Post
by exTarkheena » Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:53 pm
Certainly, some of the species (such as the black dwarves, wolves, ghouls, hags, etc) seemed downright evil, but I think many of Jadis's supporters were no more than weak-willed, frightened Narnians threatened by her. Mr. Tumnus, of course, was in this category.
Others, may have been perturbed by Aslan's long absence and unwillingness to intervene in the winter. As we saw with the dwarves in PC, the so-called "Hiddeness of God" led them to anger and doubt about the power of Aslan. This, combined with their greedy nature, probably led them to become servants to Jadis.
Then, I think some may have been bribed in much the same way Edmund was. For instance, the wolves received power, and I think it likely that the monsters in her army, who had presumably been wandering the Northern moors until the tree of protection fell, were offered a less desolate home. In fact, they may even have come down from the North with Jadis as part of her conquering army.
However, I would be disinclined to believe that Jadis actually created these beings, because as we all know, her greatest power, the Deplorable Word, was no more than the power of pure hatred and destruction. Therefore, it seems more likely, and more consistent with Aslan's apparent divinity and omnipotence, that he did create the monsters of Jadis's army as a part of the world of Narnia but not the country of Narnia.
What we saw in MN was only the creation of the country of Narnia, which was I think a bit of a protected land. (We at least know that the Tree of Protection did not extend it's power all the way North, because the books say that Jadis lived there until she took over Narnia). In MN (which was written last I believe) we did not see the creation of any of the Gnomes from SC, Marshwiggles, Dragons, or Dufflepuds, even though Lewis had already written them into the Chronicles. We saw only an isolated part of the creation story. Very possibly, these creatures could have simultaneously hatched from the earth in other parts of the world.
The problem of why Alsan, an inherently good entity, would create evil creatures can then be answered in much the same was as the problem of evil and suffering is answered in our world. He created the ghouls, werewolves, wraiths, etc. in the same way as any of the talking beasts, dwarves, dryads, naiads, and other intelligent life forms in Narnia--with free will.
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) This is a lot better then what I came up with at first, because like you Ariel I didn’t like to think of the lamp post as purely the seed of evil.