Ramandu is one of those Narnian characters who plays a significant role in the book but not in artists’ depictions. Pauline Baynes’ original illustration remains the best one I’ve seen: a grave, elderly man in a robe of silver fleece, with a white beard that falls to his feet… which are bare, in the manner of the humble and the ascetic. He opens his mouth to accept a fire-berry from the beak of a White Bird of the Sun who has flown all the way there to shuttle it to him. The berry erases a little of his age, and when he becomes “as young as the child who was born yesterday” he will rise once again to Narnia’s night sky.
(As Narnia would be destroyed a mere 500 years later, let’s hope he got to sufficiently de-age himself before the final apocalypse.)
This was such an iconic image that when I googled it, I found dozens of similar pics… but they were of the Prophet Elijah, from the Old Testament, and he was being fed by a raven! I wonder if either the artist or Lewis himself had been inspired by this episode or the classical depictions of it.
In both stories, the elder received his food from God (or Aslan, in Ramandu’s case) and both received a benefit: a deepening of faith for Elijah, and a rejuvenation for Ramandu.
It’s not clear in the text if Ramandu is a magician like Coriakin, whom Caspian & Co. had met earlier on another island. But surely he must have a few magic powers. In that vein, here’s some spells for him or other characters to use.
Star Spells of Narnia
| Banquet of Bonding: When cast on an empty table, a feast fit for royalty appears, with fine cuts of meat, pies, exotic produce, rare wines, and heavenly desserts. All the beings eating this feast unite together in camaraderie and forget their differences and petty grievances. The opposite of this spell is Banquet of Breaking, wherein the beings eating the food explode in feuds and arguments, sundering them.
Commune with Stars: Allows the caster to call upon the collective wisdom of the Narnian stars to solve problems. Note: the stars can refuse to help if they don’t like the caster or request. Glorious Feast: Convinces creatures they are imbibing in a king’s feast complete with golden plates, a velvet-clad table, and sumptuous dishes, when in reality they are eating mundane food. Moonblade: Changes a shaft of moonlight into a magical +1 silver sword for the spell’s duration. Mystic Mead: This magic drink temporarily increases all imbiber’s Wisdom scores by +5. Reverse Eclipse: A very powerful spell, used only by the elder stars, used to stop or reverse a solar eclipse. Ring of Selene: This ring is made of silver set with a band of gray gems. It makes the wearer’s intelligence and wisdom go up by one point as long as moonlight is shining on them. Shield of Starlight: With a two-armed gesture, thousands of tiny sparkling points of light form a +10 shield in front of the caster’s body that physical weapons and evil magic will not affect. Solar Avian Whistle: This slim golden pipe whistle summons the Narnian Birds of the Sun when blown during daylight hours. The single note is ear-piercingly shrill. Starburn Command: Briefly intensifies the light of a star, rendering it bright enough to read by. |
