The world of Narnia
CS Lewis tells in his novel series The Chronicles of Narnia events from the fictional world of Narnia . This article describes this world as well as the essential places, landscapes, peoples and characters mentioned in the novels.
Lapse of time
The Chronicles of Narnia are located in a world plan devised by the author. In this there is an unknown and huge number of universes between which living beings can switch through powerful sorcery. The timings in the universes are independent of each other, so that after a year in one universe a hundred or a thousand years may have passed in the other world, as happens in several novels. Only about half a century passes between the first and last novel in the real world, while in the fictional world of Narnia several thousand years pass, practically the entire period of existence of this world.
A special feature of switching between worlds in the Narnia novels is that you always return to your own world at the age at which you left it, even if you have aged years in the world you visited. However, time leaps backwards do not occur except for the age of return, and time runs in the same direction in all universes.
places
The shape of the universes in Lewis' fictional world is very different. So the world of Narnia is flat with a rim, a sky dome and an underworld, while the real world is designed according to the scientific knowledge of the 20th century. In five of seven Narnia novels, only two universes, Narnia and the real world, are the setting. Most of the action takes place in Narnia.
The world of Narnia
The land of Narnia
Narnia is a land that was created by Aslan ( see below ). It is inhabited by people, talking animals and other creatures such as legendary figures, but also "normal" animals. The country is a lush and magical natural landscape with large forests, meadows and interspersed human settlements that grow over the centuries. The best-known forest in the country is the lantern thicket on the western border, in which since the beginning of Narnia there has been a lantern from the earth, which Aslan made from a piece of lantern metal he had brought with him during the country's act of creation. The center of the country of Narnia is, except in the first centuries of Telmar rule (see history), the mighty Cair Paravel Castle (in other translations "Feeneden") on the coast of the Eastern Sea.
Narnia is a series of islands in the sea east of Narnia. The most distant "Lonely Islands" consist of the islands of Felimath, Doorn and Avra and are ruled by a governor. There are also the islands of Galma and Terebinthia and a group called "The Seven Islands", which are closer to the Narnian coast.
The role model in the real world for the landscape in Narnia is, according to Lewis himself, Northern Ireland , where he spent his youth. For the name he was inspired by the Latin name Narnia of today's Italian city of Narni .
Cair Paravel
Cair Paravel, or also often called Feeneden, is a castle on the east coast of Narnia at the mouth of the great river where the kings and queens of Narnia rule. The castle is mentioned for the first time in the book The King of Narnia , in which it already exists. In the book Prince Caspian of Narnia , the castle ruins stand on an island in the sea and are discovered by the Pevensie children, who have been recalled. In the sixth volume, The Silver Armchair , it is reported that Caspian X's castle was rebuilt. In the following book, The Last Battle , the castle is surrounded by a city and is ruled by the Tisroc. The word Cair is derived from the Welsh cear, which means castle in English .
Beruna
Beruna is a city on the Great River Narnia. The city has a port and is considered an important military base during the wars and is also often mentioned in relation to battles. Although there is a natural ford near Beruna, in the book Prince Caspian of Narnia a bridge is spanned over the Great River on behalf of Miraz, because the Telmarians fear the water. After the Battle of the Stone Table, Aslan destroyed it.
Beaver dam
The Beaver Dam is a setting that was built and completed by Mr. and Mrs. Beavers during the creation of The King of Narnia . In later books the beaver dam is often mentioned as a trading center in the lantern thicket and after the conquest of Narnia by the Telmarers it played an important and central role for its people.
Miraz's castle
Miraz Palace is the main seat and residence of the reigning ruler Miraz and his followers during the book of Prince Caspian of Narnia . Before that it was the headquarters of the kings Caspian VIII and Caspian IX. The castle and the city around it are not far from the former castle of the white witch. The main castle and the city are separated by a bridge and guarded by a gate. After the coronation of Caspian X, the headquarters of Narnia are moved back to Cair Paravel.
White Witch's Castle
The castle of the White Witch Jadis is the main seat during her time as the self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia. The castle is located on an island in the middle of a mountain lake, which can only be reached via a natural bridge. It is surrounded by two very pointed mountains in northern Narnia. In the inner courtyard of the castle and in other interior rooms there are many animals and mythical creatures turned into stone, which Jadis classified as dangerous or who had broken the law. The walls of the castle are framed in ice that is slowly beginning to melt as the Pevensie children arrive in Narnia to end the 100 year winter. After Aslan kills the witch, the castle remains uninhabited.
