Literature / The Magic Book of Spells

The Magic Book of Spells is a Defictionalization of the royal spellbook from Star vs. the Forces of Evil, released in September 2018. It was written by series creator Daron Nefcy, alongside crew members Domnic Bisignano and Amber Benson, and illustrator Devin Taylor.

The book covers spells and stories recorded by several past queens of Mewni, including:

• Skywynne, Queen of Hours, who penned the current version of the book after the original was lost in a fire and mastered a number of new spells.
• Jushtin the Uncalculated, who was looking forward to hanging out with his "crew" and doing advanced mathematics as Mewni's first "Boy-Queen" until his sister, Solaria, was born.
• Solaria the Monster Carver, who waged a fierce war against the monsters for control of Mewni.
• Eclipsa, Queen of Darkness, who infamously left her Mewman husband for a monster.
• Festivia the Fun, a party-loving queen who took over after Eclipsa was ousted from power.
• Dirhhennia the Heaped, who was more interested in drawing spheres on the walls and writing bad poetry than ruling her kingdom.
• Crescenta the Eager, an overachiever who took over from her older sister and invented a vast number of spells, many of dubious usefulness.
• Rhina the Riddled, a scholarly queen who was fond of riddles.
• Celena the Shy, a bashful girl who was skilled at potion-making and fortune-telling.
• Estrella the Drafted, who was known less for her skills at magic and more for her skills at art.
• Comet the Chef, Star's late grandmother and a skilled cook and diplomat.
• Moon the Undaunted, Star's own mother.
• Star herself, Star the Underestimated.

---

This book contains examples of:

• Abdicate the Throne:
  • Lyric, Skywynne's mother, abdicated after a short reign because she was bored. This was one of the reasons why her daughter, Skywynne, wanted to be a better queen than her.
  • Jushtin became the first male heir to the Butterfly throne, but he was shortly forced to give up both his claim of succession and his Magic Wand to his younger sister, Solaria, since a male ruler in a matriarchy wasn't acceptable to the public. Skywynne deeply regretted letting this happen to her son, because she always believed he was destined for greatness from the moment he was born. However, Jushtin doesn't blame his mother since she was keeping up appearances, and he was rather disinterested in ruling anyway.
  • Dirhhennia the Heaped was forced to supersede her claim to the throne because of her mental oddness, abysmal magic skills, and obsession with balls. The throne would be given to her younger sister, Crescenta.
• Absent-Minded Professor: Implied with Rhina, if her constant notes of reminders in her chapter are to go by.
• Accidental Murder: Tired of his abuse, Rhina attempted to cast a heartbreak spell on her husband so he would lose interest in her and break off the marriage, only for it to literally break his heart and kill him.
• Agent Peacock: Jushtin the Uncalculated dressed rather foppishly during his (short) time as a Butterfly prince, with a wide-brimmed hat decorated with lots of colorful feathers, a red fur coat, a diamond ring, and his magic wand that appeared as a striped Classy Cane. He's a mathematical genius, and also a very effective diplomat once his claim to the throne was superseded.
• Alien Invasion: Low Mewman text in Skywynne's chapter suggests that one will come to Mewni one day, thanks to her.
  Sixteen Mewmans were lost to space. They ended up inhabiting another planet which is now a bustling world. One day they will attack Mewni.
• An Aesop: While Skywynne's chapter does show the consequences of trying to appease everyone, it also shows the dangers of relying on the easy route and suppressing anger.
• All There in the Manual: The Book is full of supplemental material about the backstory of Mewni, how magic (and Mewberty) works, and even some backstory on Star's relationship with her ex-boyfriend Tom.
• Ambiguously Gay: A number of queens didn't seem to be much interested in men except as a means of ensuring succession of the throne, and some had very close "gal pals" (like Queen Crescenta and Emily Kelpbottom).
• Animate Dead: One of Queen Skywynne's spells allowed the caster to temporarily summon the dead back from the Underworld.
• The Annotated Edition: In-universe; Glossaryck occasionally provides brief asides across the chapters. Notes and comments by Star also appear throughout the book.
• Anti-Regeneration: In Solaria's chapter, she notes that she doesn't know of a proper way to dispose of Septarians, and so recommends you "blow them up and spread the pieces as far apart as possible".
• Asshole Victim: John Roachley, Rhina's demon husband. While his accidental murder had massively negative repercussions for the Lucitor-Butterfly alliance, Roachley was a cruel, abusive man. Rhina was only trying to get him to stop.
