New! Questions ..

[Caught]

Hi. I don't have must time to post this, BUT ..

I read LWW long ago when I was pretty young, and enjoyed it very much, as well as the cartoon. Since the movie has come out, my interest for the series has been re-sparked so to say. When I was younger, I had no idea the other books existed- so I never got the chance to read them. I will in time but I have some questions!

I don't mind spoilers, after all, they really probably won't mean much to me until I know how the answers are formed, and that would only be by reading the text. So..

1. To me, there seems to be a connection between Aslan and the professor, as well as a connection between the White Witch and Mrs. MacReady. I read in the other threads that there is no connection other than a few similarities, but couldn't it have been possible if Lewis was only expecting to write one book?

2. When the kids return to 'reality', do they have complete knowledge of what happened in Narnia? If so, that would mean Lucy would have the brain of a 20 year old? (or something along those lines)

3. Why does the entrance to Narnia sometimes seem to close off? And change places, for that matter..

4. Why is the professor surprised to hear they found Narnia? What is his history and connection to it?

5. Is there any online summary of the complete series?

I know you're saying, 'you should read the books!', but I was just left with so many nagging questions I MUST know! :)

[Jewel]

Hi. I don't have must time to post this, BUT ..

I read LWW long ago when I was pretty young, and enjoyed it very much, as well as the cartoon. Since the movie has come out, my interest for the series has been re-sparked so to say. When I was younger, I had no idea the other books existed- so I never got the chance to read them. I will in time but I have some questions!

I don't mind spoilers, after all, they really probably won't mean much to me until I know how the answers are formed, and that would only be by reading the text. So..

1. To me, there seems to be a connection between Aslan and the professor, as well as a connection between the White Witch and Mrs. MacReady. I read in the other threads that there is no connection other than a few similarities, but couldn't it have been possible if Lewis was only expecting to write one book?

2. When the kids return to 'reality', do they have complete knowledge of what happened in Narnia? If so, that would mean Lucy would have the brain of a 20 year old? (or something along those lines)

3. Why does the entrance to Narnia sometimes seem to close off? And change places, for that matter..

4. Why is the professor surprised to hear they found Narnia? What is his history and connection to it?

5. Is there any online summary of the complete series?

I know you're saying, 'you should read the books!', but I was just left with so many nagging questions I MUST know! :)


2. Yes they have complete rememberance. If you recall, Lucy remembered all of what happened between her and Mr. Tumnus the first time she returned and tried to relate her experiences. They are two separate worlds and two separate realities of course so Lucy's experiences may be that of a 20 year old in Narnia but her brain is that of a kid once she returns.

3. Narnia is mysterious and uncontrollable, just like Aslan "it is not tame." There is no way to control the entrance...this would ruin it. If anyone could go in at any time, it would not be magic.

4. Read the magician's nephew...i can't spoil this one for you.

5. try google...or maybe sparknotes, cliffnotes, monkeenotes, enotes, etc.

[DeplorableWord]

As for a connection between Aslan and the Prof., no, there is no real connection except that the Prof. and Aslan have met before... yes read the Magician's Nephew. :p

[Deep_Magic]

Yep, if you read the 'Magician's Nephew', that will certainly answer #4!! as when talking to peter & susan in LWW he states that "that is more than i know" when told of a wood and a fawn.
#1 - as far as I know there is no connection, although there may be a slight one with Aslan and the old Prof. due to the first book.
#2 - Yeah they remember everything, although the whole brain thing I have no idea on!!
#3 - all i know is that it is only open sometimes to certain people, all to do with the magic side of things as Peter says to the prof. "if things are real they are there all the time" and he only replies "are they?".
#5 - im sorry i have no idea - try googeling it!

[PrinceOfTheWest]

1. To me, there seems to be a connection between Aslan and the professor, as well as a connection between the White Witch and Mrs. MacReady. I read in the other threads that there is no connection other than a few similarities, but couldn't it have been possible if Lewis was only expecting to write one book?wrt this point: don't make too much of Mrs. MacReady. She's a minor character, so to connect her with Jadis is to overstretch things.

[DeplorableWord]

Yes, like PrinceOfTheWest just said, Mrs. Mcready only appears in the books once... I believe...

[inkspot]

In PC when the kids return to Narnia, and thousands (or hundreds?) of years have passed to their one or two years, they slowly recognize the ruins of the castle at Cair Paravel, and with each new hint of where they are, memories come flooding back to them of the lives they lived there. I think they do remember their experiences, although they do not bring back through the wardrobe their adult brains.

For the rest, read MN. Read them all, actually.

[onlymystory]

Hi. I don't have must time to post this, BUT ..

