Star and Marco face their final conflict.
Tropes:
- 11th-Hour Superpower:
- Just when they're about to eliminate magic, Eclipsa achieves her dipped down Mewberty form. Meteora also achieves her Mewberty form as an infant, with some encouragement from Glossaryck.
- Marco thinks up some new spells for the wand, which is destroyed along with the Realm of Magic soon after.
- Alien Sky: The first hint of the Merged Reality is Marco seeing a different sky on Earth, followed by a flock of dragon-cycles.
- Ambiguous Ending: Although most of the protagonists' conflicts and relations are resolved, the staggering consequences of the dimensional merger are very much left to the imagination. Even the official episode summary reads "Star solves all her problems, and creates a bunch of new ones."
- Ambiguous Situation:
- The disappearance of magic kills Pure Magic Beings, which is shown to have included Glossaryck, the Magic High Commission, and everything in the Realm of Magic (though most of the latter was already killed by the corrupted unicorn). It's unclear what other life forms this included, such as the spells living in the wand.
- The scale of the dimension merge on Earth is unclear. Places that were as far away as the Cloud Kingdom are now in sight of Echo Creek, so it's possible it doesn't extend much farther, especially if it's just Mewni and Earth that fused together.
- Analogy Backfire: Mina asserts that people like her will be back, because her "good ideas" hang around "like a bad fart", and walks off oblivious to how she's just described herself.
- Apocalypse How: Star destroying the magic also created a purplish hole that exploded and merged two dimensions into one. Though the individual parts seemed directly unharmed, it causes plenty of chaos with monsters running loose and scaring humans and a helicopter almost crashing into the Pony Heads.
- As Long as There Is Evil: Mina Loveberry may no longer be a threat now that she's Brought Down to Normal, disgraced, devoid of all but one follower and stuck in the woods, but the idea of prejudice will live on.
- Backup from Otherworld: The ghosts of past Mewni queens join the chant of the Whispering Spell to destroy the Realm of Magic. Solaria also gives Mina a Death Glare that distracts her enough that she's overwhelmed by the corrupted unicorn.
- Back for the Finale: Pretty much every character in the series that is still alive at this point shows up one last time.
- Bait-and-Switch: Marco falls just shy of reaching the portal that would lead him to Star, causing him to cry in despair, until he opens his eyes and realizes the sky is wrong.
- Balloon Belly: After the rest of the Magic High Commission dies, Sean has a swollen belly from eating all the pizza himself.
- Being Evil Sucks: Mina's villainy leaves her even worse off than when she first debuted. Not that her unglamorous state discourages her from her bigoted ways, or from vengeance now that there is no Mewni.
- Bittersweet Ending: Magic is gone, apparently forever, and Glossaryck and the Magic High Commission along with it. Mina is still alive and unlikely to ever personally be a threat again with her magic gone and most of her followers deserting her; that said the racist ideas that drove her will persist long after she’s gone. The merging of Earth and Mewni mean everyone will have to learn how to adapt to this change, such as the mass migration and the new, dangerous predators roaming around. And if only Earth and Mewni were merged, that means that Star and Marco will never see Kelly, Jorby or Talon ever again, due to them being returned to their own dimensions.
- Black Comedy:
- Hekapoo has a completely blase attitude toward Star destroying magic, even though she knows it will result in her own death.Star: Hey, Hekapoo, I need you to open the portals. I'm destroying the magic.
Hekapoo: Yeah, sure. Blow it up. - Mina looks as if she was very abruptly killed by an arrow to the head, causing a few seconds of awkward silence before she shows her helmet protected her.
- Sean gorges on pizza next to the remains of Omnitraxus (a skull with sword-horns) and Rhombulus (an inert crystal next to a pair of snakes), obliviously offering them the last piece.
- Janna can stop her own heart for a full minute, which she uses to distract the EMTs so Marco can run to the last portal. Notably the last time Janna is ever seen.
- A Giant Spider casually hijacks a house when the two worlds merge, webbing up a nearby tree as the Morrisons (the house's occupants) flee in fear.
- Hekapoo has a completely blase attitude toward Star destroying magic, even though she knows it will result in her own death.
