Lily

Lily
Character Summary
Gender	Female
Species	Butterflies
Relatives	Stella (sister) Marie (mother) Atul (uncle) Viv (aunt) Summer (aunt) Rose (aunt)
Calls Stella	Sis
Spirit Information
Location Found	Stella's Boat
Spirit Color	Lilac

Lily is the spirit manifestation of Stella's younger sister, unlocked after the third/final visit with Hades. She was released on April 20th in the Spring 2021 update.

Lily serves as a narrator for the definitive exposition of Stella's memories collected on her three visits to Hades. Going from shrine to shrine at night, the audience learns of Stella's life and personality through Lily's recollection.

Lily is Stella's foil, representing the softer sides to excited, compassionate, outgoing Stella. Lily admits she is more reserved, and was in awe of her sister's natural charisma. Upon their father contracting a terminal illness, Lily was present through the worst parts of it, watching him suffer, while Stella was in Japan on vacation. When Stella returned she looked at her father "as if, for a moment, [she] didn't even know him."

After their father's passing, Stella's dedication to end-of-life palliative care was cemented, but the experience had the opposite effect on Lily, who was deeply traumatized from watching it happen. Lily became afraid of ever repeating the experience, and avoids death at all costs, turning to alcohol to numb the fear. Lily's voice and presence by Stella's side imply that she is combating her greatest fear (watching a loved one die) because her love for her sister outweighs her personal pain.

Lily appears as a guardian on the ship each night to light the way and allow the boat to sail at night. She stands both as the light linking Stella back to the world of the living, and as the light to drive off the mists of Hades as Stella navigates her own way towards the Everdoor. It's also implied that Stella is allowed to move the ship at night both because Lily is the everlight (the power of the ship), and because Stella is running out of time before her journey must conclude. Hugging Lily is possible as many times as Stella chooses to, though the figure of Lily will burst into a cloud of butterflies, hinting at the impermanence of her station in Stella's purgatory.

Filing Cabinet Facts

• Never turns down a drink.
• Afraid of the big unknown.
• Always there for her big sister.

Quests

Lily's quests require Stella to visit certain shrines at night, at which she explains the various memories revealed by Hades. The images of these memories are in a photo album at Stella's bedside.

• Time Abroad: I can hear Lily’s voice. She’s here with me, somehow. Let’s head to Hummingberg. I want to hear her voice again.
• Striking out on my Own: I don't remember all of these things. It’s been so long. To hear Lily's voice is such a sweet song.
• Family Ties: I don’t want to stop, even if it’s painful to hear these things. Lily, we need to keep going.
• To Tundra: Oh, Lily. I know this is painful for you. We are almost there... together.

At the end of her quests, Lily comments that she and Marie will always be with Stella.

Game Notes

As Stella sets more spirits free and their cabins fill with flowers, butterflies start to appear. When there are enough butterflies, a flower above Stella's cabin will glow at night. Interacting with it causes the butterflies to settle and form Lily.

Lily allows you to navigate at night (Buck informs you about this). She only takes form at night and reverts back into individual butterflies during the day.

Lily is not actually dead, being actually a manifestation of her voice in the real world when she first appears and upon completing her quests. As such, she requires neither a Spirit House nor food. When interacting with her, she does not speak; Stella gives her a hug instead.

When Stella makes her final departure, butterflies follow her rowboat as she heads to the Everdoor. However, upon arrival at the bridge, the butterflies quietly withdraw, hinting at the game mechanic that though Stella has been the spiritfarer to many others, and an end-of-life care nurse, in the end, everyone must face Death alone.

Trivia

• Lily is the only spirit that is revealed at first in the real world, as memories from Hades.
• Lily was Buck's friend, and it was through her recounts that Stella learned about him.
• Lily's flower, the lobelia, symbolises love and devotion, but also hatred and malevolence; this reflects her conflicted relationship with Stella.

Artbook Entry

Being a younger sister is hard, especially if your sister shines as bright as Stella.

Separated by a six-year gap, Lily and Stella never really saw eye to eye on most things. Lily always thought of Stella as the prodigal daughter in her family, infallible and destined for greatness. She admired her older sister for her dedication and her resilience. However, she also despised her for the same reasons. Lily always hated being compared to her big sister: every mistake, every slip, every flaw was always compounded by her radiant example.

Stella was never one to shy away from tough situations, death included, while Lily would hide at its mere sight. The loss of their father was a particular heavy blow for Lily, while it solidified Stella’s calling to become a nurse. Two different paths were drawn for two members of the same family.

With the addition of Lily to our cast of characters, our desire was to explore the link between our tangible world and the universe of Spiritfarer, created by Stella’s subconscious. We wanted a conduit to traverse between these two worlds, speaking directly to Stella from another plane. Lily becomes a wayfarer for Stella’s memories and clarifies different scenes in the game that were previously more abstract. Lily, with her shared past with Stella, was the perfect candidate for that task.

When it comes to family, there is no one better to tell you unpolished and raw truths. That is where we find Lily, by Stella’s bedside, to guide her big sister through old memories and her last moments.

While Lily only appears at night, she takes form as a swarm of butterflies (a particular challenge for our animation team!) that is anchored by a lobelia flower.