Lily (リリィ, Riryi^?) is the last in the line of Ancients and a descendant of the White Priestesses. She is the sole surviving White Priestess who later puts an end to the Blight, becoming the Priestess of the End.

Lore

Origin

Lily is one of the clones of Fretia, the White Priestess of the Fount and the third White Priestess. When Fretia defeated the first Blighted Lord by absorbing the Blight—a plague of undeath that robs the people of their well-being, sanity, and afterlife into herself—Faden, the head researcher of the King's Mage Brigade began his experiment on cloning Fretia in order to stave off the Blight from her as well as to cure Miriel, his lover from the Blight. Numerous clones of Fretia were created and sacrificed to absorb the Blight from her, while some of the White Priestess clones were sent to purify the Blight throughout the kingdom. Eventually, Fretia succumbed to the Blight and became the second Blighted Lord and all but one White Priestess had died, with the last known surviving White Priestess being a nameless White Priestess who has taken the name Lily.

Awakening

One day, the nameless White Priestess is awaken from her slumber by the Umbral Knight, a spirit of an ancient knight to partake the task of purifying the Blight. She is branded with a red tattoo of the prayer symbol on her forehand, which symbolizes the Umbral Knight's pact with her. Upon waking up, the White Priestess has lost all of her memories. The Umbral Knight suggests her to recover her memories by trying to purify the Blighted and read their memories while the they lend their strength to the her. The duo then begin their journey to free the people of the Blight and save the Kingdom of End.

Earning her Moniker

Upon entering the cathedral, the White Priestess encounters Siegrid, a nun who has succumbed to the Blight and turned into a monster. The duo then engage in a fight against Siegrid and the White Priestess purifies her of the Blight. Upon reading Siegrid's memory, The duo have learnt that Siegrid was there to protect a girl named Lily. The Umbral Knight then concludes that Lily might be the White Priestess's name and Lily decides to take up the name as hers. As Lily recruits Siegrid's spirit as her new ally, the trio begin to explore and cleanse the world from the Blight while trying to recover Lily's memories.

Lily's Mission

Throughout the journey, Lily has encountered various people who were suffering from the Blight. She fights against them, purifies them of their Blight and recruits them to her party. She has encountered Gerrod, an alturist warrior; Eleine, the leader of a witch coven and a close friend of Fretia; Silva, Siegrid's sister who also volunteered to become a guardian in order to protect her; Ulv, a knight who is a close friend of Fretia and another White Priestess; Hoenir, a loyal executioner who helped protecting a White Priestess from the Blighted and guarding the execution grounds; and Julius, the knight captain of the kingdom and the illegitmate son of the King of Land's End, who ended up slayed his father who was drunken with greed and considered his subjects to be expendable. As she battles against them, she gradually recovers her memories and gains more allies as she purifies them of the Blight.

The Real Lily

Later on, Lily discovers a deceased White Priestess at the attic of the White Parish, who turns out to be the real Lily and the girl that Siegrid was trying to protect. The nameless White Priestess, who goes by the name Lily, lacks a name of her own since she is unable to speak. The Umbral Knight suggests the nameless White Priestess to take up the name of the fallen White Priestess so that her wish can live on.^[1]

Hinterlands (Ending A)

When Lily arrives at the Hinterlands, she encounters the spirit of Fretia, who reveals that she will ward off the Blight by herself. She cleanses Lily of the corruption she acquired on her journey and sends her off to live her life as she pleases. Fretia's desire to save her clones is tied to this purpose, as she considers herself their mother. Lily will not complete her ultimate task. The Umbral Knight hints that he cannot follow due to a pact he made long before meeting Lily, thus, they separate ways.

