When visited briefly by Digory and Polly, the protagonists of the novel, the city is totally deserted, lifeless, and crumbling under a dying sun. However, according to Jadis, the sun had been that way for eons, likely predating the dynasty, the city, and the civilization of the world itself. Rivers have dried up, and neither weeds nor insects live. All life in the world of Charn had been destroyed by Jadis through an evil magic spell known as the Deplorable Word. In the novel, the city stands as an example of the dead end that can result if a civilization succumbs to evil.
The name Charn is, itself, a contraction of the Latin word carnāle, meaning graveyard. The word became charnel in medieval French and was adopted into English, where it is still found in the phrase charnel house (a mortuary). It is an apt choice of name.
History
During their visit, Digory accidentally wakes Jadis from suspended animation, and she is able to leave the world with them.
According to Jadis, Charn was once the greatest city of her unnamed world, "the wonder of the world, perhaps of all worlds." It was a magnificent civilization ruled by a line of magically adept emperors and empresses, of whom Jadis was the last. However, by the time the protagonists enter, the world is now a cold and desolate wasteland with no life to be seen anywhere, and the city is on the brink of collapse.
Magic may have been widely used in Charn; Jadis referred to the common use of magic carpets for transportation. Their use was apparently limited to the nobility, who inherited inborn magical powers. Jadis disdained Andrew Ketterley, Digory's magician uncle, as a petty conjurer without a drop of real magic blood in his veins, saying, "Your kind was made an end of in my world a thousand years ago."
Apparently dragons were also once abundant in Charn and in the service of the royal and noble families.
The Hall of Images displays the regal history of Charn, showcasing lifelike portraits of past rulers who are depicted as tall, beautiful, and powerful figures seated upon their thrones. The sequence of these images, through the expressions on their faces, tells a story of a civilization that was once benevolent but degenerated into a cruel, tyrannical empire. The early Emperors and Empresses of Charn were kind and decent, but over centuries, for unexplained reasons, their lineage devolved into one of malevolence, corruption, evil, and despair, seeing their subjects only as a means to an end. Evidently, their hunger for power was insatiable and they conquered several other realms, as Jadis gloats that "many great kings" attempted to stand against Charn, but were defeated and their names lost to history. Slavery was once common in Charn, as was human sacrifice. The last queen of Charn was Jadis, although the numerous empty thrones after hers suggest a premature end to the dynasty.
As Jadis leads the children through the decaying palace, she describes the cruelty of Charn and its leaders. She points out dungeons and torture chambers to them and recounts that her great-grandfather once invited seven hundred nobles to a banquet and slaughtered them all, "before they had drunk their fill," for "they had rebellious thoughts."
When the children finally see the full extent of the city from the balcony of the royal palace, it extends as far as the eye can see in any direction, as if covering the entire world. It is described as being full of pyramids, bridges, palaces, and towers, with a great river that had long since turned to dust. Jadis recalls viewing the city while it was full of life, quoting: "It is silent now. But I have stood here when the whole air was full of the noises of Charn; the trampling of feet, the creaking of wheels, the cracking of the whips and the groaning of slaves, the thunder of chariots, and the sacrificial drums beating in the temples. I have stood here (but that was near the end) when the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red."[1]
The destruction of Charn
Jadis was responsible for the eradication of all life on Charn but blamed the destruction on her sister. Jadis and her sister fought a civil war for the throne, which Jadis eventually lost. She claimed she had offered to spare her sister's life if she surrendered, so the resulting destruction was the unnamed sister's fault. Jadis obliterated her kingdom and all its people rather than relinquishing her power over them.
According to Jadis's own account, her sister had started a long and murderous civil war. There was a solemn oath between her and the unnamed sister that neither side would use magic, a pact broken by the sister, who gained the advantage as a result. Jadis recounts that during the civil war, she "poured out the blood of her armies like water," but was eventually defeated. In the final battle, which was fought in the city itself over three days, the sister defeated the last of Jadis' forces.
Within the ruling family of Charn, there was knowledge of an evil spell, the Deplorable Word, which would destroy all life except the one who spoke it, though the word itself was a mystery. Although her ancestors had bound themselves and their descendants with oaths never to seek knowledge of this spell, Jadis had sought it out and learned the word "in a secret place and paid a terrible price to learn it." Her sister knew Jadis had discovered the Deplorable Word but did not think Jadis would use it. Facing defeat, Jadis spoke the Deplorable Word, which annihilated all life under the sun apart from herself.
After this, she put herself into an enchanted sleep in the Hall of Images. During her suspended animation, all water in Charn dried up and the once-magnificent city crumbled into ruin.
The waking of Jadis
The spell that bound Jadis was broken by Digory Kirke. He and Polly Plummer had arrived on Charn via the Wood between the Worlds, and they had explored the deserted royal palace. In the room where Jadis slumbered with life-sized images of her royal ancestors, Kirke succumbed to temptation after having read a verse:
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger; Strike the bell and bide the danger, Or wonder, till it drives you mad, What would have followed if you had.
Charn and the realm in which it resided ceased to exist entirely after Jadis and the children left. Later, when Aslan and the children are in the Wood between the Worlds, Aslan shows them that the puddle leading to Charn is dried up, as the empty world has been destroyed. Jadis entered Narnia with the humans from Earth, and 900 years later appears as the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, ruling that land for 100 years until Aslan returned and defeated her with the aid of the four Pevensie children.[2]
Commentary
As mentioned earlier in this article, the name "Charn" suggests "charnel house," a repository for human skeletal remains.[3]:138 The hall of the figures of the rulers of Charn, inspired by the underground grotto of mummies in King Solomon's Mines,[4][3]:139 shows a progression illustrating the decline and fall of the city and its world, reflecting a view of history described by G. K. Chesterton.[3]:138 The "deplorable word" is most likely a metaphor for weapons of mass destruction, which many feared would bring about the destruction of the world at the time when the novel was written.[3]:163
In the last chapter of the book, Polly asks Aslan if humanity has yet grown as corrupt as Charn, to which he replies:
"Not yet. But you are growing more like it. It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware. That is the warning."
—Lewis, C. S. (1955). The Magician's Nephew. London: Bodley Head.
In this paragraph, Lewis may have been alluding to the tyranny, despotism, and corruption, including Communism, which had been spreading abroad. Aslan's statement that before the protagonists grow old, their world, which is our world, "will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than Empress Jadis", might be a reference to World War I and World War II. This is further suggested by the fact that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which is set during World War II, portrays Digory as the elderly Professor Kirke.
Related Research Articles
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted for radio, television, the stage, film, and video games. The series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts and talking animals. It narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the Narnian world. Except in The Horse and His Boy, the protagonists are all children from the real world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are sometimes called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil. The books span the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician's Nephew to its eventual destruction in The Last Battle.
The Magician's Nephew is a portal fantasy children's novel by C. S. Lewis, published in 1955 by The Bodley Head. It is the sixth published of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). In recent editions, which sequence the books according to Narnia history, it is volume one of the series. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes whose work has been retained in many later editions. The Bodley Head was a new publisher for The Chronicles, a change from Geoffrey Bles who had published the previous five novels.
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