Tristran Thorn
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| Tristan Thorn | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Stardust |
| Created by | Neil Gaiman |
| Portrayed by | Charlie Cox |
| Information | |
| Species | half human, half fairy |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 18 |
| Occupation | ruler of Stormhold |
| Title | Lord of Stormhold |
| Family | Dunstan Thorn (father) Una (mother) |
| Spouse(s) | Yvaine |
| Children | none |
| Relatives | King of Stormhold (grandfather) Septimus (uncle) Primus (uncle) Tertius (uncle) Secundus (uncle) Quartus (uncle) Quintus (uncle) Sextus (uncle) |
Tristran Thorn is the hero of Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust. He finds a fallen star, which becomes a beautiful young woman named Yvaine and they have an amazing adventure in the magic realm of Faerie. Three wicked witches try to get Yvaine's heart so they can get back their youth and beauty. The sons of the king of Stormhold also want her.
[edit] Background
Tristran is the son of Dunstan Thorn and the unnamed slave girl of a witch (although he initially believes himself to be the son of his father's wife, Daisy). Tristran is a resident of Wall, a village named for the wall which borders it to the East. There is a small gap in this wall through which can be seen a meadow and beyond it a forest. This gap is in fact a portal to the magical world of Faerie. The gap is at all times guarded by two men from the village except for one day every nine years when a faery market takes place in the meadow. It was at one such market that Tristran was conceived. Tristran is described as being "painfully shy" with dark brown hair, moderate acne and a fascination with the stars. Because of his half-human, half-faery nature, his right ear is round while his left one is pointed. He also reacts strangely to the influence of the East wind, which blows from Faerie: whenever the wind blows from this direction he either assumes a manner much manlier than that in which he usually behaves or indulges in strange, fairytale-like daydreams. He frequently makes rather ridiculous remarks (including claiming that the clouds which can be seen on the horizon at sunset are sheep) for which his sister Louisa frequently teases him.
[edit] Role in the Novel
At the age of seventeen, Tristran becomes infatuated with the beautiful Victoria Forester, with whom almost every other man in the village is also besotted. On a certain evening in October, Tristran walks Victoria home from the shop in which he works and in which she is purchasing several items. The two sit at the top of a hill, and Tristran asks her to kiss him, only to be coldly rejected. He promises her extravagant gifts in exchange for a kiss, and while he is speaking, he sees a falling star on the other side of the wall. Caught up in the moment, he promises to retrieve that star in exchange for her hand in marriage. Although he had merely made the promise on an impulse, Victoria takes him at his word, and he reluctantly decides to cross the wall. His father convinces the guards at the wall to let Tristran pass, as well as giving Tristran a lucky charm which he (Dunstan) had purchased from the Faery market on the night of Tristran's conception. The boy then sets off on his perilous quest.
On his travels, Tristran encounters a small, hairy man carrying a large pack which contains many magical items. The two venture Eastward, and accidentally enter a "serewood" (a wood whose trees kill any living creature which enters its borders. However, Tristran seems to instinctively know the direction in which lies the path through the wood, and once they reach the path, where they are protected from the trees. (As the novel progresses, it is revealed that Tristran can in fact locate any place in Faerie which he seeks. This skill generally manifests itself as a spontaneous and accurate response to the queries of another character with regard to the direction in which various places lie. He also demonstrates the ability to locate and track the fallen star, something of a contradiction to the apparent limitations of his power, as it had previously been established that he can only locate places and not people.) Tristran and his companion leave the wood unharmed, and the little man goes to a nearby village to purchase various supplies. While Tristran waits for the man to return, he is taunted by several tiny faeries, who claim that he "does not know why he was born". He throws his bowler hat at them in anger, and they steal it. The man returns with splendid new clothes for Tristran, as well as with an unbreakable silver chain and a tiny candle-stub. This he lights, and then tells Tristran to walk in the direction of the fallen star. The candle magically transports him to the star's side, but he finds that the star is not at all what he expected: It is a beautiful young woman, whose leg has been broken in her fall from the sky. The star is weeping when Tristran finds her, and she is greatly annoyed with him for disturbing her in this state. She becomes absolutely furious when Tristran binds the two of them together with the chain and announces that he intends to take her back and present her to Victoria. However, the candle burns out before Tristran can use it to transport the back to Wall, and they are forced to return on foot, despite the fact that the village is six months' travel from their current location. Being the son of a farmer, Tristran has made splints for sheep before, and so he applies the same principles to constructing one for the star, as well as making her a crutch out of a sycamore branch, so that she can walk. Not long after they set off, they come upon a lion and a unicorn fighting over a golden crown. Tristran gives the crown to the lion, and it releases the unicorn, which joins them on their travels.