Lantern thicket
The lantern thicket is a wooded area in the middle of which stands a lantern made by Aslan from a fragment of a London lantern. It is a scene of many events, for example Lucy Pevensie ends up here after going through the closet and meets the Faun Tumnus.
Arkland
Arkland is a small country south of Narnia and north of the great desert behind which Kalormen lies. It is ruled by a human king whose Anvard Castle is the center of the country. Arkland is mountainous and sparsely populated. The largest river is called "Schlängepfeil" and crosses the country from west to east. Archenland traditionally lives in peace with the land of Narnia, with the southern Kalormen there is hardly any contact due to the desert in between. The kings of Arkland are of the same origin as the first dynasty of Narnia (younger line of the house of Frank I and Helena I).
Calorms
Kalormen is a vast empire south of Narnia and Arkland across a great desert. A ruler named Tisroc rules the capital Tashbaan, which is described as very large. The human inhabitants of Kalormen, the Kalormenen, are far more numerous than those of Arkland and Narnia. Talking animals and other mythical creatures do not exist there, they are not even known. The country of Kalormen has partly an oriental character and is organized in a strictly hierarchical manner. Under the Tisroc there is a powerful class of aristocrats who occupy all important posts in the country. There are numerous slaves at the lower end of society. The Kalormans built a temple in Tashban to the god of the land, Tash. Another “attraction” of the capital are huge, beehive-shaped graves for all deceased Tisrocs on the northern edge of the city. Tash, the god of Kalormens, human sacrifices are also made in the country. The Kalormenische society is organized on a patriarchal basis, all important posts are occupied by men. Even aristocratic women who live in luxury have no say in the matter, not even when choosing a spouse.
The wild lands of the north
The Wild Lands of the North are a subarctic area north of Narnia. It is only sparsely populated, and giants are the only intelligent beings living there. Their ruined city Harfang is the only city mentioned in the novels in the Wild Lands of the north. South of Harfang there is a ruined city under which a path into the lowlands begins. In addition to a barren landscape, there is the huge Ettinsmoor in the south, which is also inhabited by giants, but they are more stupid than the giants in Harfang. The Scribble River forms the border between Narnia and the Wild Lands of the north.
The wild lands of the west
The Wild Lands of the West are separated from the land of Narnia by an almost insurmountable mountain range and are therefore only mentioned in a few novels. In the region there is a magical garden that plays a central role towards the beginning and end of the world of Narnia.
Telmar
Telmar lies beyond the Wild Lands of the West. The Telmarians conquer Narnia under Caspian I. (hence: Caspian the Conqueror). All subsequent kings descend from him. The Telmarers actually come from our world: from a pirate island in the South Pacific, on which there is a gate to Narnia. Aslan sends some of them back there.
Unterland
Unterland lies deep underground and is a widely ramified cave and passage system with an underground sea. During the time that The Silver Armchair is set, around the reign of Caspian the Tithing, it is ruled by the green witch and is largely flooded after her death. The beings (for example Father Time ) who will later be involved in the apocalypse of Narnias are slumbering in the lowlands . These are spared from the flooding.
Islands at the end of the world
Beyond the "Lonely Islands" there are other islands in the east that are close to Narnia's border. They are explored by King Caspian X on an expedition. The Dragon Island furthest west of this is taken possession of for Narnia, to the east are the "Scorched" Island, the Deadwater Island, the Island of the Booby Legs, the Dark Island, Ramandus' Island and the Last Sea with underwater inhabitants. Aslan's land lies behind the last sea, but cannot be seen because of a large wall of water.
The world of Charn
Charn is the name of a dying world and its huge metropolis in the novel "The Miracle of Narnia", in addition to which there were other cities such as Felinda, Sorlois and Bramandin. Charn is ruled by Jadis, the king's eldest daughter, towards the end of its existence. After a terrible fight against her sister for power, shortly before an impending defeat, she kills with a spell, the ineffable word, all people and animals in order to keep power to herself. Jadis herself falls into a kind of sleep in the ancestral hall, from which she is awakened by travelers from the real world and leaves Charn with them. Charn itself decays after the departure of its last inhabitant, and its huge red sun goes out. In the forest between the worlds , the pond belonging to the world disappears as a sign of its destruction.
