In Narnia, some animals talk, mythical beasts abound, and magic is common. The series tracks the story of Narnia when humans, usually children, enter the Narnian world from Earth.
Narnia is the country around which the novels revolve.[1][2]Archenland is a mountainous country south of Narnia. It is bordered on the north by Narnia and on the south by the Winding Arrow river. The seat of government is at Anvard, in the heart of the country, a fortified area.[3][4]Calormen is a semi-arid empire in the south of the world of Narnia. Notable geographic features include the Flaming Mountain of Lagour (a volcano) and the Great Desert. The Great Desert is in the northern part of the country, and the difficulty of crossing it discouraged the Calormenes from invading Archenland and Narnia.
Narnia is the country around which the novels revolve.☃☃☃☃ Archenland is a mountainous country south of Narnia. It is bordered on the north by Narnia and on the south by the Winding Arrow river. The seat of government is at Anvard, in the heart of the country, a fortified area.☃☃☃☃ Calormen is a semi-arid empire in the south of the world of Narnia. The capital of Calormen is Tashbaan, located on an island near the mouth of the River of Calormen, which flows from west to east in the north of Calormen, just south of the Great Desert. The city of Azim Balda, to the south of Tashbaan, is a hub where many roads meet; it hosts the government's postal system.[5]
Inspiration
The landscape of Lewis's native Ireland, in particular Ulster, played a large part in the creation of the Narnian landscape. In his essay On Stories, Lewis wrote "I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge". In a letter to his brother, Lewis would later confide "that part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia". Although in adult life Lewis lived in England, he returned to Northern Ireland often and retained fond memories of the Irish scenery, saying "I yearn to see County Down in the snow; one almost expects to see a march of dwarfs dashing past. How I long to break into a world where such things were true."
A total of eleven named humans from Earth entered Narnia: four boys, two men, four girls, and a woman. Humans from Earth are sometimes referred to as Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve by Narnians, a reference to first humans in the Biblical account of creation.
Six pirates and six women came from Earth to the unpeopled land of Telmar and founded the race of the Telmarines. As Aslan says in Prince Caspian, they accidentally found in a cave "one of the chinks or chasms between that world and this", and he adds, "There were many chinks or chasms between worlds in old times, but they have grown rarer. This was one of the last: I do not say the last." So quite possibly others came to Narnia from Earth as well, but Lewis did not record their histories for us.
Jadis, the white witch, is said to be descended from Adam's first wife Lilith (see below).
Dwarfs
Dwarfs are native to Narnia. They are called Sons of Earth by Aslan, as opposed to humans, who are called Sons of Adam or Daughters of Eve. Dwarfs exist in at least two varieties: Black Dwarfs and Red Dwarfs, distinguished by the colour of their hair. While many Red Dwarfs are kind and loyal to Aslan, Black Dwarfs appear to be more selfish and hostile, and most fight on the White Witch's side. Dwarfs appearing in the books are male and live together in communities, although they are known to mingle with and reproduce with humans. For example, Prince Caspian's Tutor Cornelius is a half-dwarf, and Caspian's former nurse is described as "a little old woman who looked as if she had dwarf blood in her".
Dwarfs, like fauns, satyrs, the river god and his Naiad daughters and the tree people (deities of the woods) stepped forth when Aslan (in The Magician's Nephew) called for Narnia to "Awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters."[6] The dwarfs were presumably born of the earth, as the Dryads were of the trees and the Naiads of the waters. Dwarfs appear as the King's train-bearers at the coronation of King Frank. (Naiads held Queen Helen's robes.[6]) In keeping with their character as sons of Earth, the dwarfs are skilled and prolific smiths, miners, and carpenters. In battle, they are renowned as deadly archers. A Dwarf can walk all day and night.[7]
Strawberry, the cabman's horse, also entered Narnia from Earth and there was chosen to be a talking beast and transformed into the winged horse Fledge.
