Jun 01
There’s a lot of upsetting stuff going on in the world right now. COVID-19. Racism. Unemployment.
So, to preserve my own sanity, this summer I’m going to go back to where it all began for me, as a writer and a fantasy fan — Narnia.
There will be posts on the books, my opinions of them, naming conventions, and art, and what they meant to me and still do. Let the Narnia trumpets sound! Begin the feast at fair Cair Paravel! Let the revels begin!
Jul 08
A maenad and her leopards.
As I mentioned in last week’s Worldbuilding Wednesday, almost none of Lewis’s female Narnian creatures received a name, whether they were Talking Beasts or mythological beings. I’ve attempted to rectify that here. Naiads and maenads have Greek-type names, and dryads and hamadryads those relating to trees. As Hamadryads are bonded only to a particular kind of tree, that type became part of their name. For fun, I added in river-gods (the male equivalent of a naiad) and star people.
It’s also worth reflecting on that there was plenty of miscegnation going on between Narnian natives and human beings from our world. In The Magician’s Nephew, the children of King Frank and Queen Helen are described as marrying naiads and river-gods and thus founding the human population of Narnia-the-world (as opposed to Narnia the country.) In Prince Caspian, dwarves have intermarried with humans, producing human-dwarf hybrids. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Caspian marries the daughter of a star person. Her mother is not mentioned, but since she’s living on the earth, mom was probably human as well. Star blood thus passed into Prince Rilian and down through the last kings who likely already carried naiad and dwarf blood.
This puts Aslan’s prophecy that the throne of Narnia shall only be occupied by sons and daughters of Adam and Eve into a new light. As they were from this world, they did not have the taint of dwarf or naiad or river-god; and presumably, neither did Caspian, being of a Telmarine noble family descended from South Sea pirates.
| Living Stars
Beteldu Zularea Marethyn Saphomon Demisda Sabelin |
River-gods
Videas Atphos Barathus Vinderus Valeropus Ganthus |
Naiads
Sayra Villsa Shirna Issenta Elspa Persa |
| Maenads
Ternia Nephera Uvala Orpha Mirlana Fonara |
Dryads
Brightwood Darkdew Greenbraid Silverjade Feathertwig Bluemoth |
Hamadryads
Applejoy Starplum Yewgrass Snowbeech Mosswillow Hazelbrook |
Jul 06
This boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia was my Holy Grail for a few years. Released in 1970, it was the first time all the books were offered together in a decorated cardboard slipcase. The original Baynes drawings were used on the inside, but the covers, with their vague art deco leanings and childlike, airbrushed figures, were very much of the 1970s, and still remind me of embroidered denim, platform shoes, and cheap dangle earrings decades later. In high school I finally bought a used set at a yard sale that served me as reference and inspiration when I began writing myself.
The covers of the books all together. Each one is surreal enough to be a Magritte painting. There’s an echo in them of Rousseau as well. The scenes are caught in mid-action, yet the result is flat, frozen. There is no affect, no irony. I wonder if it’s because some editorial decision was made not to depict the stories literally. They are Christian allegories, after all. They are mostly true to the books, except Jadis did not have red hair as depicted on The Magician’s Nephew, and the dragon head bow of the Dawn Treader is greatly oversized.
The same fantastical aesthetics are visible in the interior illustration above, for a cardboard toy, which appeared in Scholastic’s Dynamite magazine. Scholastic put out the Narnia boxed set as well. Dynamite was aimed at junior high kids and also appeared in the1970s.
From whence came the artist’s original inspiration? More than likely Peter Max, who did this notable poster for Earth Day in 1970.
Jul 01
There were female centaurs in the Narnia movies, but not in the books.
In addition to Talking Beasts, Narnia was home to many other beings from Western mythology, as well as a few Lewis created himself. Some were referenced often, like centaurs and dwarves. Others received just one mention, like the laundry list of baddies under the White Witch’s command who bind Aslan to the Stone Table. I’ve attempted here to separate them all out.
From Grecian and Roman myth:
Fauns
Satyrs
Centaurs
“Man-headed bull” (Minotaur?)
