The Chronicles of Narnia <3 Appreciation Post
"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy." - C.S. Lewis
These are the first words that initiated a great story. These are the words who made us enter to another mystical dimension.
I'm sure these are the children almost all of you're all familiar with.
First books, then discussions, later the movies, games, fan-fictions, podcasts... Narnia is one of the best but not yet the greatest "multiverse" (only known like that by the readers of the books of course) that has ever been created. Some generations, especially in UK, including the kid actors', have studied the books during school, some others (especially new) had only seen the movies on Disney+. Doesn't matter from where did you first hear about Narnia stories or how deep they effected you, hopefully, what I'm going to share here will help you have different perspectives and new knowledge about Lewis's most popular creation.
To finally publish my several years of reading, researching and seeing The Chronicles of Narnia I have pulled up a very loooong post to publish. I can't blame you if you're not interested in everything that's written here or don't want to see some spoilers, so I made you a little guideline for headlines: (Which almost all have spoilers for Beginners)
1) How I met The Chronicles of Narnia
2) The origin of the stories
3) What do books tell, why is so complicated to keep up with the right storyline?
4) What do movies tell so far? With some FunFacts
5) Suggestions for the beginners (Time to come and join us)
6) The Future of Narnia : will he finally start racing against what I'd like to call "Pop Culture Reincarnations?"
And just so you know before we begin, I'm glad I finally tell you how appreciated I am to meet Narnia. My life wouldn't be the same without it.
1) How I met The Chronicles of Narnia
I’ve learnt to read during kindergarten , keeping up with advertisements of a phone company and with my grandma’s help. I have read of course some children books before you know when the actual time to learn reading comes at elementary school. I was ahead of my class and I knew that, but I had to show it to my teachers too to get a special treatment.
So first week of high school I went a couple times to the library to find a nice book to start reading. And then it caught up my attention, the lion figure on the cover. I had seen the lion before, from it’s looks he was so familiar. I’ve realised that I'd seen him in the movie theatre and the image was fresh. When I saw the following words: "The Chronicles of Narnia", I became so excited. You know back then I didn’t have a close relationship with Google, I’m sure most of you didn’t as well. I didn’t know there was a book of the movie The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (LWW), let alone 7 books of the same serie! And LWW wasn’t even the number 1(as it turns out for the editors it wasn't) ! But I took it anyway, you know the 2nd book of the serie before the others because I wanted to compare the story to make sure if I’d still want to keep reading. I approached to our librarian and said I wanted to take the book to read. She asked me my class then when I answered she said the book wasn’t meant for me but for older kids. I said I didn’t care and I knew how to read. A short time passed, my teacher’s were asking me and my parents if I wanted to skip 1st class. I said “NO!”, and I’m glad I did because the second graders were sticking Lollipop’s in my hair.
I loved it. I loved every chapter, every story, every character and every place. I wanted to learn more, in the book there were so many more informations that raised more questions about well, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Professor of course . After returning the book after a little chat with the librarian I decided not to take the books from their shelves, I went to the famous bookstore D&R (those who know know, was my favourite place for 8 years :) to buy all the books to read them on and on. Besides all the mystical charm of Narnia that drags us into the idea of living/moving there at least for summertime , there’s another part that makes that magical place even more attractive. The sense of time.
According to the timeline, only 49 years passed on Earth during Narnia’s 2555-year existence.There is no consistent ratio between the two worlds regarding the passage of time: “Once you’re out of Narnia, you have no idea how Narnian time is going,” Edmund says in Prince Caspian.
The clocks they keep ticking, but time works different than ours . Apparently a couple milliseconds here can be equivalent to 2 years or 1000 years, hard to say. And since Narnia is not the only other universe, travelling through one to another changes vision of the world too, and actually this was one of the ideas that Lewis wanted to develop but we'll get to that. OK, by the way we can actually start talking about Narnia Multiverse. One thing is for sure, no matter how much you spend time there in our World time stands STILL. How charming is that? Living a life we don’t think we’d have… Full of adventures and beautiful creatures… Doing what we want during “peace” time like sword fights with talking animals or playing very expensive (= pieces made of gold) chess. And no matter how the things can get dangerous and somewhere evil powers remain silent waiting to take action, you know you can count on your saviour? Aslan or a Godlike creature appears only- wait for it- when the actual humans and not the fantasy World’s Caspian or Rilian or else prays- I mean calls.
Of course since I didn’t grow up in so-called a religious family, and never actually cared to search for info, I never saw the first two times I read the whole serie all the God and Christ references whether obvious (like Santa Claus ) or hidden like “Aslan’s Land” which is a heavenly place- or heaven itself.
I’m not here to judge the religious part of the scenario, so Lewis had some inspirations from mythologies and legends, some from Christianity even though he doesn't like to admit; but I can’t walk past by in the future title since the last chapter of the last book got me pretty bad at the end of all these wonderful adventures.
So you live a joyful life, in wonderful lands, in Narnia that have some tendances to undergo some unfortunate reigns like Jadis's or Miraz's. There are all kinds of creatures from different writings, barbarians, pagan-like rituals, and humans.
There are humans from our world and outside, the other dimensions.
Everyone can be kings and queens, anyone can rule but that doesn't mean they suit well. Anyone who has committed a bad thing can get a second chance given by Aslan and suddenly become worthy of greater things. Anything can be a gate openning to other lands, a ring, a pool, a painting, a Wardrobe. You don't always plan your journeys, they can come searching for you.
Not just a dreamland, an escape and a salvation. Can't decide whether it's an overall sad story who tells episodes of joy, or an overall good story who rumbles up in a sad ending.
And suddenly if you lose hope in Narnia because it's time to grow up and do mature human-ish stuff like attending to private parties instead of joining family - or so 6 years later from the publication of first book the story ends up at that point- no matter how good you and your life were, your value can be diminished to 0. You have no idea what I'm talking about do you? :)
2) The origin of the stories
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and lay theologian - no I'm not gonna copy paste Wikipedia sorry, if you're interested you can go check yourselves :D .