• Awful Wedded Life: Rhina had to cast a love spell on herself so she would fall in love with her husband easily, but unfortunately John Roachley was abusive and cruel. While pregnant with Celena, Rhina tried ending the abuse with a heartbreak spell so John would lose interest in her, but her magic took it literally and killed him instead.
• Badass Pacifist: Queen Comet preferred diplomacy (and pie) over warfare, but with spells in her arsenal like "Nightshade Disarm", she was still able to hold her own in a fight.
• Believing Their Own Lies: After numerous failed attempts to end the mewman-monster wars with diplomacy, Solaria became convinced that all monsters were violent, barbaric creatures that crave death. Her chapter consists of her constantly telling herself that if the monsters were killed, they would be "happier this way".
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Queen Skywynne created a spell to temporarily raise the undead, and once blew up a dimension in a fit of pique from dealing with her lazy, ungrateful subjects. After she gained some assertiveness, she told said subjects that they will have to work to support themselves from now on.
  • The perky go-getter Queen Crescenta was a bossy, borderline tyrant who manipulated everyone with her charms and cutesy appearance, and orchestrated a campaign to set up the Avarius family (Ludo's ancestors) as puppet rulers for the monsters.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Skywynne's son Jushtin was disinterested in ruling Mewni and learning magic like his female relatives, and preferred hanging out with his friends. But he's a mathematical genius and once he was removed from the line of succession, he revealed himself to be a charismatic diplomat.
• Buffy Speak: Eclipsa refers to Ludo's species as "whatever the Avariuses are" and (next to a picture of one) "Whatever these are". Both times Glossaryck pops in to explain that they're called kappa.
• Call-Forward:
  • Glossaryck tells the reader that if they are not a princess, but rather "some kind of hairy birdling or lizard man", then they won't be on the Magic High Commission, but he congratulates them for stealing the book. This is shortly after Glossaryck mentions he can see the future, so he's most likely deliberately addressing Ludo and Toffee.
  • Several of the spells from the book appeared in episodes of Star vs. Skywynne devleoped the time-freezing spell from "Freeze Day" and the Warnicorn Stampede from "By the Book", and Crescenta was responsible for the spell that gave Marco a living tentacle for an arm in "Monster Arm".
  • Star accidentally spilled glitter-glue on Festivia's "flame-proof rainbow" spell, which is why she had a bad habit of conjuring flaming rainbows in "Star Comes to Earth".
  • Dirhhennia's chapter includes a "Wanted!" Poster for Bobipsa the Barbarian, the notorious baby-eater mentioned in "Stranger Danger".
• Chosen Conception Partner: Solaria didn't want a husband, so she simply conceived Eclipsa with her councilor Alphonse. Though Solaria held him in high regard (and may have been the one who gave him the title "the Worthy"), he clearly had no hand in raising their daughter, as evident by Eclipsa simply referring to him as "Alphonse".
• Cerebus Retcon: The incident that got Star sent to Earth in the first episode, initially presented as a Gilligan Cut to show Star's ineptitude with the wand, is shown to have been her blowing off steam after breaking up with Tom immediately prior, only to see what her anger had done to her parents' kingdom.
• Connected All Along: Rhombulus' snake arms turn out to have been created by Glossaryck using the Monster Arm spell on him.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Star's chapter includes the full text of the "My Thoughts on Marco" chapter from her diary, seen in "My New Wand".
  • "Page Turner" establishes the spellbook's table of contents are in the middle of the book, rather than the start. Guess where this book's table of contents are?
  • Spells used at different points in the series frequently show up in different chapters, like Releaseo Demonius Infestica from "Monster Arm", Warnicorn Stampede from "By the Book", and Levitato from "The Hard Way". Even blink-and-you'll-miss-it spells like What To Do If You Delete Gravity appear.
  • The "chapter" after Star's is little more than a single page of scratches, explained as Ludo's futile attempts to write his own chapter in "Book Be Gone".
• Cycle of Revenge: Given a bit more focus than in the series proper: Because the early Butterfly queens forcibly stole the monsters' lands and use propaganda to demonize them, as well as Queen Solaria's extreme actions against the monsters, the monsters had every reason to retaliate. This resulted in a Vicious Cycle as both sides tried to one-up each other, with neither of them being happy. That said, there have been Mewman queens who genuinely tried to end the Mewman/Monster conflict peacefully, only to have vengeful monsters who don't want peace to ruin their efforts. The best example is Comet, who was a genuinely good queen who wanted to give the monsters racial equality and nearly succeeded in doing so, only for Toffee to murder her at the peace treaty signing and ruin all her progress.
