Artwork by elven-king
I thought I had exhausted all the maps of Narnia that are out there but I did find two new ones, to me that is, this year. The first, the one above, is a what-if. What if Calormen had been successful in its invasion of Narnia in The Horse and His Boy?
This map, overlaid on a previous one, tells the story of how that eventually shook out. The Calormenes managed to hold on to Archenland and the coastal part of Narnia; but the Narnian Kings and Queens did not take it lying down. King Edmund and his followers moved to the North, and Queen Susan, who divorced Rabadash eventually, established her kingdom in the West. Why they did not cooperate in co-ruling both areas as one is unsaid, but it would be an interesting story. If they did, the Calormene chokehold on the Cair Paraval area would be overcome.
The Archenlanders managed to keep their country going to the east and I’d bet that mountain pass is a contentious one, bordered by both it, the Satrapy, and the Kingdom of the Dwarves, who I’m going to guess adapted the “Dwarves are for the Dwarves” mentality from The Last Battle and reject any notion of joining forces with Edmund or Susan.
The map also makes it clear that with the Calormene thinning of forces Aravis was able to get her own rebellion started in Calormen’s West. With no mention of Cor, let’s assumed he died in the fighting, as did King Peter. Lucy might be out of the picture for being to young to rule.
If anyone knows the location of the story based on the map, please let me know.
The map, which was painted on a piece of suede with some embossing, doesn’t expand on what we already know. But… the Eastern Sea is now a lake! And a narrow one at that. What gives?
