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This page is move protected The subject of this article is involved with the Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is or relates to a character The subject of this article is female The subject of this article is involved with the Enchanted Forest The subject of this article is involved with the Land Without Magic The subject of this article is involved with Storybrooke The subject of this article is magical or capable of using magic The subject of this article is featured in Season Four of Once Upon a Time
This article focuses on the Enchanted Forest character.
For the Season Four episode, see Lily (episode).


It's like my whole life is darkness and... When you're around, things are brighter.

—Lily to Emma Swan src

Lilith Page,[1] better known as Lily and also known as Starla, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. She débuts in the fifth episode of the fourth season and is portrayed by guest stars Nicole Munoz and Agnes Bruckner.

History

Before First Curse

At some point in the Enchanted Forest, a dragon named Maleficent mates with a male dragon and becomes pregnant from the union. She later stakes her claim on a cave and lays an egg that harbors her unborn child. Burning all of the surrounding lands as her territory, this sends all the inhabitants fleeing, as she places her allies Ursula and Cruella De Vil outside the cave as guards. Sometime during this period, Snow White and Prince Charming seek to keep their own unborn child from becoming evil by infusing another vessel, namely Maleficent's child, with darkness. The couple, perceiving the child of a villain would likely be just as bad as her mother, agree to steal the egg so the Apprentice can cast the spell. While still in dragon form, Maleficent is startled awake by the couple's thievery, and after reverting to human form, she pleads for Snow White's mercy. Snow White promises to return the egg once everything is settled, and as she runs off, a devastated Maleficent makes a failed attempt to stop her by throwing a blast at the cave entrance. When presented with the egg, the Apprentice casts a spell to plant darkness in it, and since such darkness will be a danger to this world, he sends it to another world. As a portal opens, the horrified couple looks on as the egg hatches, revealing the child's hand, as the infant lets out a cry. Realizing they have made a grave mistake, Snow White and Prince Charming try to save the child, but they are blocked by Cruella and Ursula, who are trying to save the child from the couple. Cruella and Ursula are then accidentally sucked into the portal along with the baby. ("Best Laid Plans")

Arriving in Minnesota[nb 1] in the Land Without Magic, Cruella and Ursula choose to leave Maleficent's child in the woods to die, but they use the dragon egg she hatched from to prevent themselves from aging for thirty years. The baby is soon found, with a crescent moon necklace in her possession, and she is later placed in an orphanage. On 14th August, 1983,[1] she is adopted by the Page couple who name her Lilith. ("Sympathy for the De Vil", "Best Laid Plans", "Lily")



During First Curse

Despite being adopted into a family, Lily begins feeling invisible and unseen. Deciding to run away from home, she takes her father's credit card and disappears. At a convenience store in Hopkins, Minnesota, she spots a blonde girl, Emma, eyeing a pop tart box. When Emma notices her, Lily walks out of the aisle. Realizing the girl is stealing the box, she grabs a shopping cart and covers for Emma just as the blonde is nearly frisked by a store employee. Relieved, Emma expresses gratitude, to which Lily flashes a credit card and instructs her to use this method next time rather than stuffing stolen goods under a jacket. Emma begins leaving, but Lily suggests they team up. After buying food and exiting the store, Lily sees her father racing down the street in his car to haul her home. She escapes with Emma into an alley where they duck for cover. Later, they stop at a nearby lake and have a picnic with their food. Lily learns Emma is originally from a Boston group home and she ran away after realizing no one is going to adopt her. Emma assumes the man from earlier was Lily's social worker, and Lily goes along by letting Emma believe this. Pointing out a house across the lake, Lily explains that it's vacant during the fall season, and she wants to crash there with Emma, who happily agrees. Inside the house, following a video game session, Emma sees a star imprint on Lily's wrist. Lily imagines the star makes herself special, and she then draws a matching one on Emma's wrist. Upon finding a camera, they record themselves goofing off. Growing close, Lily and Emma promise to remain friends no matter what. Later that night, they awaken after hearing someone enter the house. The person is Lily's adoptive father as Emma learns of Lily's lies. While sitting in a car, Lily scribbles down her contact information so Emma can find her once everything blows over and they will run away together. Emma is hurt at her lies, but Lily attests everything she spoke of is real, despite having a family. However, Emma doesn't accept this and walks away, rubbing the star off of her wrist as Lily repeatedly calls after her. ("Breaking Glass")