The real world
Parts of almost all novels are set in the real world. The setting is England between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, both London and rural England. In the first volume, Aslan warns the children Digory and Polly that their world might be like Charn. With that he means the First World War and warns against Hitler .
The land of Aslan
The land of Aslan is an extraordinary world, detached from the "normal" universes of Lewis' world. On the one hand, it is characterized east of the edge of Narnia, on the other hand completely outside of Narnia and factually beyond. It is an idealized world, comparable to a more mountainous Garden of Eden , of which Aslan is king.
The forest between the worlds
This forest is an intermediate world in which there are many small ponds in addition to the deciduous trees, through which one can get into different worlds. There only grasses and lower plants grow next to the trees, but no animals or higher beings live. There is a pleasant silence in the forest. Although one cannot see the sky because of the thick canopy of trees, everything is bathed in a strange, greenish light. If you stay there too long without doing anything, you fall into an eternal twilight sleep. But as soon as a world is about to end, the pond dries up for this.
Story of Narnia
Since the Narnia novels stand for themselves and there is no "accompanying" literature by the author about the history of his world or its background, a complete, at least rough history only exists for the country of Narnia itself, which is the most frequent setting of the seven novels of the Chronicle and mostly at its center. Only fragments are known of the history of the other countries in the world of Narnia, which are mentioned in one or the other novel.
From the creation of Narnia to the reign of the White Witch
In the beginning Aslan creates the world of Narnia and the animals that live on it. In the form of the witch Jadis, human visitors unintentionally bring evil into the world. The first kings of the land of Narnia - although no distinction is made here between world and land - are Frank I and Helena I, who came from earth. They and their descendants rule the land of Narnia for many centuries in the older line and in the younger Arkland. Your rule is protected in the land of Narnia by a magical tree that keeps the influence of evil out of its vicinity. Later, Jadis, the white witch, conquers the land with the help of evil mystical beings and brings the eternal winter over Narnia. She ruled the land of Narnia for a hundred years. During this time, Kalormen is mentioned for the first time, but at that time it must have existed for several centuries.
From the golden years to the Telmar invasion
After 100 years of winter, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy come to Narnia from the real world, defeat Jadis and become kings of Narnia themselves. Her reign becomes the prime of ancient Narnia and later known as the "Golden Years". During this time they prevent an invasion of Archenland by Kalormenen, whose long-term goal is the conquest of Narnia. After 15 years the four kings disappear. A few centuries later, the Telmarians, a human people, came from the west and invaded the country under their king Caspian I. They conquer the whole land of Narnia and make the people the dominant race in the land. The previous population, especially the talking animals and mystical beings, are killed by them or driven into the forests.
From Telmarian rule to Caspian X.
The Telmarians rule for centuries until a millennium has passed since the Golden Years. The ancient Narnians hid or camouflaged themselves in the woods. When the usurper Miraz wanted to interrupt the dynasty of the descendants of Caspian I, Prince Caspian allied himself with the old Narnians, the kings and queens of the old days (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) and defeated the Telmarian troops with Aslan's help, among others, who followed the usurper. As King Caspian X, the previous prince initiates a change and reconciles the majority of Telmarians with the talking animals and mythical creatures of ancient Narnia, while the rest of Telmarians leave Narnia. King Caspian X then undertook a large expedition across the eastern sea and stabilized and expanded his rule over the islands there.
From the attack of the underworld to Narnia's apocalypse
The son of Caspian X, Prince Rilian, together with Eustachius and Jill from the real world prevent an invasion of Narnia from the Unterland, an underground world ruled by the green witch. In the 250 years under the rule of his successors, the Narnians live once again in happiness and harmony. The end of the land and the world of Narnia is ushered in by the deceit of the ape Cunning. He presents the disguised donkey Wirrkopf as Aslan and mixes the Aslan cult with that of the evil Kalormenischen god Tash. In alliance with Kalormen and some Narnians, he disempowered the last Narnian king, Tirian, destroyed parts of the magical forests of Narnia and sold parts of the population into slavery. The Kalormenen conquer the land and fight a great battle for Tirian and his followers. Shortly before its situation becomes hopeless and evil takes over all of Narnia, Aslan causes an apocalyptic downfall of the world, whereby those who are loyal to him are saved in an otherworldly and idealized new Narnia. As a sign of the downfall of Narnia, the pond in the forest between the worlds is drying up.