2nd Try :
Lewis grew up with books. A house like a labyrinth and full of books. A lot of rooms a lot of stairs, weird paintings and armours. Lewis had time on his hands to read and discover every inch of the house.
Lewis tells us that his Narnia books began with a picture, one that had long remained in his mind, and which eventually impelled him to write, not one book, but seven.
The picture he had when he was only 16 years old was this:
A faun (satyr in greek myth yet less sexual) with an umbrella, parcels, a lamppost, a snow-covered kingdom.
Voilà Lewis approach = a combination of classical mythology and things of ordinary life. Good start for a good story teller.
Lewis is emphatic in saying that he did not begin with the intent to write Christian messages or allegories disguised as stories. Lewis insists he could not have written in that way.
“It all began with images: a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion."
The Story of The Lion-Messiah:
The Stone Table is where the sacrifice will occur. Grouped around the Stone Table in a half-moon shape are centaurs, a unicorn, a bull with the head of a man, a pelican, an eagle, a great dog, and two leopards. Lewis is creating a parallel mythology with a pagan feel.
Aslan is killed, and the children remain with his body.
Do you think you know the Norse Gods well? Besides Thor and Odin? Lewis's favourite wasn't either, it was Balder. Balder the dead Balder the beautiful, Balder the resurrected. He was moved deeply by this story then came to realise that there was significant resemblance between Balder's death and sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
So he killed Aslan for sins of Edmund Pevensie than resurrected him by the name of "Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time.”
Balder love or not, his friends (including Tolkien) were pressing him to accept the love of god and religion. He was atheist until age 32. And even after conversion he kept denying religious allegories in the books. Still because his cold heart had been warmed by the love of God, C.S. Lewis extended the metaphor to Narnia, and thus we see the melting snow when Aslan is on the move.
“I felt as if I were a man of snow at long last beginning to melt. The melting was starting in my back—drip-drip and presently trickle-trickle. I rather disliked the feeling.”
And then, when a child wrote him saying that he couldn’t figure out what Aslan’s name must be here on this side of the wardrobe, Lewis wrote back a little puzzle,
“I want you to guess. Has there never been anyone in this world who (1) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas (2) Said he was the son of the Great Emperor (3) Gave himself up for someone else’s fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people (4) Came to life again (5) Is sometimes spoken of as a Lamb… Don’t you really know His name in this world?”.
I personally like Aslan and I'm not familiar with Jesus.
ASLAN: he is royal, he is sinless, he is long-suffering and he is a magnificent creature, as said to be Balder..
But also he's so used to interrupt battle scenes, save everyone at the last point -but he saves anyway- and take all the credits to himself without asking for it. SO the idea is an-ideal God, who saves the day and still gives us free will or let us think so. So he can never be my favourite character, because he's the all and none at the same time. He's there but won't do anything, if he does the book is over...
PFFF
Of and last thing Lewis didn’t work particularly at finding a name. For a person who is as intellectual as he was it wasn't hard to call “Aslan” , it is the Turkish word for “lion.”
LWW and Yummy Turkish Delights, Mmmm :
In 1939 Lewis, a young professor, and his household began receiving groups of schoolchildren fleeing the bombings of World War II, sounds familiar?. That was the time he began taking notes for the story that would eventually become The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. One day one refugee girl was poking around a wardrobe in his home wait for it --- launching a series of beloved children’s books, not Narnia.
But the book itself wasn’t finished until late in the 1940s, and it was published in the autumn of 1950, just in time for Christmas.
As you see The old Professor—that’s easy, he put himself at the same place as he is. Lewis lived in a house outside of Oxford and was a single man with a large household. He is eccentric, learned, and kind. I'm pretty sure he would've believed Lucy before her siblings if she'd actually find Narnia at the back of a wardrobe.
It makes sense that Turkish delight would have been on Lewis’s brain as he crafted a book where Christmas features as a main theme. In the first book in Narnia, it is “always winter but never Christmas” under the reign of The White Witch. Rationing extended to timber, which made Christmas trees harder to come by, and confectionery rationing was reigning wartime in England and this situation continued until February of 1953 and sugar rationing stopped later that year.
So he's the professor alright but when the White Witch asks Edmund what he’d like best to eat, it’s possible that Lewis was answering for him: the candy that would be most difficult and expensive to obtain. Edmund isn’t just asking the witch for candy, he’s essentially asking her for Christmas, too. (and later we see Santa Claus appearing and giving gifts anyway).
The Second World War was hardly the time for buying Turkish delight.
Regardless, his decision to make Turkish delight Edmund’s heart’s desire has immortalised it in our minds. Especially during the movie, I couldn't stop wondering the flavour of the particular big Lokum's (Turkish Delight in Turkish) judging by the colour: Rose. In the books hard to say but always makes me drool.
So LWW isn't the only book influenced by Eastern cultures. Not at all ahaha. I have seen this comment somewhere :
The Horse and His Boy : A pony book crossed with the Arabian Nights.
Publications and Complications :
Little chronology: series had begun in 1939 and only finished 9-10 years later. But the next six books were written at high speed with the Last Battle Completed by march 1956!
This is the original timeline of books:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
The Silver Chair (1953)
The Horse and His Boy (1954)
The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
The Last Battle (1956)
Sometime after the death of C. S. Lewis, British editions of the books began appearing and some publications switched the order.
The Disney Movies followed this order, that is likely similar to a lot of franchise movies lost in timelines : Star Wars, Harry Potter/ Fantastic Beasts, X-MEN, Lord of The Rings / Hobbit...
New chronological order became the worldwide standard after HarperCollins took over the publishing in 1994. In the next section, I'll tell you the new order, to make you understand better what's going on.
Here let see what the author said about the order
In 1957, an 11-year-old boy named Lawrence Krieg wanted to read the Narnia books for a second time. He wondered if he should re-read them chronologically, but his mother felt he should stick with the original published order. (??? what ahahah) So, Lawrence wrote a letter to the author and received this response:
“I think I agree with your order for reading the books more than with your mother’s. The series was not planned beforehand as she thinks. When I wrote The Lion I did not know I was going to write any more. Then I wrote P. Caspian as a sequel and still didn’t think there would be any more, and when I had done The Voyage I felt quite sure it would be the last. But I found as I was wrong. So perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone read them.” - C. S. Lewis.
