
* MagicalUnderpinningsOfReality: On this side of the Wall, a star is a giant ball of gas and a falling star is a lump of rock and metal, but on the other side of the Wall stars are immortal women who float in the sky and shine at night (unless someone hits them and knocks them down). A fallen star crossing the Wall turns into a lump of rock and metal.
* ManIFeelLikeAWoman: Bernard checks himself out after Lamia transforms him into a girl. Though his sex is changed, Lamia didn't do as good a job with transforming his voice, so he replies with a masculine voice when he tries to serve poisoned wine to Tristan in the stable.
* MatchCut: After the scene where Septimus kills his soothsayer for being a traitor, he asks his men, "So, do we continue west?" He then throws his runes into the air. One of them flies at the camera and as it flips, is used to transition to Lamia standing on the top of a cliff using her runes.

** The children of the Lord of Stormhold, Primus, Secundus, ... [[NumericalThemeNaming and so on]]. Their only sister Una counts as well, "Una" meaning "single" or "one."
** The witches are named after demons from Greek mythology said in some myths to be daughters of Hecate, the goddess of witches.
** Kinda exploited by Shakespeare, whose pirates interpret it as "shake spear".

* NamedByTheAdaptation: The witches were collectively known as the Lilim in the book, with the eldest of them (Lamia's counterpart) going by the alias Morwanneg at one point. In the film their roles are expanded to become Lamia, Mormo and Empusa. Interestingly enough, the names Lamia and Empusa also appear in other Neil Gaiman works.
* NeutralFemale: During the final confrontation in the witches' lair, [[spoiler:Una]] is utterly useless to the point where [[spoiler:Tristan tells her to go outside, and she simply says "Okay" and runs out]]. She would just get in the way and she knows it.

* NowWhat: One of the seven brothers says this [[spoiler:once Septimus, the last of them, dies. They were supposed to acquire a ruby from their father, which would make the winner the new king and release the ghosts, but with all seven dead… Thankfully, Tristan, being Una's son, turns out to be eligible and they're able to pass on.]]
* NumericalThemeNaming: The children of the King of Stormhold, Primus, Secundus... and so on. They also each have the appropriate Roman numeral as a clothing motif, which is how Tristan identifies Septimus when the two end up at Lamia's hideout. Their sole sister is also named Una.
* OneNightStandPregnancy: Tristan's parents only have sex once, but she gets pregnant and his father learns about this when he's sent for him to raise.

* OopNorth: Ditchwater Sal has a northern English accent and the contrast with Lamia's RP is used to show that the latter is a more powerful witch.
* PeoplePuppets: Of the corpse kind, via VoodooDoll. [[spoiler:Septimus is animated by one of the witches to engage in a sword fight with the protagonist. Cue hilarious cut to the rest of the princes' ghosts looking at Septimus' ghost, who looks flustered and confused, giving a 'it's not me!' shrug.]]

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Captain Shakespeare's Lightning Pirates don't actually ''pirate'' per se, but make a solid living poaching lightning from thunderstorms, so they may be merely "The Pirates Who Do Something Else." The career paths of Shakespeare and crew still offer plenty of opportunities to evade the law (Lightning-Marshalls at that), to amass fortunes on the black market, and for combat badassery [[SkyPirate in the wild blue yonder]], so their Pirate work resumes are still quite [[{{Pun}} aglow]]. It's also a point that this is by design: Shakespeare has a very fearsome ''reputation'' but in reality he hates fighting and bloodshed. His crew just pretends he's a terrifying rogue while knowing the truth since they love the guy.
* PoorCommunicationKills: The movie's final act is set up by miscommunication between Tristan and Yvaine. Having realized their feelings for each other, Tristan goes to bid adieu to Victoria, and leaves a message to the innkeeper to pass on to Yvaine. The innkeeper tells Yvaine that Tristan is off to go to Victoria and spend the rest of his life with his true love, which Yvaine interprets as his true love actually being Victoria.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Presumably the book's Tristran was changed to the movie's Tristan because the latter is simply easier to say. The movie is a bit LighterAndSofter than the book, eliminating most of the sex to innuendos and trimming down the violence. Neil Gaiman called the movie and book two different interpretations of the same story.
* ProphecyTwist: Everyone knows that possessing the heart of a star is the key to living forever. [[spoiler: Turns out it works just as well [[ThePowerOfLove metaphorically]] as literally.]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: When Creator/MichellePfeiffer came on board, the role of Lamia was greatly expanded. She's a minor character in the book but becomes the film's primary antagonist.