Figures in Narnia
In the world of Narnia, Lewis' novels are home to ordinary people and animals as well as beings from the realm of fairy tales such as talking animals, witches or giants. Furthermore there are beings from ancient myths (for example Greek mythology , Germanic mythology ) and besides the creator Aslan there are other, albeit smaller, deities. The most important characters from the Narnia novels are also mentioned here in connection with belonging to peoples.
People
The travelers between the worlds
The travelers between the worlds are all characters from the real world who magically travel to Narnia and back again. In the real world at the time of the trip, predominantly ordinary children, they almost always become heroes in Narnia, the myth of which will live on for centuries. They draw a power from the environment of Narnia, which enables them to perform that would not have been possible in the real world. Here are all the travelers from the seven novels of the Chronicle:
The first travelers
Polly Plummer (1889–1949) and Digory Kirke (1888–1949) initially entered the “ forest between the worlds ” involuntarily in the novel The Miracle of Narnia as children in 1900 through a magic ring from Digory's uncle Andrew Ketterley . From there they come to the world of Charn and unintentionally “free” the witch Jadis, who saves them from the collapsing castle. When the children decide to go back to England, they inadvertently take the witch with them because she is holding onto Polly's hair. After a short stay in London, during which the witch wreaked havoc, they visit a world that has not yet been created with Andrew Ketterley, Jadis, the coachman Frank and his horse Goldapple and witness the creation of the land of Narnia by the lion Aslan . Digory helps banish the wicked witch. Forty years later, in the novel The King of Narnia , Digory is an old professor who takes the Pevensie children into his home. At the end of the Chronicles, Digory and Polly die in a train wreck.
In the novel The Miracle of Narnia, Andrew Ketterley created various magic rings with the help of unearthly matter and disregarding a testament, with which one can come into the " forest between the worlds " and from there with other rings into any world and also into to get your own back. At the beginning of his experiments, he sends guinea pigs to this other world. But that's not enough for him because he wants to find out what this other world looks like. First he sends Polly through a trick and behind her Digory there under blackmail, later gets into the forest himself and then to Narnia, where he witnessed the creation of the country by Aslan himself and loses his trail. In the novel he represents the type of inexperienced magician who plays with powers that he does not understand and cannot control. Uncle Andrew only appears in " The Miracle of Narnia ".
Frank is a coachman in London in the late 19th century, Helena his wife. By means of the rings of Uncle Andrews in the novel The Miracle of Narnia, he accidentally arrives in the land of Narnia, to which his wife Helena follows through Aslan. Both are chosen to stay forever and to be named and crowned the first royal couple Frank I and Helena I of Narnia. They and their descendants rule Narnia in the following first epoch of the country as well as the later founded country Archenland on a side line . Both appear only in " The Miracle of Narnia " and later in " The Last Battle ".
The pevensies
Peter (1927–1949) and Susan Pevensie (1928 – unknown) are the two older of the four siblings who are in Narnia in the novels The King of Narnia , The Ride of Narnia and Prince Caspian of Narnia than in the real world the Second World War is raging.
As older children on the threshold of adolescence, they defeat the younger siblings Edmund and Lucy the White Witch, who illegally calls herself Queen of Narnia and has ruled the country for 100 years. After Jadis' death, Peter becomes the High King of Narnia and is nicknamed the Magnificent , Susan becomes Queen with the nickname the Meek .
They rule Narnia with their siblings for fifteen years. While Peter travels north to push the giants north, Susan travels to Kalormen with her younger brother Edmund and the faun Tumnus . Susan initially contemplates marrying the heir to the throne of Kalormen, Prince Rabbadash, but changes her plans when she discovers his true character. They flee Tashbaan, and Susan remains in Cair Paravel while her younger siblings prevent the calormans raid on Arkland.