Many of the animals found on Earth can also be found in Narnia. In addition, there are talking versions of most of these animals. When Aslan breathed upon the first animal pairs, some not only gained thought and speech, but changed in size as well. Smaller animals (rodents, birds and small mammals) are larger than their non-talking relatives and larger animals are slightly smaller. Talking beasts can be divided into three main categories: Avian, Mammal, and Reptile. There are no talking fish or insects.
It is specifically mentioned that there were no talking mice to begin with, and that Aslan added them later as a reward for the mice's kindness in cutting his ropes after he was killed by the White Witch.
In Narnian law and custom, talking animals are persons, fully the equal of humans; killing and eating them is tantamount to murder and cannibalism. On the other hand, killing and eating a non-talking animal is a completely acceptable act. Thus, for example, three talking bears are among the loyal adherents of Prince Caspian, but later on in the same book a non-talking bear is killed and eaten, and Lewis gives a detailed description of how its flesh was cooked.
Witches
Two Witches appear as characters in the Narnian books, the White Witch (Jadis, Empress of Charn, or the "White Lady") and the Lady of the Green Kirtle (or "the Green Lady"). Long after Lewis's death, character sketches appeared in later editions of the books that seem to indicate that these two witches are the same, but these notes are not due to Lewis (See the Lady of the Green Kirtle).
Jadis has the appearance of a very tall human woman but is actually the last scion of the royal house of Charn as shown in The Magician's Nephew. In later Narnian times her origin on Charn is not known to her subjects. Jadis claims human descent to legitimize her rule, but in Chapter 8 of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Mr. Beaver describes her as descended from Lilith, a Jinn and Adam's first wife, and from giants, thus having no human blood at all.
When Jadis entered the Narnian world at its creation, she ate a fruit that gave her immortality. Then she fled to the north. Another fruit from the same tree was planted in Narnia, and Aslan said that while the tree that grew from it flourished, Jadis would not return to Narnia.[8] Jadis spent 900 years away from Narnia, then returned to conquer it and conjure the 100-year winter. She was killed by Aslan in the First Battle of Beruna.
The Green Lady transforms herself into a huge green serpent twice in The Silver Chair: once when she kills Rilian's mother, and once when she tries to kill Rilian and his companions. Most of her other powers seem to be related to seduction and enslavement; she has bewitched and enslaved Rilian and an army of underground gnomes, and almost succeeds in bewitching Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum using magic powder and a musical instrument.
Narnia is inhabited by Marsh-wiggles (creatures of Lewis's own invention) and Dufflepuds (adapted from Pliny's Monopods) live on a distant island. There are also many singular beings who frequent or inhabit Narnia and its surrounding countries including: the River god, Bacchus, Father Christmas, Father Time, Pomona, Silenus, and Tash. It should also be noted that the Stars themselves are sentient beings within Narnia. The magician Coriakin, who rules over the Dufflepud/Monopods, and Ramandu, whose daughter marries Caspian X, are both stars who, for various reasons, are earth-bound. Both of these individuals were encountered in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Cosmology
General characteristics
The world of Narnia is a flat world[11] in a geocentric system. Its sky is a dome that mortal creatures cannot penetrate.[citation needed] Traveling eastwards, characters in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader eventually reach a literal end of the world, where the sky reaches the sea.
Narnia's stars are shining sentient beings that occasionally come to the various worlds in humanoid form. Its constellations are the result of a mystical dance upon the sky, performed by the stars to announce the works and comings of Aslan, Narnia's creator. The stars also arrange themselves to allow seers to foretell certain future events.[12]Constellations include the Ship, the Hammer, and the Leopard.[13]
The Narnian sun is a flaming disc that revolves around the world once daily. The sun has its own ecosystem and is thought to be inhabited by great white birds, which appear in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Some of the vegetation on the sun is known to contain healing properties. For example, the extract of a fire-flower found in the mountains can heal any wound or sickness, and a fire-berry that grows in its valleys, when eaten by the fallen star Ramandu, works to reverse the effects of age.
