I'm currently watching the chronicles of Narnia movies and I recognise fauns and minotaurs but I also keep seeing creatures that are too goat like to be Fauns. Basically I was wondering if these creatures had an actual mythological origin or if they are a creation for the movies.
Ive started to refer to them as Satys which they aren't really but i don't beleive they're the same species as the likes of Mr. Tumnus.
While I enjoyed the original BBC and the more recent films, I feel like the Narnia series needs someone to find a way to do all of them (movie or series). Whether they would or not, I think it would be interesting to see the Harry Potter production team take this on (Yates and crew) or have Jackson and Del Toro try to figure it out. Wētā Workshop would also be a must.
One can dream, heh.
Recently, I got my hands on a Lego faun, and so the first thing I had to do was build this guy.
Whenever I think of Narnia, this is who I imagine, especially his look when Lucy first meets him under the Lamppost. Maybe thats because it was one of the first images in Lewis' head that inspired Narnia too. To me, Mr. Tumnus is sort of the quintessential character of the series, despite only showing up in in 3 of the books (two of them only briefly).
Who or what is your first image when you think of Narnia? Which character or scene comes to mind immediately, or which one feels like it captures what Narnia is to you?
If you set her aside and she sends general Otmin and Ginarrbrik to lead her 15k creatures of all sort against Miraz's 10k soldiers and 800 of them are cavalry. Could the Telmarines with their trebuchets lay siege of the incoming beast army before going all out on them?
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, completed by the end of March 1949 and published by Geoffrey Bles in the United Kingdom on 16 October 1950, tells the story of four ordinary children: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, Londoners who were evacuated to the English countryside following the outbreak of World War II. They discover a wardrobe in Professor Digory Kirke's house that leads to the magical land of Narnia. The Pevensie children help Aslan, a talking lion, save Narnia from the evil White Witch, who has reigned for a century of perpetual winter with no Christmas. The children become kings and queens of this new-found land and establish the Golden Age of Narnia, leaving a legacy to be rediscovered in later books.
Hi everyone in this group.
I'm working on a MTG (card game) Narnia set as a personal project and going to spend the next 16 months working on it.
I've finished re watching all 3 films and am about to start the books. What are some niche moments / facts you think only the big big Narnia fans would know that should be included in this set .
I work with people living with dementia, and one of my favourite things we do is our Friday afternoon reading club.
After a busy week, we all come together, get our favourite drinks, and I sit and read whatever book we’re currently working our way through. It’s amazing what it can do. We have several residents who will often walk with purpose around the home, but during reading club they all settle down and listen so intently. It genuinely makes my day — especially because I love doing all the voices!
For the last two weeks, we’ve been reading The Magician’s Nephew. What’s surprised me most is that some of the residents have remembered what happened the previous week. Usually, I give them a little recap at the start, but this week some of them remembered things before I even mentioned them.
I also deliberately never told them at the beginning that we were reading a Narnia book.
Today, we reached Chapter 9: The Founding of Narnia, and we had one of those wonderfully unexpected moments that you don’t get to experience every day.
They had taken everything in: the idea of travelling to a completely new world, the mysterious song, and the fact that the song was bringing this new world into being. Even when the Lion appeared and began to sing, they hadn’t quite made the connection.
Then I read the chapter title: The Founding of Narnia.
And you could see it happen.
A few of them suddenly realised what was happening. They knew The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but hadn’t read the other books in the series, so the realisation that we were actually witnessing the beginning of Narnia was such a lovely moment.
There were smiles, little comments of recognition and that wonderful sense of “Oh! I know where we are!”
It was such a small thing, but it really reminded me why I love doing this.
Dementia can take away so much, but moments like this show just how much is still there — the memories, the imagination, the anticipation and, most importantly, the joy.
And honestly, I think I enjoyed reading it just as much as they enjoyed listening. ❤️📚
So just re-reading Silver Chair (after watching the bbc edition twice and loving it!), and thought of this big plothole that may have altered Jill and Eustaces experience:
If Glimfeather and the owls can carry humans up to the Marshwiggles, why couldn’t they just carry them onto Caspians ship which had just left port so they could greet him as per the first sign?
