The White Witch Returns, Russian Edition (and a bit about kokoshniks)

My Summers of Narnia seem to be settling around a certain theme. Last year it was The Silver Chair; this year,  it’s the book that started it all, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. And with that theme, some more White Witches I found, not explicitly marked as The White Witch of course, but they would make some very good ones. All are from Russian or are Russian-inspired.

Let’s talk about these stately Slavic Snow Queens. Their expressions are mostly stern or neutral. They may smile occasionally, but it’s a quiet smile. They don’t give the cheesecake poses and come-hither looks like  American Snow Queens do. They’re not out to sell sex. Neither are they full of holiday cheer like the British panto ice maidens and Winter Matrons. They’re goddesses, forces of nature, an archetype deeply embedded in Eastern European mythology. They don’t cavort or leap around. They stare upon mere mortals, frowning, and occasionally kidnap small children.

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Summer of Narnia 2024 Fanfic Reviews, July [Review]

Jill and the Lion, by Art Childs

It’s time for another group review of Narnia fanfics!

Featured artwork: Jill and the Lion. This is the scene from the first chapter of The Silver Chair where Jill, abandoned by Eustace on Aslan’s Mountain, has to decide whether or not to drink from a stream guarded by a dangerous lion who talks to her. Of course, she’s okay. I like how the artist captured her trepidation and gave her a 1970s look with her headband.

All these stories are from Archive of Our Own.

Never Forget Your Pencil and Paper (or How Eustace Got His Dragon Back), by ojisandavid

The author said of this work: “Many works of fiction would be much shorter if the characters exhibited any common sense at all. It would also help if their creators didn’t stack the deck against them like a playground bully who trips someone and then blames them for lying on the ground. If we apply this observation to The Silver Chair, we can guess that the book would consist of seven short chapters if Aslan hadn’t decided it was fun to watch Eustace fall off an insanely high cliff instead of maybe, I don’t know, warning the kids away from the cliff beforehand. Or if he’d just opened a magical door for them directly to Cair Paravel instead of blowing them there on the slow train. Or – and this is a big one – if the kids had written down the damn signs.”

And that’s it, in a nutshell. This is the common sense version of the story, all apologies to Mr. Lewis.

I read it last summer and have to say it influenced my own fanfic which is a high honor indeed. In addition to writing down the signs, the kids get help from King Caspian and rescue a Talking Stag that was about to become Harfang’s dinner, painting Aslan in a bad light in the process. This is NOT a pro-Aslan story. It doesn’t mean the author is anti-Aslan, it’s just a different way of exploring what could have happened. That’s what I like about Narnia fanfic. The playfulness and inventiveness of it. There’s an obnoxious, fanatical Chaplain called Cliveson (get it?) and a Calormene soldier in the party as well to diversify and give pointed commentary.

Of course, being as the characters use common sense, the story ends early, when the party meets the Green Witch and Prince Rilian after the Giant’s Bridge, and there’s some great dialogue where the witch takes it on the chin for her annoying trilling and lisping. And as it turns out Eustace, once back in Narnia, retains the power to transform into a dragon, and roasts the witch into unagi. There’s also wonderful dialogue at the end between Jill and Aslan where she rips him a new one.

Enthusiastically recommended!

The Silver Chair, Humor

To Want Wrong Things, by Angelike

When I read fanfic I don’t care about ships or shipping. There, I said it. I have absolutely no interest in who is bonking who. No dogs in that fight. If it’s handled well for the purposes of the story, then I get interested.

This story was written by the author as a riff off the Walden Prince Caspian movie, supposing that Caspian and Peter had a (well-hidden) gay relationship that ended after Peter and his siblings returned to England. Caspian was left bereft, but proceeded to have a different life with Liliandil (the Star’s Daughter) and his son Rilian, tragic as it later was by the events of The Silver Chair. At the end of that book, together with Jill and Eustace on the mountain of Aslan’s  Country, and freshly restored to health and youth, Caspian asks Aslan for a glimpse of Earth… and Aslan intuits why. To see Peter again of course.

What follows is a sensitive, wonderfully nuanced discussion of the repercussions of homosexuality in Narnia and in late 1940s England, and the destiny Caspian had to restore Narnia, not give in to his desires. It’s quite good. When Aslan, who acts like a wise and loving father, gives Caspian a choice at the end, who knows what the heartsick former king will do?  Recommended.

Prince Caspian, book and movie

they used to shout my name, now they whisper it, by hauntedthief

There are many, many fanfics about the Problem of Susan that crops up towards the conclusion of The Last Battle, most reacting with outrage or sympathy for Susan’s apostasy, not the scorn that Jill and Eustace give her.  This short fic discusses  that even though Susan turned her back on Narnia, she lived a full life as a human being whereas the other children, for all their fantastic adventures, did not. Thoughtful and compelling is this writer’s take.