- Bloodless Carnage: Marco is stabbed through the stomach by a unicorn horn while trying to get Tom to come to his senses, but all this does is leave a dark magic stain with no physical wound. When magic is destroyed, there isn't even a mark left behind.
- Book Ends:
- The magic portal that Marco runs into is located near the Stop and Slurp, the store where he first bonded with Star in the beginning of the series.
- The Whispering Spell was said to be the first spell Star learned. Here, it's the last spell she ever uses as she uses it along with her family to destroy all magic.
- Star is the first and last character to speak in the series.
- Brick Joke:
- When Earth and Mewni merge together, mermaids are shown in the quarry, the same quarry where someone mentioned a rumour about mermaids living there.
- Tom is still wearing the seatbelt while he's in the Realm of Magic.
- Call-Back:
- The title is a term Moon and Glossaryck mentioned at the end of "Storm the Castle" after Star's wand was cleaved by the Whispering Spell.Moon: We fear that the wand has been cleaved.
Glossaryck: Cleaved? Now that's a funny word. You can cleave something apart, or you can cleave something together. - Hekapoo slaps Marco on the back of the head again.
- In season three, Star's sleep portals led her to the Realm of Magic the first time, with the Firstborn saying that she was called for some purpose, with Star not knowing what it was and saying that it wasn't her time. Now we learn that the call was apparently so that she could destroy it.
- Marco uses the wand again, having tried it as a last resort in "Deep Dive". His cheek marks make their return when he hugs Star as the Realm of Magic collapses.
- Just as Glossaryck said in the previous episode, the magic dumps everyone back in their realms just before it collapses.
- The title is a term Moon and Glossaryck mentioned at the end of "Storm the Castle" after Star's wand was cleaved by the Whispering Spell.
- Calling Your Attacks: In addition to the usual calling out spell names (done by Marco when he uses the wand against the dark millhorse), after magic is destroyed and Star is racing for the last portal, she calls out "Punch!" while uppercutting a man-eating plant out of her way.
- The Cameo:
- Ludo and Dennis can briefly be seen playing basket as Star races to the remaining portal.
- StarFan13, Principal Skeeves and Brittney Wong also make brief appearances as Marco races for the Earth side of the portal.
- Cosy Catastrophe: Marco, Star and most of the other non-humans take the merging of realities quite well. Glossaryck and Hekapoo also accept their fate without fear, as they both know that this is the only way. The other humans fare worse, freaking out at all the crazy monsters roaming around. The Pigeon Prince is also chased by a pack of dogs.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The Millhorses have their flesh melted off and are reduced to skeletons.
- Dawn of an Era: The magic is gone, the monarchy has been dismantled and the commission has no hold on the Mewmans. Mewni and Earth have merged together and the future is uncertain for the humans.
- Deader than Dead: When Star destroyed the Realm of Magic, the ghosts of her dead ancestors cease to exist.
- Dem Bones: The skull of the Firstborn emerges from the magic, telling Star and Marco to "Get Out!".
- Depower: When magic is destroyed, the queens lose their cheek marks and butterfly transformations, the Solarians return to normal, and their armors fall apart. Other creatures, however, retain their non-magic based special abilities.
- Didn't Think This Through: Star travels to the Realm of Magic to use the Whispering Spell, only to immediately forget its Magical Incantation because of the realm's effects. Fortunately, Glossaryck anticipated that and gave Marco pudding to fix it, not that he bothered to explain himself.
- Earn Your Happy Ending:
- It took a lot of effort on the parts of the heroes, but the Realm of Magic is destroyed, stopping Mina and her Solarian warriors for good, and the aftermath creates a Merged Reality that allows Star and Marco to be together.
- After much turmoil and emotional strife, Eclipsa, Globgor, and Meteora can now be together as a family. More importantly, Eclipsa finally reconciles with her mother Solaria and Solaria happily accepts her half-monster granddaughter before fading from existence.
- Empty Shell: Being stuck in the Realm of Magic for so long while the corruption is affecting it reduces Tom to a mindless, silent shell until Marco uses Glossaryck's pudding to restore him.
