As some of you know, I’ve written before about metaphors and symbols in Star vs. the Forces of Evil – anything from nachos symbolizing friendship to trick candles being a metaphor for resurrection. But this? I’ve yet to write about something of this scope in the series.

This is big.

As incredible as it may sound, I have uncovered some symbolism that has not only been hiding in plain sight since the very first episode of the series but has also appeared in nearly every single episode since then. Further still, I believe I know what this symbolism means – it all involves the Holy Grail – and I can prove it. But in order to fully explain everything, however, I’d first like to walk you through my thought process in discovering the symbolism.

Please accompany me on this journey.

The Realization

A couple weeks ago, my copy of the guidebook finally came in. I started reading through it and stopped short when I came upon this unusual passage:

Now, this entire section of the book is utterly bizarre, but this passage in particular stood out to me. “’Nature’s Landfill’”? What the hell? What the hell?

It was at this point, reading this passage, that I realized that there are, in fact, quite a few overt references to garbage in Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Off the top of my head, I recalled references to garbage in “Wand to Wand,” in “Starstruck,” in “By the Book,” at the end of “Sleepover,” and in “Collateral Damage.”

I began to have a hunch that if I looked, I would find references to or depiction of garbage in every single episode of the series. So … I looked. I went back and watched the entire series again. Amazingly enough – with few exceptions – there is indeed a reference to garbage in nearly every single episode of the series. There will be a list of those references near the end of this post.

Okay. So let’s say there are references to garbage in every single episode – what does that mean?

Garbage and the Holy Grail

Not too long ago, I wrote a post about what I believed were references to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in season 2B. And it’s a well-known fact that there’s a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail in “Raid the Cave.” Both of those films are about the Holy Grail, so I began to wonder if there were perhaps references to other films about the Holy Grail as well. So … I started to watch all the films I could find that dealt with the Holy Grail.

One of the films I watched is called The Fisher King, a 1991 film directed by Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, which stars Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams. Jeff bridges plays a radio shock jock who has a crisis of conscience after he causes a tragedy. Robin Williams plays a homeless man who goes insane after the tragedy, believing he is a knight on the quest for the Holy Grail.

Now, there are actually a number of connections between this film and Star vs. the Forces of Evil, but the one we’ll be focusing on today is garbage. Robin Williams’s character, Parry, is fond of salvaging things from the garbage and giving it new life. In fact, this plays a major role in his characterization:

All right – garbage. I thought to myself: “There’s magic in the garbage. That’s a fairly strong connection to Star vs. the Forces of Evil given all the references to garbage.” Yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on what, exactly, the connection was.

I discussed the film with my friends, some of whom I’d convinced to watch Star vs. the Forces of Evil with me. I have to thank my friend Aumpa in particular for giving me the final piece of the puzzle, though. After I mentioned The Fisher King’s potential connection to Star vs. the Forces of Evil and explained that it had something to do with the Holy Grail and garbage, he pointed me to a page on the TV Tropes website:

The Grail in the Garbage.

And then I knew what the connection was. Then I knew why there were so many references to garbage in Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Why there’s that bizarre passage in Star and Marco’s guidebook. Why there are those allusions to films about the Holy Grail. It’s all deliberate. It’s all a deliberate reference to that trope; the Holy Grail is in the garbage.

If it sounds unlikely that the writers would make such a literal use of a trope, consider an earlier post in which I note that “Marco Grows a Beard” is, in fact, a literal use of the Growing the Beard trope: Marco literally grows a beard, and Toffee also reveals his dark intentions, adding a serious tone to the show (i.e., the show grows its beard).

The Minor Arcana and The Holy Grail



Let’s consider the Holy Grail. What form could it take in Star vs. the Forces of Evil? Is it literal? Metaphorical? Symbolic? At first, I didn’t know. The cup itself is depicted in many ways in popular fiction, from a literal cup to a metaphor for a woman. Here are the options I considered:

Option #1: Starco is the “Holy Grail.”

My first guess, of course, was that Star and Marco being in a relationship is the “Holy Grail” – indeed, the one that many are watching the series for in order to see it happen. While I do think that it’s inevitable that Star and Marco will be together romantically, I don’t think the long-running garbage imagery would lead to such a predictable and weak payoff.

Option #2: Star herself is the Holy Grail.