The moon of Narnia is larger than Earth's moon.[14]
Passages in several of the books suggest that the ground of Narnia may be living. In The Silver Chair, the main characters find a land named Bism many miles below Narnia, where diamonds and other jewels provide juice when crushed or squeezed. They find the idea unbelievable until a gnome explains that the precious stones found in Bism are real, not dead like the ones found in the "shallow" mines made by dwarfs and others who live on the surface.
The Narnian world is part of a series of many fictional worlds including Earth and the world of Charn. These are connected by a linking room known as the Wood between the Worlds, a nexus that existed outside all the other worlds. This space takes the form of a dense forest with many pools of water. With appropriate magic (or a device such as rings made from the soil), each pool leads to a different world. The Wood between the Worlds seems to affect the magic and strength of the White Witch, who becomes weak and ill when taken there.
Time
Earth visitors to Narnia typically find that a visit to Narnia lasts longer in Narnia (sometimes much longer) than the corresponding period of their absence from Earth. How much longer appears to be inconsistent. For example, in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Lucy's first visit to Narnia lasts for several hours, while just seconds pass on Earth. The four children's main adventure there lasts for many years - long enough for them to grow into adults and almost forget their childhood on Earth, where just minutes pass.
Visiting Narnia, one always finds that more time has passed there than on Earth, but there does not seem a fixed rate: between The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian centuries have passed in Narnia despite only a year passing on Earth, but between that and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader only three years pass, although just days pass on Earth. Then comes The Silver Chair, 50 years later in Narnia but no more than a year on Earth.
In the first year of Narnia, the Creation of Narnia was witnessed by six creatures: Jadis, Empress of Charn, Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Andrew Ketterley, Frank the cabman, and his cab horse Strawberry. During a failed attempt by Digory to transfer Jadis from London back to her own world of Charn, the group arrived in the unmade darkness of Narnia just prior to Aslan calling it into being.
In the Narnian year 1, Aslan began the creation soon after they arrived, and with his song called forth the stars, sun, and eventually all landforms, plants, and animals as well. When he was finished, Aslan selected certain animals from these to be Talking Animals, giving to them, and all other magical creatures, Narnia as their new home, to own and rule it with wisdom and caring.
Aslan next appointed its first rulers, the cabby and his wife, as King Frank I and Queen Helen (the cabby's wife Nellie was called into Narnia by Aslan soon afterwards), and commanded them to rule peacefully over the talking beasts. Aware that the evil Witch-Queen Jadis had entered his new land, Aslan sent Digory to retrieve a magic apple from a garden in the Western Wild beyond Narnia. When Digory returned, the apple was planted by the river, where it immediately grew into a tree which as Aslan explained would protect Narnia from Jadis for many years.
Aslan allowed Digory to take an apple from the new tree back to Earth for his ill mother. After she had eaten it, Digory planted the core in his garden, where it grew into a great apple tree. Many years later, the tree was blown down in a storm, and Digory (who was now a professor), had its wood made into the wardrobe that figures in the title of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—for this wardrobe became the entrance through which the Pevensies would discover Narnia.
Age of Winter
During the Age of Conquest, Narnia remained at peace for hundreds of years after its creation until Jadis the Witch-Queen returned as the White Witch in 898. She conquered Narnia and reigned as a tyrant in 900, using her wand to turn anyone who crossed her into stone. With her magic she covered the land in perpetual ice and snow, making it "always winter and never Christmas" preventing Father Christmas from entering; so began Narnia's Age of Winter. Though she claimed to be Queen of Narnia and Châtelaine of Cair Paravel, Jadis ruled from her own fortress in the north, where her halls were lined with the Narnians that she had turned to stone.