• Dark and Troubled Past:
  • Celena was born from an abusive, loveless marriage between the previous queen and her demon husband. Her father died before she was born when her mother used a heartbreak spell to end the abuse, only for her magic to apply it literally. It's no wonder Celena became so shy.
  • Moon lost her mother because Comet tried the peaceful approach to end the mewman-monster wars, only for Toffee to assassinate her. It was one of the reasons why she became an anti-monster bigot like some of her predecessors.
• Darker and Edgier: Not by much, but the implications presented in some of the entries technically make it this.
• Deadpan Snarker: Glossaryck includes some snark toward the Magic High Commission in his "bucket list". One of his checked entries is "Create life from nothing" and it's immediately followed by the unchecked "Create competent life from nothing". And another is even less subtle, "Fire the Magic High Commission". And in describing his creation of the Magic High Commission, Glossaryck says "I made the mistake of giving them free will, and I pay for it every day."
• Didn't See That Coming: No one expected Jushtin's birth or his being made liable for the throne, hence his title, "The Uncalculated". Because Mewni is matriarchal, the mewmans immediately requested for Skywynne to have another child. Despite Skywynne's love and high hopes for her son, she eventually caved in to the demands and forced Jushtin to supersede his claim of succession once Solaria was born, to her deepest regret.
• Didn't Think This Through: Solaria's creation of the Total Annihilation spell would've wiped out all monsters, including the Pony Heads and Lucitors, undoing all of Jushtin's diplomancy and getting rid of the Butterfly family's two powerful allies had it been finished.
• Domestic Abuse: It was implied in Rhina's chapter that John Roachley was a cruel husband, motivating Rhina to use a heartbreak spell on him to end the abuse. Her magic took it literally and killed him instead.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Comet's chapter talks a lot about how she hopes the upcoming banquet with Archduke Batwin will bring peace between monsters and Mewmans... hopes that end up dashed when she's assassinated by Toffee, the apparent successor to Seth of Septaris.
  • Star writes that she hasn't written a single spell down in the book, but promises to write some after the weekend, where she and Janna will have a séance with a dead clown (and, as in "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown", Ludo will steal the book from her).
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After several years of dealing with ungrateful subjects who kept demanding more and more from her, as well as monsters who were attracted by the overabundance of food, Skywynne finally decided enough was enough and basically told her people to work for what they wanted. Not only that, she got to marry her long-time crush Gem-robin once he was single again.
• Emo Teen: Dirhhennia's entry in the Book of Spells is full of not only drawings of circles, but depressed musings and bad goth poetry.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • John Roachley is one for Tom, being related to the Lucitors except with none of the latter's empathy and drive for self-improvement. This is what got Roachley killed when he wouldn't change or stop his abuse of Rhina the Riddled, who accidentally murdered him with a heartbreak spell.
  • Solaria turns out to be one for her successors, especially Comet. While Comet advocated for mewman-monster equality, Solaria believed all monsters should be dead, which got her killed. It helps that Solaria wore red, while Comet as well as most of the queens wore blue.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Most queens won't hide their disdain for monsters. Crescenta sought to "improve" the monsters' poor conditions by promoting the Avarius family royalty, giving the Butterfly family political pawns. Solaria is perhaps the most extreme example, with her founding of the Solarians and her attempt to create a spell specifically for monster genocide. Her "guide" on how to kill monsters even spoke of them being happier when they're dead.
  • The book also delves into the other side of things: Toffee and other monsters like him are so filled with hatred at the mewmans that they refuse to see them as anything other than the real monsters in all this. This extends to completely innocent people, and to those like Queen Comet, who genuinely tried to end the conflict for good via giving the monsters true equality. Just as Comet was about to succeed, Toffee murdered in her cold blood rather than to allow peace to happen.
• Fictional Zodiac: Celena's chapter includes the signs of the Aureole, Mewni's answer to the Zodiac, with signs like the Pig-Goat, the Bog Slug, the Dead Horse, and the Pony Head.
• Fiery Redhead: Solaria's card revealed that she used to have a long braid for hair before she shaved it off completely.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Skywynne wanted Jushtin to become a powerful mage and succeed her as the first King of Mewni. Sadly, Jushtin was unable to fulfill both expectations because a male ruler was unacceptable in a matriarchy, and Skywynne was pressured into having a daughter and superseding Jushtin's claim of succession in her favor.
• Forced Transformation: Crescenta apparently got so tired of her sister Dirhhenna calling herself a "lone wolf" she developed a spell to turn her into an actual wolf.