Both return to the real world with their siblings and thereby become children again, since time has passed much more slowly in their world than in Narnia.
During their second visit to Narnia, they help Prince Caspian (later King Caspian X of Narnia) to the throne and return to England again. Peter completes his training with Professor Digory Kirke as a tutor, and Susan travels to America with her parents.
Susan then turns away from Narnia and passes the world off as "childish". She is the only one of the traveling children who remains in the real world at the end of the chronicle and grows up there because she did not die in the train accident. What became of her is not told. In the novels she increasingly plays the role of the child or adolescent on the threshold of growing up, who tries desperately to put aside his childhood and suppresses everything that happened before in order to achieve her goal.
In The Final Fight , Peter tries to prevent the end of Narnia by sending Eustachius and Jill, since he cannot go to Narnia himself. He appears in the novels in which he is involved as a combative hero and because of his loyalty to Aslan is ultimately allowed to live in his realm.
Edmund (1930-1949) and Lucy Pevensie (1932-1949) also come to Narnia with their two siblings and participate in the victory against Jadis and become king and queen of the land of Narnia. Edmund is nicknamed the Just , Lucy the Brave . They repel the attack by the Kalormenen and also return to England. On their second visit to Narnia, they and their older siblings help Prince Caspian to the throne. In contrast to their older siblings, on a third visit they take part in his expedition across the Eastern Sea, where they finally meet Aslan again. He also tells them that they are too old and can no longer go to Narnia.
Edmund is initially a misguided child who helps the wicked witch Jadis from a misunderstanding. After realizing his error, he fights alongside his siblings to free Narnia from their tyranny. Like Peter and Lucy, he dies in the devastating train accident and fights in the final battle of Narnia. As a reward, he is allowed to enter Aslan's realm with his siblings.
As the youngest of the siblings, Lucy is also Aslan's favorite and most receptive to magical influences. It is also she who finds the way to Narnia as the first of the four. Together with her brothers Peter and Edmund, she tries in The Last Battle to prevent the fall of Narnia. The three only get to Narnia one last time through the fact that they die in the devastating train accident and are allowed to stay in Aslan's realm.
Eustachius Knilch and Jill Pole
Eustachius Knilch (1933–1949) is the cousin of the Pevensie children. He knows a lot about economics and politics and at first doesn't believe in fantasy and fairy tales, until he, Edmund and Lucy fall into it while looking at a ship painting. Suddenly he is on the "Dawn" on the expedition of the young King Caspian X. across the eastern sea. At first he struggles with the simple life in Narnia, but goes through a great learning process, as he is transformed into a dragon, among other things, and returns to the real world changed.
On his second visit to Narnia, he and his school friend Jill Pole save Caspian's son, Rilian, from the green witch.
In the third, he supports the last king of Narnias, Tirian, in his defensive battle against the ape Listig and the Kalormenen allied with him. Like almost all travelers, he dies in the train accident and remains in Aslan's realm.
Jill Pole (1933–1949) is a friend of Eustachius and goes to the same boarding school as him. She accompanied him when he came to Narnia for the second time to rescue Caspian's son from the green witch.
She dies in the train accident like the other travelers. This brings her to Narnia. Together with Eustachius she supports the last king Narnias in his defensive battle against the ape Listig and his allies.
After Narnia's demise, she lives on in Aslan's realm.
The Telmarians
The novels do not clarify for all races where the people living in Narnia come from. However, the peoples from which important protagonists or important people from Narnia's fictional history come from are characterized more precisely. The Telmarers are a European-looking people who originally also come from the real world. They invade Narnia from the west and establish a kingdom that will last to the end of Narnia. Important Telmarian characters of the novels are:
Caspian X is a Telmar and King of Narnia. He is the first Telmarian king to make peace with the talking animals and mythical creatures. He is also called Caspian the Navigator , as he discovered many islands with Captain Drinian ( The Journey at the Dawn ). Caspian marries the daughter of Ramandus , the star he meets on the island of the star (Ramandus' island). She becomes the mother of her son Rilian (see below).
Miraz is the uncle of Caspian X. and has his father, Caspian IX . let kill. After the death of his wife, Miraz temporarily takes control of Narnia and tries to secure it for his own descendants. Thanks to Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, however, Caspian X. can thwart Miraz's plans and ascend the throne himself.