By this time, Narnia's humans have either died out or had been driven out (though humans remained in Archenland and Calormen at the time). Jadis feared a prophecy that "when Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sit at Cair Paravel in the throne, the evil time will be over and done." The tree spirits that are on Jadis' side were thus always watching for human intruders. A hundred years into the endless winter, Lucy Pevensie entered Narnia, 1000 years after Digory and Polly's visit, who was befriended by Tumnus the Faun, and Lucy and her siblings managed to reach Aslan before Jadis could kill them. In the Narnian year 1000, under Aslan's influence, the Witch's spells were broken, and the winter came to an end. Aslan restored the Narnians whom the Witch had turned into stone and killed the Witch herself at the First Battle of Beruna, and so ended the Age of Winter and began the Golden Age of Narnia.
Golden Age of Narnia
After the defeat of the Witch in 1000, Aslan fulfilled the ancient Narnian prophecy and made the four Pevensie children—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy—Kings and Queens of Narnia. The ensuing prosperity inaugurated Narnia's Golden Age. In the first few years, the Pevensies vanquished the remnants of the White Witch's Army. They also had to contend with other countries that had feared Jadis but grew bolder after her death. The Pevensies drove back the northern giants and in 1014 defeated an invading army from Calormen during the Battle of Anvard (as related in The Horse and his Boy). The two Kings and two Queens were always triumphant, and during the fifteen years of their reign Narnia was a safe and happy land. In 1015, the Pevensies left the Narnian world and returned to Earth while trying to catch the white stag. So the Golden Age of Narnia ended. Lewis tells little of the following years until the invasion of the Telmarines.
Dark Age of Narnia
What happened between the disappearance of the Pevensies in 1015 and the Telmarine Invasion in 1998 is unclear. What is stated in the timeline is that Aravis and Cor's son, named Ram the Great, became king of Archenland in 1050, and Swanwhite II became the queen of Narnia in 1502.
Telmarine Age of Narnia
In the Narnian year 1998, Narnia was invaded by people from the West called the Telmarines, descendants of pirates from Earth, and so began the Telmarine Age of Narnia. Led by Caspian I, they left their land in the West to escape a great famine and reached Narnia by crossing a pass in the mountains. After years of Telmarine rule, the native "Old Narnians" decreased in number and went into hiding. Humans became the dominant species. By the time of the birth of Caspian X (a direct descendant of Caspian I), the old days of Narnia were widely regarded as legendary and knowledge of the Old Narnians was actively suppressed by the Telmarine kings. People began to fear the woods and the sea, and to forget that the old creatures had once lived there.
Age of Exploration
Peter Pevensie and his siblings were recalled to Narnia in the Narnian year 2303, 1288 Narnian years after their departure.
Narnia was then ruled by the Telmarine King Miraz, who had murdered his brother Caspian IX and usurped the throne when Caspian IX planned to give Narnia back to the Old Narnians. Miraz planned to murder the true heir, his nephew Prince Caspian, after the birth of his unnamed own son. Caspian had learned of Old Narnia and its creatures and had become sympathetic to their plight.
The four Pevensies helped Caspian defeat Miraz at the Second Battle of Beruna, and Caspian recovered the throne. Caspian took firm control of Narnia, knighting many of his officers from the War of Deliverance and appointing a loyal council composed of both Telmarines that did not return to their original home on Earth and Narnians.
He ensured equality and peace between the races, and renewed Narnia's alliance with Archenland. He waged a successful war against the giants in the North and rebuilt the Narnian navy.
Lucy and Edmund came to Narnia once again three years later with their cousin Eustace in the Narnian year 2306, and sailed with Caspian aboard the ship Dawn Treader. Caspian undertook this journey to find the Seven Great Lords of Narnia who had been banished by Miraz to the far Eastern Seas beyond the Lone Islands.
Caspian restored Narnian control over the Lone Islands (which had lapsed under Telmarine rule) and explored the unknown eastern islands to the very edge of the world. The explorers had many adventures, including fighting a sea serpent, encountering a wizard and his invisible subjects, and Eustace being turned briefly into a dragon.
Caspian married the daughter of a star named Ramandu. After the birth of their son Rilian, the queen was killed by a witch in the form of a serpent, and Rilian, by then a young man, disappeared while searching for her.