• Foreshadowing: The book was released before season four of the show aired, but has some hints of events that would occur in it:
  • One of Festivia's many posts is randomly saying how much she loves pie. "Escape From the Pie Folk" shows she's actually from a clan based around pie.
  • Moon notes the importance of knowing how to reverse all your spells, least you'll just be "half a magic wielder". On the next page, she says she doesn't need to know how to reverse her spell that makes her husband make the bed. The ultimate conflict of the season is based on Moon granting power she wrongfully assumed she could revoke.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Had Skywynne stood her ground and not given birth to a daughter, Solaria the Monster Carver wouldn't have existed. Instead, Jushtin would have become a powerful mage and the first Butterfly King of Mewni, who would have led his people into a golden age.
  • Solaria's failure to finish her Total Annihilation spell. People like Pony Head and Tom Lucitor wouldn't have been born if the spell was actually finished, and the Butterflys would've lost two powerful allies in the process.
• Freaky Friday Sabotage: Eclipsa's Body Swap Spell prevents the caster from feeling the pain of the body they've moved into. She points out that if you've cast it on an enemy, "it's a great opportunity to have them run into the fireplace or a wall of nails".
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Solaria's extremist methods against monsters were because she did try the peaceful way like her brother Jushtin did, only to fail horribly every time. She was also more or less thrown into the ongoing war with monsters as soon as she was old enough to inherit the throne and royal wand.
  • Moon's overprotectiveness towards her daughter Star and anti-monster racism was because Comet tried advocating for mewman-monster equality and nearly succeeded, only to end up assassinated by Toffee out of sheer hatred.
• Fun with Acronyms: The spells in the Solarian Metamorphosis are B.E.A.R. (Brute Eager Attack Roar), B.O.A.R. (Blunt Offense Arrest Retort), and R.A.P.T.O.R. (Rage Aggression Panic Torpor Olfactory Response).
• The Ghost:
  • Only the thirteen book-holders since Skywynne have chapters (and illustration); the book is actually a new one following the original's destruction at Skywynne's Wand Passing ceremony. It's mentioned there were twenty-six earlier queens, which included Skywynne's mother Lyric and Soupina the Strange.
  • Rhina's demon husband John Roachley is not shown and our only description is that she considered him a cruel husband.
• Genocide Backfire: Solaria advocated for the death of all monsters, which would've included the Pony Head and Lucitor families. She was in the middle of completing her Total Annihilation spell when she was killed during a nighttime ambush by monsters.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: The faceted eyes seen when a Queen goes into "Butterfly" mode allows the user to see into other dimensions; apparently the former queen Soupina got "stuck" that way and wound up spending the rest of her life wandering the other dimensions.
• Gone Horribly Right: Twice, with Rhina the Riddled.
  • She tried to make a spell that would cause Reynaldo the Bald Pate to appreciate her riddles more. It worked a little too well, to the point where Reynaldo was compelled to speak only in riddles, forcing him to step down as a member of the Magic High Commission.
  • She got together with John Roachley via an Arranged Marriage, only to discover her husband was every inch the monster he was. While she was pregnant with Celena the Shy, she tried using a heartbreak spell so the abuse would end, except her magic took it literally and killed Roachley.
• Good Parents:
  • Comet was a loving mother when she was alive. Her card featured her looking adoringly at a baby Moon who's pulling on her dress.
  • Skywynne loved both of her children, and had high hopes for her son Jushtin. She wanted Jushtin to be a good king by naming him her heir, but because Mewni is matriarchal, she had to make him supersede his claim to the throne as soon as she was pregnant with his sister. Jushtin doesn't blame his mother since she was putting up appearances for her people and he was disinterested in ruling, and loves her all the same.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The book often brings up a Septarian named Seth, the leader of a rebel faction of radicalized monsters. He seemingly does nothing beyond winning favor with other monsters, and he survives to Comet's reign as a "dried-up, crusty-old gecko". Her chapter, however, implies that younger Septarians like Toffee and Rasticore directly adopt his viewpoint and goals.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Despite her many accomplishments, Crescenta envied Dirhhennia's ability to find happiness in things such as going on dates with a boyfriend.
  • It's implied that Solaria felt this way towards the founding of her family's kingdom, seeing the previous queens as too soft and that her rule was "better".
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: One of the first spells Skywynne invented was a time-loop spell, which she accidentally cast on her mother and an unwanted suitor.