3) What do books tell, why is so complicated to keep up with the right storyline?
As I said, I'm going to keep writing in the order of publications, the worldwide standard set by HarperCollins.
There’s MN that takes place at the beginning of Narnia and LB which takes place at the end. VODT takes place in uncharted oceans. HHB takes place in non-Narnian non-Terrestrial(?) countries. The Silver Chair takes place in Ettinsmoor.
1) Magician's Nephew (MN)
Prequel to the series, to story of the The White Witch and The Wardrobe, of the lamp and Professor Digory Kirke. Story that tells the story of the creation of Narnia by Aslan itself.
From London in 1900, to Narnia T-time-1000. (T-Time being the arrival of Pevensie’s to there).
The story begins in London during the summer of 1900. Two children, Digory and Polly, next door neighbours. They both like adventure and checking out forbidden places. One thing lets to another Digory's crazy uncle who likes to play with magic sends them to unknown worlds thanks to a yellow ring, and gives them a green one to return home. So as you can see, Digory aka Prof. Kirke is MN.
They both land on a woodland which is filled with pools.
"Wood between the Worlds"
When they discover that each pool leads to a separate universe, guess what, they decide to explore, jump into one before returning home. All trouble of Narnia starts there, before it's even been born.
They find themselves in an abandoned city of Charn. Inside the ruined palace, they discover statues of former kings and queens. They find a bell with a hammer, an inscription inviting the finder to strike the bell.
Yes, Digory rings the bell.
This awakens a witch queen named Jadis, -who to avoid defeat in battle- had killed every living thing in Charn and as the only survivor placed herself in an enchanted sleep. Charming story for kids.
Before the children escapes Jadis follows them back to England by clinging to them as they clutch their rings.
Thank Aslan, in England, her magical powers don't work, although she retains her superhuman strength.
Lamp : In England somewhere between, Jadis breaks off and tears an iron rod from a nearby lamp-post, make use of it to fight off police.
Polly and Digory grab her and put on their rings to take her out of their world – along with Uncle Andrew, Frank the cab-driver, and Frank's horse, Strawberry, who were all touching each another when the children grabbed their rings.
In the Wood between the Worlds, Strawberry, looking to drink from one of the ponds, accidentally brings everyone into another world: a dark, empty void. It as a world not yet created.
They then all witness the creation of a new world by the lion Aslan,
Jadis, tries to kill Aslan with the iron rod; but it rebounds harmlessly off him, and in the creative soil it sprouts into a growing lamp-post.
Jadis flees. Aslan gives some animals the power of speech.
Wardrobe :
Digory has another task : To take an apple from a tree in Garden of Youth to heal his dying mother.
A little like Adam and Eve story goes on, Jadis being the snake.
Digory returns to Narnia and plants the apple, which grows into a mature tree.
Aslan tells how the tree works - anyone who steals the apples gets their heart's desire, but in a form that makes it unlikeable. In the Witch's case, she has achieved immortality, but it only means eternal misery because of her evil heart.
Digory then takes an apple from the new tree to heal his mother.
Aslan sends people back except Frank and his wife, Helen stay to rule Narnia as its first King and Queen. The Narnian creatures live happily ever after for many hundred years, till the winter begins.
Digory's apple restores his mother's health and he and Polly remain lifelong friends.
Digory plants the apple's core with the rings in the back yard of his aunt's home and it grows into a large tree. Many years later the apple tree blows down in a storm. Digory, now a middle-aged professor, has its wood made into a wardrobe, setting up the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
So as we can see, if you were the one passing by the wild scene where Jadis goes crazy in London, shouts and demands a lot, you could've been the one to testify the creation of Narnia and become the first ruler. I'm laughing now, but the first two times I read it, I fell under the charm of the idea. What can I say, a fan will always be a fan.
King Frank: A cabby who is the husband of Helen, and the first king of Narnia, and forefather of the kings of Archenland.
Queen Helen: The wife of Frank, the first queen of Narnia, and the ancestress of the Archenlanders.
(next book published is The Horse and His Boy and it has a lot to do with Archenland)
2) The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (LWW)
Most of the novel is set in Narnia, a land of talking animals and mythical creatures that is ruled by the evil White Witch, Jadis.
The Pevensies are nice honourable English Children with the exception of the 2nd brother Edmund who is a greedy, disagreeable, jealous little boy.
The four English children are relocated to a large, old country house of Professsor Kirke, following a wartime evacuation. The youngest, Lucy, discovers the Wardrobe that leads to Narnia first during a game of hide and seek.
Lucy meets Tumnus, next to a lamp who seems not to fit the whole scene (but that was the image that has started the whole adventure in Lewis's head) . Tumnus, faun half naked with an umbrella and a scarf, who befriends her and have a cup of tea to eventually give her in to the Witch, but at the end he lets her go with a warning.
The Witch has given an order because there's an old prophecy about 2 Sons of Adam and 2 Daughters of Eve coming to Narnia and taking over control of the throne.
Lucy's second passage through the Wardrobe is followed by Edmund, he goes on his way and gets to meet The Witch himself. She introduces herself as the Queen of Narnia, and plies him with sweet Turkish Delight. Edmund, overwhelmed by the beauty of the queen and taste of his favourite sweets, he tells her a lot. She is particularly interested in the fact that he has a brother and two sisters who seem fit to fulfill the prophecy.
She promises to reward Edmund with more Turkish Delight if he brings his brother and sisters to her house, and also promises to make him King of Narnia.
All of them finally arrives to Narnia running from the household, by accident.
Lucy as their guide to meet Mr. Tumnus, they see that he's been arrested by disobeying the so-called queen.
The Witch : Her actual name, Jadis, since it's the real first book appears for the first time in the notice left on Tumnus's door after his arrest.