Eustace was drawn back to Narnia 50 years later in the Narnian year 2356 along with a school friend, Jill Pole, to find that the passage of time had left Caspian an old man. Caspian's son Rilian had disappeared, and as Caspian embarked on a final voyage to seek Aslan's advice about the succession, the children and Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle began their own search for Rilian.
This took them to the Wild Lands of the North, inhabited by giants, and to Underland, where they found Rilian and the Lady of the Green Kirtle, who had bewitched him. They freed Rilian, who in turn killed the witch. They returned to Narnia to find Caspian dying as he returned from his voyage.
Later Ages
The world of Narnia was finally destroyed in the Narnian year 2555 at the end of the Later Ages, during the reign of King Tirian, son of King Erlian and seventh in descent from Rilian.
A talking ape named Shift constructed an elaborate conspiracy in a selfish attempt to change Narnia to his liking. By dressing a donkey named Puzzle in a lion's skin and claiming him to be Aslan, Shift began surreptitiously to gain control of the country, forcing inhabitants to do his bidding in the lion's name. He then made contact with the rulers of Calormen, inviting them to conquer Narnia for their mutual advantage.
Calormene soldiers under Captain Rishda Tarkaan soon arrived, and by the time King Tirian learned of the ape's treasonous plans, they were well on the way to completion. Shift told the Calormene soldiers that Tash and Aslan were one being called "Tashlan".
With the help of Eustace and Jill, who return to Narnia 199 year later (who arrived in time to rescue the king from capture), Tirian attempted to rally Narnia and drive out the invaders, but the divisive effect of the false Aslan and the capture of Cair Paravel by a Calormene fleet rendered his efforts unsuccessful. Tirian and his remaining supporters came to a last stand against Rishda's army at the Battle of Stable Hill, where Tirian was defeated.
End of Narnia
But in the course of this final stand, the defenders were forced back into the stable and found inside to their surprise, Aslan's country: all that the real Narnia ever had that was good, a Narnia-within-Narnia. Aslan was waiting for them and told them that this final defeat signified the End.
Opening the Stable door, the children and other survivors witnessed the end of Narnia, the coming home of the stars, the dragons, salamanders, and giant lizards uprooting the trees until they grew old and died, the in-rushing of the sea, the destruction of sun and moon with the former being crushed by Father Time and the latter being destroyed by the sun's red giant form, and ultimately the end of all that existed in the world.
Aslan called all of its inhabitants to him. Those who had been faithful were taken with him into his own land, where they met people who had died previously in Narnia. Those who had been unfaithful were turned away at the entrance to the new land and faded into the shadows to an unknown fate that not even C.S. Lewis know what happened to them. The Calormen were sent to Tash except for one who was later found in Aslan's Country.
Aslan's Country was bigger and better than the old Narnia, those who had died were found alive in it, because it was the "real" one, whereas the old Narnia had been just a copy of Aslan's land. "That was the dream, this is reality." It is also indicated that Aslan's country connected "further up and further in" to the "real" England, where Lucy Pevensie was able to see her parents, who died in a train wreck that killed all the other Pevensie siblings (except Susan), as well as Digory, Polly, Eustace, and Jill.
Contact with Earth
There are seven documented events of contact between the world of men and the world of Narnia. Dates are taken from a timeline provided in the book Past Watchful Dragons by Walter Hooper (ISBN0-02-051970-2).
In The Magician's Nephew, four humans, Frank (last name unknown), Andrew Ketterley, and children Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, were present at the creation of Narnia, having been brought there by a series of unfortunate events. The same day, Aslan called Frank's wife, Helen, from England, and the two remained in Narnia as King and Queen. The children and Andrew returned to London (AD 1900).