• Heir Club for Men: Inverted; the royal line of succession in Mewni is strictly matrilineal, so only daughters can inherit the throne and the royal Magic Wand. When Skywynne had a son, Jushtin the Uncalculated, she was pressured into having another child, which led to the birth of Solaria. She deeply regretted making Jushtin supersede his claim to the throne in favor of his sister because she always had high hopes for him.
• He Who Fights Monsters:
  • Solaria waged a fierce war against the monsters out of desire to protect Mewni from them, only to gradually become vicious and deranged herself as the war dragged on.
  • In murdering Comet, who only wanted to end the wars between monsters and mewmans, Toffee revealed himself to be a bigot whose actions were motivated by sheer hatred, making the current conflicts suffered by Moon and Star his fault.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Celena, underneath her shyness, is a competent charm and potion-maker, and is extraordinarily talented in the creative arts, especially writing.
  • It's implied that Crescenta's many accomplishments hid the fact that she's naturally unable to find happiness in simple things, and she constantly cast spells on herself to ensure that she stayed happy.
  • Despite Jushtin's apparent disinterest in ruling and his preferring to goof off with his friends, he knows advanced mathematics, and knows how to bring people of different races together.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Solaria's tapestry from "Into the Wand" (depicting her as a powerful, stalwart defender of Mewni) retroactively is an in-universe example of this. Her chapter shows that when she was alive, she became a genocidal anti-monster extremist who believed that all monsters should be dead for the good of Mewni, after multiple peace talks failed.
• Irony:
  • Celena the Shy was extremely reclusive and kept to herself. This caused everyone to try get close for her to spill her secrets, presumably due to her great beauty and adorable shyness.
  • Despite her oddness and melancholic personality, Dirhhennia was able to find happiness in simple things like going on dates with her boyfriend, something that her overachieving little sister Crescenta envied.
  • Jushtin was passed over as heir to the throne in favor of his younger sister, Solaria, solely because of his gender. but a closer look at the siblings as individuals show he would have been the superior candidate for the throne; he had the social skills and charisma to bring people from different kingdoms and races together. Solaria, on the other hand, was a racist extremist whose hatred of monsters consumed and eventually killed her.
  • Skywynne wanted her son Jushtin to succeed and achieve great things in his life, which was why she initially named him her heir. He ended up being known as the only Butterfly "un-queen", and while he was great at diplomacy, none of his accomplishments were celebrated or officially recorded, suggesting that Mewni wanted to forget that a Butterfly male was ever made liable for the throne.
  • Comet was an active supporter of mewman-monster equality. Her assassination by Toffee led to her daughter Moon becoming a bigot out of grief.
• Large and in Charge:
  • Festivia and Solaria play it straight, as they were both 6'1" and 6'3" respectively by the time they became Queens.
  • Jushtin is just behind Festivia at 6'0". His case is subverted in that his claim to the Butterfly throne was superseded once his mother, Skywynne, was pregnant with Solaria, the "true" heir. By the time Solaria became queen, she was three inches taller than her older brother at 6'3".
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The book was written during the production of the final season, and as such, spoils a lot of things from the first three seasons of the show, up to and including the book's destruction in "Book Be Gone". The book's own existence after the fact also spoils the season four reveal that it was remade using a surviving piece and Glossaryck's silkworms. Notably, however, twists from Season 3 like the existence of Meteora Butterfly and the name of Eclipsa's monster husband aren't brought up, but Star's chapter poem spoils her giving control of Mewni back to Eclipsa at the end of it.
• Like Father, Like Son: Estrella the Drafted inherited her quiet shyness and artistry from her mother Celena.
• Like Father, Unlike Son:
  • Solaria the Monster Carver is a genocidal extremist hellbent on eradicating all monsters on Mewni. Her daughter Eclipsa fell in love with a monster and gave birth to Meteora after eloping with him.
  • Festivia was a fun-loving queen who used magic to turn herself into the perfect party host. Her oldest daughter Dirhhennia is a chronically depressed woman with an obsession for balls.
  • Comet advocated for mewman-monster equality and nearly succeeded in ending the war, until Toffee assassinated her out of sheer hatred. Her daughter Moon became a racist bigot out of grief.
• Lost Colony: Low Mewman passages in Skywynne's chapter say that sixteen Mewmans were lost to space thanks to her accidentally deleting gravity. They ended up on another planet, and turned it into a thriving world; but according to Skywynne, they will one day attack Mewni.
• Magic Staff: Jushtin's magic wand took the shape of a red and white-striped Classy Cane with a sentient alligator head. Unfortunately, he had lesser magic compared to his female relatives.
