That's always struck me, too, Shield! Before I read LB (or MN, for that matter) I always was bothered that Satan was portrayed as a woman because the Bible never, ever indicates that. But when Tash showed up I was a bit relieved (as well as disgusted at Tash himself). Maybe the White Witch represents more of an antichrist rather than Satan himself? 😕

Or Tash is not directly (in a parallel sense) Satan, but rather more like a demon? Jadis, I think, bears more of Satan's attributes. Besides being the more active character of the two, she has more of the "angel of light" thing going for her (aka, beautiful, but deadly). She is also shown (again, probably because Tash isn't really active) as directly opposing Aslan. And while Tash does come to Narnia at the "invitation" of Rishda and the rest, Jadis set herself up as Queen of Narnia ("prince of this world"?). Traitors also "belong" to her.
But then, Tash's influence is more subtle (ie: he may not be directly commanding folks about, but the ideas surrounding him do) and he doesn't die, which Jadis definitely does.

What about the LotGK? I think she too has certain attributes similar to Jadis: beautiful, cunning, deceptive, has a desire to rule over Narnia by making herself "queen" and interestingly enough, turns into a serpent.

Random thought: It's Tash's country, not Jadis's.

I've always considered Calormen to be more the "country of Tash", given that they directly worship him and the Narnians are more directed towards Aslan.

The witches seem to be less powerful than Tash, and both of them die. Tash never does.
On a random thought, perhaps there's an even greater evil controlling all of them?

I think Tash is a more dangerous villain than Jadis. Tash seems to be demonic: he takes Rishda and Shift off somewhere after they go through the stable door, but Jadis' power seems to stop when she died. Tash is also successful in keeping the Calormenes from knowing the true Aslan and they kill men in Calormen on Tash's altar.

Of course Jadis is also very powerful and wants human sacrifice as well, but most of the Narnians still hope Aslan will return and they know she is an imposter.

I agree that there could be a greater evil controlling them both; both Tash and Jadis have basically destroyed worlds.

The question, of course, is how long has Tash been around? How long after the world was created did he show up?

I have an idea that Tash as ancestor of Tisrocs was a man.

Snorre says Odin was a man, Frey was a man, their descendants were Ynglings in Uppsala. Since Odin is said to have immigrated from "Tyrkjaland" ("Turkey", but not sure what were its limits back when Snorre wrote), CSL might in Calormen partly be poking fun at Odinism.

However, this man is not identical to the demon who shows up in LB, indeed not even to the idol worshipped in Tashbaan. If I were to sacrifice people on the altar of my grandpa (who would not have wanted such a thing, it would have horrified him completely), hope I will never sink so deep of course, the picture of that altar would not be my grandpa, even if it were a photo : it would be a picture inhabited by some demon, since such are recipients of idol worship. So, Tash as worshipped in Tashbaan was already a demon, presumably the same as showed up in the LB.

This brings us to the question on whether the demon came to the Narnian world before the human historic Tash did. I think Tash the demon was worshipped by Jadis already in Charn, and came to Narnia with Jadis.

Note, Jadis is not human. When Mr and Mrs Beaver say she is "part giant, part Jinn, descended from Lilith" this may be a false opinion of how demonic giants came to be, but it does identify her as a demonic giant. The part on Lilith being "Adam's first wife" is wrong, but Frank or Helen, though presumably Anglican Christians, might one or other or both of them have a Jewish connexion.

What Jadis fails to do in MN is what the serpent succeeded in doing in Eden. However, though Christian Orthodoxy says the serpent is Satan, Jews would tend to view the serpent as Lilith.

So, let us consider Jadis as a failed Lilith and Tash as a rather more successful Abaddon of the Narnian world. When I say a "failed" Lilith, Jadis did succeed later, for a hundred years.

I think the human Tash was initiated by her in Tash worship and into impersonating "his god" for Calormenes. And possessed by Tash as she was already.

It seems demonic pseudohumans and even demons sometimes also revel in idolatry as in worshipping demons. I am not sure if the Nine Muses were demons or witches, but Hesiod records that while he overheard their singing, they sang hymns to all the gods ranging from Zeus to ... Kronos with the Crooked Mind - does that sound like demon worship? I think it does. So, Jadis was a demonic being worshipping a demon - though of course also, at the same time, in LWW she honours (pays lip service) to Emperor over the Sea as His hangman - a role which is that of Satan.

Narnia is in a world were some things, like evils, are smaller and less ultimate than in our world.

Hmm, if you put it that way, it does make more sense. I know nothing about Lilith beyond Lewis's note about her being "Adam's first wife", something I definitely don't believe myself. Though I do think your proposition may well fit the mythology (spiritual aspect) of the Narnian world....

CSL and JRRT seems to have loved to speculate on "what if the fall hadn't happened?"

Narnia is a land where men bring their fallenness from England. But Narnian creatures as such are not fallen.

In Perelandra, he shows a scenario where a fall is averted.

And JRRT of course had elves represent how humanity might have looked if it weren't fallen.

I always assumed that the Lilith aspect of Jadis was a tribute on Lewis' part to his sort-of literary mentor, George MacDonald - or an acknowledgement of the inspiration from him - a powerful vampire-pale woman in another world who tempts the hero, seeks to destroy local children because of a prophecy, and rules from a beautiful but corrupt city with a faint resemblance to Charn, with an implied power-alliance to a demonic force? Some obvious connections, yeah. Also, since George MacDonald's Lilith had a running theme of traveling across worlds and remaking your identity and your home there, with an implication that there were beings who could walk between many worlds, it would make a strange sort of sense if an otherworld-Lilith who might or might not be connected to Jewish folklore either did some worldhopping at some point, or encountered another world-traveler, and... well, contributed to the Charn genetic lines of magical power. <.< Or established herself as a goddess to be worshiped in Charn.

*ahem* Speculation about the Lilith/Jadis connection aside -

Does Jadis NEED to be Satan, as such? Tash as something demonic, or at least playing a demon-like role in the world regardless of if he's exactly a fallen Angel, makes sense. But Why can't a world have more than one evil? Jadis is a corrupt ruler - one who will do anything to maintain her power, and who is allowed to have her way for awhile while the people are asking "how long?" before God comes in to save. If you want Biblical parallels, there are plenty for that Type of a person - Pharaoh, Babylon, even the Assyrians for a time - can an evil ruler oppressing the people of God just be an evil ruler oppressing the people of God? 🙂

Different thread, perhap, but Elves - weren't so much a perfect species, as a species which stood or fell on a case by case basis rather than by a single act of rebellion. When they were good they were very good, and when they were bad they were horrid. 😉

There is a newly created YouTube channel called Into The Wardrobe (which if you haven't seen, I would recommend checking it out). He touched on the theories of the origins of Tash. One was that he may have originated from Charn. There is even a possibility that Jadis allowed herself to be possessed by Tash. It would have explain that they both claim the rights to the their lawful prey (Edmund and Rishda notably).

When you read about where Tash makes an appearance in The Last Battle, it's like, "What? He was real?" I think it was all worth the wait. And he only has one line the whole series- "Thou hast called me into Narnia Rishda Tarkaan. Here I am. What has thou to say." It's as Rishda was playing with fire, using the name of Tash randomly, though doesn't believe in Tash. From a religious aspect, Jesus had dealt with religious leaders who claim to do things for God. He even pointed out that they actually belong to Satan. So the idea of Rishda doing things in the name of Aslan but actually realizing he belong to Tash is the same idea as the religious leaders saying they're doing things for God yet they actually belong to Satan.

That’s a good insight, Jasmine!