Narnian Age

[NarnianAtHeart]

How old do you think a Narnian would have to be before he/she is considered an adult?

I think in Narnia, royalty was forced to act older than they were, especially when helping their dad run the kingdom.
In Calormen, since they were married off at 13 ish, that wasn't a real big thing.
Does that make sense?

[jasmine_tarkheena]

That is a good question. I think coming of age might be different in different regions.

Yet it would also depend on the definition of "coming of age". The Walden movie adaption of Prince Caspian made it a coming of age story, where Caspian learns about what it means to be king.

Narnia doesn't necessarily practice arrange marriages (at least, I don't think) but there may be times when when a parent chooses a boyfriend or girlfriend for their child.

[NarnianAtHeart]

Yes. I'll just write what was in the chat so it doesn't get buried.

jasmine_tarkheena
It might be different in each different region (Narnia, Archenland, and Calormen). Aravis was about to be married off when she's only like 12 or 13 so coming of age would've been at that age in that culture.

Ajnos
I'm not really sure. Since it's set in sort of medieval inspired setting, I feel like it might be younger than it is here but even that varied.
I sort of want to say 16 because anything younger makes me uncomfortable but I think that's based on my biases rather than anything from the stories.

jasmine_tarkheena
I think the Walden adaption of PC made it a coming of age story, where Caspian learns what means to be a king.

Lil
I think you could say that the parents had set the match from from the beginning, but that the children wouldn't actually get married untill later.

jasmine_tarkheena
Well, Aravis was about to be married off at the suggestion of her stepmother and her father agreed to it.

NarnianAtHeart
yes, but that is in Calormen

jasmine_tarkheena
Exactly. That's why I've said coming of age might be different in different regions. I don't think Narnia practice arranged marriages though there might be times when a parent would be the one to choose a boyfriend or girlfriend for their child.

jasmine_tarkheena
In my LB fanfic, the Tavern owner and his wife try to find a fitting suitor for Marietta, and did not approve of her involvement with Emeth, a Calormene. Rishda even tells Emeth that his parents would not approve of his involvement with Marietta, a Northerner.

Ariel Knight
It might depend on species-dependent factors too. We don’t know how long Talking Beasts live — do they have human-esque lifespans, do they vary the way dumb animals do (eg: a mouse lives 2-3 years while an eagle lives 14-35; is this reflected with Talking Beasts?) — and don’t know if magical creatures (centaurs, dryads, dwarfs, etc) have different maturing rates or not.

jasmine_tarkheena
I think dwarfs are known to live a long time (Trumpkin is still alive in SC). I think the dryads and naiads live a long time unless something happens (like if the tree is cut down, then the dryad would die).

[NarnianAtHeart]

That is a good question. I think coming of age might be different in different regions.

Yet it would also depend on the definition of "coming of age". The Walden movie adaption of Prince Caspian made it a coming of age story, where Caspian learns about what it means to be king.

Narnia doesn't necessarily practice arrange marriages (at least, I don't think) but there may be times when when a parent chooses a boyfriend or girlfriend for their child.

I don't think that in Narnia, they really arranged marriages. Nobles, maybe, but surfs, probably not.

Last night, I was thinking and scanning though the books and I don't think coming to age was a thing. They didn't have cars, so they didn't need to be a certain age for a licence, they didn't have elections, so they didn't need to be a certain age to vote, etc...

[jasmine_tarkheena]

Well, given that Narnia is a monarch country, they wouldn't have vote for President like we do here in the US (not to get into politics, since that is a sensitive topic). Though they might vote for Prime minister in Parliament (if there was one).

And maybe there are some families who are set in their ways when it comes to their child in marriage.. like they want to be traditional (maybe in the upper class society, that is).

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Correct, Polli: there’s nothing in the books to indicate an official coming of age or what it entails. If there is something to mark the occasion, it’s left entirely to the readers’ imagination. Additionally, Narnia has no issue with child monarchs either: the Four ranged from 8-12, and while they and Caspian (13) would have had advisors and all, they were acknowledged as the ones with actual authority, not deemed as figureheads. (There are technically no explicit receipts to show for this, but given that being a Son of Adam was a Really Big Deal regarding kingship, it’s safe to say that’s a given, especially in the case of the Four; Caspian would have had the same from the Old Narnians, and the Telmarines who stayed clearly had no issue with the new regime.)
There’s probably a standard (or multiple, varying between nations and/or species), but Lewis never felt the need to address it.

[jasmine_tarkheena]

Well, given that parents are not always in the picture (the Pevensies parents don’t know anything about Narnia and Caspian’s parents are both dead), the children would have looked up to an older Narnian figure (the Pevensies probably looked up to the Beavers as father and mother figure and Caspian probably had his nurse and Doctor Cornelius to look up to). Eustace and Jill probably had Puddleglum and King Tirian to look up to.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Not sure what that has to do with “at what age they’re considered adults”. Adults look up to mentors — even as parental figures — as well.