Miraz

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King Miraz
Narnia character
Miraz-pcfilm.PNG
Sergio Castellitto as King Miraz in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
In-universe information
Race Human
TitleMiraz the Usurper, King of Narnia, Emperor of the Lone Islands, Lord of Telmar
Family Caspian IX See relations of Caspian.
SpousePrunaprismia
ChildrenUnnamed son
NationalityNarnia
Robert Lang as Miraz in the BBC serial Miraz.jpg
Robert Lang as Miraz in the BBC serial

Miraz is a fictional character from C. S. Lewis's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia . He is the main antagonist in the book Prince Caspian , and is the uncle of the book's protagonist.

Contents

Miraz killed his brother, Caspian IX, allowing his nephew to live as heir until, as the book opens, his wife bears him a legitimate heir. He is a descendant of the Telmarines who had invaded Narnia hundreds of years before, and a cruel and unpopular ruler. Most notorious for banning the teaching of Narnia's pre-Telmarine history, he also levies high taxes and enacts harsh laws. He is ultimately defeated in a duel by Peter Pevensie and then slain by his own advisors.

Character

Miraz is a tyrant. Eliana Ionoaia notes that "this type of kingship can be termed a tyranny since Miraz rules through oppression, cruelty, and fear." [1] Matthew Dickerson and David O'Hara argue that [2]

Miraz seeks to remove all sense of enchantment from nature — swords and battles are what are real for Miraz, not talking animals and trees — and by removing enchantment he seeks also to remove all sense of nature's sanctity. For in disenchanting and desanctifying the earth and its creatures, he will be more justified in exploiting it.

Significance

The relationship between Miraz and his brother's son, Prince Caspian, resembles that of Claudius and Hamlet in Shakespeare's play Hamlet , as well as Pelias and Jason from Greek mythology. [3] In a Christianity Today opinion piece published in 2008, Devin Brown noted that Miraz was "aloof and emotionally distant" like Lewis' own father. [4] This theme is explored in more detail in Chandler Hanton's dissertation, The Tragedy of Caspian: C. S. Lewis and His Trauma. [5]

Adaptations

In the 1989 BBC adaptation, Miraz is played by Robert Lang. [6]
In the 2008 cinematic adaptation, Miraz is portrayed by Sergio Castellitto, an accomplished Italian actor hypothesized by IGN as chosen "to give the Telmarines a Latin-Mediterranean ethnic flavor." [7] The New York Times' review noted that the film's "major source of dramatic energy is the villain, Caspian’s uncle Miraz, who is played with malignant grandeur" by Castellitto. [8] While panning the movie as a whole, movie critic Mick LaSalle found Miraz "square-shouldered and decisive and, by medieval king standards, probably not all that bad. His beard may be too pointy for virtue, but he's hardly evil enough to make it worth yanking the Pevensie siblings out of 1940s England." [9] In an extended critique of the movie, Steven D. Boyer complains that the rivalry between Caspian and Peter is nowhere in the books, but is rather itself a reflection of Miraz' original character. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i> Series of childrens fantasy novels by C. S. Lewis

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.

<i>Prince Caspian</i> Childrens fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis, 1951

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Pevensie</span> Fictional character in the Narnia universe.

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Susan Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. Susan is the elder sister and the second eldest Pevensie child. She appears in three of the seven books—as a child in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, and as an adult in The Horse and His Boy. She is also mentioned in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Last Battle. During her reign at the Narnian capital of Cair Paravel, she is known as Queen Susan the Gentle or Queen Susan of the Horn. She was the only Pevensie that survived the train crash on Earth which sent the others to Narnia after The Last Battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Pevensie</span> Fictional character in the Narnia universe.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telmarines</span> Fictional people in the Chronicles of Narnia

The Telmarines are a people in the fictional world of Narnia created by the British author C. S. Lewis for his series The Chronicles of Narnia. Hailing from Telmar, the Telmarines are prominent in the book Prince Caspian, the second book published in the series. The Telmarines were pirates in Earth before entering the Narnian world through a magical cave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Caspian (character)</span> Fictional character in The Chronicles of Narnia

Prince Caspian is a fictional character in The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. He is featured in three books in the series: Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. He also appears at the end of The Last Battle.

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i> 2005 fantasy film by Andrew Adamson

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, 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.

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian</i> 2008 film directed by Andrew Adamson

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone Table</span> Fictional location in The Chronicles of Narnia

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<i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

The Chronicles of Narnia is a British BBC-produced television series that was aired from 13 November 1988 to 23 December 1990 and is based on four books of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. The first series aired was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1988, the second series aired was Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 1989 and the third series aired was The Silver Chair in 1990. This television series was produced by Paul Stone, with the teleplay by Alan Seymour. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was directed by Marilyn Fox, while Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair were directed by Alex Kirby.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trumpkin</span> Fictional character in The Chronicles of Narnia

Trumpkin is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' fantasy novel series The Chronicles of Narnia. Trumpkin is an intensely practical and skeptical dwarf who lives during the reigns of King Miraz and King Caspian X. He is a major character in Prince Caspian, briefly mentioned in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and is a minor character in The Silver Chair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aslan</span> Fictional lion, a deity in The Chronicles of Narnia

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.

Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the second series of The Chronicles of Narnia that ran from 1988 to 1990. The series, which was shown on BBC television in 1989, is an adaptation of two of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia novels: Prince Caspian (1951) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maugrim</span> Fictional character, head wolf in the service of the White Witch (Narnia, book 1)

Maugrim is a fictional character in the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. A Narnian wolf, he is the Captain of the White Witch's Secret Police. In early American editions of the book, Lewis changed the name to Fenris Ulf, but when HarperCollins took over the books they took out Lewis' revisions, and the name Maugrim has been used in all editions since 1994.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Narnia:

References

  1. ↑ Ionoaia, Eliana (2020). The Hero Paradigm in Fantasy Novels. Bucharest University Press. p. 227. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Dickerson, Matthew T.; O'Hara, David (2008). Narnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C.S. Lewis. University Press of Kentucky. p. 63. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Hardy, Elizabeth Baird (December 13, 2006). Milton, Spenser and the Chronicles of Narnia: Literary Sources for the C.S. Lewis Novels. McFarland & Company. pp. 53–54. ISBN   0-7864-2876-7. …it is likely that Miraz's creation owes more to a tradition of scheming, murdering throne-stealers, such as Hamlet's Uncle Claudius…
  4. ↑ Brown, Devin (April 22, 2008). "Is Caspian Really C. S. Lewis?". Christianity Today . Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  5. ↑ Hanton, Chandler (Spring 2022). The Tragedy of Caspian: C. S. Lewis and His Trauma (MA). Georgia Southern University. Retrieved Aug 18, 2022.
  6. ↑ "BBC Programme Index".
  7. ↑ Davidson, Paul (Mar 13, 2007). "Caspian's King Miraz Cast". IGN. Retrieved Aug 15, 2022.
  8. ↑ Scott, A.O. (May 16, 2008). "Out of the Wardrobe, Into a War Zone". The New York Times . Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  9. ↑ LaSalle, Mick (May 15, 2008). "Movie review: 'Narnia' sequel lacks magic". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  10. ↑ Boyer, Steven D. (Nov–Dec 2010). "Narnia Invaded: How the New Films Subvert Lewis's Hierarchical World". Touchstone . Retrieved August 18, 2022.
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Narnia
2290–2303		Succeeded by
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