Narnia is a mythical world created by CS Lewis in his series of seven books, The Chronicles of Narnia. The prequel novel, The Magician’s Nephew, details the creation of Narnia by the Christian lion Aslan. The land is inhabited by magical creatures from various mythologies and humans are given dominion over them. The series follows the adventures of different characters in Narnia, including the Pevensie children who defeat the evil Queen Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Lewis expands on the world, adding different lands and creating the opposing country of Calormen. The last book, The Last Battle, depicts the fall of Narnia and the deaths of all but one of the child visitors.
Narnia is the mythical place created by the writer CS Lewis for his series of seven books The Chronicles of Narnia, written between 1949 and 1954. This series begins, at least in order of writing, with the book The Lion, the Witch and the ‘closet (LWW), but the country of Narnia and its beginning are actually detailed in the prequel novel The Magician’s Nephew. In this prequel, the country is one of many worlds, a new one with a young sun being called back to life by the Christian lion Aslan.
Magical creatures originating in numerous mythologies inhabit the world of Narnia, and the country is intended to be part of a world and not a world as a whole. The books in the series explore the different “lands” that grow around Aslan’s country, but these are not mentioned in the story of the creation of Narnia. In the land of Narnia, there are talking animals, dryads, dwarfs, flying horses, satyrs (called fauns), unicorns, and even figures like Bacchus. Lewis draws on several mythologies to populate his mythic realm, but it is clear, as is the case with the Biblical creation myth, that humans, rulers at least, are given dominion over these creatures. Such domination means recognizing these creatures as equals and citizens, and ruling them justly.
The earth’s first ruler is a former London cab driver, Frank, who is drawn into the world through the adventures of two children, Diggory and Polly, and the evil Queen Jadis of the dying planet Charn. Diggory is familiar to fans of the series as the “Professor” the Pevensie children stay with during the first published book. Jadis’ presence in the world creates the “first evil,” a significant parallel to the Judeo/Christian creation myth. It is foreshadowed that in the future she will gain power in Narnia, although she is actually held back by it for a long time by taking and eating the forbidden fruit, an apple, which then repels her from the land.
Time on earth works differently than it does on Earth. In LWW, it has been at least several centuries since humans have ruled Narnia, and the land has been conquered by the White Witch (Jadis) who perpetually overwinters the land, but never Christmas. Restoring the rule of “Adam’s children” in this case, Peter Pevensie, his brother Edmund and their two sisters Lucy and Susan, is the only way to defeat the witch.
LWW has direct parallels to the sacrifice of Christ, with Aslan returning and sacrificing himself to save Edmund, who has betrayed plans to retake the land to Jadis. Aslan, like Christ, is reborn, the witch is defeated, and the four Pevensies rule Narnia until their early adulthood. They are returned to our world through a hunt for a white deer and remain as children on Earth. The Pevensies return to Narnia again in Prince Caspian, they must restore good government and save the land’s mythical beasts and creatures from the deniers of Narnian magic and the usurper King Miraz.
Throughout the series, Lewis expands on his description of the world, adding different people, different lands, and describing the earth as a flat earth, with real edge. He also created the opposing country of Calormen, which does not recognize Aslan and instead has a polytheistic-based society, and the neighboring county of Archenland. Calormen sounds Arabic in description, but is probably more based on the various religions that competed with early Judaism.
In all, eight children, starting with Polly and Diggory, visit Aslan’s country. After visiting the Pevensies several times, the last two children to come to the village are Eustace, a cousin of the Pevensies and his friend Jill. In a surprising move, but perhaps to be expected due to Lewis’s Christian beliefs, the latest book in the series, The Last Battle, details the fall of Narnia and eerily depicts the end of the planet and the deaths of all but one of the child or former child visitors.
Only Susan Pevensie, who stopped believing in Aslan and his childhood experiences, is left to face the human world, while not only her brothers but also her parents die and migrate to a paradise Narnia where there is no it can be more evil, suffering, or death. The profoundly sober tone of the last book, especially with Susan’s exclusion from the realm, disturbs many readers, and some fans of the series skip the book, preferring to allow the fantasy realm to flourish in their imaginations, rather than watch her disappear. .
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