So they find themselves first in an adventure to help Mr. Tumnus, and they meet the Beavers who tell them about the prophecy while Edmund sneaks out from their home to get more Turkish Delight. The mission of rescue becomes mission to save Narnia and their own lives.
Until defeating Jadis, a whole lot of help comes from whole lot of creatures, even Santa Claus.
"tools, not toys," Father Christmas explains, saying “Bear them well"—the time to use them may be near at hand.
For Peter: a shield and a sword. “The shield was the color of silver and on it was a red lion, as bright as a ripe strawberry when you pick it ...also…a sword belt and a sheath...it was just the right size and weight for Peter to use." For Eve's daughter Susan: a quiver full of arrows and a little ivory horn. “When you put this horn to your lips and blow it, wherever you are, some kind of help will come to you,” he tells her. For Lucy, Eve’s daughter: a little glass bottle of healing cordial and a small dagger. “In this bottle is a cordial...," Father Christmas explains. "If any of your friends are hurt, a few drops of this will restore you. And the dagger is to defend yourself.”
We see Edmund first betraying his little sister when although he knows Narnia exists he pretends to the other two that Lucy made it all up. His next defect his greed , specifically for Turkish delight which gets him into a terrible predicament. The main plot involving Edmund is: Aslan has to die for Edmund's sins.
The lion Aslan gives his life to save one of the children; he later rises from the dead, vanquishes the White Witch, and crowns the children Kings and Queens of Narnia at Cair Paravel (the wonderful castle).
Queen Lucy the Valiant.
King Edmund the Just.
Susan is crowned Queen Susan the Gentle.
High King of Narnia and dubbed King Peter the Magnificent.
After a long and happy reign, the Pevensies, now adults, arrive at the lamp-post and, having forgotten about it, unintentionally return through the wardrobe when they were looking for new adventures. When they return to England, they are children again nothing royal anymore, cut down to size , shorts, pigtails and with no time having passed since their departure. 3 out of 4 never makes it to adulthood except in Narnia.
3) The Horse and His Boy
That's the pony story in Arabian nights.
During the reign of High King Peter. Shasta escapes from his foster father, true king’s son of Archenland...
For those who wander what happened in the period covered by the last chapter, during the reign of the four Pevensie children as Kings and Queens of Narnia. Here they are minor characters, the main ones being two children and two talking horses who escape from Calormen and travel north into Narnia.
On their journey, they learn of the Prince of Calormen's plan to attack Archenland, and warn the King of Archenland of the impending strike.
A boy named Shasta is being sold to noble Calormenes by his fake father. While the waiting in the stable he gets surprised by Bree, a Talking Horse from Narnia who was captured by the Calormenes as a foal. The horse suggests that they ride north together to the land of Narnia.
On their journey, Shasta and Bree meet another pair of runaways: Aravis, a young Calormene aristocrat, and Hwin, another Talking Horse. Aravis is running away to avoid being forced to marry.
The four runaways travel through Tashbaan, the great capital of Calormen. There, they encounter Narnian visitors who mistake Shasta for Corin, a prince of Archenland, who went exploring earlier that day, you can see where the story is headed.
Shasta overhears the Narnians' plans to escape from Calormen to prevent a forced marriage between Queen Susan and Rabadash, son of the Tisroc (or king) of Calormen. The Tisroc gives Rabadash permission to conquer Archenland before making a quick raid into Narnia to kidnap Queen Susan while High King Peter is busy battling giants in the north.
The four set out across the desert, and a lion (whom they later discover to be Aslan) frightens them into fleeing swiftly enough to outrun Rabadash's cavalry. Shasta arrives in Archenland in time to warn Archenland and Narnia of the approaching Calormenes.
There is no clear outcome until reinforcements from Narnia, led by Edmund and Lucy, arrive. The Calormenes are defeated, and Rabadash is captured.
Aslan the Lion, the King of Beasts, son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, the King above all High Kings in Narnia, arrives in Archenland.
After Rabadash insults Aslan, he is transformed into a donkey. Aslan informs him that,the prince will become a donkey permanently if he ever ventures more than ten miles from the Temple of Tash. For this reason, Rabadash pursues peaceful policies when he becomes Tisroc, as he dares not cross the ten-mile boundary by going to war.
So many new eastern names, a long plot, the longest book of the serie.
Anyway at the end the victorious King Lune recognizes Shasta as his son Cor, the long-lost identical twin of Prince Corin and since he's the elder of the two, the heir to the throne of Archenland. (Imagine the deception of Corin). Cor had been kidnapped as a baby in an attempt to counter a prophecy that he would one day save Archenland from its greatest peril. Shasta's timely warning of the Calormene attack has fulfilled the prophecy. Aravis and Shasta live in Archenland thereafter and eventually marry. Their son, Ram, becomes the most famous king of Archenland.
My least favourite book, I never actually liked the story and can't tell exactly why. We never see the additional characters in other books so this book would've make a great spin-off show.
4) Prince Caspian , Originally Published as : Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
It is the only book of The Chronicles with men dominating Narnia.
The talking animals and mythical beings are oppressed, and some may be endangered.
Hundreds of years passed and the name of the four Pevensie's became a legend . They've been summoned back by the power of magical horn to help Prince Caspian heir to the throne defeat the Usurper Miraz, Caspian the 10th's uncle. Narnia seems usually prone to misfortunes and one evil goes another one shows up.
Prince Caspian escapes from his rightful castle after his aunt gives birth to a son, escaping from his evil uncle who cares to kill anyone who stands in his way to take the throne. By the instructions of his master, he goes to the woods, meet some Narnians, freaks out and blows the horn.
The four Pevensie children returns back about a year later in England but 1300 years later in Narnia, taken from a train station. Everyone they knew is gone Cair Paravel in ruins. They're lucky to find their belongings especially the Xmas gifts, except Susan's horn which is used by Caspian to call them.
The children rescue a dwarf, Trumpkin, from Telmarine soldiers who are about to drown him. Trumpkin tells the children Narnia's history since their disappearance: Telmarines conquered Narnia wiping out almost all the mystical habitants.
Meanwhile Caspian meets and gets accepted by the creatures of Old Narnia who survived the Telmarine takeover.
