When visited briefly by Digory and Polly, the protagonists of the novel, the city is totally deserted, lifeless, and crumbling under a dying sun in a dark blue sky. However, according to Jadis, the sun had been that way for eons, but the sky was likely light blue. 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.
During their visit, Digory accidentally wakes Jadis from suspended animation, and she is able to leave the world with them.
History
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 wise, 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: "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
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.
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 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 in chronological order, it is placed as the first volume 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.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Among all the author's books, it is also the most widely held in libraries. It was the first of The Chronicles of Narnia to be written and published, but is marked as volume two in recent editions that are sequenced according the stories' internal chronology. Like the other Chronicles, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and her work has been retained in many later editions.
Narnia is a fantasy world created by C. S. Lewis as the primary location for his series of seven fantasy novels for children, The Chronicles of Narnia. The world is named after the country of Narnia, where much of the Chronicles takes place.
The Last Battle is a portal fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by The Bodley Head in 1956. It was the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956). Like the other novels in the series, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions.
Jadis is a fictional character and the main antagonist of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) and The Magician's Nephew (1955) in C. S. Lewis's series, The Chronicles of Narnia. She is commonly referred to as the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as she is the Witch who froze Narnia in the Hundred Years Winter.
Lucy Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. She is the youngest of the four Pevensie children, and the first to find the Wardrobe entrance to Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of all the Pevensie children, Lucy is the closest to Aslan. Also, of all the humans who have visited Narnia, Lucy is perhaps the one that believes in Narnia the most. She is ultimately crowned Queen Lucy the Valiant, co-ruler of Narnia along with her two brothers and her sister. Lucy is the central character of the four siblings in the novels. Lucy is a principal character in three of the seven books, and a minor character in two others.
Peter Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia book series. Peter appears in three of the seven books; as a child and a principal character in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, and as an adult in The Last Battle. He is mentioned in The Horse and His Boy, in which he is away on the northern frontier fighting giants, and in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in which he is studying under the tutelage of Professor Kirke.
Edmund Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. He is a principal character in three of the seven books, and a lesser character in two others.
Professor Digory Kirke is a fictional character from C. S. Lewis' fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. He appears in three of the seven books: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Magician's Nephew, and The Last Battle.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ann Peacock and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The film is the first installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Polly Plummer is a major fictional character from C. S. Lewis's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. She appears in two of the seven books: The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle.
The Deplorable Word, as used by author C. S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia, is a fictional magical curse which ends all life on a world except that of the one who speaks it.
The Lady of the Green Kirtle, also called Queen of Underland and Queen of the Deep Realm, is the main antagonist in The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis. She enslaved Prince Rilian of Narnia and a horde of gnomes by her witchcraft, and planned to use them to take over Narnia. She is foiled by three friends of Aslan: Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, and Puddleglum, and is finally killed by Rilian.
In C. S. Lewis's fantasy novel series the Chronicles of Narnia, the hill of the Stone Table, or Aslan's How, is a high mound or cairn, located south of the Great River in Narnia next to the Great Woods. The How was built over the hill of the Stone Table. The word how derives from the Old Norse haugr, meaning hill or mound. In parts of England, it is a synonym for barrow.
The Chronicles of Narnia is a fantasy film series and media franchise based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels by C. S. Lewis. The series revolves around the adventures of children in the world of Narnia, guided by Aslan, a wise and powerful lion that can speak and is the true king of Narnia. The children heavily featured in the films are the Pevensie siblings, and a prominent antagonist is the White Witch. The franchise also includes short films, digital series, and video games.
Aslan is a major character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. Unlike any other character in the Narnian series, Aslan appears in all seven chronicles. Aslan is depicted as a talking lion and is described as the King of Beasts, the son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, and the King above all High Kings in Narnia.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Narnia:
Magical creatures are an important aspect of the fictional world of Narnia contained within The Chronicles of Narnia book series and connected media originally created by C. S. Lewis. Throughout the seven books of the series, the protagonists encounter a variety of these creatures as they travel throughout Narnia and the surrounding lands and seas, including Archenland, Calormen, and the Great Eastern Ocean.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