In (Narnian Year) N460, as alluded to in Prince Caspian, six human pirates and their wives from the South Sea entered the land of Telmar through a magic cave. They remained in Telmar, and their descendants formed the Telmarine civilisation.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in Narnian year 1000, four siblings—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—entered Narnia through a wardrobe Digory had built from the wood of a magical Narnian tree. Aslan returned to Narnia at the same time, defeated the foreign ruler Jadis, now known as the White Witch, and set up the four children as kings and queens. They ruled for fifteen years before returning to AD 1940 England as if no time had passed at all, back in the state of childhood.
In Prince Caspian, in Narnian year 2303 and Earth year AD 1941, the Pevensie children were summoned to Narnia by magic to help remove a Telmarine usurper, King Miraz, from the Narnian throne and establish the teenage Prince Caspian as king. Aslan allowed the Telmarines who accepted native Narnians as equals to remain in Narnia and returned the others to the South Sea island their people came from.
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in Narnian year 2306 and Earth year 1942, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie and Eustace Scrubb entered Narnia through a magic painting and took part in Caspian's voyage to the edge of the world.
In The Silver Chair, in Narnian year 2356, Aslan brought Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole to Narnia, where they rescued Rilian, son of the now elderly Caspian, from his enchanted captivity. Caspian died but was resurrected in Aslan's country. Aslan briefly allowed him to cross over into the children's world (England, AD 1942) to help them in return, which resulted in the removal of a corrupt school administrator.
In The Last Battle, King Tirian of Narnia appeared to the friends of Narnia in England (AD 1949), and Aslan brought Eustace and Jill to Narnia in Narnian year 2555 to assist Tirian at the end of his reign.
It is possible that there were other visits. Given that the darker-skinned Calormenes differed in appearance from northern peoples (like Telmarines and Archenlanders), it is possible that they are descended from another group from the world of men; however, this is not stated in the books.
Another perspective on Narnian history
In The Last Battle, Jewel the Unicorn discusses Narnian history with Jill Pole, explaining that while she (and the readers) imagines it to have been excessively turbulent ("It's a pity there's always so much happening in Narnia"), that is only because humans have been sent to aid Narnia at its worst times. At other times there were long periods of peace and prosperity.
Outline of Narnian History
Lewis provided a timeline of events related to The Chronicles of Narnia, in emulation of The Tale of the Years chronology in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He gave an "Outline of Narnian History" in manuscript form to Walter Hooper, who included it in his essay Past Watchful Dragons: The Fairy Tales of C. S. Lewis.[15][16] The novels never explicitly mention the year or years in which events take place, so the timeline is the only source for this information. Kathryn Lindskoog, along with other Lewis's scholars, has challenged the authenticity of some posthumous works attributed to Lewis and edited by Hooper,[17] but the validity of the outline in particular has not been questioned. The outline is accepted by Lewis experts and has been included in works by Paul Ford,[18] Martha Sammons[19] and others.
Consistency with other works
Several people have pointed out more or less significant areas where Lewis's Outline is not consistent with the text of the Chronicles. For example, the outline dates Queen Swanwhite c. 1502, though according to The Last Battle she ruled Narnia before Jadis returned (meaning that her reign must have ended before 898). Paul Ford, author of Companion to Narnia, points out that the text of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe states that Lucy and Edmund are one year apart in age, the years given in the timeline for their births, 1930 and 1932 respectively, would put their ages at something more than a year.[18] Devin Brown, author of Inside Narnia: A Guide to Exploring The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, uses the timeline as a way to reconcile some of the statements concerning the timing of Aslan's appearances in Narnia with other characters' recollections of those appearances.[20]
The timeline begins in the Narnian year 1 and continues to the Narnian year 2555, which corresponds with the period of time in London from year AD 1900 until AD 1949. He concludes the Narnian entries with the last battle and the "End of Narnia", and concludes the end of the London entries with "1949: Serious accident on British Railways".