There is a great deal of critical analysis of the Grail legend which points to the Holy Grail being symbolic for women and the womb – the creative force, in other words – a subject which comes up in popular fiction such as The Fisher King and The Da Vinci Code, for instance. This is certainly possible; as I’ve noted before, Star almost certainly represents the creative force and will bring this power to bear at some point soon in the future.

Yet I don’t think it’s likely that Star herself is the Holy Grail. Why? Well, simple: Star is on the Grail Quest. She is a knight-errant – in more ways than one! Errant in the original sense of the word means “wandering.” As I’ve written about before, Star is most likely represented by a wandering star (i.e., Venus). Not only this, however, but errant has also come to mean “prone to error” – and what is Star if not that?

Knight-errant suits her. Star is not the Holy Grail, then: she is a knight on a quest for the Holy Grail – even if she doesn’t know it yet.

Option #3: The Holy Grail will be a literal magical object.

It’s this last option which is most intriguing to me. Star vs. the Forces of Evil is set in a world in which magic is, of course, real, and a magical cup wouldn’t be far-fetched given what we’ve already seen. Indeed, the existence of the cup may itself be foreshadowed by Star’s wand due to the Minor Arcana.

You see, the Minor Arcana are an alternate way of depicting the classical French card suits (i.e., clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades). The four Minor Arcana suits are, respectively, wands, pentacles, cups, and swords. (As you can see from the Wikipedia article, there is some variation in the suits – pentacles can also be coins, disks, or rings.) Interestingly enough, I believe we already have a literal version of each item in question – just as we have a character who literally has each French suit on her cheeks.

Clubs, of course, are the easiest to figure out. They are represented by wands. Both of which point to Miss Heinous and the Butterfly family wand. (Recall, amusingly, that Star also uses her wand as a literal club from time to time.)

Diamonds are next. They are represented by coins, pentacles, disks, or rings. Yet this, too, is easy to figure out: recall from my post on Toffee and the connection to The Lord of the Rings that Toffee’s finger is comparable to the One Ring. It is quite fitting, after all, that diamonds should be paired with rings given that Queen Moon is the one who blasted off Toffee’s finger – don’t you agree?

Spades come next. Eclipsa has the spades on her cheeks, and the suit is represented by swords. I believe these are represented by dimensional scissors. Hekapoo uses her dimensional scissors as literal bladed weapons, and Marco’s dimensional scissors (as many have pointed out) visually resemble swords in their design.

Hearts are represented by cups. If Star is the one who will find the Holy Grail – if there will be a literal Holy Grail in the series at all – then what else could it be but a cup, and who more appropriate to wield it than the girl with the hearts on her cheeks, Star Butterfly?

Lekmet’s Relation to the Holy Grail

I believe the Holy Grail will be a literal one – and we have already seen it on-screen. In fact, it shows up in the very last episode of season two:

Yes, that’s right. I think the Holy Grail is Lekmet’s horn. You see, drinking horns were very common all across the world and especially used for ceremonial purposes. And it’s clear from the fact that Moon puts Lekmet’s remains within it that the horn is hollow.

Indeed – animal horns have long been depicted in myths as being literal or symbolic sources of nourishment, fertility, and plenty – just look at the cornucopia, for instance. Take this into account, too: the Holy Grail is depicted as having powers of healing and restoration – and what were Lekmet’s powers? Healing and restoration. If that’s not enough to convince you, there’s a real-life legend that links Lekmet to the Holy Grail.

As many, many others – including my good friend Malthus1 from the subreddit – have pointed out, Lekmet’s design is almost certainly based on Baphomet. But what if his concept is as well? Historically, Baphomet was allegedly an idol or false god that the Knights Templar, an order of Christian knights who rose to prominence during the Crusades, were accused of worshipping. The Knights Templar were subjected to arrest, torture, and death as a result of their alleged heresy. There are many legends about the knights, including ones saying that they took and guarded many important artifacts from the Holy Land during the Crusades.



One of those artifacts was – you guessed it – the Holy Grail. That is a direct connection from Lekmet to the Holy Grail through Baphomet and the Knights Templar, all of which are strongly associated with one another.

In Star and Marco’s guidebook, Glossaryck states this about Lekmet:

Given what Glossaryck says about “the impermanence of existence,” I think it’s possible that Lekmet is gone for good. I think it’s no coincidence that Lekmet left only a single horn behind – nor is it any coincidence that an older definition of the word garbage includes a sense meaning “the inedible parts of an animal.” The horn is garbage: it’s what Lekmet leaves behind. And yet that horn is also a cup – one that will prove to be the Holy Grail. My prediction is that the horn’s powers will lie hidden until Star discovers or activates them somehow.