• Magic 8-Ball: Dirhhennia's wand is this, and even acts like one. Her wand might have been able to see the future, as she basically uses it to make decisions for her, like whether to get out of bed or not (though it seems to only have about as many choices as a regular 8ball would have).
• Magnetic Hero: Implied and justified with Jushtin the Uncalculated. Even though he never got to inherit the throne and wand from his mother, Jushtin had the ability to make friends from different kingdoms. When he was made one of his sister's diplomats, he allied the Butterfly family with the Pony Head and Lucitor families. It's saying something that those alliances managed to stay strong despite Mewni's rampant anti-monster bigotry.
• Messy Hair:
  • Festivia has long, bushy hair unlike most of the Butterfly queens, who kept their hair groomed and pretty. Some of her descendants would keep this hairstyle as well.
  • Dirhhennia's hair looks like black heap of sludge dumped on her head, emphasizing her depression and making her look slovenly compared to the other queens.
  • Rhina's hair is long and bushy, adding to her Absent-Minded Professor appearance.
• Monster Clown: "Dead clowns", in Queen Skywynne's experience, are the worst kind of undead.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Justified with Jushtin, who is the "Male" part of the trope. His magic was abysmal compared to his mother, Skywynne, a chronomancer; his sister, Solaria, who created magical super-soldiers; and his niece, Eclipsa, a powerful practitioner of dark magic. However, during his time as Skywynne's heir, he mostly hung out with his royal entourage, shirking his duties and never studying magic much. This trope was partially why he was forced to supersede his claim to the throne in favor of Solaria. To her credit, Skywynne wanted to subvert this trope by encouraging Jushtin's potential with magic so he'll become a powerful mage like her, but she was pressured into giving birth to a daughter, cutting off any chances for Jushtin to learn more magic.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Glossaryck's bucket list is loaded with ridiculous things he's checked off, like "direct a movie", "create a new language", and "be a bridesmaid". "Die and be reborn" has been checked off four times (one occurred in "Rest in Pudding", possibly another when the first version of the book was destroyed in a castle fire).
  • One of the last entries in Queen Rhina's chapter notes that she finally remembered what the red ribbon tied to her arm is for, but doesn't elaborate on why.
  • In the part of Eclipsa's chapter written in Low Mewman, when describing her "darkest spell", she heavily suggests she used the spell once before and saw its effects on Septarians first-hand, but doesn't go any deeper than that.
• Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Celena is a demon-mewman hybrid, because of Rhina's marriage to John Roachley.
• Note to Self: Rhina's chapter is loaded with "Notes to me" reminding her of various things.
• One-Track-Minded Artist: All of Dirhhenia Butterfly's drawings are of circles, balls, and other round things. She even drew balls on the walls of Castle Butterfly. This is one of the reasons why she was deemed unfit to be Queen of Mewni.
• Parental Favoritism: Due to Mewni being a matriarchy, Skywynne preferred her daughter Solaria over her son Jushtin in public. It's subverted as deep down, she loved both children dearly. Jushtin's chapter implies her actions were done to appease her subjects, who never wanted a male ruler on the throne.
• Parents as People: While Skywynne loved Jushtin dearly and wanted him to become King, she had to follow Mewni's matriarchal traditions to keep her people happy, and forced her son to give up his claim to the throne once Solaria was born. She felt no pleasure in doing so.
• Perpetual Frowner: Celena's card finally shows what her face looks like behind her fan, and she's depicted with a shy, withdrawn expression. It's assumed that she looks like this all the time, if her shyness is real.
• The Pete Best: In-universe; there were originally five members of the Magic High Commission, but Reynaldo the Bald Pate retired after he was accidentally cursed to speak only in riddles by Queen Rhina.
• Public Secret Message: A number of messages in the book are written in Low Mewman, including a two-page spread in Eclipsa's chapter that describes her Septarian-destroying spell. A hint on how to decode it is included in Star's chapter.
• Puppet King: The Avarius family, Ludo's ancestors, were given royal privileges and titles by Crescenta, who thought the monsters were unable to look after themselves and stepped in to correct matters.
• Red Baron: Most Butterfly queens have a title that referred to an awesome deed they did in their reigns. Special mention goes to Solaria, whose title is "Monster Carver".
• Revenge Before Reason: Even though the monsters had every right to hate the Butterfly family for oppressing, killing, and demonizing them, their hatred went so deep that they refuse to want peace, not stopping until the entire Butterfly family is eradicated. Toffee's murder of the pacifistic Comet undid all of her diplomacy and created even more problems for the monsters for a couple more generations.