Rilian is the son of Caspian X. and after him King of Narnia. After watching his mother being killed by a giant snake as a prince, he swears revenge. But on his search for the snake he is captured by the green witch and held for ten years in her kingdom of the lowlands, until Eustachius, Jill and Mourning Puddle appear and save him. With them he defeats the green witch and becomes king.
He is the first king in the Telmar line who is not called Caspian.
Tirian is the last king of Narnia. He is captured by the Kalormenen when they try to conquer Narnia. But Jill and Eustachius can free him. Together with them he arrives in Aslan's realm and remains there.
Original human inhabitants of Narnia and Arkland
Narnia and Archenland also had some human inhabitants before the Telmarians immigrated. Exactly where these come from has not been proven, only that some of them must have descended from the first kings and are not very numerous. This population is completely assimilated by the Telmarians up to the time of Caspian X, as it is no longer mentioned in the novels at that time or later, although these are often set in the land of Narnia.
Shasta is a boy who grows up in califorms, but is actually of archaic descent, which he does not know at first. When he is to be sold by his "father", he flees with the talking horse Bree . On his trip to Narnia, Bree's homeland, he meets the Kalormenin Aravis and her mare Hwin , who also comes from Narnia and was kidnapped as a foal like Bree. In Archenland Shasta learns that he is the prodigal son of King Lune of Archenland and his real name is Cor . His brother Corin , with whom he is confused in Tashbaan by King Edmund and Queen Susan of Narnia, is his twin brother twenty minutes younger. Shasta later becomes king, marries Aravis and has his son Ram the Great with her .
The calormenen
The Kalormenen are a southern-looking people, whose culture has an oriental touch (for more on this see above under the country of Kalormen). Three calormans play leading roles in Narnia novels:
Rabadash is Prince of Kalormen, Tisroc's eldest son, and first tries to conquer Arkland in the novel The Ride to Narnia . His ultimate goal is the subjugation of Arkland and Narnia. He also wants Queen Susan to be his wife, but fails when she realizes his true character. Thanks to the help from Narnia, his plan does not work out, and he and his army are defeated in Arkland by the united Narnians and Arklands. Rabadash returns to Kalormen and ascends the throne there. He dares no further attempt to conquer neighboring countries, because Aslan's spell would turn him into a donkey forever as soon as he left his capital Tashbaan.
Aravis Tarkheena is a Kalormian noblewoman (Tarkheena means nobility) who, in the novel The Ride to Narnia, has to marry a Tarkhan who is much older than her and whom she hates. Therefore she tries to flee to Narnia with her speaking mare Hwin . On the way she meets Shasta . At first she can't stand him, but her feelings change. After her successful escape, she stayed with him in Archenland, later they married and had a lively but harmonious marriage.
Aravis is a freedom-loving character. Her escape from Kalormen is not only one from an unloved husband, but also generally from the total tutelage of men in the patriarchal Kalormen society.
Lasaraleen Tarkheena is a Kalormian nobleman and friend of Aravis, who in the novel The Ride to Narnia prevents Aravis from being discovered in Tashbaan and thus helps her to flee to Narnia.
Rishda Tarkaan is the last named character from Kalormen. Together with the ape Listig , in the novel The Last Battle , he tries to subjugate Narnia for the Tisroc and envisions a bright future as governor. It is also he who mixes the Aslan cult with Tash , Aslan and Tash are one, and creates the new name “Tashlan”. However, he himself does not believe in the existence of the two until Listig is "destroyed" by Tash, and from this point on he tries to sacrifice the Narnianen Tash. But that is already too late, and shortly before the end of the world he is also taken by Tash into his kingdom and punished for his disbelief.
Emeth is a young Tarkaan who in the novel The Last Fight is the only Kalormene who does not lose faith in the god Tash and who, against the plan of Rishda and Red Hair, volunteers to go to the stable where Tashlan is supposed to be. He is accepted into his country by Aslan.
Gods
Narnia is a dualistic world with Aslan at the head of the good and the calormenic god Tash at the head of the evil side. On the good side, various natural deities and gods of Greek origin (for example Bacchus ) are mentioned as inhabitants of Narnia, whose position, however, is apparently less comparable to that of Aslan's than to that of the mythological inhabitants (see below).