- End of an Age: The age of magic has ended, and so has the Mewnian monarchy. And Earth and Mewni are now one.
- Exact Words: Glossaryck told Star that Marco will be sent back to Earth, he never said they'd be separated.
- Extra-Long Episode: The episode is double-length, on top of coming at the end of a near-continuous nine-episode Story Arc.
- Face Death with Dignity: Glossaryck and Hekapoo accept their coming deaths gracefully, acknowledging that Star is in the right to destroy magic even though doing so will kill them.
- Face–Heel Turn: In the end Manfred is the only one still loyal to Mina and runs off into the forest with her.
- Failed a Spot Check: Sean doesn't seem to really recognize that Rhombulus and Omnitraxus Prime are dead.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The Alien Sky visible to Marco is one sign of the Merged Reality before the proper reveal.
- Flatline: Janna snaps herself into this for sixty seconds in order to distract the medics from Marco going to the magical portal.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: When Star talks to Pony Head about what happened to the people injured by the Solarians, neither mentions Quirky Guy's death. Presumably, they didn't know him well, as he was more of an acquaintance of Marco's.
- Gainax Ending: Earth and Mewni are merged together and Marco and Star can be together. However, the future looks frightening for humanity since there are now giant monsters roaming around and the scale of the dimensional merge is unclear.
- Gas Leak Cover-Up: Inverted. Marco has to keep correcting people that the swirling vortex is not a gas leak, but in fact a portal.
- Giant Spider: When Earth and Mewni merge, one of these decides to nest on the Morrisons' house, much to their terror.
- Glowing Eyes: All of the spirits of Star's ancestors sport these when she, Moon and Eclipsa are destroying the Realm of Magic.
- Going Down with the Ship: Glossaryck chooses to stay in the Realm of Magic as it collapses, even saying he's the captain going down with the ship.
- Grand Finale: The final conclusion of the series.
- Heel Realization: After being depowered, Maude Maizley seems to regret joining the Solarians, not going with Mina because she realizes that she wasn't as hate-filled as she thought she was.
- Held Gaze: The episode ends with Star and Marco looking at each other in silence before saying hello to each other.
- Hellish Horse: The corrupted unicorns.
- Heroic Bystander: Though not the most heroic act, an anonymous monster tries to simply kill Mina when Star and the others wouldn't. It fails because the unicorn skull Mina is wearing blocks the arrow to the head (and she was wearing a helmet underneath), and she browbeats the archer into giving up by pointing out how her death wouldn't accomplish anything.
- Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Tom is designed as one in this episode. He becomes the rider of a corrupted unicorn and the episode marks the end of magic and a new chapter in Mewman history.
- Humiliation Conga: Mina's queen is disgusted at her, her army has crumbled, her powers lost, and (as far as we know) is only down to one supporter. Mina's not gonna let any of that stop her, for she will rise again, or will ensure her legacy lives on.
- I Choose to Stay: Star tries to go back to Earth after sending Marco there, but the portal has closed by the time she tries to go back. Marco had the same idea, so they embrace in the Realm of Magic before it sends them to their respective realms.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Marco has one with Tom, who seems to have been possessed by the dark unicorn. When Marco calls out to him, the other unicorns tell him that he's gone, but Marco refuses to believe it.
- I'm Melting!: The unicorns in the Realm of Magic melt when exposed to the tainted magic the queens are creating, leaving only their skulls behind.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Marco manages to feed Tom the pudding, but is impaled on the dark unicorn's horn in the process. Thankfully, the injury disappears when the magic is gone.
- Improbable Antidote: What can prevent the Realm of Magic from affecting your mind, and make you regain your lost memories? Eating pudding.
- I Reject Your Reality: Even after Queen Solaria's spirit silently rejects her, Mina is still intent on pursuing her anti-monster ways in Solaria's name, convinced that it's a "good idea".
- Irony: From the start of the show, the monster populace had to live in the woods while the Mewmans lived in the safety of villages and the Butterfly Kingdom. Now it's the remaining supremist Mewmans (Mina and Manfred) who live out in the woods while the monsters live in villages (alongside Mewmans who have accepted them).
