Meredith Quill

"Peter, I know these last few months have been hard for you. But I’m going to a better place and I will be okay. And I will always be with you. You are the light of my life. My precious son. My little Star-Lord. Love, Mom."

- Meredith Quill to Star-Lord

Meredith Quill was the mother of Peter Quill who died of brain cancer when he was eight.

Meeting Ego
"You’re so like your daddy, you even look like him. And he was an angel, composed of pure light..."

- Meredith Quill to Peter Quill Meredith was born and raised in St. Charles, Missouri. Growing up, she developed a strong love for pop music, with Ego claiming that she memorized every song that came over the radio. She eventually met Ego with whom she fell in love. In 1980, Ego drove her out to a forest where he showed her a seedling he had planted, claiming that it would soon spread everywhere across the planet. Later that year, Meredith was impregnated by Ego and gave birth to a son she named Peter. Ego was soon forced to return to his planet, in order to replenish his life force. Meredith raised Peter by herself and gave him a Walkman with a mix tape of her favorite songs, which Peter adamantly protected from then on. She called him her little "Star-Lord", which an adult Peter adopted as his outlaw name.

Death
"I returned to Earth to see her three times and I knew if I returned a fourth, I'd never leave. Expansion, the reason for my very existence would be over so I did what I had to do. But... it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head."

- Ego confessing to Star-Lord Ego returned three times to visit Meredith. Fearing that he was becoming too attached to her and becoming unfocused in his mission, Ego decided to kill her. He used his power to cause an inoperable malignancy to develop in her brain, dooming her to die of brain cancer.

Saying Goodbye


"Your grandpa is gonna take such good care of you. At least until your daddy comes back to get you... Take my hand. Peter? Take my hand."

- Meredith Quill to Peter Quill, Meredith's final words

Meredith died of terminal cancer in 1988, when Peter was eight years old, but gave him a second mix tape of music just before passing. He did not open this second tape until many years later, after defending the planet Xandar as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. After taking hold of the Power Stone during the conclusion of the battle to prevent Ronan the Accuser from taking it back, Peter's body begins to rip apart, causing him unbearable pain. He begins hallucinating and sees an image of his dying mother asking him to take his hand. In reality, this is Gamora calling to him to take her hand so that they can share and absorb the stone's power.

Memorialized
A statue of Meredith Quill was built on Ego's planet, Peter Quill stated that his family back on Earth thought she was delusional because she thought Ego was from the stars, but they blamed the tumor for making her delusional. Quill and Ego both got into a heated argument about why Ego never returned to see Meredith, to which Ego explained that his humanoid form must return to his planet regularly otherwise his planet will decay if he didn't return; most importantly, he could not stand Meredith's death, claiming Quill could not understand how this felt.

Ego grievously stated that, despite him making countless mistakes for eons, Quill is not one of them and he wishes to be the father who bonds with his son, stating it is what Meredith wished for. He teaches Quill to focus on Ego's essence within the planet to harness energy to conjure up an energy ball, thus resulting a bonding between father and son.

However, this all went downhill when Peter learned about Ego's true motives and that Ego was the one who put the tumor inside Meredith's head in the first place. Angered by this turn of revelations and determined to avenge his mother's death, Peter arranged Rocket Raccoon and Groot to implant a bomb inside Ego's core, destroying Ego for good.

Family

 * Father
 * Mother
 * Brother
 * Peter Quill/Star-Lord † - Son

Allies

 * Ego † - Former Lover and Killer

Trivia

 * In the comics, Meredith Quill rescued the space prince J'son and fell in love with him. After his departure, she was killed by two Badoon soldiers, who were enemies of J'son and sent to kill their son Peter.

Behind the Scenes

 * Heather Witherill was a stand-in for Laura Haddock in the role of Meredith Quill.
 * Haddock also played Autograph Seeker in Captain America: The First Avenger: James Gunn has joked that character was Meredith's mother.