Trumpkin and the Pevensies make their way to Caspian. The trek proves difficult, but Aslan appears to Lucy and instructs her to guide the others behind him, even though no-one believes her.
By the way, Miraz is building catapults and gathering up all the Lords to accept his as their King.
After seeing this the Narnians realise they are outnumbered and without anywhere to defend. They decide to attack on Miraz's castle to take advantage of the suprise effect. They fail, living behind dozens of Narnians.
Petr and Caspian never seem to get along things get a bit more tense. Caspian even- almost reincarnates The Witch!
Miraz, well he also takes advantage of the situation and prepares his army to attack the graveyard beholded by the Narnians.
As their only chance to survive except Aslan coming in, Peter challenges Miraz to single combat: the army of the victor in this duel will be considered the victor in the war. Miraz accepts the challenge, loses the combat although it's not Peter who kill him, he get sstabbed by one of his followers. But the war still begins...
Aslan, accompanied by Lucy and Susan*(different in the movie), make the Telmarines surrender by summoning gods of trees and river.
Aslan gives the Telmarines a choice of staying in Narnia under Caspian or returning to Earth, their original home. After one volunteer disappears through the magic door created by Aslan, the Pevensies go through to reassure the other Telmarines, though Peter and Susan reveal to Edmund and Lucy that they are too old to return to Narnia. The Pevensies find themselves back at the railway station.
Did You Know: Reepicheep is descended from the non-talking mice who freed Aslan from his bonds in the previous book, and were thus given the gift of speech!
5) The voyage of the Dawn Treader :
The only Narnia book that does not have a main villain.
The two youngest Pevensie children, Lucy and Edmund, are staying with their odious cousin Eustace Scrubb who likes to collect dead bugs and call his parents by their name.While their older brother, Peter, is studying for an exam with Professor Kirke, and their older sister, Susan, is travelling through America with their parents.
As things couldn't get more boring for Edmund and Lucy suddenly a painting in the wall of a ship at sea starts moving and with their cousin they are drawn into the Narnian seas. Hopefully the ship in the picture belongs to a dear friend.
The Dawn Treader is the ship of Caspian X, King of Narnia remember? Also present on board are the Lord Drinian (the captain of the Dawn Treader) and Reepicheep, the talking mouse-chevalier.
Peace has been established in the three years since then we still don't know hot the timeline works.
Caspian has undertaken a quest in fulfilment of his coronation oath to sail east for a year and a day and find the seven lost Lords of Narnia: Argoz, Bern, Mavramorn, Octesian, Restimar, Revilian, and Rhoop. Lucy and Edmund are delighted to be back in the Narnian world, but Eustace is less enthusiastic mostly annoying, as he has never been there before and had taunted his cousins with his belief that this alternate universe had never existed.
They first make landfall in the Lone Islands in particular the slave trade flourishes here, despite Narnian law stating that it is forbidden. Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep are captured as merchandise by a slave trader, for those who whatched movies there is a slight diffference here.
A man "buys" Caspian before they even reach the slave market. He turns out to be the first lost lord, Lord Bern. When Caspian reveals his identity, Bern acknowledges him as King. (so Caspian, Edmund and Bern are not prepared to be sacrificed to evil forces).
At the second island,Deathwater Island, they visit, Eustace leaves the group to avoid participating in the work needed to render the ship seaworthy after a storm has damaged it, and hides in a dead dragon's cave to escape a sudden downpour. Again, a he's in a cave, the water that turns anything into gold is in another cave found by team Edmund, Lucy and Caspian.
The (later found out to be dragon's) treasure arouses his greed. he fills his pockets with gold and jewels and puts on a large golden bracelet and takes a nap wakes up as a dragon.
As a dragon, he becomes aware of how bad his previous behaviour was. He attempts to shed his dragon skin without success. It is only with the help of Aslan that he is able to become human again. And as a result of his experiences he is now a much nicer person, what a revelation.
Second Lord: recognised by his gold bracelet, Lord Octesian, dead.
3rd Lord: pool of water which turns everything immersed in it into gold, including one of the missing lords who turns out to have been Lord Restimar, dead.
Then there is Coriakin's Island, the Magician who leads them to the
Island Where Dreams Come True aka the Dark Island since it is permanently hidden in darkness. They rescue a desperate Lord Rhoop meanwhile battlign against a sea-serpent (dreams, and nightmares come true).
Eventually they reach the Island of the Star, where they find the three remaining lost lords in enchanted sleep in Aslan's Table. Ramandu, the fallen star who lives on the island with his daughter, tells them that the only way to awaken them is to sail to the edge of the world and there to leave one member of the crew behind. Lord Rhoop wishes to "sleep without dreams" beside his friends until they wake and everyone agrees before they set out again.
So as you can see this the book that has been adapted in a very different way, but I like the both path differently.
The Dawn Treader continues sailing into an area where merpeople dwell and the water turns sweet rather than salty, as Reepicheep discovers when he belligerently jumps in to fight a mer-man who he thinks challenged him. At last the water becomes so shallow that the ship can go no farther. Caspian orders a boat lowered and announces that Lucy, Ed and Eustace will go to the world's end with Reepicheep.
These four named venture in a small boat through a sea of lilies until they reach a wall of water that extends into the sky. Fulfilling Ramandu's condition, Reepicheep paddles his coracle up the waterfall and is never again seen in Narnia. Edmund, Eustace, and Lucy find a Lamb, who transforms into Aslan and tells them that Edmund and Lucy will not return to Narnia and that they should learn to know him by 'another name' in their own world. He then sends the children home.
(Not in the books no but in the movie, since I really attached myself to the characters, I cried with 10-20 of my classmates next to me. )
It is mentioned that the four lords woke again when Caspian returned to the island and he married Ramandu's daughter. Eventually, the Dawn Treader and everyone else safely return to Narnia.
Back in the human world, everyone remarks on how Eustace has changed and "you'd never know him for the same boy".
From now, the legacy to return to Narnia passes onto him.
Note that he's only 9 years old.
