Sep 06
The Land of Bism appears in The Silver Chair. It is a magical land made of molten rock shaped into terrestrial life, where gems grow on trees and there are streams and waterfalls of liquified ores. I’ve heard it said that the name came from the word abysmal, a descriptor of great depth; but, frankly, …
Aug 30
… and daughters too, let’s make that clear. Trufflehunter called again, “Glenstorm! Glenstorm!” and after a pause Caspian heard the sound of hoofs. It grew louder till the valley trembled and at last, breaking and trampling the thickets, there came in sight the noblest creatures that Caspian had yet seen, the great Centaur Glenstorm and …
Aug 28
Every Summer of Narnia I’ve done since 2020 takes on its own shape as the weeks progress. I didn’t expect this summer to focus so heavily on The Silver Chair, yet that’s the way it turned out. In this post though, instead of saying more about the Green Witch, I’ll turn the lens onto her …
Aug 23
A centauride is the Greek term for a female centaur. Though only one was named in Greek myth, they were common motifs in ancient Greek and Roman art and have remained so up until the present day. Walt Disney even played a riff on them for Fantasia (1940); they were going to be bare-breasted …
Aug 16
Centaurs are one of the mythic creatures most associated with Narnia, along with fauns and nymphs. They appear in four of the seven books (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle) where they are renowned for being wise teachers, prophets, healers, and stargazers, as well as …
Aug 09
By the end of the reign of the Telmarine kings, the human population of Narnia had grown. In The Silver Chair, in fact, it’s stated that one in five citizens was a human, the rest being dwarves, Talking Beasts, centaurs, and the like. And if there’s one thing humans love, it’s having a drink in …
Aug 02
As I speculated in last week’s Worldbuilding Wednesday post, the family line of Caspian never had a proper name. English history had the Plantagenet kings, the Lancasters, the York, Tudors, and Stuarts… all the way down to the House of Windsor, that of the newly crowned King Charles III. What gives? I know, writer forgetfulness …
Jul 26
A few days ago, in the Narnia subreddit, I discovered a glaring discrepancy in The Silver Chair I had never noticed before. At the end of The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, Lewis has this to say about Caspian and Ramandu the Star’s Daughter: Caspian married Ramandu’s daughter and they all reached Narnia in …
Jul 19
The Lady of the Green Kirtle, IMO, is one of Lewis’s most terrifying creations in the Chronicles… so terrifying she doesn’t even get a proper name! Duplicitous, poisonous, beguiling, only when her power is defied does she show her true nature: she morphs into a giant snake that is more dragon than serpent. Her …
Jun 28
E is not one of my favorite letters, I’ll admit. True, it can be elegant, extravagant, enticing, enjoyable, and a slew of other en- words. But it’s also enormous as an elephant, with an old-fashioned, outdated, Victorian feel. Sound out the words Elizabeth, euphonious, evangelist, and Euphrates, and you will see what I mean. Though …