Verboten Domain

Instead of leaving the kingdom, Lily delves into the bottom of the Verboten Domain, the Blight research facility of the kingdom. She encounters Miriel, Faden's lab assistant and lover who has turned into a malformed creature after numerous experiments have failed to cure her of the Blight. After slaying Miriel, Lily meets Faden, the chief researcher of the experiment on cloning White Priestesses in order to save Miriel from the Blight. She purifies Faden of his Blight and learns the truth of the White Priestess clones' origin as well as the reason behind his researches. She then recruits Faden as a new ally and continues on her journey.

Battle Against the Blighted Lord (Ending B)

At the Abyss, a Blight-infested location at the bottom of the Verboten Domain, Lily encounters Fretia. She pushes Lily away to avoid the same fate, but Lily refuses to leave and triggers Fretia's true form, the Blighted Lord. Despite her best efforts, she is unable to cleanse the Blighted Lord and instead causes the Blight to spread unchecked throughout her body. In her weakened state, Lily forfeits her opportunity at freedom as she chooses to stay and attempt purification once more, albeit against Fretia's wishes. While this lessens Fretia's pain, it is still not enough to overcome the Blight. Ultimately, Lily chooses to share her mother's burden despite knowing this will corrupt her and end with her becoming another Blighted Lord imprisoned within her own body.

Priestess of the End (Ending C)

After learning that Faden intended to restore the Aegis Curio amulet,^[2] an Ancient relic that greatly suppresses the metastasis of the Blight,^[3] Lily embarks on a quest to collect all seven stone tablets. After restoring the amulet, Lily enters the Abyss and confronts the Blighted Lord. With the Aegis Curio, she successfully defeats the Blighted Lord and decides to take on the task of cleansing all of Land's End herself, bearing the Blight with the amulet. Fretia thanks Lily and also promises to continue watching over her.

Years after saving Land's End and ending the spread of the Blight, it is implied that Lily has recovered and properly buried her fallen friends.

Physical Appearance

Lily is physically frail. She has a pale complexion, angelic alabaster locks and apatite blue eyes, and she always has a faint glowing aura around her serving as a barrier against the Blighted. She wears a flowing ashen dress with corresponding white shoes, reflecting her status as a White Priestess. Furthermore, her prestige as a White Priestess is signified by the amulet she wears around her neck, as well as a crest-like mark on her forehead, which is hidden by a curtain fringe. It is presumed to represent Lily's relationship with the Deathless Pact of the Umbral Knight, which started after she awoke from sleep.

With each soul Lily cleanses, she absorbs more of the Blight, darkening and gradually corrupting her entire form. Her corruption level is determined by the number of heroic Spirits she has purified. Although not affected by the Blight's mental corruption, she suffers from physical ailments as a result of the intense exchange that comes with absorbing the Blight. She becomes even more corrupted at Endings B and C as a result of her attempts to purify the final boss, where her skin darkens, her eyes glow red, her veins darken, and a mass of crimson tendrils protrudes from her head and underneath her dress. However, if she is wearing the Aegis Curio, the amulet shields her from the Blight's effects and ultimately aids in retaining a semblance of her purified form. In the epilogue of Ending C, most traces of the Blight have vanished from her, except for a few tendrils on her hair, which no longer affect her health.

Personality

Since Lily is unable to communicate and has lost most of her memories, little is known about her personality. However, it is seen that her personality is akin to that of a young child, being very innocent and dependent on the Umbral Knight, and it further shows with her flailing evasive maneuver and lack of attack. She relies entirely on the spirits she can summon to defend herself. Outside of her spirits, the only way Lily can protect herself is through a mystical barrier. She may not be a warrior, but her mysterious font of determination is somehow evident as she drags herself up ledges, and picks herself off the ground, over and over.

Whenever Lily summons a spirit to attack, she flinches and cowers behind her hands as if the violence is too much for her. For instance, she sheepishly cowers in the background while the spirits quell the tempests against the Blighted. But despite her aversion to violence, Lily is incredibly altruistic and chooses to focus on the well-being of the world around her before her own. She never fails to purify the corrupted residents that she encounters, even after being attacked, even though doing so slowly corrupts her body and causes her considerable pain. This includes more dubious characters such as deranged prison inmates, the chief executioner, the knight who killed his father the king and the scientist who experimented on her "mother" Fretia. In Ending B, she insists on purifying Fretia and share in her suffering despite knowing this will condemn her to an eternity of suffering and end with her becoming another Blighted Lord trapped in her own body.