6) The Silver Chair : I LOOVEE THIS ONE!
Begins with Jill Pole crying behind the gym of her and Eustace’s School and continues with the two blundering through a gate that leads them to a different World ,reversed World not Narnia, but to Aslan's Country.
Mission : save Prince Rilian, Caspian's son from the dirty witch , this one is green and speaks "Parseltongue" :D
The Lady of the Green Kirtle : The ruler of Underland, who plans to conquer Narnia with its rightful heir under her spell at her side.
They encounter a cliff, where Jill shows off by approaching the edge, and Eustace, trying to pull her back, falls over the edge. Aslan appears and saves Eustace by blowing him to Narnia. He charges Jill with helping Eustace find King Caspian X's son, Prince Rilian of Narnia, who disappeared some years earlier.
He gives Jill four Signs to guide them on their quest and then blows Jill into Narnia, where Eustace is already waiting by a great castle.
King Caspian meets and greeds them and says they have missed the first Sign. Fifty years have passed since Eustace was last in Narnia, even though less than a year has passed in his world.
Caspian is obviously deteriorating with old age, and his people fear that he will not live for much longer.
Caspian's Lord Regent Trumpkin the Dwarf, now very elderly and deaf, provides Jill and Eustace with rooms in Cair Paravel, but on the advice of Glimfeather the Owl they make no mention of their quest. Glimfeather summons them to a Parliament of his fellow talking owls, who explain that Prince Rilian disappeared a decade earlier while searching for a large green serpent that had killed his mother.
Jill and Eustace are flown to the marshes on the northern edge of Narnia where they meet their guide, Puddleglum, a gloomy but stalwart Marsh-wiggle. They journey toward the giant-lands north of Narnia. Hungry and suffering from exposure, they meet the Lady of the Green Kirtle accompanied by a silent knight in black armour. She encourages them to proceed northward to Harfang, the castle of the "Gentle Giants" who likes to cook people for Autumn Feast.
From the castle the three see that in the snowstorm they had blundered through the ruins of a giant city in the valley below, thereby missing Aslan's second Sign. They also see the words "Under Me" engraved on the road, which is the third Sign.
Following the Sign, they take shelter in a cave under the ruined city, where they fall down a long dark slope into Underland.
They are found by an army who take them aboard a boat across the subterranean Sunless Sea to the city ruled by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. She herself is away, but her protégé, a young man, greets the travellers pleasantly. He explains that he suffers from nightly psychotic episodes, and during these episodes he must, by the Lady's orders, be bound to a silver chair; for if he is released, he will turn into a deadly green serpent and kill everyone in sight.
I'm pretty sure psychotic episodes was a must to put in the books somewhere since after the WW2 the understand of human mind, PTSD, and a lot of mental disorders was being re-shaped and new treatment methods was being developed.
When the young man is tied to his chair, his "ravings" seem instead to indicate desperation to escape an enchanted captivity. After several threats, the youth finally begs the three to release him in the name of Aslan. Recognizing this as the fourth.
The young man immediately destroys the silver chair. Free from enchantment, he thanks them and declares that he is the vanished Prince Rilian.
The Green Lady returns and tries to bewitch them all into forgetting who they are, but the barefoot Puddleglum stamps out the enchantress's magical fire and breaks her spell. The enraged Lady transforms herself into a green serpent. Rilian kills her, realising that the Green Lady was herself the serpent who killed his mother, Rilian leads the travellers to escape from Underland.
Aslan, of course appears and congratulates Eustace and Jill on achieving their goal, then returns them to the stream in his country where Jill first met him.
Aslan promises Eustace and Jill that, while they have to return to their own world for a while, they will one day return to Aslan's Country to stay. He then allows Caspian to accompany Eustace and Jill back to their own world for a brief time, where they drive off the bullies before Caspian returns to Aslan's Country. Experiment House becomes a well-managed school, and Eustace and Jill remain good friends.
Back in Narnia, Rilian buries his father and mourns him. The kingdom goes on to have many happy years, but Puddleglum often points out that "dry mornings bring wet afternoons" and that you can't expect good times to last.
It's hard to say whether everyone dies after Caspian or before if we put age in the equation ...
7) The Last Battle :
A train wreck.
Set almost entirely in the Narnia world and the English children who participate arrive only in the middle of the narrative. The novel is set 49 Earth years and about 2500 years since the creation of the world narrated in The Magician's Nephew. A false Aslan (actual donkey in disguise) is set up in the north-western borderlands and conflict between true and false Narnians merges with that between Narnia and Calormen, whose people worship Tash. It concludes with termination of the world by Aslan, after a "last battle" that is practically lost.
In the north of Narnia, a clever and greedy ape named Shift persuades a well-meaning but simple-minded donkey called Puzzle (:) to dress in a lion's skin and pretend to be the Great Lion Aslan. Using Puzzle as his pawn, Shift deceives many of the Narnians into serving the Calormenes and cutting down Talking Trees for lumber. The money will be paid into "Aslan's" treasury, held by Shift, on the pretext that it will be used for the good of the Narnians.
Roonwit the Centaur warns Tirian, the latest king of Narnia, that strange and evil things are happening to Narnia
I'm gonna fast forward the story, and focus to the end.
When Tirian accuses the ape of lying, he's tied to a tree for the night and will face judgment the following morning. He is treated by some of the woodland creatures, who are sympathetic to his suffering, but they can't bring themselves to go against "Aslan."
Tirian calls on real Aslan for help and receives a vision of the "7 Friends of Narnia" gathered in our world.
The Seven Friends of Narnia were seven humans from Earth who at one time or another traveled to and aided Narnia.
They are:
Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer - witnessed the creation of Narnia.
Lucy, Edmund and Peter Pevensie - defeated the White Witch, ruled Narnia during the Golden Age, and aided Caspian X to the throne. (only 3..)
Eustace Scrubb - aided Caspian X on his voyage to the world's end, defeated the Lady of the Green Kirtle, and aided King Tirian in the Last Battle of Narnia.
Jill Pole - defeated the Lady of the Green Kirtle and aided King Tirian in the Last Battle of Narnia.