The Last Battle

all that is hidden, by nasimwrites

Where did The Lady of the Green Kirtle come from? There’s not a lot of fics about that. This writer posits she was a disgruntled evil spirit that took human form only after many centuries, her actions driven by defiance and her scorn for Aslan. It’s an OK theory, but not one I subscribe to; she seems too human for that. A different take I’ll say but YMMV.

The Silver Chair

Heaven is unconcerned with the lost – so C. S. Lewis said, by Carliro

Oh, I forgot about the shocker of the ending of this story, even though I had read it last year. Susan is sent to an orphanage and tries to go on living after the DEATH OF HER ENTIRE FAMILY and can’t deal. A rebuttal to the casual cruelty of the events of the final book. Fics like this are why I follow this fandom, because of the issues raised and the many different points of view the writers tale.

Post The Last Battle, (The Problem of Susan)

A Traveler’s Guide to Ettinsmoor, by Ermingarden

Planning to visit the Land of the Giants? Here are a few things the savvy traveler should know.

Written by Chirripeep, a Talking Mouse, for the benefit of other Talking Beasts, this story takes the form of a tourist guide, but it’s also a rumination by the author on why intelligent animals are born and dwell in Narnia  but also may travel elsewhere. Note that Lewis never went into depth on this subject. Obviously, the animals can travel, as the author of this story mentions Reepicheep, Bree, and Hwin; there are also the examples of Sallowpad the Raven who went to Calormen with the Pevensies and the Talking Stag who was eaten by the giants of Harfang. But there were never any hard and fast rules by C. S. Lewis on this topic.

(My headcanon is that at Narnia’s dawn Talking Beasts wandered all over, creating pockets of settlement yet to be discovered.)

The story is less of a complete article filled in with imagination and more of a caution against traveling to Harfang and dealing with its Giants. I would have wanted more of a pastiche but apparently what is there was very appealing to most readers of it.

The Silver Chair

 

Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/17/24: Narniaworld, Part 3 (Narnia LVI)

Christmas High Tea is a popular event during the holiday season at Narniaworld.

Theme parks need more than just rides, food, and crowd control. Shows, special events, seasonal attractions, and wandering performers keep customers coming back.

In this Narniaworld has a leg up on its competitors. While creating this post I realized the books contain all sorts of seasonal themes that could be adapted as entertainment… especially Christmas, given the original book. I expect Narniaworld to be the most popular attraction in the world because of this. But there are also aspects that could be adapted for Halloween frights, spring celebrations, and summer frolics, such as the River Gods’ Romp. (I picture this as a Cirque de Soleil performance, but with water.)

And of course there would be all sorts of shows — daily and seasonal — as well as wandering performers. Narniaworld could take on aspects of a Ren Fair in the summer months, which would only add to its popularity.

ChatGPT suggested the ice show and Coronation as attractions, but all the rest here are by me.

 

Narniaworld Shows and Events

Christmas Tea with Tumnus A special holiday-themed British High Tea (5 – 7pm) taking place from the last week in November through the first week of the New Year with special Christmas treats like roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, gingerbread, mince pies, and Eccles cakes, with party hats to wear and Christmas crackers to break open. Reservations encouraged.
Coronation of the Kings and Queens Happens every day at noon on the terrace of Cair Paravel. A parade featuring trumpeters, musicians, and Narnian creatures begins at the far end of the park, followed by an animatronic Aslan in his carriage and Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy in theirs. The four thrones are brought out and there is a brief ceremony followed by dancing in which the audience can join in with the actors giving lessons.
Dark Island Narniaworld’s Halloween 2024 attraction. Guests walking the park after dark are confronted by their worst fears like giant pairs of scissors, faceless clawed monsters, and hags, witches and ghouls from the White Witch’s castle before they enter the shadow island themed area. (Previous Halloween attractions were The Dead World of Charn and Miraz’s Haunted Dungeon.)
Father Christmas He listens to wishes from children every day during the holiday season before Christmas, accompanied by his sleigh, two live reindeer, and sometimes a camel. Photos are available.
King Lune’s Minstrels A trio of Tudor musicians who play English folk songs. I picture them wandering the park and entertaining  wherever there’s a long line or people gathered.
The Lady of the Green Kirtle She wanders the park singing Medieval ballads and playing her mandolin.
Narnia on Ice A seasonal show held over the winter holidays in a tented area where professional ice skaters recreate pivotal scenes from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe with laser effects, smoke, and pyrotechnics.
River God’s Romp This water extravaganza takes place daily in summer on the shores of the great river. Acrobatics, feats of diving, and water sport stunts are presented by performers dressed as naiads and other water spirits.
Waking of the Trees
 This event takes place when the park opens up for spring. There is a dryad parade with flower-decorated floats and park is blooming with spring bulbs. At the end, Pomona herself comes to bless the orchard at Cair Paravel. Vendor carts along the way sell flower garlands and fresh-cut tree branches for guests to wave.