Sometime after this, Lily is kicked out of her adoptive family's home and begins crashing at an abandoned house with her boyfriend. When they enter a store, her boyfriend throws her a gun, causing Lily to panic and follow his lead as they pull a robbery. While the police are looking for her, Lily somehow tracks down Emma to a foster home in Mankato, Minnesota. Before she can explain her reasons for needing her help, Emma's foster father discovers the girls talking and welcomes Lily to join them for dinner. During the meal, Lily lies when about how she and Emma met. Emma then excuses herself and Lily to the kitchen, where she sees a news report of her friend robbing a store. Although Emma wants her gone, Lily refuses to leave without regaining her crescent moon necklace from the abandoned house, which is the only thing she has from her birth mother. As Emma goes to get it, Lily steals a large amount of money from the foster parents and disappears. In the aftermath, Emma loses faith in her foster parents, who are disappointed with her lying, and runs away to the bus stop, where Lily finds her. Emma, blaming her for ruining her chance at a family, throws her the necklace and tells her to go away. However, Lily wishes to stay together with her, as she's tried to make good decisions in life that turn out bad, and being around Emma is the only time things are good. Emma coldly remarks she'd rather be alone and leaves. On a bus bound for Pittsburgh, Lily meets the Apprentice, who implies the darkness in her life is not her fault and something greater is influencing her. He then tells Lily about her birth mother as she listens closely. ("Lily")

After Second Curse

In adulthood, Lily moves to Massachusetts and lives in a dismal apartment complex. At one point, she fakes her own death by getting into a car crash, which leads her landlord into believing she died. Lily then relocates to a trailer home and assumes the name Starla while working at the Coffee Mug Restaurant near a gas station. In time, she collects research about her connection with Emma since learning the truth from the Apprentice years ago, managing to make a wall collage of information. One day, while working at the diner, Lily serves Emma coffee as she pretends not to know her. When Emma later tries explaining that she caused Lily's life to turn out badly, the brunette shrugs it off, lying about having moved on from the past with a husband and daughter. She then walks off to a school bus and tricks a young girl into pretending to be her daughter after promising her free burgers for a week. After seeing Emma and Regina enter her house, Lily steals Emma's car, which has the Apprentice's scroll in it, with intentions of going to Storybrooke and getting revenge on Mary Margaret and David for what they did to her. Emma steals Lily's neighbor's car and blocks Lily on the road, trading punches with Lily, before aiming a gun at her. Lily eggs her on, believing she should be stopped before things spiral out of control, but Regina convinces Emma not to pull the trigger. After a heart to heart between Lily and Emma, the two are urged by Regina to pick up the pace since her leverage over Mr. Gold is compromised. The trio head to New York to rescue Robin Hood, where Regina attempts to convince Robin of Zelena's deception. Zelena eventually undos the glamour spell on herself, showing her true form, much to Lily's surprise, as she has never witnessed magic before. As Lily looks on, Robin admits to Regina that he cannot leave Zelena because she is pregnant with his child. ("Lily")