The unicorn carries the star for a little way, and then carries Tristran as well because he cannot keep up with its pace. In light of the fact that Tristran is able to ride the unicorn, it is clear that he is still a virgin at this point in the novel. Tristran leaves the star alone while he goes to purchase food in a nearby village, having removed the chain out of sympathy. When he returns however, she has fled, riding on the unicorn. He tries to follow, tracking the star through his apparent ability to locate anything he seeks, but the unicorn is moving too fast for him to keep up, and he decides to lie down for the night. While he sleeps, the moon whispers to him, begging him to protect her child (the star). Upon waking, he is informed by a talking tree that the star is in grave danger from various malign forces. The tree provides him with a leaf which contains information that he must only listen to when he needs it most, and tells him to stop a coach coming along the road. This coach belongs to Lord Primus of Stormhold. Tristran asks to be allowed to travel with Primus in the coach. Primus initially refuses, but, after consulting his runes, he divines that Tristran will be of help to him in the future, and grants the boy's request, although he also foresees that "there will be danger". Tristran converses with Primus, who informs him that he is seeking "(his) destiny. (His) right to rule", and Primus enquires what goal Tristran is pursuing, to which Tristran responds that he wishes to make amends with a young lady whom he has offended (i.e. the star). This is the first evidence that Tristran has in fact begun to look upon the star as a friend. Eventually, Tristran and Primus arrive at the inn where the star has in fact sought lodging, and Tristran contemplates his apology to her while he stables the horses. However, unknown to any of the travelers, the inn is actually a trap set by a witch-queen who wishes to cut out and consume the star's heart. The witch (who is posing as the wife of the innkeeper) is furious when Tristran and Primus interrupt her, and sends one of her servants to bring Tristran a tankard of poisoned wine, so as to get him out of the way. The unicorn (which had been locked in the same stables in which he was placing the horses) emerges from its stall and neutralizes the poison by dipping its horn into the tankard. Tristran remembers being told as a child that a unicorn's horn is proof against poison, and realizes the malevolent intentions of the innkeeper's wife. He listens to the information contained in the leaf, which is revealed shortly afterward to be instructions on how to construct a makeshift wick for the candle-stub, so as to facilitate escape from a dangerous situation. Tristran attempts to warn Primus about the innkeeper's wife, but she slits Primus' throat before he can do anything to harm her. The unicorn then kills her servants, the pot-maid and the innkeeper (in fact transformed goats), and attempts to defend Tristran and the star from the witch, while Tristran, following the advice of the tree, uses a lace from his jerkin as a wick for the candle-stub. The witch kills the unicorn, and prepares to kill Tristran and the star as well, however Tristran thrusts his hand into the fire, thereby igniting the wick and badly burning his hand. He and the star escape the inn using the candle's magic, but it burns out during the journey, leaving them stranded on the clouds.
Tristran that since he has saved her life, she must now follow wherever he goes. This enrages her, because she cannot stand him. However, after he apologizes for his behaviour toward her, she tells him that her name is Yvaine, and consents to shake his hand. While he explores the cloud, it is revealed that being on the clouds actually makes him feel intensely exited and "alive". He shouts at the top of his voice, in a bid to attract attention and possible rescue, despite the fact that he knows that there is no one up there. He tells the star that he will try to find a way to send her back up into the sky, but she tells him that this is impossible. In this gesture of compassion, he shows that he is beginning to care more for the star. They are then rescued by a passing sky-ship, on which Tristran's hand is treated and bandaged, and he helps to gather lightning for the ship to trade. The captain of the ship reveals that he is a member of an organization which is later referred to as the "Fellowship of the Castle", whose agents have been working to ensure Tristran's safe return to Wall. The little hairy man whom Tristran encountered on his travels was also a member of this fellowship. After the ship sets them down on the road to Wall, Tristran and Yvaine continue toward his village. Tristran has several adventures along the way, including a confrontation with a tawny eagle, a close call with a goblin press-gang, and being offered the position of official bard of a town called Fulkestown, following his recitation of several poems memorized as schoolwork. Over the course of the journey, Tristran's face is sunburned to a "nut-brown colour".