- It May Help You on Your Quest: Glossaryck gives Marco lots of pudding with no explanation. As he enters the Realm of Magic, however, he discovers that it counters the Realm's memory-erasing effects. Star complains about how Glossaryck never tells them anything beforehand.
- Keystone Army: Without any magic to power their armor, the Solarian army collapses and breaks apart.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Subverted. Mina rants to Moon that she was never responsible for the former, stating her actions were out of loyalty to Solaria, then gets shot right in the head with an arrow... but she doesn't die and continues on with a very ominous warning that this isn't the last of her.
- Killed Off for Real: Glossaryck, the Magic High Commission and other beings composed of magic are now dead.
- Magical Incantation: Star, Moon and Eclipsa chant the Whispering Spell to destroy the Realm of Magic, and this episode reveals their words:Break the bond, tear the fabric. Cleave the stone, stop the magic.
- The Magic Goes Away: Star's plan works, with some help from Moon, Eclipsa and Meteora chanting the Whispering Spell with her. The first sign is the loss of their Mewberty forms and cheek markings.
- Mama Bear: When Mina invades the Realm of Magic, Solaria glares at her as Mina calls Eclipsa a traitor and coldly looks on as Mina is seemingly devoured by a corrupted unicorn.
- Merged Reality: When the last portal collapses, Earth and Mewni are cleaved into a single amalgam world.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Moon has this expression when Star tearfully describes her failed effort to be with Marco one last time, possibly recognizing that not only did her choice lead up to the end of magic, but have cost Star any happiness she could've had with Marco.
- No-Sell: Star's attempt to use the Whispering Spell on the Realm of Magic fails on her own, with the patch of tainted magic she generates simply getting purified by the much greater concentration of magic around her. Being joined by Moon, Eclipsa, and Meteora allows the four to taint the magic faster than it can recover.
- Not Afraid to Die:
- Hekapoo takes no issue with being killed if the magic were to disappear, agreeing with Star the universe is better off without it.
- When an anonymous monster archer nearly shoots Mina in the head, she's only somewhat annoyed, and brags that her own death would barely matter because her ideas would still be followed.
- "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The series ends with the camera panning up to the new sky after the dimensional merge.
- Pesky Pigeons: Pony Head complains about all the pigeons who came to visit Prince Richard Pigeon making themselves at home. The prince assures her they are not staying, but Pony Head points out that one of them is getting mail there.
- The Power of Love: When Star and Marco embrace for (seemingly) the last time, a form of magic appears beneath them. This reappears as a portal, which soon explodes to merge both their worlds into one.
- Race for Your Love: When Star and Marco discover the portal, they both race to it hoping to see each other again. Even if, for the last time. The portal seemingly closes with an explosion, causing Marco to cry in a moment of heartbreak. However, the portal actually sealed their respective worlds together, allowing Star and Marco to be together.
- Rebuilt Pedestal: After losing the respect she had for her in the previous episode, Star makes amends with Moon when she shows up with Eclipsa and Meteora to help her in the Realm of Magic.
- Redemption Equals Death: Hekapoo was the first to agree with Star about destroying magic, so she lets Star go to the Realm of Magic, even knowing that she herself will likely cease to exist if the magic is destroyed.
- Redemption Rejection: Moon tells Mina it's over and she just needs help, but Mina will have none of it and decides to run to the woods (with Manfred joining her).
- The Reveal:
- Marco discovers that eating Glossaryck's pudding keeps your mind sharp in the Realm of Magic after he realizes that he doesn't lose his memory while he eats it in the Realm of Magic. This is the reason why Glossaryck is addicted to the stuff as he needs it to keep his mind sharp due to being the Embodiment of Magic.
- The words to the Whispering Spell are finally heard clearly: "Break the bond, tear the fabric. Cleave the stone, stop the magic."
- Rule of Symbolism:
- Eclipsa's black marks got washed out by magic, erasing her only questionable sin of using dark magic and leaving her able to move on with her life with, literally, clean hands.
- Mina being covered in corrupt magic is pretty telling of how unsightly her hatred has made her.
- Mina represents the entirety of racism. Racism will never go away, it can only be weakened or minimalised.