Arriving in Storybrooke, Lily is introduced to her mother, Maleficent, who is not the fearsome dragon she imagined her to be. After spending some time at the diner, she inquiries about getting revenge on Emma's parents, but Maleficent reasons they should let the past go and only think about being happy together in the future. Annoyed at her mother's softness, Lily decides to leave town and goes to the bus stop. There, her anger reaches a new high after Regina prods her about her darkness before stealing some of her blood to use as magic ink for the Author's quill. Seemingly pushed to the edge by this encounter, Lily's eyes give an eerie glow before she transforms into a dragon. After David, Mary Margaret, and Maleficent see her at the town line, Lily disappears into the woods as they follow her there. When Maleficent attempts to approach and calm her down, Lily begins spitting out a stream of fire, causing a worried Mary Margaret to rush forward. Using her tail, Lily knocks Mary Margaret into a rock, where she falls unconscious and bleeding. Taking off again, she flies to a meadow, reverting to human form. Maleficent finds her, gifting Lily the baby rattle she always kept in memory of her and then apologizes for not being the mother she expected. Lily admits being afraid that her own darkness will ruin her chances of having a future with Maleficent. Her mother, however, states she doesn't mind a little darkness and convinces her to stay in Storybrooke for a week before making a final decision. ("Mother")

When Isaac rewrites everyone's stories, Lily becomes one of the Queen Snow White's Black Knights and guards Emma's cell against outsiders. One day, Hook brings in a boy who he claims is a prisoner from the Queen. The boy, Henry, knocks her out, before he and Hook rescue Emma. As the trio sail away from the tower, Lily awakens, tearing off her headgear, and transforms into a dragon. Bursting out of the tower, which she reduces to rubble, Lily then charges after the ship. Offering herself as bait, Emma manipulates Lily into flying into her, before unleashing a well-aimed cannon blast that causes the dragon to crash into the ocean. At some point after this, Lily alerts the Queen about Emma's escape and brings Snow White directly to her at the docks. To keep Henry from being captured, Hook stays behind to fight Prince Charming. As Emma runs to Henry, Hook knocks over a food stall, burying Lily and some of the Black Knights under the rubble. ("Operation Mongoose Part 1," "Operation Mongoose Part 2")



Before Third Curse

After Henry reverts Isaac's stories and restores everything to normal, Lily attends a party at the diner, where she glumly sits at the counter. In conversation with Emma, Lily talks about her crescent moon necklace, which is a piece of the egg she hatched from and is her only clue about her father, whose identity not even her mother Maleficent knows. ("Operation Mongoose Part 2")



After Sixth Curse

As Regina and Zelena are driving to Regina's coronation, Zelena informs her sister that Zorro is Lily's father. ("Leaving Storybrooke")



Magical Ability

Family

James Page[1]
 
 
 
Priscilla Page[1]Maleficent
 
 
 
Zorro
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lilith "Lily" Page
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Notes:

  • Solid lines denote blood parent-child relationships
  • Dashed lines denote marriage and adoption relationships that result in offspring
  • The Pages are Lily's adoptive parents

Trivia

Etymology

Character Notes

  • According to the microfice Emma is reading, Lily was baptized around August 14, 1983.[1] ("Lily")
  • Lily lives in house number 9.[4] ("Lily")

Production Notes

  • Her casting call for her younger self describes her as, "a bright, self-reliant teen who boasts a charming, take-no-prisoners punk exterior and the heart of a secretive, insecure opportunist".[5]
  • The casting call name for her older actress was "Autumn".[6]
  • The casting call for her older self describes her as a charismatic and fiercely independent woman who "easily wraps others into her schemes", with a "penchant for troublemaking", although she just "wants to be loved". Alas, her misguided methods typically wind up alienating those she loves most. The casting call also specifies brunette hair.[6]
  • Lily and her mother Maleficent were supposed to return for a special episode during the sixth season,[7] but this did not come to pass. The episode would have revealed what happened to them and who Lily's father was.[7] The identity of Lily's father was eventually revealed in the series finale.