After being summoned they arrive in Narnia. They release the King. Puzzle the Donkey , realising his folly, joins them.
-War, battle ... pass.
The kings and queens bear witness to the end of the Narnian world. All the inhabitants, living and dead, gather outside the barn to be judged by Aslan; the faithful enter Aslan's Country while those who have opposed or deserted him become ordinary animals and vanish.
The vegetation is eaten by dragons and giant lizards, and Father Time calls the stars down from the skies into the sea as it rises to cover Narnia. The land freezes when Father Time puts out the sun and the moon. Peter closes the door, and Aslan leads them to his country, telling them to go further up and further in.
They find they are in a new, "real" version of Narnia.
The further up and further in you go, the bigger everything gets. The inside is larger than the outside. Lucy looked hard at the garden and saw that it was not really a garden at all but a whole world, with its own rivers and woods and sea and mountains. But they were not strange: she knew them all. “I see,” she said, “this is still Narnia, and more real and more beautiful than the Narnia down below. ... I see...world within world, Narnia within Narnia.” “Yes,” said Mr. Tumnus, “like an onion: except that as you continue to go in and in, each circle is larger than the last.”
They move up a waterfall to gates where they are greeted by Reepicheep and meet/reunite with other characters from the earlier novels. They find they can see a real England, including the Pevensies' parents, parallelling the real Narnia. Aslan tells them that the English friends of Narnia and the Pevensies' parents have all died in a train crash.
The Exclusion of Susan from the great meeting in Paradise:
Susan, who was not on the train, is the only surviving member of the family.
Despite travelling twice to Narnia, Susan Pevensie was not counted among the Seven Friends of Narnia, and thus did not enter Aslan's Country with them. It has been thought that she was no longer a friend of Narnia because she no longer believed in it and preferred acting like a grown-up, wearing make-up and such. That said, she was also not present at the train station when the accident occurred, and therefore simply didn't die at the same time as the others. While Susan was not part of the seven, it was never said that she was excluded forever from Aslan's Country, but what kind of a punishment she has to suffer, losing all her family all at once and being left alone ???
The series ends with the revelation that this was only the beginning of the true story, "which goes on for ever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before". I think it was an horrible end, I cried for hours over this silly end.
They see the light ahead of them growing stronger. Lucy notices a series of multi-coloured cliffs ahead, leading up like a giant’s staircase.
“And then she forgot everything else, because Aslan himself was coming, leaping down from cliff to cliff like a living cataract of power and beauty.”
Soon Aslan reveals to them that they have made the final journey.
“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”
4) What do movies tell so far? With some FunFacts
I have watched them again and again, since it's not 8 movies like Harry Potter it's easy peasy.
The movies well at least the latest Walt Disney productions, they follow the original path.
1- The Lion,The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005)
2-Prince Caspian (2008)
3- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
Prince Caspian, I never forget the day I watched it, it was my first movie alone in movie theatre. I was sitting in the middle seats, a little to left (I'm obsessed with left:) right next to father and his son.
I'm pretty sure I made weird noises to show my strong emotions during the movie
The VODT : I went to see first with my classmates. The only thing I can remember was since I was rarely cold, I gave my jacket to one of my friends who was freezing after the movie ended and we all got outside. We played hide and seek waiting for our parent's too show up.
In 2013 there were some rumours about The Silver Chair coming soon but they cancelled the movie due to some difficulties filming it.
They mostly follow the storyline with little details slightly changed. The greatest different between the character's age of course, Prince Caspian played by Ben Barnes who was 26 at the time, in the books he's only 13 when he summons the 4!!!
I can't say more, besides the long descriptions the movies respect the books which is what we want from. We all saw last year what goes on when there's no high quality story to follow in Game of Thrones, no matter how the visual effects and characters are good the story fails. Lewis was a great storyteller, and the people who made the movies, including his step-son Douglas Gresham as one of the producers were all fans.
We can actually see that in the second movie: Prince Caspian they have kept the scenes with dim light, they made us feel the hope they lose. Maybe because of the critics, not sure, in VODT they have reversed the situations making the movie the most joyful and bright one even though there are slave-traders and a huge sea-serpent.
Despite all I said my all time favourite scene takes part in Prince Caspian. When our heroes lose hope to win the battle against Miraz, Nikabrik ( the dwarf) tricks Caspian to bring back the Witch. The Witch appears trapped in a glass wall. The part that makes me go crazy is when she gets her white-pale hand slowly outside of the wall, the glass shatters without breaking down to pieces.
We also see or hear more familiar names during the movies.
Liam Neeson - Aslan
James McAvoy - Mr. Tumnus
Peter Dinklage - Trumpkin
Tilda Swinton- The White Witch
...
Now I can't think of anyone taking the parts of especially Lucy and Edmund's, it's going to be hard to accept it.
Also did you know that Skandar Keynes's (Edmund Pevensie) great-great-great-grandfather was Charles Darwin! Plus he's great-grandparents were Nobel Prize laureate (in medicine& physiology) Edgar Adrian and Hester Adrian.
He and Georgia Henley (Lucy) they are both graduated from University of Cambridge. Ben Barnes from King's College London.
5) Suggestions for the beginners (Time to come and join us)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book to be written and published, is generally considered the best introduction to Narnia by scholars and fans alike. Even though it doesn’t have 600 pages like Lord of The Rings or Game of Thrones, it has enough words to describe a wonderland and tell a whole lot of pieces of one big story, the more you read the more you want to read.
If you have never started reading one book from The Chronicles of Narnia, I hope I didn’t discourage you to do so. Despite all my spoilers and little sarcastic critics, Narnia is the book who taught me to love reading. It actually took me to a whole new spiritual level, as a kid I’ve learnt the power of imagination and to grow up while not losing the childish part of self. You know like going through the wardrobe but always remaining the same coming back.