 

Wardrobe Warnings

This looks like a painting, but I think it’s a still from a theatrical production.I’ve never seen it before and wanted to highlight it for the children’s early 1940s clothing and the tchochtkes to the side as set decoration.

She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them, leaving the door open, of course, because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe.
She did not shut it properly because she knew that it is very silly to shut oneself into a wardrobe, even if it is not a magic one.
“She thinks I’m Susan come to catch her,” said Edmund to himself, “and so she’s keeping very quiet at the back.” He jumped in and shut the door, forgetting what a very foolish thing this is to do.
Peter held the door closed but did not shut it; for, of course, he remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never, never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.Peter held the door closed but did not shut it; for, of course, he remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never, never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.

Why so many warning about this in the early chapters of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

When Lewis sent a draft of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to friend and fellow Inkling Owen Barfield, Barfield’s wife Maud was concerned that children reading the story would accidentally lock themselves in a wardrobe. So Lewis added these warnings, framing the first two in Lucy’s thoughts because Lucy Barlowe, the real-life inspiration for Lucy, was Barfield’s daughter.

So, there’s the answer in case any of you ever wondered the same thing.

The Lady of the Green Kirtle:
Vert-de-Gris

Previous parts of this series:  Part I, Part II,  Part III, Part IV,  Part V

 

When it came to the color green, Medieval artists and crafters had a rough time. Unlike the warm colors – reds, oranges, yellows – long-lasting green pigments were not so easily available from nature. Mostly, these artists resorted to verdigris.

Verdigris is a general name for the green to blueish green patina that develops on copper and copper alloys – copper, bronze, brass — over time, the greenish hue of The Statue of Liberty being the most familiar example. Verdigris is a copper salt of acetic acid, which is as poisonous as it sounds. Though not as deadly as the arsenic contained in Scheele’s Green, it can cause nausea, anemia and even death if ingested in large doses. In my Narnia fanfic story Misogyny and Verdigris, I used it as a deadly element of the Underworld, a pigment that gradually poisoned everything it touched.

Yet, outside of rare minerals like malachite, it was the only pigment available. Ancient Romans used it for their villas, Renaissance painters for their portraits. Preparation was extremely tricky. One way was to bury strips of copper glued to wood in a pile of dung. After a few weeks the block was dug up and the verdigris scraped off. Perhaps Lewis knew of this method and applied it to the foulness of the Green Witch?

Another way was to stack copper plates in clay pots which were then filled with wine, the acid of the wine causing the plates to develop crystals which formed verdigris, which were scraped off and sold. This method was popular in France and quite profitable. Interestingly, this business was controlled in the main by women, which creates another resonance with Lewis’s Lady of the Green Kirtle. It also makes me think of the Radium Girls, hapless female employees who ingested radium by licking paintbrushes containing luminous paint intended for watches.

Depending on the way it was prepared, verdigris yielded a variety of green shades, some stable, some not so stable. The odd, off-color appearance of many old paintings is, in fact, due to the deterioration of verdigris pigment, which can turn darker or browner if not sealed correctly. It gave the best greens in oil paint.

And where does that pretty name come from? Old French: Verte Grez, which can mean either “green of gray” or “green of vinegar (d’aigre)”.

AI art – Midjourney

Above, The Lady of the Green Kirtle in her aspect as a Copper Witch.

Passing Obsessions 7-24

Scandal strikes the SFF world again. Writer Neil Gaiman accused of, but denies, sexually assaulting two women, one of whom was the nanny of his child.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated film by Warner Brothers based on Tolkien’s work, releases some preview artwork. (It’s anime style.)

In related news, Tales from The Shire, a Hobbit sandbox farming game, will soon be released. It’s on my wishlist.

The oldest cave painting by humans (or perhaps Denisovans or some other branch) discovered. And it’s not in Europe, but in Indonesia.

Romantasy readers share their complaints about the genre and I have to say I agree with all of them.

Soviet Communist Cat Food. (AI art)

Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/10/24: Narniaworld, Part 2 (Narnia LV)

From topleft corner, going clockwise: Dragonsflight, Telmar Warrior, Tash’s Topple Tower, and Silver Sea Spin.

What makes a theme park? RIDES!