Got me thinking, what other plotholes can you think of for any of the books?
In the name of Aslan xxx
It's even funnier when you realize Ben Barnes is probably looking at a tennis ball on a stick. You could also caption it, "Talk, or I'll stick my sword up your nose."
"It was a fine meal after the Calormene fashion. I don't know whether you would have liked it or not, but Shasta did. There were lobsters, and salad, and snipe stuffed with almonds and truffles, and a complicated dish made of chicken-livers and rice and raisins and nuts, and there were cool melons and gooseberry fools and mulberry fools, and every kind of nice thing that can be made with ice. There was also a little flagon of the sort of wine that is called "white" though it is really yellow."
"A boy in the street made a beastly joke about Queen Susan," said Prince Corin, "so I knocked him down. He ran howling into a house and his big brother came out. So I knocked the big brother down. Then they all followed me until we ran into three old men with spears who are called the Watch. So I fought with the Watch and they knocked me down. It was getting dark by now. Then the Watch took me along to lock me up somewhere. So I asked them if they'd like a stoup of wine and they said they didn't mind if they did. Then I took them to a wine shop and got them some and they all sat down and drank till they fell asleep. I thought it was time for me to be off so I came out quietly and then I found the first boy—the one who had started all the trouble—still hanging about. So I knocked him down again. After that I climbed up a pipe on to the roof of a house and lay quiet till it began to get light this morning. Ever since that I've been finding my way back. I say, is there anything to drink?"
Both quotes from Chapter V Prince Corin in The Horse and His Boy.
It's very interesting to examine this in light of the whole "Tash = The Other Religion" discussion.
I was introduced to the franchise through the movies; I really enjoy them and hold a certain nostalgic fondness for them, having watched them as a child. However, I had never read the books until recently, when I bought the single-volume edition released to celebrate the franchise's 75th anniversary. I read them all in sequence, starting with The Magician's Nephew and ending with The Last Battle. I decided to write my analysis of the books to see the views and counterpoints of other readers, whether they are atheists or believers, fans or casual readers.
A few points worth noting before my analysis:
I have been an atheist for as long as I can remember; I am not the extremist type who hates God, I simply do not believe in His existence.
I am aware that, given my lack of belief, I am not exactly the target audience.
I finished reading the books only recently, so my analysis might change after I’ve had some time to let the story sink in.
I do not intend to offend or belittle believers or the author; if I happen to do so during my analysis, I apologize, please know it was not my intention.
I’m going to provide a brief, objective analysis to keep the text concise.
With that said, I’ll start my analysis based on the order in which I read the books.
The Magician's Nephew
The story has a magical, epic, and beautiful vibe, and it keeps the reader curious about how things will unfold. The characters are charismatic and serve their purpose well, though I wish they had been more fully developed; in my opinion, this didn't happen because the book’s main focus is narrating the creation of Narnia. While this is magical and interesting at first, it occasionally becomes tedious and repetitive. All the books feature descriptions of objects, structures, and locations, but these usually take a back seat, serving merely to help the reader get their bearings and understand the setting, while the primary focus remains on the characters' journeys and the story's progression. In my opinion, the reverse happens here: the focus is primarily on describing things, creating the impression that events are unfolding independently of the characters, as if the creation of Narnia would have happened exactly the same way even if they hadn't been there. For someone who believes in God and the creation of the world by His hands, this might be a magnificent and beautiful journey, as you are essentially witnessing a retelling and adaptation of the world's creation according to your faith. For me, however, the impact was less profound, though not entirely absent. In short, I found the concept interesting but the execution overly drawn-out; my final rating is 8/10.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
As I mentioned earlier, I discovered the franchise through the movies, so I was already familiar with the story (or at least an adapted version of it). Having seen the film, I was able to connect the events, characters, objects, and so on from the book with what I had seen on screen, which enriched the reading experience. The story is great, the characters are excellent, the antagonist is perfect, and the world is incredibly rich in detail, covering cultures, beliefs, history, geography, races, and much more. I found the book to be polished and a real pleasure to read; I can't think of any downsides, except perhaps for the appearance of Santa Claus, which I found a bit too silly and unnecessary, though I do acknowledge that, for a child, it’s a magical moment in the book. My rating for the book is 9/10.
