Companion to Narnia Book

This Narnian encyclopedia is a must-read for Narnia fans. I wish I had this book each time I read The Chronicles. As the back cover says, this has "hundreds of alphabetically arranged and indexed entries covering the characters, places, and themes" of The Chronicles.

It's extremely thorough. The descriptions fit the stories internally, and also draw on externals such as Lewis's other writings, influences on his life. It also covers allusions to the Bible and to other literature and legends.

I really liked Appendix 5, The Compleat Anglican: Spiritual Style in the Chronicles of Narnia. Appendix 6, A Narnian Atlas, has interesting maps and diagrams.

I read this because it was recommended by Inside Narnia and in other books on Narnia.

Notes

Introduction
Lewis explained the series in this way:
• The Magician's Nephew tells the Creation and how evil entered Narnia.
• The Lion etc the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
• Prince Caspian restoration of the true religion after corruption.
• The Horse and His Boy the calling and conversion of a heathen.
• The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" the spiritual life (especially in Reepicheep).
• The Silver Chair the continuing war with the powers of darkness.
• The Last Battle the coming of the Antichrist (the Ape), the end of the world and the Last Judgement.

Aslan
• Aslan doesn't tell people any stories but their own, as Jesus wouldn't tell Peter about John's fate in John 21:21-22.
• Aslan's allowing Rabadash to be healed at the temple of Tash isn't meant to advocate universalism; it just means that "Rabadash understands only his god Tash and that Aslan … has arranged for this form of punishment and for this form of release."
• Aslan's breath represents Holy Spirit.
• The sweet waters of the Last Sea picture the Holy Spirit preparing a person to see God's glory.
• "How" in Aslan's How is from the Old Norse for "mound" or "cairn."
• Aslan is Turkish for "lion." "As" is also Old Scandinavian for "god."

Bacchus
Lewis believed that Yahweh was the true God of Nature hinted at in mythology by Bacchus, Venus, Ceres, and Genius.

Cair Paravel
"Cair Paravel " probably means "city in the valley."

Calormen
"Calormen" is probably Latin "calor" (heat, warmth) plus English "men."

Charn
"Charn" sounds sinister, suggests burning, and may come from "charnel" which means "burial place."

Colney Hatch
Colney Hatch mentioned in MN was a London insane asylum.

Coriakin
Coriakin is based on pagan priests and Melchizedek.

Deplorable Word
Deplorable Word probably represents atomic bomb.

Depravity
• Lewis had a view of depravity closer to the Catholic tradition than the Calvinist tradition, believing that the human will can develop natural (not saving) virtues, and that the intellect can discover God from nature.
• Emeth is "the naturally Christian soul, who has only to be shown the truth of his situation for him to immediately acknowledge his allegiance to Aslan." See also Universalism.

Emeth
Emeth is Hebrew for "faithful, true." See also Depravity, Universalism.

Emperor-beyond-the-Sea
That the White Witch is the "Emperor's hangman" means that death works by God's permissive will.

Geography
"Geographically … Calormen is akin to the Near and Middle East, Narnia itself is much like Great Britain and Scandinavia … general directions in Narnia seem to be flipped east-for-west from those in Europe."

Gods
Why did Lewis included pagan gods in Narnia? He said "it is only in God's name that the spirits of nature can rule their domains with beauty and security. Without God, they would disappear or become demons."

Invisibility
Aslan's becoming visible in Voyage is meant to show that God keeps the natural moral law.

Last Battle
The courage and hopelessness of the Last Battle is an allusion to Ragnarok.

Magic
• Lewis defined magic as "objective efficacy which cannot be further analyzed" (Letters to Malcolm).
• Deep magic represents the demands of justice; the effects of justice in a created world; not eternal justice.
• Deeper magic represents self-sacrificing compassion; not simply mercy; it's eternal.