Reaching maturity is a normal process, we don’t do the things we used to do or like the same books as we were kids. But there are some universal morals in every state of life: Trust, love (or blindfully trust), kindness, honesty, courage, justice and forgiveness. We can’t be perfect and we can’t rely on the fact that someone else will show up and make up our own mistakes, but we can always do our best do be sort of a good person. It’s a children’s book OK, go check the other books of Lewis you’ll see the difference. But since Narnia has not yet been caught up in pop-culture, for its future I’d say it’ll be a nostalgic throwback for all the people who read the stories when they were kid.
So, I was saying, if you had never started it and if you love to read I highly recommend you to grab one of these books. Like Lewis also implied, it doesn’t actually matter from where you start. The publication order is nice for sure, but if you’ve already watched the movies which follows the original order you’ll see it’s more fun to read at the beginning so you can compare infos and complete voids from the movies.
But if you don’t like suspense and like keeping things chronological, follow the numbers- universal guideline to oblige you to read books in the easiest order.
As you know, as you see, LWW is in the hearts of every fan and it’s the one that everyone talks the most. But my personal 2nd favourite is The Silver Chair. I loved the scenes in underground, mysts and music of the green witch. From the upside-down start to giant’s How to Cook A Human book.
Disney movies, except Prince Caspian which is the first movie I watched alone on white screen in 2008 are joyful, hopeful, colourful. Caspian, well the beginning with Miraz’s wife giving birth to a son which will lead to “ the kill order” of Prince Caspian is a tough start for family time. And unfortunately the story, until Aslan arrives doesn’t go so bright. And only romance time dies even before it starts between Susan and Caspian.
But the movies, since not just the plot but also the actors and production they are fairly successful. I am a fan, give me anything about Narnia I’ll like it. I’m always happy to see someone out there cares about the same things I care. Doesn’t matter the results. You have to decide for yourself if you like it or not, to do that you must enter the world!
Oh and the main theme song! I ADOREEE IT!
This one is Battle song :
Also movie soundtrack is very helpful to study and to relax your mind!
Some songs I loved from movies : -not in Spotify, go on YouTube
Wunderking – Alanis Morisette
Winter Light- Tim Finn
No Need to Say Goodbye – Regina Spektor
6) The Future of Narnia : will he finally start racing against what I'd like to call "Pop Culture Reincarnations?"
Book this date : October 16 ---> Narnia Day
In 2018 Netflix took the rights to C.S. Lewis' 'The Chronicles of Narnia' to develop new series and film projects revolving around the series. So far we haven't had a clarification of an official announce of a new project but it doesn't mean there won't be any. With Disney taking over MCU's success (sure Star Wars's too) and Amazon's LOTR, it's time for Netflix to rise his own cinematic universe or movie/serie franchise. Especially when a powerful adversary such as HBO's Game of Thrones has fading away.
A bunch of questions rises in our heads. The biggest two:
- From where they're going to relaunch the journey?
Since a lot of remakes had been done about LWW, will they start where Disney left TSC as a movie? Or they will tell us untold stories of TMN and HHB as classic Netflix shows.
Since I'm a huge fan of The Series of Unfortunate Event books myself, I loved the internet show adaptation they made!
- Will it all be family friendly for kids or darker like all best Netflix shows for nostalgic adults ?
Since Netflix is a free platform, not-under government restrictions the creators are free to carry on with the plot and shoot what they want. As Stranger Things 's actual target was " adults who grew up in the 80s" it wasn't originally suppose to be wathced by 9 year olds, even though main characters are 9. I would love to have a dark and violent Netflix Narnia, since it's already very capable to be slightly terrifiyng and sad. I feel more tragedy then victory sometimes in between lines. I would love to see Jadis reign as much as the Pevensie's but that would need some good writers...
Fan Concerns : My selection of comments:
"Look what happened to Star Wars! They got a leadership team that was more interested in shoe-horning their favorite agendas into the story than just making a great story. That’s not what fans want – they wanted Star Wars, just like we want Narnia! But they didn’t get that, and IMO that’s because they didn’t have a serious fan running the show. I don’t care what else this guy has done – I just hope he loves Narnia like we all do."
"I’m sorry more Narnia fans don’t understand Netflix is like a bag of Doritos: Completely unhealthy, but one chip makes you crave another and another- and willing to pay more (That’s by design.) Netflix attracting faith-based family audiences… with Narnia? No offense, for me, that’s not much incentive to accept new adaptations and continue the inevitable. As I said, Narnia deserves better, or not at all."
"Regarding Narnia—it has no bloat. It’s made up of seven unique stories, all of which are shorter than the average novel. The story’s all there, the dialogue’s there, the characters are there.
On the business end of things, you definitely need a showrunner to manage the production of the series/movies. Personally, when it comes to film adaptations I’m always more interested in the visual choices, film being a visual medium. I look forward to seeing the look and feel of this series, the score, the cinematography, the editing, the performances. That’s where we need artists and visionaries and auters to bring the story to life. But the story’s already been written."
Despite all the goodness in the book, how can we neglect the fact that the core of these books is war as much as it is hope.
The Last battle has almost a tragic ending. Well, much more like a questionnable one which is left open for interpretation by the author.
So we're at the end of my long journey, trying to pass on my knowledge and my thought upon these books, one of a kind, to you. I hope you've enjoyed reading the books, if not so reading my words.
I know there will always be some of us who will pass these to next generations. Lewis's world is truly a gift. And later J.R.R Tolkien's, J.K. Rowling's, G.R.R Martin's and a lot more British writers'.
Here, I leave you some questions to pass time with :
Why in the first place Narnia was built in the attest of 2 children?
Why the monkey dominating the donkey ? Especially if Narnia's talking animals were equally smart?
If there are many lands and many worlds , why Narnia has to be the end of everything?
Who knows what Aslan's doing on his free time except being a normal lion? Does he have any?
Why CS Lewis chose a world especially based on a mixture Christianity & Greek Mythology and made the most powerful being the King of the Jungle?
Why Aslan only comes when human from Earth calls him but doesn't answer Narnians' prayers ?
Why Susan has to pay for nothing?
What was your favourites? Character- book- scene and more?
What did you learn from all this mumbo jumbo?
See you soon DLF (Dear Little Friend) ...