Summing It Up

This post contained a lot of information to process. Let me sum it up:

In nearly every episode, starting with “Star Comes to Earth,” there is a reference to or visual depiction of garbage. Star vs. the Forces of Evil explicitly references movies about the Holy Grail in season 2B, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The garbage and Holy Grail references are most likely connected to the trope Grail in the Garbage. The French card suits – clubs, diamonds, spades, and hearts – are symbolically connected to the Italian card suits – wands, rings, swords, and cups – through literal magical objects: the wand, Toffee’s finger, dimensional scissors, and Lekmet’s horn. Lekmet is based on Baphomet, who is associated in real-life legends with the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail. Lekmet’s horn, which is all that’s left of him – his garbage – is hollow and could serve as a cup. Therefore, I hypothesize that this garbage-Grail connection foreshadows the revelation of Lekmet’s horn as being a literal magical cup which Star will use to heal and restore.

I hope I have convinced you that there is more – far more – going on in Star vs. the Forces of Evil than meets the eye. You know, it’s funny … all of that garbage was hiding in plain sight this whole time, scattered throughout the entire series. Garbage blends in, you see. We don’t pay attention to it.



Would you have even noticed it if I hadn’t pointed it out?

It’s clear to me that the writers tried to make us aware of these connections without tipping their hands too much. (An appropriate metaphor, considering the subject of card suits.) They put in key references to films – references to the Grail Quest – but these references are so subtle that you might not think they mean anything at all.

In fact, the way the writers write reminds me of a line from Futurama:

God Entity: (chuckles) When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.

But that’s why I’m here. To make sure the true depth of their writing gets noticed.



Never let anyone tell you that Star vs. the Forces of Evil isn’t well-written. It has all the hallmarks of a well-executed story. Is it tricky? Absolutely. The writers have intentionally deceived people into thinking the show is simpler than it is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people refer to it as “generic.”

It is not simple. It is not generic. It is anything but.

When I say that the foundations of our silly little adventure cartoon rest on literary traditions as old as storytelling itself – I fucking mean it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I can’t begin to tell you how extraordinarily challenging it was to write about this topic – not to mention how long it took. I don’t know about you, but I simply cannot believe the depth of meaning that I have discovered in Star vs. the Forces of Evil. To that end, as I promised earlier, here follows a list of all the references to garbage in the series.

The List of References to Garbage

Note: these references are based on strict guidelines. Only explicit visual depictions or dialogue references to garbage, trash, junk, waste, garbage cans, junkyards, dumps, dumpsters, or throw away are accepted. After some consideration, I ruled out mess, bathroom, and similar words and phrases (and there are quite a few) because I felt that the connection wasn’t strong enough. There may be multiple references to garbage in each episode, but for brevity’s sake, I’m only going to post one screenshot per episode.

Episode 1a, “Star Comes to Earth”

There’s a dumpster in the background after the monster fight.



Episode 1b, “Party with a Pony”

Square: I think I’m next. But with less abusive trash talk, please.

Episode 2a, “Matchmaker”

Miss Skullnick: He dumped me, I think. I don’t know.

Episode 2b, “School Spirit”

Star pesters some stray cats in a dumpster.

Episode 3a, “Monster Arm”

Star: Jeremy Birnbaum? Isn’t that the talking bear that used to rummage through my parents’ garbage?



Episode 4a, “Cheer Up Star”

Marco falls into the garbage on picture day.

Episode 4b, “Quest Buy”

Star’s side of the bathroom is littered with junk..

Episode 5b, “Brittney’s Party”

Marco and Ludo take turns throwing up into a garbage can.

Episode 6a, “Mewberty”

Glossaryck: Look, kid. Nature is like a runaway dump truck: hot, fast, and full of garbage.

Episode 7a, “Lobster Claws”

Ludo: You, sir, are a steaming pile of monster garbage. And you’re fired!



Episode 8a, “Blood Moon Ball”

Bored Demon: Piece of garbage that doesn’t destroy the universe. Stupid cockroach that lives inside. I’m over it already!.

Episode 8b, “Fortune Cookies”

Marco gets locked in a dumpster.

Episode 9a, “Freeze Day”

A trash can can be seen as Marco looks at Jackie.

