TLC Forum

Excellent point, Yorick. Evil does that, pretending to be good, and Lewis shows that in a number of ways. There are always excuses, disguises and lies because even the villains feel the reality of right and wrong.

"Even the villains feel the reality of right and wrong."
How many villains do you think saw themselves as the villain of the story?

I doubt most (if any) did. Perhaps Jadis and perhaps LotGK, but, say, Miraz or Pug wouldn't have.

Mm. I guess longer life/greater knowledge might carry a certain amount of moral responsibility with it.

But even with Jadis, I kind of wonder whether she totally embraced the villain-role, or just saw stuff through a warped glass. I mean, in her own world lower-ranking persons don't carry value in her eyes, but she stands on the letter of legality with all of her might when it comes to nobility. She will not use her WMD unless her throne is being contested by a potential usurper who has broken her word as to the rules of the great game. Her ancestor was right to kill his nobles because they were plotting treason. She would not contest Uncle Andrew's local authority were he a ruler with the right blood. She expects and basks in the praise which she thinks is her due. There's a certain logic to it--she really thinks she's all that and a bag of chips, and that everybody else should, you know? Her pride in herself and her magic and her family name seems to have her blinded. And then she gets thrown into a new world where the rules are different and the laws are different and nobody knows her, and there's a power which isn't vulnerable to her and which could squash her like a bug. And she learns how to use new magic, and she tries to carve a position for herself--Emperor's hangman, rumored part-Human--where she can get a measure of the respect, or at least the fear, she's used to and considers her right. At least, that's how I see her.

With LOTGK, I don't know of her background, or what brought her mindset to where she was willing to hide in the deep places and mass an army and use subterfuge for however long in order to be able to target Narnia, in particular. Why did she have a grudge against Narnia? Or what were its resources and attractions for her? Of course she must have known that her plans were cruel, unless Enchanted!Rilian voiced her own mindset and she saw herself as grand and beautiful and pure and thought that bursting up out of the earth with the prince at her side was a big joke and that surely everyone would get over it once they saw how awesome she was, which I rather doubt. :p But I still don't know what was in her past to make it so attractive to her.

I've just remembered a Czech fairy tale...
In very condensed form and as far as I remember it, a prince enchanted into a white snake marries a princess (in the snake form) and turns back into a human at night, to her immense relief. So when she finds his snake skin, she thinks it's a good way to make sure he stays human forever and burns it; it does work, but the side effect is that he forgets her and leaves her? He's definitely gone. She then eventually finds him "married" to a queen, who's really the witch who enchanted him to begin with (because he did not want to marry her). So she tricks the witch into allowing her to stay with him three consecutive nights; but the witch gives him a sleeping potion. But he begins to be suspicious, so the third night he doesn't drink it, and finds his wife there and they live happily ever after.

So. Obviously it's by no means the same story, but I've realised it features some similar motifs (snake-shaping people, a witch who tricks a prince into marrying her, and the enchanted prince losing his memories...), and it might be interesting to see if Lewis may have known similar tales, and taken those motifs and turned them upside down and see what that says about his motives in writing the book the way he did.

It does have it's similarities - so very interesting. I wonder now, how many other folktales and fairy tales have similar motifs. Thanks for sharing, Marmota!

I'd always assumed that Rillian had an hour of disenchantment because the Witch's power couldn't cover that - sort of like an "as her strength grows, the power of her enchantments grow" kind of thing. Maybe she wasn't physically strong enough to enchant him 24/7?

I think that the Witch set her sights on Narnia because she wanted to expand her kingdom and was presented with the opportunity. She'd already conquered Underland, and maybe she wanted more. I've heard theories that the LotGK was a descendant/related to Jadis, so maybe she chose Narnia for sentimental/strategic reasons.

Oh! I recently had a brainstorm as to the issues with the thoroughness of his enchantment - do you think he might have higher resistance to hostile magic at night as a gift from his Mom's side of the family?

It's a good working theory.

Marmota B, I had never heard of the fairy tale before. Thanks for posting a synopsis. I am now wondering if Lewis did know about the Czech fairy tale, or if it is a coincidence and both are based off Genesis.