Disney

Lost

Popular Culture

  • Lily says that she likes to think of the star imprint on her arm as a symbol, "Like Harry Potter"; a reference to the title character of the famous book series by J. K. Rowling, and the scar on his forehead. ("Breaking Glass")
  • Lily makes compliments about Emma's foster home, and says that it is like Norman Rockwell blew up there; a reference to the famous twentieth-century American painter and illustrator, whose works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. ("Lily")
  • Pinned to Lily's bulletin board is a cover story from Weekly World News,[9] a largely fictional news tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007. ("Lily")
  • Lily angrily tells her mother that she "doesn't need grooming advice from Annie Hall". This is a reference to the 1977 romantic comedy of the same name, where the titular character wears an outfit similar to Maleficent. ("Mother")

Props Notes

Costume Notes

  • The girl posing as Lily's daughter is wearing a dress printed with stars similar to Lily's birthmark. ("Lily")

Appearances

Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.

See Also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 File:419Newspaper.png
  2. 2.0 2.1 Given Name LILITH. Behind the Name. Retrieved on October 16, 2018. “Usage: Semitic Mythology, Judeo-Christian Legend. (...) Derived from Akkadian lilitu meaning "of the night". This was the name of a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. In Jewish tradition she was Adam's first wife, sent out of Eden and replaced by Eve because she would not submit to him.”
  3. TwitterLogo Jo Garfein (@jopinionated) on X, formerly Twitter: Bonus points for Mr. Cluck's Chicken take out, @AdamHorowitzLA! #OUAT #LOST (April 26, 2015). (backup link; original post, and the user's other posts, have been protected, so that only approved followers can see them) (archive screenshot)
    TwitterLogo Adam Horowitz (@AdamHorowitzLA) on X, formerly Twitter: @jopinionated and the alias Lily chose as a waitress? (April 27, 2015). (backup link) (archive screenshot)
  4. File:419LilyDrivesOff.png
  5. Ausiello, Michael (August 19, 2014). Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Once, Grey's, Sons of Anarchy, Hawaii Five-0, Castle, NCIS: LA, Scandal and More. TVLine. “Question: Any scoop at all about the fourth season of Once Upon a Time? —Advanteege. Ausiello: Is Henry en route to having his first crush? (And if so, has he picked the wrong gal?) The ABC series in casting the recurring role of Lily, a bright, self-reliant teen who boasts a "charming, take-no-prisoners punk exterior and the heart of a secretive, insecure opportunist." Watch for this lass to first appear in Episode 5.”
  6. 6.0 6.1 Mitovich, Matt Webb (February 11, 2015). Once Upon a Time: Agnes Bruckner to Recur — as a Troublemaker?. TVLine. “Yet Bruckner seems to perfectly fit a casting call that recently went out for the role of "Autumn," a charismatic and fiercely independent woman who "easily wraps others into her schemes." Yet despite her "penchant for troublemaking," the casting notice reads, "Autumn" "just wants to be loved." Alas, her misguided methods typically wind up alienating those she loves most. Also of note: the casting call for "Autumn" specifies brunette hair, hence my going with an older photo of the recently blonde Bruckner — if that is who she's playing.”
  7. 7.0 7.1 Abrams, Natalie (May 6, 2016). Once Upon a Time bosses answer your burning questions. Entertainment Weekly. “Will we get to see what happened to Lily and Maleficent and who Lily's dad is? HOROWITZ: Next season. Oh yeah, we'll have plans. You'll see, hopefully they'll be great. KITSIS: I'll say this, we hear the fans. We know what stories you feel like we've dropped, and we've got an episode for you next year. HOROWITZ: We've got some plans to try to address many of those things next season.”
  8. File:419AnywhereElseToGo.png

    TwitterLogo Jo Garfein (@jopinionated) on X, formerly Twitter: Bonus points for Mr. Cluck's Chicken take out, @AdamHorowitzLA! #OUAT #LOST (April 26, 2015). (backup link; original post, and the user's other posts, have been protected, so that only approved followers can see them)
    TwitterLogo Adam Horowitz (@AdamHorowitzLA) on X, formerly Twitter: @jopinionated and the patch on her hat? (April 26, 2015). (backup link)
  9. File:419Really!.png

Notes

  1. Maleficent: "Just what the Dark One showed me... That she was banished to this world thirty years ago, to a place called Minnesota, where she was adopted by a couple." ("Lily)"
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