Plato
There's a Platonic undercurrent throughout the Chronicles. Plato believed earthly things are copies of transcendent ideas. The Platonic-Augustinian "ascent of the soul": the human heart, inspired by the limited goods of creation, discovers a desire for the unlimited source of perfection. Themes:
• One must examine one's fundamental assumptions
• Knowledge requires a special maturity and state of heart and mind.
• The contrast between appearance and reality.
• The soil is shrunken and self-deceived, forgetting its immortal identity. Real learning consists of rediscovering the higher, timeless realm.

Polly Plummer
Lewis didn't reconcile his account of human presence in Narnia in the first 3 Chronicles (Telmarines) with his account in the last 4 books (Frank and Helen).

Racism and ethnocentrism
"Lewis was a man of his time and socioeconomic class. Like many Englishmen of his era, Lewis was unconsciously but regrettably unsympathetic to things and people Middle Eastern. Thus he sometimes engages in exaggerated stereotyping … he intends this in a broadly comic way."

School
Lewis considered school a necessary evil. He said that the trouble is they teach dry subjects rather than teaching values through stories.

Sexism
The female characters of the last four books are more realistically written than earlier ones. This was probably due to Lewis' growing correspondence with female readers.

Signs
The signs of Prince Caspian are an allusion to the Ten Commandments; Aslan nearly quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-8.

Susan Pevensie
Susan's fall in The Last Battle is foreshadowed in all the books which mention her.

Tash
"Tash" is a Scottish for "blemish, stain, fault, or vice." Tash's banishment to "his own place on" (presumably Hell) seems to indicate that he represents the devil, but in HHB he's just the antithesis of Aslan's qualities, not of Aslan himself.

Technology
A recurring theme in the Chronicles is that the separation and elevation of science above classical knowledge and religion can narrow one's thought. Evil characters have an exaggerated concern for the practical.

Tree-people
Tree-people are modeled on Tolkien's trees at Helm's Deep.

Universalism
Lewis wasn't a universalist. He believed the good in non-christian religions is ultimately from Christ, and a good person finds complete fulfillment in Christ. Aslan has known and loved Emeth prior to his death. Emeth has desired and sought Aslan, though he didn't know it. See also Depravity.

Lewis wrote "Though all salvation is through Jesus, we need not conclude that He cannot save those who have not explicitly accepted Him in this life. … We are not pronouncing all other religions to be totally false, but rather saying that in Christ whatever is true in all religions is consummated and perfected." (God in the Dock). See also Matt 25:31-46; Rom 5:12-21; 1 Tim 2:2-5, 4:10; Titus 2:11; 2 Pet 3:9; 2 Thess 2:13; Eph 1:10; Col 1:20.

Vanity
Vanity is the chink in a person's armor that allows evil to enter. In the Chronicles, pride and vanity are shown transmuted into greed and love of power.

White Witch
• The origin stories of the White Witch and Jadis are contradictory because Lewis wrote Lion before Magician.
• The Hag's statement in Caspian that the witch is alive may mean that although she was killed, her spirit lives on through dark magic.

Appendix 5: The Compleat Anglican
The books are best read in publication order, to maximize impact of individual stories, and to follow the theme of "the emotional climate of Christian commitment at various age levels, from very young childhood to old age and death."

LWW: beginning of Christian commitment, which in the Anglican style begins with the holidays (Christmas and Easter) rather than conversion.

PC: mood of doubt and disillusionment associated with early adolescence, with a series of commitments that increase in depth and maturity.

VDT: church membership: ethical behaviour and participation in sacraments. Eustace's undragoning represents baptism, and breakfast with Lamb represents communion.

SC and HHB both deal with spiritual tasks of young adults, God's providence, and need for self-discipline.

SC: young adult's task of discerning truth in the midst of confusing appearances, and embracing it.

HHD: social maturity

MN: Christian's mature middle age. "The middle-aged Christian, burdened by duties and disappointed in his ability to adhere consistently to the precepts of his faith, is apt to see life with sober realism, as an exercise of the will."

LB: explores feelings of the elderly Christian in their last days. "We see the old person, deeply committed to tradition, fighting to keep it."