The Horse and His Boy
It is simply my favorite book in the series; the story is excellent, the characters are excellent, the adventure is thrilling, and the events are engaging. In my opinion, the book's best quality is its standalone nature: it doesn't rely on having read the other books, nor does it require biblical knowledge for the reader to fully appreciate it. If I had to recommend a Narnia book to someone who isn't a believer, I would certainly recommend this one. My only criticism concerns the final battle, where the protagonist faints and wakes up to find it already over; that was disappointing, albeit funny. My rating for the book is 10/10.
Prince Caspian
The Prince Caspian movie is my favorite of the trilogy, so I had very high expectations for the book, expectations that weren't quite met. In my humble opinion, the film is superior to the book; not only is the book's pacing excessively slow, but it also has an ending I find disappointing. That said, I acknowledge I might be biased, given how much I love the movie and the fact that the book includes changes I didn't care for. Still, even if it falls short of the film (in my view), it remains a great book that introduces excellent characters like Caspian and Reepicheep, my final rating is 7/10
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I find this book very rushed, and I feel that Aslan serves as a rather simplistic plot device; whenever the characters face danger, Aslan appears to help them. This removes all the challenge from the journey, making it seem extremely easy and smooth. While I understand the parallel,that Aslan (or God) is the solution to every problem, this could have been handled more subtly. I expected much more from this book and was, unfortunately, quite disappointed. I’ve seen a lot of criticism regarding the changes made in the film adaptation, but personally, I consider them all to be the right choices. My final rating is 6/10.
The Silver Chair
A great book with incredible characters and a fascinating plot; it is a truly arduous and challenging journey, unlike the previous book, where the characters must rely on their wits and stay calm to survive the trek and complete their mission. The book is well-paced, featuring interesting passages and excellent dialogue. It significantly expands the world, introducing various new races, locations, cultures, and concepts. My only criticism concerns the final battle, which lasts less than half a page, an extremely disappointing choice given how interesting the villain is. I give the book an 8/10.
The Last Battle
I hated this book, and mind you, I went in with very low expectations given how heavily criticized it is, yet it still managed to disappoint me. I didn't like the donkey and the monkey; I found the creatures' blind belief implausible; and I found the portrayal of atheists (the unbelieving dwarves), depicted as utterly foolish and abominable beings, to be offensive. I also thought the ending was terrible: killing off all the characters in a train crash and treating Susan as unworthy of heaven for such petty reasons. To me, this is a book that only works for believers, people who believe in paradise, the end of the world, the Rapture, and other biblical concepts; for a non-believer like me, the book simply doesn't work. It’s no wonder it faces so much criticism, and if it is ever adapted for film or TV, it would require significant changes. My final rating is 3/10.
To sum up, I think The Magician's Nephew, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Last Battle rely heavily on the reader's biblical knowledge to be fully appreciated; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Silver Chair don't depend on such knowledge, though having it enriches the story; and The Horse and His Boy doesn't rely on that knowledge at all.
Thanks to everyone who read this. I want to reiterate that I had no intention of offending anyone; I simply wanted to share an honest account and hear other readers' opinions on the books.
Doesn't have to be the main character. I personally like the Jackdaw because of his part with the first joke.
A little C.S. Lewis connection in County Down
Came across this plaque on a bench and thought it was a lovely little piece of local history.
C.S. Lewis apparently enjoyed the view from this spot over the County Down countryside and Belfast Lough, and the plaque includes a quote that sums up how fond he was of the area:
“Heaven is Oxford lifted and placed in the middle of the County Down.”
For someone whose imagination gave us Narnia, it’s quite nice to think that a little bit of County Down helped inspire the man behind it.
