Freedom and Confinement Quotes in Stardust

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

And then the leaves formed a fierce, low voice, which said, "If you had kept her chained, and she had escaped her chains, then there is no power on earth or sky that could ever make me help you." (6.31)

The copper beech tree has some pretty strong feelings about forced confinement based on her run-in with a prince back when she was a nymph. That dude didn't respect her boundaries at all, and so her last resort was to turn into a tree in order to escape his advances. Now she's in a position to help Tristran, so it's good that he wasn't a jerk about keeping the star chained up.

Quote #8

The star let go of the chain. "He once caught me with a chain much like yours. Then he freed me, and I ran from him. But he found me and bound me with an obligation, with binds my kind much more securely than any chain ever could." (10.27)

Here, Yvaine is talking to Lady Una, who is not yet freed. Yvaine compares and contrasts the chained-up kind of confinement with the bound-by-obligation kind of confinement. The former is less binding than the latter, at least if you're a star.

Quote #9

"Then I desire that you should marry Mister Monday." […]

She exhaled in one low shuddering breath of release. (10.87-88)

When Tristran frees Victoria from her vow to fulfill his heart's desire (which, it's implied, is to marry her), she is so relieved. Like, super relieved. We learn that she's loved Mr. Monday all along, and she feels badly for stringing Tristran along and sending him off to possibly get injured or die.