I read LWW long ago when I was pretty young, and enjoyed it very much, as well as the cartoon. Since the movie has come out, my interest for the series has been re-sparked so to say. When I was younger, I had no idea the other books existed- so I never got the chance to read them. I will in time but I have some questions!

I don't mind spoilers, after all, they really probably won't mean much to me until I know how the answers are formed, and that would only be by reading the text. So..

1. To me, there seems to be a connection between Aslan and the professor, as well as a connection between the White Witch and Mrs. MacReady. I read in the other threads that there is no connection other than a few similarities, but couldn't it have been possible if Lewis was only expecting to write one book?

2. When the kids return to 'reality', do they have complete knowledge of what happened in Narnia? If so, that would mean Lucy would have the brain of a 20 year old? (or something along those lines)

3. Why does the entrance to Narnia sometimes seem to close off? And change places, for that matter..

4. Why is the professor surprised to hear they found Narnia? What is his history and connection to it?

5. Is there any online summary of the complete series?

I know you're saying, 'you should read the books!', but I was just left with so many nagging questions I MUST know! :)

1) I suppose that could have been possible but I don't think it was meant at all.
2) yes they do remember narnia well, we see more evidence of this in Prince caspian. And Lucy is portrayed as being wiser than her years anyway. I think also, while they have all this knowledge from Narnia, remember that aside from maturity, the things they learned have no use on earth. Swordfighting and the history of fauns just doesn't come up in England. So many things don't matter so much. But I would agree that with their maturity it might be a little bit of adjustment at first. However, they all had to grow up with the war and the professor helps the transition.
3) The children only enter Narnia when it is at great need. Hence the reason they get in each time. Aslan calls them.
4) The professor is the Digory that goes to Narnia in the Magician's Nephew. I believe he is surprised because he hasn't gone back since he was a boy so he didn't realize that there was another way to get there. THat's why he tells Lucy he's already tried to get back in. (IN that scene at the end of the credits)
5) you could try cliff notes for a summary of the books but honestly, they aren't that long. I would read them.

[TomNicholls]

1. Mrs Mcready has no link with the Witch or Narnia itself, however, C.S. Lewis used the minor characters to demonstrate some people's outlook and unwillingness to accept what they cannot explain or cannot come to believe. In some respects the way Susan acts (and how she drifts away from the others to the point where she doesnt believe anymore in the Last Battle) suggests that Mrs McReady is the kind of person that Susan may become if she doesnt rediscover her faith in Narnia.
Proffesor Kirk on the other hand has a strong link with Aslan - he is NOT supposed to BE the human version or any such suggestion; he has in fact been to Narnia himself. His first name, Diggory tells as much. He was the boy who's mad uncle Andrew created the rings which sent Diggory and his friend Polly out of this world and, by way of an 'imbetween place', into Narnia. Indeed, if you read the Magician's Nephew, you find out that the young proffessor actually cause the witch to enter Narnia, begins the sequence of events that led to the lampost 'growing' in Lantern Waste where Lucy first enters Narnia, witnesses Narnia's creation by Aslan himself. In the last battle, Diggory says, 'I saw [Narnia] begin, i did not think I would live to see it end.' This is why Proffessor Kirk has no problem believing Peter and Susan when they report to him of Lucy's story.

2. When they fall back through the wardrobe, they find that no time at all has past in this world, even though they have grown to adulthood in Narnia. They therefore are still the children that they were when they entered Narnia. They still remember everything that has gone by, but in Prince Caspian, Lucy mentions that since they have got back into Narnia, shouldn't they be able to do all of the things that they could as kings and queens - this implies that they no longer have the skills that they learnt in Narnia such as horseriding, swimming, swordfighting etc. However, when Jill and Eustace come to Narnia for Jill's second and Eustace's third time, Eustace mentions to King Tirian that Jill has been practising archery in England as preperation for possibly getting back to Narnia, and also that Jill knows her Narnian stars better even that King Tirian.

3. Funnily enough, there isn't really a specific entrance to Narnia mentioned save three - in the Magicians Nephew, Diggory and Polly get in through means of magic rings and magic pools of water in the wood between the worlds, in Price Caspian Peter, Su, Ed and Lucy are dragged into narnia as Caspian blows Susan's magic horn which she left behind in Narnia. In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader Edumund, Lucy and Eustace fall through a picture frame into the sea near the Dawn Treader itself, and in the Last Battle, Jill and Eustace are thrown into Narnia when the train they are on in England derails and crashes. The three references to 'doorways' are the wardrobe in LLW, in the Silver Chair, Jill and Eustace get in through a door in the wall of their school, and a brief reference is in Prince Caspian when Aslan tells the Tel Marines that they in fact come from our world, and are decended from Pirates that 'blundered or fell right through' the back of a cave on an island. In terms of exits, the wardrobe and Aslan's doorway creation in Prince Caspian through which the Tel Marines get back to that island, and the Children get back to the train station.

4. See point 1. Sorry i sound like a school teacher!!

5. I don't know whether there is a summary, i expect there's a few knowing the books popularity, but if you want to discuss any questions/puzzles, I've read Narnia more times than any other book in my 17 years, and it will always remain my favourite - i will be happy do what i can!

Drop me an e-mail if you want. tnicholls7a@hotmail.com

Sorry this is so long!
__________________________________________________ _______________
'Many who live deserve death and many who die deserve life. Can you give it to them?' Gandalf the Gray, The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien

[Caught]

Thank you for all the replies! They were indeed helpful. I did some reading since when I first posted this, and now I understand why the professor throws an apple to (peter? can't remember who he throws it to) at the end of the LWW movie, and says "Try me." (Or something along those lines). Quite funny ;p

The last question I have would be, why can't Narnian characters enter our world? Does this happen at any point of the series? I don't see why it couldn't happen if we could enter theirs, and why it couldn't happen if the Witch could go from her world to Narnia.

[DeplorableWord]

Yes, I suppose people can get from Narnia to our world, but it hardly happens.

In the Magician's Nephew, (which you really need to read ;) ) Jadis a.k.a. the White Witch, goes from her world (Charn) to England b/c first Polly and Digory went to her land then back and she "followed them".(That's the scratchy story... see MN for real details ). Then she again "followed them" into Narnia. (That was a horrible explanation of what happened but I hope you get the jist of it! :o ). Jadis hid in Narnia until she could "get enough power " to turn everything into snow and to rule it.

I think tht the main reason why people in Narnia arn't called to our land is because we don't really need them- that (and that Aslan wanted the kids to know him by another name outside of Narnia) was the main reason why the kids were all called out of our land- to help Narnia.

Also, (I don't know if you've realised this, ;)J/K ) but a lot of people are mean!!! Can you imagine what some people would do, ( not YOU or I, I hope :)) if they saw a faun, or a minatour, or a Unicorn, in our world!?! They would either probably 1. lock them up in a zoo, or 2. kill them- that's why I don't think that Aslan would call people from Narnia into or world.

Hope this helps!!!

[TomNicholls]

First thing to say is the Prof. doesn't throw an apple at Peter at the end of the film, its the cricket ball that Edmund hit through the window which causes them to run and hide in the wardrobe. Be cool if it was an apple though, although a suspect not many people would get the link, its a bit hazy!

The answer to your question about Narnian's getting into our world is that some have. The examples are Jadis in the Magician's nephew (although she is not Narnian but from Charn) where she holds on to Digory's ear as they jump into the 'home pool' in the wood between the worlds. The second would be at the end of the Silver Chair where King Caspian, who has just died an old man in Narnia, is returned to his youth in Aslan's Country and goes with Aslan, Eustace and Jill back to the doorway at Experiment House, although Caspian doesn't actually go through the door.

To say it couldn't happen I would think would be wrong, it would all depend on Aslan and his actions. I think though that people from our world getting into Narnia happens when Narnia is in need of help, but also because Aslan is preparing the children for the true Narnia (heaven) at the end of the Last Battle; a journey of faith if you like.

Hope that's clearer to you than me!

Tom

[inkspot]

Also some pirates from the south seas got in and became Telmarines, you read about that in SC, and then at the end of SC, Aslan sends their descendants back to our world.

[Deeper_Wonderment]

I think that if anyone were to get from Narnia to "our world," it'd probably have to be a human since they're from our world orginally. As Aslan says, Narnia is not a world created for men, but to be ruled over by men for the benefit of all. Perhaps a simpler version of how things were supposed to be in the Garden of Eden.

[DeplorableWord]

Also some pirates from the south seas got in and became Telmarines, you read about that in SC, and then at the end of SC, Aslan sends their descendants back to our world.

Yes, actually I think it's in Prince Caspian, but it may be in the Silver Chair as well.

[EveningStar]

Just as we get the same body to carry us through life, we are also assigned a world. One body and one world are enough for anyone. Exceptions to this rule are handled on a case-by-case basis, but as I understand it we are all expected to find happiness in the world we find ourselves and to play the game of life in the uniform we are issued.

When we leave this life, I believe the threads of all good worlds will come together and we will see what we've been missing. And others will see what they missed in us. Just a thought.

[inkspot]

Yes, actually I think it's in Prince Caspian, but it may be in the Silver Chair as well.
No, you are right, it was PC, not SC! Sorry!