- Her steed being the skeleton of the dark Unicorn is pretty telling of her cause.
- The Merged Reality is essentially symbolic of Star and Marco's situation, as they both have lived between dimensions; Earth has shaped a core part of Star's history and personality and Mewni has done the same for Marco, yet they still somewhat belong to their respective native worlds.
- Saying Too Much: Eddie inadvertently reveals to Mina that they're taking Globgor to the Magic Sanctuary to try and heal him before the Solarian Mark causes him to explode. River then compounds that by blurting out that Star and the others have likely taken refuge there.
- Screw Destiny: Star and Marco's love allowed them to cleave Earth and Mewni together, averting the future shown in Star's tapestry where they were separated and the worlds remained apart.
- Secret Stab Wound: The corrupted unicorn impales Marco, leaving a stain of dark magic. He hides the injury under his hoodie to avoid distracting anyone else. Magic's destruction causes the injury to disappear before anyone else sees it.
- Sequel Hook: The series has finally concluded with magic being destroyed and (possibly) all beings composed of magic being erased. The episode ends with the possibility of Mina returning and both Earth and Mewni merging together.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Subverted. Mina, while in the middle of her Villainous Breakdown, gets an arrow to her head, but it doesn't kill her. Nope, she goes on and on and tells them this is far from over.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: After magic is destroyed, Mina takes to wearing the dark unicorn's skull as a helmet (on top of her regular helmet). She takes it off moments later when an arrow gets stuck in it.
- Skewed Priorities: Seeing their Britta's Tacos sunk into a greenish-black tar pit (from the Realm of Magic's destruction), Oskar merely asks if it means they get the rest of the day off.
- So Proud of You: Glossaryck earnestly congratulates Star for destroying magic.
- Stealth Insult: Played with. This is a variation where the person gives it to themselves a la Analogy Backfire. Mina tries to frame her "good ideas" (racism and genocide against the monsters) as being comparable to a "bad fart". Unwittingly, she basically says "My 'good' ideas stink."
- Stealth Pun: Mina complains that her steed (the dark unicorn's skeleton) is broken and starts jumping on it to get it moving again. In regards that she won't give Monster bigotry a rest, she's beating a dead horse.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Even after all Mina has done, Moon still pities her and offers to help her (to no avail).
- Took a Level in Kindness: Solaria's ghost appears friendlier to Eclipsa. She smiles at Eclipsa and Meteora and glares at Mina as she is seemingly killed by a unicorn, suggesting that she's learned the error of her ways after her death.
- Twilight of the Gods: Star, Moon, Eclipsa and Meteora succeed in destroying the source of magic. Which kills Glossaryck, Hekapoo, Reynaldo, Omnitraxus, Rhombulus and other beings composed of magic.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Mina leaves the story by running away into the forest, with Manfred as her only known remaining supporter. The heroes spare her out of combination of pity and an unspoken agreement that killing her wouldn't do much of anything. Plus being too inept to forge for herself means Mina's future is uncertain anyhow.
- Villain Has a Point: While Mina's analogy of "good ideas" is clumsy to say the least, she's sadly on the nose about how racism isn't easy to snuff out.
- Waking Non Sequitur: Marco shouts "I got stabbed by a unicorn!" when he wakes up after returning to Earth. The medic attending to him tells his parents that he's been doing that repeatedly.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Pony Head tells Star what she thinks happened to the others as the audience is shown. Kelly and Jorby are happily fighting in their dimension, Talon is in a tavern somewhere bragging, and the Magical High Commission... Pony Head has no idea what happened to them, but the cutaway clearly shows that they died.
- You Cannot Kill An Idea: After being defeated and getting an arrow shot into her skull helmet, Mina boast that even if they did kill her, ideas like hers tend to stick around.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Implied. When Mina dives into the Realm of Magic, she sees the ghost of Solaria and tries to talk to her, only for a corrupted unicorn to catch her off-guard and drag her under the sea of magic. When Mina is looking to Solaria for help, Solaria looks on in anger as Mina is dragged under the water and seemingly devoured.
"Cleaved? Now that's a funny word. You can cleave something apart, or you can cleave something together."