Aslan is the son of the king behind the sea , the creator, supreme king and destroyer of Narnia and appears in the form of a huge lion, but also in the form of other animals, such as a cat in The Ride to Narnia . The name Aslan is Turkish and means lion. He depicts an allegory about Jesus Christ in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Tash is the god of the calormans. He is represented as a being with four arms and a bird of prey head. In contrast to Aslan, he is considered terrible and evil. He is Aslan's adversary, but does not appear so strongly in the novels because the "evil" side is alternately led by other magical beings.
Talking animals
Similar to the fairy tale world, there are talking animals in Narnia. They live almost exclusively in the land of Narnia and are also known in Arkland. They are intelligent living beings, but like animals in fairy tales or fables , they retain the characteristic or fabulous properties of their species. They can be distinguished from ordinary animals by their larger stature and more intelligent facial expressions. Despite their intelligence, they never doubt the claim to rule of the people in the land of Narnia. Talking animals were neither hunted nor consumed in ancient Narnia until the Telmar invasion and after the reign of Caspian X. In these epochs they are considered to be of equal value to humans. All speaking animals in the novels are mammals, birds, or reptiles; there are no talking fish or lower animals . The following talking animals play the main roles in the stories:
Golden apple / wing arrow
The former carriage horse Goldapfel is the horse of the coachman Frank (later King Frank I of Narnia) and, like Frank, originally comes from the real world. When she and the other protagonists of the creation of Narnia by Aslan in the novel The Miracle of Narnia, Aslan makes it one of the first two talking horses of Narnia. In order to help Digory to travel to the wild lands of the west on Aslan's behalf - for which an enormously high steep wall has to be overcome and a great distance must be covered (see above the wild lands of the west ) - Aslan transforms golden apple into the first winged one Horse Narnias, by growing a pair of huge, copper-colored wings, and making it an ancestor of all flying steeds, whereupon the golden apple is only called a wing arrow . Except in The Miracle of Narnia , Wing Arrow only appears once at the end of the novel The Last Battle , where almost all the protagonists of all seven Chronicles of Narnia (with the exception of Queen Susan and the moor wiggle mourning puddle) meet again.
Bree and Hwin
Bree and Hwin are talking horses (stallion and mare). They are kidnapped from Narnia as foals and return to Narnia with the children Shasta and Aravis in the novel The Ride to Narnia . Bree is a war horse, Hwin is a noble mare. Both have to pretend in their time in calorms, since talking animals are not known there.
Cunning and confused
A monkey is cunning. He is very old and intelligent. In the novel The Last Fight, he disguises his friend, the talking donkey Wirrkopf, as Aslan and thus takes control of Narnia. In alliance with the Kalormenen he subdues the residents there and thus initiates the fall of the land of Narnia. Wirrkopf is very good-natured and naive. In contrast to Listig, his offense is forgiven by the real Aslan.
Riepischiep
Riepischiep (male) is a large, upright mouse (30 cm) and armed with a sword . He too belongs to the speaking animals. He meets the reader in the story Prince Caspian of Narnia , where he shows his courage and loyalty. Later he took part in Caspian's voyage on his ship “Dawn”. Riepischiep is very courageous and agrees to go to the easternmost end of the world via the three lords on Ramandus' island in order to lift the sleep spell, and from there to get to Aslan's land. Because only when one of the ship's crew sails to the easternmost end of the world will the spell that sent the three lords to an eternal sleep be broken. He does this by getting as close as possible to the southern end of the world on the "Dawn", then in its dinghy, undertaking the rest of the journey to the eastern end of the world in her willow boat and being raptured there into Aslan's world.
Mythical magical beings
Lewis borrows magical beings from numerous mythologies and makes them part of his world. Almost all of these beings live in the land of Narnia and form the population there, along with humans and talking animals. They often differ from speaking animals in that they have a prominent position within society and even lead. In detail, the following mythological figures appear in the Narnia novels (designation as in the novels): witch , centaur , faun , unicorn , pegasus , dwarf , nymph , giant , werewolf , ghoul , minotaur , incubus , ogre . Some species are exclusively good or bad; others fluctuate or come in both good and bad subgroups.