Further on, Tristran encounters a vividly coloured bird, which cannot move because the chain attached to its leg has become tangled in a root. He releases the bird, but its owner, an elderly witch named Madame Semele, believes that he is trying to steal it. After the bird apparently assures the witch that this was not the case, Semele reluctantly apologizes to Tristran, and offers him a job tending her stall at the market to which she is going. Tristran declines this offer, but since the market is taking place at Wall, he asks to be allowed to ride in her caravan, offering the glass flower which his father had given him (which Dunstan had bought from Semele's stall seventeen years previously) in exchange. The witch accepts, but turns Tristran into a dormouse, so that he will not be so much of a burden with regard to food and lodging. Tristran passes the journey to Wall in this form, in the company of Yvaine, whom the witch has not harmed or transmogrified, being prevented from seeing Yvaine by a curse placed upon her (Semele) by the oldest of the Lilim.
When they reach Wall, Tristran, now restore to his true form, attempts to cross the wall with Yvaine, so as to present her to Victoria Forester (although he has now come to view the star wholly as a person, and is uncomfortable with the idea of handing her over like an object), but they are stopped from crossing by the guards, who do not recognize Tristran. He and Yvaine are therefore forced to remain in the meadow on the Faerie side of the wall until the guard is relaxed for the market on the following day. Tristran helps a large woman to set up her stall, and accepts a drink of the wine she offers him. He is awoken the following morning by a talking badger, and is mildly hung-over from the drink. However, he forgets his hangover upon being informed that there is a young lady by the gap in the wall, and that she wishes to speak to him. He believes that this lady is Victoria Forester, but it actually turns out to be his sister (or rather half-sister, as he soon discovers) Louisa. She informs him that their whole family, including Daisy, has been extremely worried about him. He is greeted by the vicar and Mr. Bromios, the owner of the village inn, both of whom express their gladness at his return. He then speaks to Victoria in one of the rooms of Mr. Bromios' inn. She tells Tristran that she had not believed him to be serious in his promise to retrieve the fallen star for her, and acknowledges that she was unfair in her treatment of him. She then informs him that the reason she would not kiss him on the night they saw the falling star was because she had already accepted the proposal of Tristran's former employer, Robert Monday. She tells Tristran that she will still keep her word to him, and therefore reluctantly consents to marry him. After learning that Victoria truly loves Monday, however, Tristran tells her that she did not in fact promise to marry him if he returned with the star; she had promised him anything he desired. He therefore tells her that he desires that she marry Robert Monday. Following this conversation with Victoria, he meets with his father, who tells Tristran the truth about his origins: That he, Dunstan, fell in love with the slave of a witch at the market eighteen years previously, and made love to her, impregnating her with Tristran.
Tristran then finds Yvaine in the meadow, and is shocked to learn that if he had succeeded in bringing her across the wall, she would have been transformed into a lump of meteoric rock. He informs Yvaine that, having said his goodbyes to his family, he does not intend to return to Wall. He also tells her that he will not be marrying Victoria, admitting that he is glad, as he is no longer infatuated with her anyway. Yvaine mentions that Vicoria is pregnant, which shocks Tristran. Yvaine then begins to tell him something about stars and mortal men, but he interrupts to tell her that he is only half mortal. She continues, and reveals that she was actually trying to tell him that the two of them can probably never have children. He then realizes what she is implying, and the two share their first kiss.
At the market, Tristran enquires of the star as to where they should go, and she tells him that she is still under obligation to deliver the stone to its rightful owner. They then encounter Tristran's birth mother, the now-liberated slave of Madame Semele, who tells Tristran to ask Yvaine to give him the topaz. The woman tells Tristran that she is the Lady Una of Stormhold, and that this makes him the rightful heir to the throne of Stormhold, the previous Lord's sons all being dead. Tristran protests that he does not wish to be the Lord of anything, but his mother insists that he try his hand at ruling, telling him that he need not retain the post if he does not wish to. Tristran agrees, and his mother begins to plan an extravagant return to Stormhold, including a palanquin and an elephant, but Tristran tells her that, although she may return as she wishes, he and Yvaine will make their own way. An argument ensues, which is not described, since it takes place during a brief part of the story told entirely from the perspective of Yvaine, who chooses not to be present. Tristran apparently wins, and promises his mother that they will join her in Stormhold eventually.