Dryads
Naiads and River-gods
Maenads
Merpeople
Sea People
Winged Horse (Pegasus)
Unicorns
Phoenixes
Griffons
Monopods (Dufflepuds)
Incubi
Salamander
From European Myth and Folklore:
Dwarves
Giants
Ettins
Boogles
Ghouls
Horrors
Grues
Hags
Werewolves
Ogres
Orknies
Spectres
Woses
Wraiths
Dragons
Sea Serpents
Toadstool people
From Arabic Myth and Folklore:
Jinn
Efreet
Lewis’s Own Creations:
Marsh-wiggles
Earthmen
Black Dwarves and Red Dwarves (Lewis separated them into races)
Living Stars (Ramandu and Coriakin)
White Birds of the Sun
Various media adaptations added many more creatures that were not included in the books, like cyclopses, minoboars, polar bears, gorillas, gryphons, tigers, and jaguars, presumably for visual effect. Pauline Baynes, the original illustrator, also took the liberty of adding creatures not mentioned in the books.
The size of Narnia-the-country, and the larger world that was built around it in the later books, was never explicitly stated, but to accommodate this mythological ecosystem logic dictates it would have been quite large. The problem is the distances given in canon seem quite small. For example, at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the Pevensies reach Lantern Waste within an afternoon’s ride from Cair Paravel. As Lantern Waste marks one of the borders of that land (most commonly the northwest on maps) it implies Narnia proper reaches no more than 10 – 15 miles inland from the coast, at least in that direction. This is very small. But that’s all for another post, since Worldbuilding Wednesday is all about the names.
In making up the list I was surprised to find that most of the named Narnian creatures are male. In the books, there are no mentions of female centaurs, dwarves, satyrs/fauns, earthmen, or marshwiggles, and of all the others, only a female monopod (Clipsie in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) is mentioned by name, and rather offhandedly at that. Even Caspian’s eventual wife and Queen, Ramandu the Star’s Daughter, goes unnamed. (In the movie, though, she’s called Lilliandil.) Even the creatures that are traditionally female, like maenads, dryads, naiads, and mermaids, don’t get names. They’re referred to in clumps, as a group rather than individuals. Though the books have a balance of both male and female protagonists, with perhaps the meatier arcs going to females, the same was not true of the minor characters. Very odd.
Like the Talking Beasts, many creatures have names that refer to their characteristics or what they do. But an equal amount have a made-up name. Most of the time, given than many are of Greek origin, it’s something like Tumnus or Oreius, or rural Medieval English like Poggin or Puddleglum. I kept to those styles here.
| Giants
Bramblehead Troughgird Bumblebrave Wanderworth Nubbinnoodle Beltblister |
Centaurs
Moravias Malthier Runekeeper Sunstream Archdrake Gandalfor |
Fauns
Verius Raphincus Falgus Phoedus Androcus Saphus |
| Dwarves
Gibblenik Flintfinder Girdlepop Ruggle Maffin Niknas |
Earthmen
Nugg Muthgram Gorm Grimfor Wigand Storg |
Marshwiggles
Purseplum Smagglemor Drabseed Toadtooth Mudrumple Mudbanks |
Jun 29
This artist’s depiction of Aslan, with its eerie staring eyes, shares a disturbing similarity to the cat pictures of popular Victorian English artist Louis Wain. Wain is often cited in psychology textbooks as a classic case of how schizophrenia alters the afflicted’s sense of reality.
Jun 24
A charming anthropomorphized fox from the first movie.
As written by Lewis, the Talking Beasts of Narnia cover a wide range of species. The Magician’s Nephew, which was the third book Lewis wrote (but the 6th published) gives a good depiction of their genesis: they bubble up from the earth itself like bubbles of gas through hot lava. There’s an elephant, big cats, deer. Yet, there are gaps in the worldbuilding. Mice, according to Aslan in Prince Caspian, were created later, after Aslan’s ordeal on the stone table. And the more exotic species don’t enter the story at all, as characters that is. There’s a Talking Lion who plays a bit part in the first book, and an elephant in Nephew, but that’s it. Where did they all reside? How did warm climate creatures like elephants and cheetahs withstand Narnia’s winters? And speaking of those elephants, there’s a Hall of Ivory in Cair Paravel. Did they donate their tusks? Were they killed for them?
The animals that do get the most screen time are the ones Lewis would have been the most familiar with as denizens of the British countryside: foxes, bears, deer, beavers, hares, ravens. Well, bears and beavers were in short supply in England in the 20th century, but they would have been there, but for man; that’s their biome.