* RunicMagic: The Soothsayer, Septimus, and Lamia are all seen using rune stones to divine which direction to go.

** Yvaine as well in the inn right before she and Tristan kiss. She's just had a bath and is only shown from the shoulders up.
* ShoutOut: In the montage of Tristan and Yvaine's time on Captain Shakepeare's ship, there's one scene where she plays the piano with the Captain. A reference to her previous piano-playing role in ''Film/LittleWomen''?
* ShowingOffTheNewBody: The first thing Lamia does when she comes back to her youthified self is take off her clothes in front of a mirror to get a better look and is [[DistractedByMyOwnSexy very happy with what she sees]]. Her sisters look on in envious admiration.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Tristan doesn't die of old age, changing the BittersweetEnding of the original into a genuinely HappyEnding.]] Also, Bernard the goatherd isn't gored to death by the unicorn, and possibly the unicorn itself survives -- Lamia doesn't kill it by hand in this version, so it might well have escaped the burning inn.

* SpottingTheThread: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZkmgFpKdxQ Septimus suspects that his soothsayer is not being honest]], and has been directed by Primus to lead them on a wild goose chase. To test his theory, Septimus asks the soothsayer some questions about himself so he can determine how the runes read based on different answers.

-->''[The soothsayer throws the runes. They land, with three joined together and one leaning away, with the runic symbols facing up]''

-->''[The soothsayer throws the runes. They land symbols up]''

-->''[The soothsayer nervously throws the runes. They land, scattered away from each other, symbols facing down]''

-->''[the soothsayer throws the runes high in the air]''

-->''[[[OhCrap The soothsayer's face turns to shock as the runes land...symbols up]]. When they stop moving, Septimus quickly produces his dagger to stab the soothsayer through the heart]''

* TheStinger: An audio-only version. At the end of the credits there's a brief audio clip of the pirates cheering.
* SuccessionCrisis: It's apparently a tradition of Stormhold's royal family for the last male heir standing to be crowned King regardless of birth order -- resulting in candidates killing each other off. The king's seven sons partook in this, but not fully; three are left when their father [[GameBetweenHeirs changes the rules]] and immediately dies.

* SupernaturallyYoungParent: Una doesn't seem to have aged much in at least twenty years--though spending most of her time transformed into a bird during those years might have halted the ageing process.
* TakeAThirdOption: An accidental example. Tristan lights the Babylon Candle and tells Yvaine to "think of home". She ends up thinking of ''her'' home, which is the sky. And Tristan thinks of his home in Wall. The result is that they end up in the clouds. [[FromBadToWorse During a thunderstorm]]. Fortunately the lightning pirates show up moments later.
* TermsOfEndangerment: Lamia indulges in this '''every time''' she encounters Yvaine, calling her "my dear" or in one instance "my love" ([[HeyYou when she's not referring to Yvaine as "the star"]]). At one point, Lamia even [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty lightly touches Yvaine's chest directly above her left breast, where her heart would be.]]

** Lamia, Mormo and Empusa are the names of various vampiric creatures in Greek mythology.
** The members of the royal family are all named after numbers in some way.

* ThresholdGuardians: The Wall Guard, both figuratively and literally. Turns out rather atypically since he actually prevents Tristan from crossing, so Tristan has to get around him with his dad's help.