Powers and Abilities

As a White Priestess, it is Lily's solemn duty to purge the Blight that contaminates the world.

Instead of having her own actions, Lily's abilities depend on exploration. At the start of the game, she can only perform basic functions such as walking, running, jumping, and dodging. By defeating and purifying souls afflicted with the Blight, Lily accumulates a vast set of Skills and Actions. Since she is not a formidable opponent, Lily has to rely on her spirit allies to do the fighting and do the more advanced maneuvering.

Despite her imbued abilities and the protection of her spirits, Lily is far from immortal to danger and will succumb to only a handful of injuries. A young child in an enormous, perilous world, she is subject to many hazards that can kill her effortlessly.

Powers

• Evocation: Lily summons the Umbral Knight as well as the spirits that are purified of their Blight as her main means of attacks.
• Purification: Lily can purify the Blighted by absorbing their Blight into her body. In return, the purified spirits would join her team and assist her. However, her purification comes with a cost. While the Blight she has accumulated does not corrupt her mind, it gradually corrupts her health and well-being. The more people she has purified, the worse her affliction becomes.
• Praying: Lily can use her prayers to heal her wounds.

Abilities

• Dodging: Lily can dodge by leaping forward, or by dashing if she has obtained Guardian Silva's dashing ability by defeating her. This allows her to evade attacks.
• Parrying: Lily can parry most types of attacks by parrying with the use of Fretia's Ring or through the Headless Defender and Hidden Test Subject summons.

Relationships

Fretia

Despite being a clone, Lily believes Fretia to be her "mother", just like all the other clones, whom she also considers to be her "sisters".

Umbral Knight

When Ferin first found Lily, they contemplated killing her to end the Deathless Pact to the lineage of the White Priestesses of the Kingdom of End, but they decided against it after recalling why they made the pact in the first place. At first, Lily's innocence and purity reminded them of Nymphilia—the first priestess they swore to protect—and they resolved to carry out that duty until the end. However, they also come to care for Lily. They put her welfare ahead of the kingdom, advising her to pursue her own goals and memories rather than sacrificing herself. They are shown worrying as her health deteriorates as a result of absorbing the Blight. In Ending A, they willingly let Lily leave Land's End while they remain with Fretia, relieving her of any guilt by assuring her that they would take care of the rest.

Trivia

• The name Lily (リリィ, Riryi^? ) signifies "purity and innocence" and comes from the Latin word for the lily flower, lilium.
• Although the in-game status and descriptions refer to her as "Lily", the "Lily" that the player controls throughout Ender Lilies does not have a name in the story, and is never referred to as such, not even by the Umbral Knight, except during the Endings.
  • Given that she is a newly-awakened clone of Fretia, it is likely that she does not actually have a name to begin with, and decides to take up the name of "Lily" if the player manages to find the remain of the previous White Priestess and the note she left behind in the ruined cathedral's attic.
  • After finding the remains of a previous White Priestess—who according to her letter was rightfully named Lily—the active Lily decides to adopt her predecessor's name, to carry her memories and dreams.
    • In Ending C, Fretia also goes along with the decision and calls her Lily.
• Both Lily's Note at the White Parish attic and the trading card from Steam featuring Lily reveal that she is actually unable to speak, although the player can get a glimpse on what she is thinking through her reactions and the Umbral Knight's commentary.
• Of all the major characters that Lily has fought against, Miriel is the only one that Lily has defeated without purifying her. Instead, Lily purifies Faden, who is in the room behind the hallway where Miriel is fought. On the other hand, Faden seems to be holding what is left of Miriel as his main weapon and it remains ambiguous whether Miriel is still alive after the battle.

References

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