The timeline also lists the dates of notable events in the series, particularly the main periods where the protagonists enter Narnia. Digory and Polly entering Narnia in 1900, and the Pevensies twice enter Narnia in 1940 and 1941. This corresponds to the Pevensies arrival in Narnia in the Narnian year 1000, where Aslan sacrifices himself, and Peter becomes Narnia's new ruler. According to the timeline, the Pevensies vanish out of Narnia while hunting the White Stag in the Narnian year 1015, one year after King Peter carries out a successful raid on the Northern Giants, and King Lune of Archenland defeats an attack by Prince Rabadash. Lewis also gives the AD 1942 as the year that both The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair take place. This corresponds to Caspian X's voyage to the end of the world in 2306–2307, Narnian time.
The timeline also lists Narnia dates for events that are mentioned in passing, or only implied, in the books. For example, the timeline indicates that Moonwood the Hare lived around the Narnian year 570 (mentioned in the Last Battle), that the White Witch Jadis returns to Narnia around year 898 (corresponding roughly with her hundred-year reign), that King Ram of Archenland succeeds Cor in 1050 (as stated, without the year in The Horse and His Boy), and that Queen Swanwhite lived around the year 1502 (also mentioned in The Last Battle).
Regnal history
While only some kings and queens are named in the book, the custom of Narnians to name sons after fathers, as well as a timeline that Lewis wrote outside of the series proper, helps create a fairly complete list of monarchs in the world of Narnia. This table gives the regnal years of the monarchs, as determined by the timeline and clues in the books themselves.
Baron/Baroness of Ettinsmoor (acquired by Caspian X)
Count/Countess of the Western Marches
Inspiration
Dunluce Castle in the last decade of the 19th century
Beginning in 1906, young C.S Lewis (1898–1963) visited the northern Irish seaside near Portrush many times.[22][23] In later years, Lewis remembered the sounds of the sea, the cliffs rising above it, and the ruined medieval towers of Dunluce Castle which many authors have speculated may have inspired his creation of Cair Paravel.[22][23][24]
Narnia and Narni (Italy)
C. S. Lewis took the name from the Italian town of Narni, whose Latin name was in fact Narnia. Concerning Narnia and Narni Roger Lancelyn Green writes about C.S. Lewis and Walter Hooper:
When Walter Hooper asked [C.S. Lewis] where he found the word 'Narnia', Lewis showed him Murray's Small Classical Atlas, ed.G.B. Grundy (1904), which he acquired when he was reading the classics with Mr Kirkpatrick at Great Bookham [1914-1917]. On plate 8 of the Atlas is a map of ancient Italy. Lewis had underscored the name of a little town called Narnia, simply because he liked the sound of it. Narnia — or 'Narni' in Italian — is in Umbria, halfway between Rome and Assisi.
Narnia, a small medieval town, is situated at the top of an olive-covered hill. It was already ancient when the Romans defeated it in 299 BC. Its thirteenth-century fortress dominates a deep, narrow gorge of the Nera river which runs below. One of its most important archaeological features is a Romanesque cathedral, which contains the relics of a number of Umbrian saints.
Pauline Baynes, original illustrator for the Narnia books and maps; she also illustrated some of J. R. R. Tolkien's books, and drew two poster maps of Middle-earth (but not the ones published in the books).
^Lewis, C.S. (1964). The Last Battle. Puffin. p. 42. ISBN0140302050. ...and Tirian was once more alone with the cold and the darkness. He thought of other Kings who had lived and died in Narnia in old times and it seemed to him that none of them had ever been so unlucky as himself. He thought of his great-grandfather's great-grandfather King Rillian...
^ abDuriez, Colin (2013). C. S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship. Lion Books. ISBN978-0745955872. I have some vague memories of the cliffs round there and of Dunluce Castle, and some memories that are not at all vague of the same coast a little further on at Castlerock where we used to go in the old days. (letter from Lewis to Arthur Greeves, written in 1915)
^"Ruined UK castles spring back to life". CNN. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2020. …the dramatically situated clifftop Dunluce Castle (pictured above) in County Atrium, Northern Ireland. […] Its otherworldly look is said to have inspired CS Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Apparently, the ruins formed the basis for the Narnian castle of Cair Paravel.
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