* TitleDrop: Tristan brings Victoria a lock of Yvaine's hair, which has turned into stardust after crossing the wall.

* TrueBlueFemininity: Yvaine chooses a blue gown when she has the pick of Captain Shakespeare's wardrobe. [[spoiler:Una]] also wears a blue dress. Also earlier in the film, Victoria is wearing a pale blue dress when she's out during the day.

* {{Transparent Closet}}: The ship's crew [[spoiler:always knew their captain was gay]].
* {{Tsundere}}: Yvaine is actually a Type B. She is initially hostile to Tristan for understandable reasons--being knocked out of the sky, chained up and forced to walk so many miles. She calms down pretty soon and warms to him. When she fears he's going to choose Victoria instead, she simply becomes sad rather than angry.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The scientist who replied to a letter, telling Dusnstan as a young boy that magic and Stormhold could not possibly exist. He had no idea that he set the plot in motion and he likely never will.
* VainSorceress: Lamia and her sisters' motivation--eating the heart of a star will restore their youth and beauty.
* VillainsNeverLie: Witches lie all the time, but if they actually give their word they seem to generally keep it. Lamia promised not to harm Ditchwater Sal during their first meeting, and lets Sal live despite her rage at Sal slipping her a Lambas Grass mickey (though all bets are off the second time they meet), while Sal herself ''does'' keep her end of the bargain with Tristan and delivers him to the Wall unharmed (though the manner in which she does so is kind of dickish).

* VoodooDoll: Lamia uses a simple doll of clay to break two of Septimus's limbs--and when she tosses it [[spoiler:into a fountain, he floats up into the air and drowns. She later pulls it back out and animates his body with it]].
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Primus, considering he's murdered while in the bath--[[JacobMarleyApparel and ghosts stay the way they were when they died]].
* WeaponWieldsYou: At the end, the witch Lamia controls [[spoiler: Septimus's]] body, however she only bothers with animating the sword (and hands/arms), letting the rest of his body dangle behind it. His ghost cringes as he watches his former body get abused in such a way.
* WeirdMoon: The film takes place over the course of a week, and yet the moon is full in every nighttime scene from beginning to end.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Tristan cites this as the reason why he isn't tempted by the idea of eternal life, noting that immortality seems rather lonely--[[spoiler:unless, he adds, you had someone to share it with, foreshadowing the film's ending]].
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Captain Shakespeare is revealed to like dressing in women's clothing right at the same time he's shown as ''not'' really being a bloodthirsty murderer, but a good, kind man.
* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: Parodied to a wacky extent with the SkyPirate crew. [[spoiler:Hilariously subverted with Shakespeare.]]
* YoungestChildWins: Played with. Septimus, the youngest prince, is the last heir left standing--because he murdered most of the others. But in a meta sense, he is the prince that has the most screen time and plot relevance.

* AdaptationalTimespanChange: In the book, the adventure lasts six months, with Tristran setting out in October and returning in April. In the film, it's only a week. Among other things, the trip on the flying ship lasts several weeks, giving Tristan's hair time to grow out without magical assistance.

* AdaptationalTimespanChange: In the book, the adventure lasts six months, with Tristran setting out in October and returning in April. In the film, it's only a week. Among other things, the trip on the flying ship lasts several weeks, giving Tristran's hair time to grow out without magical assistance.

** The children of the Lord of Stormhold, Primus, Secundus, ... [[NumericalThemeNaming and so on]]. Their [[OutnumberedSibling only]] sister Una counts as well, "Una" meaning "single" or "one."

* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Tristan doesn't die of old age, changing the BittersweetEnding of the original into a genuinely HappyEnding.]] Also, Bernard the goatherd isn't gored to death by the unicorn. And possibly the unicorn -- Lamia doesn't kill it by hand in this version, so it might well have escaped the burning inn.