So far my musings have carried me to a basic outline of Narniaworld. It’s quite large, located by the inlet or bay of a coastal area, and surrounded by forest through which a river runs. There’s a campground for guests. The location is likely a temperate one, but like some European parks, it would be open on weekends and holidays during the off season. There would be lots of special events to keep people coming back (season pass material) and character actors walking around.

The castle of Cair Paravel, located by the bay, would the park’s focal point. I haven’t decided yet what’s inside. The park would likely be laid out according to the Narnian map that’s widely available, or, alternately, by book.

The Chronicles have so much in them that I didn’t need to stretch my brain to think of rides. (Note: I’m an amusement park freak, I have 100+ videos of rides I saved on YouTube playlists.) Here’s a bunch I thought of and there are likely more. I give ChatGPT credit for coming up with Aslan’s Roarer Coaster and the Underworld drop ride.

 

Narniaworld Rides

Aslan’s “Roarer” Coaster This state-of-the-art roller coaster simulates the wild ride Susan and Lucy take on Aslan’s back after he returns from the Stone Table. Riders will dash through trees and over brooks and sail over giant boulders as they dip and corkscrew across springtime meadows.
Dragonsflight A ride for kids. Fly with Eustace in dragon form above the wild, rocky island where he was transformed into a dragon and later untransformed. (Similar to the Dumbo ride at Disneyland.)
The Dwarven Mine
 A basic roller coaster not as wild as Aslan’s Roarer. Runs through a mountain similar to the Swiss Matterhorn bobsleds in Disneyland, with plenty of dips and drops in near total darkness. At the end of the ride it passes the iconic scene where Dwarven smiths strip off the branches from the gold and silver trees to create the first crowns for King Frank and Queen Helen.
Grand Tourney Carousel This large carousel near Cair Paravel castle features hand-carved horses and other noble steeds such as gryphons, big cats, dragons, unicorns, and pegasi. This is the only place in Narniaworld where you can ride a centaur! As guests ride, photographers dressed as courtiers take pictures and sell snacks. A notable feature of this coaster is that décor and animals can be rotated in and out for holiday themes; at Christmas, for example, there are reindeer, polar bears, and Arctic owl steeds, golden and silver sleighs with bells, and the carousel is wrapped in evergreens and lights.
Hackney Carriages A carousel type ride for young children where they ride in replicas of the horse-drawn cab that Queen Jadis hijacked from Frank the cabby in Victorian London. A statue of Jadis with her whip, based on the iconic illustration by Pauline Baynes, surmounts the attraction.
Passage to the Underworld A combination drop tower/dark ride where guests ride up to the apex of the giant’s bridge then are plunged 100 feet down into the misty gorge where the Narnian Underworld begins. At the bottom the journey continues as a dark ride through the fungi forest, cave of creatures, and Father Time’s slumber before plunging, as a flume, into the Sunless Sea and going around a curve into the city of the Earthmen. After witnessing an earthquake, fireworks, and a glimpse of Bism, riders emerge into daylight near where the ride began.
Reepicheep’s Coracles For young children. Facsimiles of the brave Mouse’s little hide boat move gently along a current past an island landscape on which scenes from The Voyage of The Dawn Treader are recreated.
Silver Sea Spin
 A waltzing turntable ride for children with cars shaped like lotus flowers that spin around blue waves and green lilypads.
Snowball Dance A winter themed ride similar to the Breakdance with lighted, whirling cars that tilt and spin amongst dancing satyrs, dryads, and woodland creatures. The ride operator controls music, speed, lighting effects, strobes, and smoke.  
Tash’s Topple Tower This rotating ring carries visit up a tower for a panoramic view of the park then starts to lower dramatically and weave side to side for spooky thrills.
Telmar Warrior A vertical spinning flat ride similar to the Huss Enterprise with a Medieval warfare theme.

I tried to strike an even balance with these rides, making sure there was something for everyone.

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A Not So Wonderful Tea with Tumnus

There was a nice brown egg, lightly boiled, for each of them, and then sardines on toast, and then buttered toast, and then toast with honey, and then a sugar-topped cake.

— from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Let’s see how well AI can recreate this iconic scene. I specified “Cute whimsical faun carrying a tea tray” then listed the items above, including a teapot, teacups, sugar, and honey of course.

I said “faun” not “rabbit!” Or kangaroo, as the case may be. The food and porcelain looks good, but I don’t know about that jumble of items on the plate the bunny is holding, which includes a fried egg, sunny-side up.

Poor Mr. Tumnus. The witch stoned him before he could get around to eating.

This jolly, rustic satyr/faun is a new take. But he’s not the slightly built, black-bearded, goateed creature of the book. The food looks appetizing with lots of crackers and wafers but no toast.

Then, there’s this nightmare with a flayed goat. Don’t sit down to tea with the Devil, or you might take on some of his habits…