Tristran and Yvaine then spend eight years exploring Faerie, righting wrongs, seeing the sights and meeting people, after which Tristran assumes his position as ruler, with Yvaine as his queen. He makes very few decisions while on the throne, but those he makes apparently have positive outcomes. He proves to be a valiant fighter and "cunning strategist". Some of his exploits as ruler include defeating the Northern Goblins in battle and creating peace with the Eagles of the High Crags. After his death, it is rumoured that he was a member of the Fellowship of the Castle, and was instrumental in breaking the power of the Unseelie Court. He and Yvaine lead a long and happy life together, until, eventually Tristran dies peacefully in his sleep, of old age, leaving Yvaine to rule as Lady of Stormhold.
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[edit] In the movie
Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox) (name changed from 'Tristran') is the son of Dunstan Thorne and Una (a captive princess). The couple met only once but fell in love instantly. When Tristan was born Una was not allowed to keep him so she sent the infant to his father. She put in his basket a magical silver chain (that grows in length and cannot be severed - the same kind as the one used to imprison Una), a snowdrop flower Dunstan bought for a kiss from Una years ago, a black candle (later revealed to be a 'Babylon candle'), and a letter to Tristan explaining everything.
The narrator tells the viewers that the story of how the baby became a boy is not very interesting, and so this is the story of how the boy became a man.
Tristan is now eighteen, having grown up apparently alone with his father, and is working as a shop-boy. He is in love with the prettiest girl in town, Victoria, and promises to bring her a newly fallen star for her birthday. He uses the candle to fly to where the star landed but discovers that the star is a beautiful, young and spirited woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes). Despite this, Tristan is still determined to marry Victoria and uses the silver chain to force Yvaine to come with him, promising to use the last of the magic candle to take her back to the sky afterwards.
However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. Yvaine is in terrible danger because the two living sons of the King (Peter O'Toole) are looking for her because only the jewel that she carries can secure the throne for one of them. Septimus, the most dangerous and ambitious of the two princes later finds out that a star's heart grants immortality so also plans to devour her heart so that he can rule the kingdom forever. The three witches known as "The Lilim"—Mormo, Empusa and the eldest and the most powerful, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer)— also want Yvaine because by consuming her heart, they shall be granted centuries of youth.
Tristan sets out to protect Yvaine and bring her back to his beloved at the other side of the wall, and his journey brings encounters with the pirate Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) and a shady trader (Ricky Gervais) among others. Captain Shakespeare gives Tristan new clothes and a new hairstyle as well as teaching him to fence and waltz.
Tristan falls in love with Yvaine but only confesses this after Yvaine confesses her feelings for him while he has been transformed into a mouse, and he fools her into thinking he no longer understands her. After Tristan is changed back into a human he and Yvaine stop at an inn. While Yvaine sleeps Tristan cuts a piece of her hair and goes back to England to tell Victoria that he no longer loves her. When he tries to give Victoria the hair she finds that it has turned into "stardust". He realizes that Yvaine cannot enter England and stay in human form and hurries back to the other side of the wall to find her.
Before he arrives Yvaine and Una are both captured by Lamia and taken back to The Lilim's castle, Yvaine to be killed and Una to be a servant. Despite being afraid, Tristan defeats Mormo and Empusa with the help of Septimus. However, Lamia kills Septimus and Tristan is forced to fight the prince's animated corpse. Lamia nearly kills Tristan but Yvaine, now armed with the knowledge that Tristan loves her, is able to unleash a powerful wave of light that destroys Lamia.
Tristan picks up the magic jewel and becomes the next king of the land (Una being the king's daughter, making Tristan the last male heir). He is crowned with Yvaine at his side as queen. The two live forever because Yvaine "gave Tristan her heart" when she fell in love with him, but after eighty years (and after their children and grandchildren have grown up) Tristan and Yvaine use a new Babylon candle (that Una gave them) to return to the sky, where they become twin stars.
