“She had been a great lady, wise and gracious and happy, King Caspian's bride whom he had brought home from the eastern end of the world. And men said that the blood of the stars flowed in her veins.” - the silver chair, c.s. Lewis
I wonder if C.S. Lewis created Ramandus daughter as an almost subversion to his habit of making “unbelievably beautiful” evil women.
Her description is kind of similar to the descriptions of jadis or the LotGK (except without the descriptions alluding to a cruel nature) and from what I remember some of the characters are even like “how do we know you’re not a witch??”
In the VDT movie, Liliandil is a star and comes down from the sky. However, in the books, Liliandil is described as the daughter of Ramandu, a star, and that "the blood of the stars flowed in her veins", but she's never called a star herself. In fact, when she first appears (walking very normally out of a door), she's described as carrying a candle for light; when Ramandu comes out, he's not carrying a candle, because he's glowing himself. All this implies Lili isn't a star, only the daughter of one. Which raises the question: who is Liliandil's mother? Some random theories:
Liliandil's mother is one of the Sea People
Liliandil's mother is a sailor or shipwrecked traveler who found her way to Ramandu's island and fell in love
Liliandil's mother is another star. Lili was born in the skies but chose to accompany her father down to earth when he retired
Liliandil's mother is another star, and assumes human form to visit her husband in the world below sometimes. Lili was conceived and born during one of these visits, and because of this the form most natural to her is human, not whatever a star's normal form is. She has to live with her father until she's older and more skilled at transforming
We shouldn't make assumptions about Ramandu's gender or star biology. Maybe he was pregnant when he retired and didn't realize until he'd already come down to land
Stars don't need a partner to reproduce. Ramandu is Liliandil's only parent
Ramandu is Lili's father in that he gave her life and raised her and loves her but she wasn't "born" per se. He created her magically somehow
c.s. lewis's worldbuilding is kind of funny because centaurs read the stars for fortunetelling but stars have a life of their own (as evidenced by the existence of coriakin and ramandu, liliandil included if you consider the movies) and i'm just here sitting like... do you think the stars ever got uncomfortable?
star #1: they're looking at us with great intent again i think they want us to do something
star #2, obviously very tired: if it's a supernova they want i can give it to them
star #3, looking through a sheet on a clipboard: alright whose turn is it to run across the sky, we haven't done that in a while
The daughter of Ramandu stood beside him as if she had just helped him into his chair; Ramandu stood behind him and laid both his hands on Rhoop's gray head.
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" - C. S. Lewis
“You shouldn’t worry so, my dear. He is a capable man, and has a good crew.”
Lilianna started slightly as her father came up behind her, then sighed and leant down onto the balcony. “I know, I just can't help myself. What if he reaches the Edge and decides not to come back?”
Ramandu opened his mouth to answer, but a squawk from the Table interrupted him. Pittencream had lifted his feet from the floor and was sweating profusely. “There’s another mouse here. Dratted things,” he muttered.
Ramandu shot him an irritated look, and then turned back to his daughter. “As I was saying, he’s far from helpless. He’ll come back and maybe…” the retired star trailed off, perusing his daughter carefully.
“Is everything all right?”
“I want to ask you something.” Ramandu tipped his daughter's chin up and looked her in the eye. “When he comes back, will you go with him?”
Lilianna’s jaw dropped. Leave the island and her father? The only life she had ever known? “How could you say such a thing?” she cried. “Who would help you sing the dawn here? I could never leave you - and besides, he probably wouldn’t want me on board - what help would I be?”
“My dearest daughter, at some point, I will leave to dance the great dance once again, and who knows when the next ship will pass by? I don’t want to leave you alone here, and Caspian is a good man - I am sure that he will take you with him. You are young, and I don’t want to steal your life from you because of selfish reasons.”
*
Though they argued about it long into the night, Lilianna eventually caved to her fathers will, and agreed to leave when on the Dawn Treader. And not a moment to soon, because the ship pulled in the very next week.
*
The crew piled off the ship, their faces shining with the unearthly light of people who reached the Silver Sea and drank from it’s waters. The king was the first off board, and after a polite greeting to Ramandu, asked for the whereabouts of Lilianna.
“I’m here,” she said, stepping out of the shadows behind him.
“My lady,” he bowed, “I brought you a gift.” He moved closer to her and tucked something in her hair. Glancing in a nearby puddle, she gasped. A beautiful white flower lay behind her ear, glowing softly in the dawn light.
“Thank you, it’s stunning!” she said.
“We must talk.” Her father interrupted the awkward silence that had fallen. Caspian looked up shaken out of his stupor.
“Very well.”
*
Two months later, Lilianna was on the deck of the Dawn Treader, staring out on the ever-shifting colours and shades of the ocean. The brisk breeze whipped her hair across her shoulders and blew foam in changing patterns across the water. She noticed Caspian come and stand beside her. In the past months, their relationship had become one of love, and she felt his arm wrap around her waist.
“It still feels odd to be away from the island and the Table,” she murmured as she leant against him.
“It must be difficult… do you ever regret it?”
“No. Not once. Because if I hadn’t left,” the star’s daughter turned to look into his eyes, “If I hadn’t left, I would have never been able to do this.”
And for the first time, she closed the distance between their lips. His breath was warm, and as they held each other, the wind tangling their hair and bringing the blood to their cheeks, she knew that - despite the odds stacked against her - she had found what she never knew she was searching for.