• Rolling Pin of Doom: Comet's wand took the shape of a Gem-Encrusted rolling pin.
• Royal Brat: Crescenta was bossy, manipulative, and controlling as a queen, and those who opposed her new laws were thrown in the dungeon. Glossaryck thought she was obnoxious, while her older sister Dirhhennia stated that she couldn't stand her.
• The Quiet One: Celena usually kept to herself and never spoke much during public gatherings. Her daughter, Estrella, would inherit this trait, communicating only through writings and drawings.
• Sanity Slippage: Implied with Solaria. Even though she gained two powerful monster allies thanks to Jushtin's diplomacy, the stress of the mewman-monster wars took a drastic toll on her, leading to her creation of the Total Annihilation spell. It would've wiped out every monster on Mewni, including the Pony Heads and Lucitors.
• Schizo Tech: Festivia's entries are done in the style of a Twitter feed, complete with joke hash-tags, since she was queen when "compact" magic mirrors were first developed. It's worth remembering that Festivia's reign occurs some 300 years before the start of the series, and before the internet would be invented.
• Secret-Keeper: Celena kept many secrets in her lifetime, including the ones about herself. Judging by her tapestry, this attracted a lot of people who wanted to get close enough for her to spill.
• Sequel Hook: The book offers up several plot hooks that may be explored in the series itself or another book, such as an impending Alien Invasion of Mewni from a planet colonized by Mewmans Skywynne accidentally sent into space.
• Shared Family Quirks: Jushtin and Star have a few traits despite not being related by blood. For one, they both preferred to have fun with their friends rather than be saddled with a royal position they wouldn't be satisfied with. And they're both compassionate to people of different races (once Star gets her Character Development, that is).
• Ship Tease: In Star's chapter, we finally get to see the full of Star's "My Thoughts on Marco" chapter of her diary; despite her claims that she and Marco are Just Friends, the two obviously have a strong bond.
• Shout-Out: Among the ball drawings in Dirhhennia's chapter are some Poké Balls and the Death Star.
• Shrinking Violet: Celena's title is "The Shy". She was so shy that she even apologizes to inanimate objects if she accidentally bumped into them. And because so many people wanted to know her secrets, she often withdrew to her bedchambers. Her shyness is one of her prominent traits, and is even listed as a joke attribute in her chapter, at a staggering twenty. Glossaryck, however, found this trait endearing.
• Sibling Rivalry: Crescenta is annoyed by Dirhhennia's melancholic oddness, and magically transformed her into an actual wolf after hearing talks about being a "lone wolf" one too many times. She also envied her older sister's ability to find happiness in things like dates with boyfriends. Dirhhennia herself stated that she couldn't stand Crescenta.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The mopey, laid-back Dirhhennia and the enthusiastic, bossy Crescenta were sisters.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Possibly with Celena, whose shyness might be a public facade she put up to hide her true strengths, considering how Butterfly queens are expected to be powerful mages.
• Skewed Priorities: When the Butterfly castle caught on fire, Lyric Butterfly saved a book on fashion instead of the original Book of Spells, forcing her daughter Skywynne to write a new one.
• Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: Of the "Women are Better than Men" variety. The lives and accomplishments of the queens of Mewni are given more focus. On the other hand, Jushtin the Uncalculated has a short chapter due to being an official heir to the Butterfly throne for a very short time, and was demoted from prince to diplomat when his sister Solaria became queen. Even though he allied the Butterfly family with the Pony Head and Lucitor kingdoms, his accomplishments were treated as a footnote in the history books compared to his female relatives and their successors for being a male.
• Spare to the Throne:
  • Crescenta the Eager would've never become queen if her older sister Dirhhennia hadn't been born with untreated mental disorders.
  • Jushtin the Uncalculated is also a spare, by virtue of his gender. Skywynne originally named him her heir because she wanted her beloved son to achieve great things. This is how Jushtin ended up with the Royal Magic Wand and the Book of Spells, when traditionally it was passed from mother to daughter. But because Mewni is matriarchal, Skywynne ended up conceiving a daughter to appease her subjects, and Jushtin was forced to both supersede his claim to the throne, and give up the family heirlooms Skywynne wanted him to use to Solaria. This incident became one of Skywynne's deepest regrets.