It is also worth reflecting on the fate of wolves. They are the only species which had given itself over to evil, during the Long Winter; but were all of them thus turned? Were they exterminated after that, or did they repent? (Someone write a fanfic about this please.)
Anyway, more talking beasts that might have existed had the series gone on.
| Rabbits / Hares
Springlegs Weedwinter Quickblossom Hollyharp Dawndash |
Moles
Chunkstep Popcollar Spadebrood Plumpling Earthness |
Hedgehogs
Cricklehitch Mossmouth Wormsniggle Pennypop Spinebrow |
| Eagles
Trueseek Windjoy Highcrest Stormwing Quillfrost |
Foxes
Slypath Bluffhunter Redthatch Moonglade the Vixen Vulpina |
Wolves
Graykin Longpace Bruteflank Blackfrost Vandalpaw |
Jun 22
Cair Paravel, Narnia’s royal castle, as depicted in a Pauline Baynes illustration from the original book, and in an artist’s concept for the movie. The movie version is larger and grander but keeps to the same outline.
Jun 17
Reepicheep toasts Ramandu the Star’s Daughter in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Pauline Baynes did the illustrations for all the books.
Speaking of Prince Caspian, the book contains one of the most memorable of all the series’s peripheral characters: Reepicheep the Mouse, short in stature but long on bravery. To me he was the Narnia equivalent of Scappy-Doo, Scooby-Doo’s more eloquent little nephew: annoying. He does introduce, however, the Narnian way of naming mice: three-syllable names based on the noises they make.
The other talking animals of Narnia have distinctive names as well, often related to what they do, filtered through a pastoral English wonderland. Moles are named Clodsley Shovel and Lilygloves. A squirrel is named Pattertwig, a badger Trufflehunter. And on and on.
Writing Narnia fanfic? Here are some ideas for your animal characters.
| Mice
Neepileep Pipichip Chippiteep Teepisqueek Neepinip Cheepititch Feepimeep |
Squirrels
Luckbranch Patterpaws Tumblefluff Joytwig Rainleaf Fairflick Graywhistle |
Deer
Starhorn Snowmist Gladfoot Joygrove Gallanthoof Northsong Lanklegs |
| Beavers
Logsnap Shortbelly Paddletail Darkdive Pondflapper Coldbrook |
Badgers
Cobblefern Moonwhiskers Rootsnuffle Snowmask Hextangle Jennysalt |
Ravens
Runefeather Proudbeak Goodcroak Crookpenny Combescry Sootwing |
Jun 10
Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian in the movie version, decidedly older and hunkier than the character in the book.
C. S. Lewis actually wrote Prince Caspian, the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia, hot on the tail of the first. In it, he explored an idea he had been playing around with for a while: What if King Arthur actually returned to England during the Battle of Britain as prophesied (when England was in its “darkest hour”) thereby saving the day? He cast the Pevensie children in the role of Arthur, made the peril out to be an invading kingdom bent on destroying Narnian culture, and so Prince Caspian (named after the sea, no less) was born.
Though the book was second in the series, I read it the last, and might have been spoiled for it by the other books. Still, it’s the weakest, IMO, of the Narnia books. The plot is frustrating (there’s a lot of dull wandering around in the woods before we get to the action) and many decidedly un-Narnian elements in it that never recur, like Narnia being converted into a facsimile of a repressive British town complete with a bureaucratic school system, necromancy, black dwarves, and werewolves. If the books had stopped there, as a duology, the worldbuilding might have made sense; but the wilder and more metaphysical elements of the later books sit oddly with the modern-day (mid twentieth century) elements of this one. It’s also a disappointment for readers, I think, to discover that the Narnia they loved and knew had been been completely plowed under in the intervening years between the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and this one. (I could say more, and will, in a later entry.)
Prince Caspian does, though, have the simplest title of the Narnia books; and here are some alternate versions with the same sound.
| Prince Sasdian
Prince Dysnian Prince Testian Prince Baskian Prince Thesvian Prince Nosthian Prince Yesthian Prince Lesrian Prince Yösdian Prince Rasdian |
Prince Gesthian
Prince Nassian Prince Risrian Prince Chestrian Prince Tosnian Prince Sesdian Prince Tosbrian Prince Missian Prince Fuslian Prince Thöszian |