Episode 9b, “Royal Pain”

There’s a garbage can in the corner in the bathroom.



Episode 10, “St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses”

Announcer: Don’t allow your noble lineage to be thrown away!

Episode 11a, “Mewnipendance Day”

Toffee: I thought you might, you fat bag of garbage.

Episode 11b, “The Banagic Incident”

Garbage is seen floating in Echo Creek when Star’s on her journey.

Episode 14a, “My New Wand!”

Star’s secrets closet is filled with garbage.

Episode 14b, “Ludo in the Wild”

Ludo passes by floating garbage in space.

Episode 15a, “Mr. Candle Cares”

Prime Janitor of Beautiful Garbage Island! (Note that there’s a rainbow leading to the island. What’s at the end of a rainbow? Treasure.)

Episode 15b, “Red Belt”

Star trashes the house while looking for a hammer.

Episode 16a, “Star on Wheels”

Marco: Uh, why is your car filled with garbage?

Bonus Quote:

Glossaryck: If you want to save Star, trust in goats.



Episode 16b, “Fetch”

Star’s wand almost falls into the trash can.



Episode 17a, “Star vs. Echo Creek”

There’s all kinds of garbage around Echo Creek.

Episode 17b, “Wand to Wand”

Cloudy spills garbage all over the house.

Episode 18a, “Starstruck”

Star and Marco wait by the dumpsters for the old donuts to be thrown away. Mina plays in the trash.

Episode 19a, “Starsitting”

There’s a garbage can beside the wall after Marco gets thrown from the treadmill.

Episode 20a, “Goblin Dogs”

Kelly throws away apple cores.

Episode 20b, “By the Book”

Star and Marco throw Glossaryck into “the most disgusting dumpster in town.”

Episode 21a, “Game of Flags”

Star: You don’t waste time on anybody.

Episode 21b, “Girl’s Day Out”

Star and Janna ride a janitor’s cart, which has a trash can on it.

Episode 22a, “Sleepover”

The Truth or Punishment Box ends up in the garbage.

Episode 22b, “Gift of the Card”

Marco: If you’re going to rush me, then I’ll just buy some piece of junk now, and come back to exchange it later, okay?

Episode 23a, “Friendenemies”

Tom: Mackie Hand movies are garbage.

Episode 23b, “Is Mystery”

There’s a hole marked “waste” where monsters get thrown if they don’t grind corn.

Episode 25a, “Into the Wand”

Star throws Toffee’s finger into her garbage-filled secrets closet.

Episode 25b, “Pizza Thing”

Pony Head and Marco’s stolen car comes to rest in a junkyard.

Episode 26a, “Page Turner”

There’s a discarded can and a junkyard in the crystal ball.

Episode 26b, “Naysaya”

Marco: I pulled it out of the trash in art class.

Episode 27, “Bon Bon the Birthday Clown”

Star: Yeah. This place is a dump.

Episode 28a, “Raid the Cave”

Star: This was all a waste of time.

Episode 28b, “Trickstar”

Preston Change-O mentions “empties” – i.e., recyclable trash – in his analogy for joy sucking.

Episode 29a, “Baby”

Star cleans up all kinds of garbage in her room before Baby arrives.



Episode 29b, “Running with Scissors”

Marco is trying to throw something away when Hekapoo finds him.

Episode 30a, “Mathmagic”

Miss Skullnick inexplicably turns into a trash can.

Episode 30b, “The Bounce Lounge”

Marco: What a dump!

Episode 31a, “Crystal Clear”

Star: What a waste of donuts.

Episode 31b, “The Hard Way”

There’s a pile of empty packages of pudding after Ludo learns to levitate.

Episode 32a, “Heinous”

The school is filled with garbage in Miss Heinous’s flashback.

Episode 33a, “Collateral Damage”

This episode heavily centers around trash. Some prominent examples:

Janna: Come on, you know this stuff is garbage.

Star throws everything, including Otis, into the dumpster.

The old janitor throws some books into a trash can fire.

Episode 33b, “Just Friends”

There’s trash on the ground as Star walks out of the stadium.

Episode 34, “Face the Music”

The laser puppies knock over a conspicuously-placed trash can in Star’s bedroom.

Episode 35, “Starcrushed”

There’s a trash can fire at the bad kids’ party.

Out of 65 episodes, 53 have garbage in them. I’d say that’s significant.



I’ll close this with some dialogue from The Fisher King: