Question about the lamb

[Geraud]

Was the lamb in Last Battle, who asked Shift about Tash, Aslan? I know that he would seem to be Aslan as a lamb was the form that Aslan took in VDT; however, something that the Lamb said in TLB made me think otherwise. The Lamb said that the "Narnians belong to Aslan, and the Calormenes belong to Tash." However, Aslan explains to Emeth later in the book that a Narnian could do a cruelty in his name, and it would truly be done in the name of Tash, and a Calormene could do something good in Tash's name, and it would be really done in the name of Aslan. So basically, Aslan tells Emeth that Narnians and Calormenes choose by their actions which diety to follow. Still, the lamb isn't mentioned anywhere else in the book (except when Jewel didn't know what happened to him), so Aslan may have been him.

[Aslan the Wise one]

Very True I never really thougot of that. Lewis once did say another name for Aslan or tittle was a lamb.

[elfjad]

I thought exactly the same as you. I read all seven Chronicles in a marathon read in December and I remembered that Aslan was in the form of a lamb at the end of VotDT. The lamb is a very Christian symbol as well (Agnus Dei etc.) and I don't think anything would really have been made of the lamb saying the cleverest thing or having an uncertain departure if it had not been of some importance. I think that lamb was Aslan.

[Puzzle dear]

Wow, I never thought about the lamb that way! Could be.

[HM High King Peter]

I think you have thought very well my Narnian friend. Mr. Beaver (and NOT Tumnus as in the movie!) did tell HM Queen Lucy that Aslan would be coming and going. And you are right to point out the Lamb becoming Aslan at the end of VDT. That was perhaps one of the most blatant Christian images that Lewis put into the Narnia stories. Both the Lion and the Lamb are Biblical references to Christ (Lamb of God=Agnus Dei; Lion of Judah) and would have been of natural use to a liturgical worshiper as no doubt Lewis was.

[Deeper_Wonderment]

I think the lamb was probably symbolic, but I don't think it was Aslan. After all, it was there with its mother, and I don't think they had the virgin birth in Narnia. :D I think it was just Lewis being clever.

[PrinceOfTheWest]

I agree with Deeper Wonderment. Just because it was a lamb doesn't automatically connect it to the lamb at the end of Dawn Treader. After all, there were ordinary lambs in Narnia. Lewis may have been thinking of the wisdom of innocence when he had the lamb pose the question that almost blew the ape's cover and forced him to utter the "Tashlan" blasphemy, but I think it's quite a stretch to suppose that lamb was Aslan based on nothing more than that fact that Aslan had once appeared as a lamb.

[Aslan's Beloved Daughter]

I believe that God is like a Lion/shepherd, not that he IS one, and that we are his sheep. I dont know if this makes at all any sense to this topic, but that's what I think.

[PrinceOfTheWest]

Well, I think the point was that Aslan assumed other forms in the Chronicles, and one time at the end of Dawn Treader it was as a lamb. Geraud was wondering if the lamb in Last Battle might have been Aslan. I don't think so, but it's plausible.

[banjo]

i know this has nothing to do with the thread, however can someone please explain why 5 or 6 white stones or marbles fall out of the wardrobe . These are present for the whole film yet no reference is made to them

[PrinceOfTheWest]

They're mothballs. Not seen much these days because most of our clothes are made of things other than wool and most of our houses are much better sealed than older dwellings, but it used to be that moths could get in among stored garments and lay eggs. The larvae would eat the wool. The mothballs were made primarily of naphthalene, which repelled these insects. See here (http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may98/894550073.Gb.r.html) for more details on mothballs.

[EveningStar]

I think the lamb was probably symbolic, but I don't think it was Aslan. After all, it was there with its mother, and I don't think they had the virgin birth in Narnia. :D

Are you sure it didn't give virgin wool? Yeah, that was ba-aa-aa-ad! :p

[elfjad]

Just to point out - it never says the lamb was there with its mother. The ape says "Go home to your mother and drink milk".

[high_kingpeter]

this is quite a good topic. However, I do not think that the lamb was Aslan, I think it was a symbol of purity, of innocence, of how truth can be found from the simplest of hearts.