- “When the threat of monsters at the gate has darkened out the sun,
let the kingdom find some peace and joy in Festivia the Fun.” - ―Royal family inscription[src]
Festivia Butterfly, also known as Festivia the Fun, is the 30th Queen of the Kingdom of Mewni[1] and Star Butterfly's fifth great-grandmother. She is first featured in tapestry in "Into the Wand", and her history is expanded upon in "Butterfly Trap" and Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The Magic Book of Spells.
Appearance
Festivia is a young woman with fair cream skin, long blue (sometimes bluish-purple) hair, blue eyes, and dark magenta four-pointed star-shaped marks on her cheeks. In tapestry, she is depicted wearing a long green tunic with purple sash, and a headband with curved horns and grapes hanging down from the right horn. In Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The Magic Book of Spells, she wears a long, flowing red dress with magenta sash and a gold tiara with a red diamond in the center. She is 6' 1" (1.85 m) tall.[1]
As shown in "Butterfly Trap", Festivia did not have cheek marks as an infant, instead gaining them through her regular use of the royal wand.
Personality
Festivia is described as being a total party girl through and through. She has a cheerful disposition and cannot stand to see others upset. She may have been ignorant and naive, as she believed the Magic High Commission's lies regarding her parents.
Like most Mewmans at the time, she saw the monsters as the villains of their age-old conflict, claiming they had "started it", even when the monsters tried to take back the land the Mewmans themselves had taken from them.
History
As revealed in "Total Eclipsa the Moon" and "Butterfly Trap", Festivia was born a Mewman peasant. After Eclipsa Butterfly was found guilty of crimes against Mewni and frozen in crystal, her husband King Shastacan wanted nothing to do with Eclipsa's half-monster daughter Meteora. The Magic High Commission replaced her with Festivia as heir to the throne, and Festivia inherited the Royal Magic Wand and was raised by the Commission to be Queen of Mewni.
According to Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The Magic Book of Spells, Festivia lived somewhat of a sheltered life within the Butterfly Kingdom, raised to believe that Eclipsa and Shastacan were her birth parents and that they were devoured by monsters. Despite this, she grew up very cheerful and starry-eyed, frequently throwing parties at Butterfly Castle with fellow Mewni royals.
As war against monsters waged outside the kingdom, Festivia was kept inside the castle gates, closed off from the outside world. She became known for holding non-stop parties in the kingdom to keep her subjects happy and untroubled by the battles being waged outside the gates. In her sixth year as Queen of Mewni, she married Prince Musty Mountains, and she later gave birth to two daughters: Dirhhennia and Crescenta, the latter of which succeeded her as queen.[1]
In "Into the Wand" and "Ghost of Butterfly Castle", Festivia is very briefly depicted in tapestry in the Butterfly Castle's "Grandma Room". In "Escape from the Pie Folk", Festivia is revealed to be one of the Pie Folk of Pie Island who was accidentally abandoned at a Pie Carnival before being taken in by King Shastacan and raised by the High Commission.
In "The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse", Festivia appears as a voiceless ghost inside Glossaryck's eye. In "Cleaved", she appears as a ghost again in the Realm of Magic as Star, Moon, and Eclipsa destroy the magic.
Powers and abilities
- Royal Magic Wand: As a Queen of Mewni, Festivia once wielded the royal magic wand, taking the form of a goblet in her possession (or a rattle, when she was a baby). However, most of the spells she develops during her time with the wand are cosmetic and mainly serve to improve parties and celebrations.
Relationships
Magic High Commission
The High Commission served as Festivia's surrogate parents since she was an infant; as a result, she had a close relationship with them and considered them to be her family. Her closest relationship was with Hekapoo, seeing her as an aunt. This was demonstrated when she was more perceptive to Hekapoo's idea of continuing the Mewman-Monster War instead of Omnitraxus Prime's idea of a peaceful solution.
Eclipsa and Shastacan
Despite never meeting either Eclipsa or Shastacan, Festivia was raised to believe they were her parents, and she held some affection for them as a result, referring to them as "mama" and "papa" in her entries in the Book of Spells and saying she misses them.
Sightings
Season 2
- Into the Wand (pictured)
Season 3
- Total Eclipsa the Moon (mentioned/pictured)
- Butterfly Trap (pictured)
Season 4
- Escape from the Pie Folk (mentioned/pictured)
- Ghost of Butterfly Castle (pictured)
- The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse
- Cleaved
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia
- Festivia's attributes in The Magic Book of Spells are:
- Strength: 12
- Intelligence: 12
- Wisdom: 8
- Dexterity: 19
- Constitution: 10
- Charisma: 20
- Festivia's entries in the Magic Book of Spells are stylized like Twitter tweets.
- Festivia is the start of the new Butterfly family bloodline after Eclipsa was crystallized and Meteora was disinherited and sent away.
- Festivia's design appears to be based on the Orphic version of Dionysus, a Greek demigod turned god of wine and revelry. She carries a goblet, is known for partying and hedonism, wears a headband with goat horns (Dionysus was interpreted as a satyr or at least having goat-like features) and Greek-style clothes, and has grapes in her hair, a key ingredient of wine.
- Interestingly, Festiva's connection to the throne correlates with Dionysus. It's said that Dionysus became an Olympian after Hestia, goddess of the hearth fire, gave up her position as the 12th Olympian to Dionysus to establish his godhood. However, it's uncertain if Dionysus supplanted Hestia or she gave up her throne since both are never in the same picture and there are conflicting stories of how he became an Olympian. This is very similar to how Festivia got the throne in the first place: Festivia was a peasant who was used to supplant Meteora after Eclipsa gave up her position to be with Globgor.
- Orphic Dionysus is also associated with death and rebirth. Festivia's placement as queen caused the "death" of the original Butterfly family and the birth of a new generation of royals. The Cult of Dionysus was formed as a way of liberation from the etiquette of society, and Festivia lifted the spirits of her subjects by creating parties to help them cope with the war against the monsters.
- With the revelation that Festivia is descended from Pie Folk, Festivia's design references the Greek god Pan, god of the forest, shepherds, and the flock. Pan is described as a satyr, a hedonistic trickster, and a friend of Dionysus. Fittingly enough, the Pie Folk are described as an untrustworthy clan of scammers, slavers, and tricksters, and Festivia was known to have organized parties for her subjects. On a minor note, in the myths, Pan was abandoned by his mother for being a satyr and was brought to Olympus. Festivia was accidentally left behind by the Pie Folk during a Pie Carnival, allowing the Magic High Commission to find her and adopt her into Butterfly royalty. Pan was worshiped outside of society (Arcadia specifically), and The Pie Folk possess their own island and travel from place to place to make money.