The good figures in part first novel in particular, the Santa Claus who brings his magical power of a large bag various items that the children Pevensie crucial in their fight against Jadis, the White Witch, help.
Dwarves and giants
A special role within the mythological figures on Narnia are the dwarves, who are very numerous and come in two types (red dwarves, red hair, mostly good-natured and black dwarves, black hair, often dodgy). Their appearance corresponds to dwarfs from fairy tales, but they also mix with humans (the offspring are half-dwarfs). At the end of Narnia, the dwarves remain apart from the conflict of good versus evil.
The red dwarf Trumpkin plays the greatest lead role in the novels among the dwarfs. He helps Prince Caspian overthrow Miraz. He becomes Caspian's friend, advisor and deputy ruler of Narnia.
A similar role (partly good, partly bad, but in larger numbers bad) as the dwarves play the giants, most of whom do not live in the land of Narnia, but in two ethnic groups in the wild lands of the north. Only a few "good" giants live in the land of Narnia itself.
Witches
Witches appear again and again on the “evil” side in the Narnia novels, often as leaders. The main roles are played by the witch Jadis in the novels The Miracle of Narnia and The King of Narnia and the Green Witch in the novel The Silver Armchair .
Jadis, the White Witch , is a tall, powerful woman of supernatural beauty and immense power. She initially ruled the Kingdom of Charn as the king's daughter. But it destroys it through the Unspeakable Word , which destroys all life except that of the one who uttered it. Nine hundred years later she conquered Narnia and brought eternal winter over the land. But with the four siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie coming from our world, spring returns and finally the end of tyranny. The White Witch is killed by Aslan in the First Battle of Beruna . Jadis is French for "last year"; Lewis took the term from a ballad by François Villon , Ballade des dames du temps jadis , in the third stanza of which a White Queen is mentioned.
The Green Witch is a witch of the same kind as Jadis. She rules an underground realm called the Unterland and can transform into a giant snake. In this form she kills Rilian's mother. When he searches for the snake in revenge, she kidnaps him and keeps him captive for ten years. But then Eustachius, Jill and the Mourning Puddle appear to save Rilian. This cuts off the head of the green witch (in the form of the snake).
Tumnus
Mr. Tumnus is a faun and the friend of Lucy Pevensie. When they first meet, he is supposed to hand her over to the witch Jadis, but in the end he doesn't. Thereupon he is arrested and petrified by the White Witch. Aslan releases him and the other beings from the witch's castle by breathing on them.
When Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy become kings and queens of Narnia, Mr. Tumnus becomes their personal advisor. He is also the one who accompanies Susan and Edmund on their trip to Kalormen and tells them about the return of the White Stag.
Mourning puddle
Trauerpfützler (in later translations also Puddelglum der Marschwiggel) is a pessimistic Moor Wackler who accompanies Jill and Eustachius on the search for Prince Rilian. A moor wobbler is a mythical figure, very similar to humans, with a long, thin physique, adapted to life in the swamp. Moor wiggles are a Lewis own invention and not borrowed from folk myths.
Language and writing
The inhabitants of the world of Narnia speak a common language. In the illustrations for the original books, the documents are depicted in an ancient form of normal Latin characters. Since the chronicles report that the first people in the world of Narnia were English (and therefore able to use the Latin script), this is plausible, but Lewis' work here differs fundamentally from the complex writing and language system of his colleagues and friends Tolkien .
Sources / literature
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 1 - The Miracle of Narnia ISBN 978-3-8000-5264-6
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 2 - The King of Narnia ISBN 978-3-8000-5168-7
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 3 - The Ride to Narnia ISBN 978-3-8000-5265-3
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 4 - Prince Caspian of Narnia ISBN 978-3-86506-084-6
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 5 - The Journey on Dawn ISBN 978-3-8000-5349-0
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 6 - The Silver Armchair ISBN 978-3-86506-086-0
- The Chronicles of Narnia Volume 7 - The Last Battle ISBN 978-3-8000-5380-3
- The Chronicles of Narnia (hardcover) ISBN 3-8000-5186-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ Real-Life 'Narnia' inspired author. In: italy magazine. May 25, 2009, accessed November 13, 2015 .