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: [[spoiler: The book ends with Tristran dying of old age and Yvaine mourns him for eternity, while remaining the immortal ruler of Stormhold. The film has them ruling for about eighty years, then lighting a Babylon candle to ascend to the sky and live together now as stars]]. Neil Gaiman actually suggested this ending, feeling it fit the film better.

When a star falls from the sky, Tristan Thorn (Creator/CharlieCox) sets out to find a fallen star for Victoria (Creator/SiennaMiller), the girl he's in love with. Only to find that the "star" is a humanoid woman named Yvaine (Creator/ClaireDanes)... and that three evil witches want to capture her. Yvaine is also being chased by heirs to the throne of the magical kingdom of Stormhold who seek Yvaine's ruby necklace.

''Stardust'' is a 2007 film adaptation of Creator/NeilGaiman's book [[Literature/{{Stardust}} of the same name]]. While certain liberties were taken, it remains a relatively faithful adaptation.

* BlueBlood: When [[spoiler:Lamia cuts Primus's throat in the bath, he bleeds blue.]] It's unclear if it's just because [[spoiler: he's royalty,]] or if all inhabitants of Stormhold have such blood, since nobody else in the movie is seen bleeding; WordOfGod states the decision for the color was made to avoid the "R" rating that red blood would have caused, with the added benefit of being a visual gag for the character.

* GeniusBonus: The witches' names Lamia, Mormo and Empusa are taken from Greek mythology. In the movie, Lamia only refers to the other two by name once and the casual viewer has no way to know which is Empusa and which is Mormo. The final battle however references aspects of the Greek mythology characters clearly identifying both (Empusa, said in mythology to have flaming hair, battles Septimus by shooting torrents of fire his way, and Mormo, in mythology often called Mormolykos (terrible wolves) has a major moment involving said animals).

* StarsAreSouls: When Tristan is old (Yvaine remains eternally youthful), they [[spoiler:use the Babylon Candle to return to Yvaine's home, and Tristan becomes a star along with her]].
* SuccessionCrisis: It's apparently a tradition of Stormhold's royal family for the last male heir standing to be crowned King regardless of birth order--resulting in candidates killing each other off. The king's seven sons partook in this, but not fully; three are left when their father [[GameBetweenHeirs changes the rules]] and immediately dies.

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the book, the eldest of the Lilim has black hair and wears red. In the movie, Lamia has blonde hair and wears green.

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: After Tristan finds the ruby, he sets the souls of the seven princes free. While six of them become white spirits and float upwards (presumably to Heaven), Septimus, the most evil of the brothers, becomes a red spirit, and heads downwards to... that other place.]]

* HumanityEnsues: Billy the goat is transformed into a human to play the part of an innkeeper in Lamia's trap. He still acts like a goat, bleating and chewing on people's clothing. [[ThisWasHisTrueForm He reverts to his goat shape when the unicorn kills him.]]

** Whereas Septimus travels on horseback with an entourage of no more than a dozen, Primus drives a horse-drawn carriage by himself, and where Septimus must rely on a soothsayer to interpret divination runestones for him, Primus knows how to consult them on his own. Primus' approach [[spoiler:pays off as Septimus is delayed for the entire first day of the race, as the soothsayer is Primus' man and misinterpreting them on purpose]].
** Primus initially asserts this when Tristan begs to travel with him ("absolutely out of the question"), but [[SubvertedTrope relents]] after Tristan makes an appeal to his faith. Funnily enough, this [[spoiler:does ''not'' contribute to his death -- Lamia would have killed him at the inn either way]].

* SuddenSoundtrackStop: The film uses this on a couple of occasions, notably when Tristan attempts to jump aboard a coach: the music builds to heroic proportions, only to cut off when he slams into the side of said coach and falls flat on his rear.

* TermsOfEndangerment: Lamia indulges in this '''every time''' she encounters Yvaine, calling her "my dear" or in one instance "my love" ([[HeyYou when she's not referring to Yvaine as "the star"]]). At one point, Lamia even [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty lightly touches Yvaine's chest directly above her left breast where her heart would be.]]