• Start of Darkness: This book elaborates on Queen Moon's hatred for monsters and Toffee; her mother Comet was on the verge of ending the mewman-monster wars, only for Toffee to ruin her efforts and murder her in cold blood because he didn't want peace.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • This was a trait of Skywynne during her reign. When she was pregnant with Solaria, she forced her son Jushtin to abdicate the throne and took his Magic Wand away from him. However, Jushtin doesn't resent her for it due to personal disinterest in ruling, and suspects she only did so to please her subjects, who would never accept a male ruler in a matriarchal kingdom. He was right; Skywynne deeply regretted what she had to do in private, because she believed her son was destined for greatness from the moment he was born. And when dealing with lazy, ungrateful subjects became too much, Skywynne hit a Rage Breaking Point and blew up an entire dimension with her magic.
  • Crescenta had this trait as well. Before she met her "gal pal" Emily, she would constantly cast a spell on herself that would get rid of all her negative emotions and thoughts.
  • Festivia saw it necessary to keep her subjects happy and satisfied with endless parties while monsters were besieging her kingdom from all sides. She kept this up for five years.
• Stopped Reading Too Soon: Star only fully read Skywynne's chapter, skimmed through most of the rest, and outright skipped the one about her mother. This is used to explain her ignorance of things specified in the book, like that her grandmother Comet was killed.
• Succession Crisis: It's implied in Jushtin's chapter that Butterfly princes can inherit the throne, but only if there's truly no female heirs and/or the situation is dire enough to necessitate it. If a daughter is born, the male relative is forced to supersede his claim to the throne in her favor.
• Super-Soldier: Mina Loveberry was once an ordinary peasant, and her powers of Hulking Out were granted by a set of experimental spells cast by Queen Solaria. She and her fellow "Solarian Warriors" managed to hold off a siege for five years during the reign of Queen Festivia.
• Supreme Chef: Comet, whose title is "The Chef". Her cooking tied to her philosophy of co-existence, as everyone needs food and a table to eat.
• Tempting Fate: When Festivia is angry at Dirhhennia for using her wand as a paintbrush, the latter sarcastically writes, "What are you gonna do, mom? Give my wand to Crescenta?" The very next thing she writes is, "Yeah, so my mom gave the wand to Crescenta."
• True Companions: Implied with the "Boy-Prince Cru" group in Jushtin's chapter, as Jushtin spent more time hanging out with them than ruling Mewni. He also had the uncanny ability to turn other people into this, as the Pony Head and Lucitor families continued being allies of the Butterfly family long after his death.
• Unconventional Formatting: Each queen's chapter (as well as Glossaryck and Star) uses a different font from the others. Likewise, there are no page numbers for most of the book, and the table of contents isn't at the start, but in the middle.
• Unperson: Jushtin's description calls him an "un-queen", and Rhina's description mentions that "seven [queens] came before Rhina (if you subtract the boy)". This suggests the mewmans wanted to forget that Jushtin was ever considered to be liable for the throne.
• Unreliable Narrator: Because each chapter is written from the perspective of their respective queen, there is often doubt cast over how, why, or even if certain events happened as written. This is most obvious with Solaria, who writes herself as a noble war hero rather than the xenophobic imperialist she really is, as well as Festivia, who mentions her parents died when in truth, they were never her parents at all.
• Wanted a Son Instead: Due to Mewni being a matriarchy, daughters are more valuable than sons, and girls are expected to have powerful magic in order to rule effectively. Initially, when Jushtin was born, Skywynne was content with having a son and wanted him to achieve great things, so she named him her heir and gave Jushtin the Magic Wand and her Book of Spells. However, Skywynne's subjects wanted her to give birth to a daughter. When she did, she celebrated and immediately forced Jushtin to supersede his claim to the throne and give up his Magic Wand... but in private, she deeply regretted her actions.
• White Man's Burden: Queen Crescenta believed that the monsters were responsible for their own problems and couldn't look after themselves without Mewman intervention, so she promoted the Avarius family to royalty. It didn't work, as the monsters are still living in dire poverty, and the current generation of Avariuses are abusive, washed-up has-beens.
• The Wrongful Heir to the Throne:
  • Jushtin was seen as one by the public because of his gender and weaker magic. His mother, Skywynne, wanted him to achieve great things so she named him her heir, but her subjects pressured her into having another child. Once Solaria was born, Jushtin was superseded in favor of his sister. Ironically, he turned out to be a better candidate because of his charisma and diplomatic skills.
  • Solaria turned out to be this; despite Mewni's matriarchal traditions deeming her the rightful heir to the throne, she became a genocidal extremist whose actions against monsters affected her successors once she became queen, and nearly undid all of Jushtin's diplomacy with the Pony Heads and Lucitors.

---