Does Susan go to the "New Narnia"?/Whatever happened to Susan?

that's a pretty good idea Ballon. We honestly don't know for sure and can't but that's sort of the impression that I get would and could possibly happen.
 
I like the idea of Susan as a wayward wanderer who gradually lost faith. It was kind of encouraging to know that the Pevensie children were not all pefect and had moments of discourage too. Still, like what cslouis said, I think I would like the idea of redemption so that she is saved in the end; that would be comforting. But I don't like the idea of a follow-up: that would take out the magic of the original chronicles and become very "Dune"- like (a sextet that has about 20 added prequels that no one really cares about).
 
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Well, I have to admit, I'm strange. I would make up stories, never write them down, but they'd be made up stories, about Susan, and her eventually coming back to Narnia. My personal favourite was that, oh, I think it was a daughter of one of her friends was coming to stay for a bit or something, and discovered an old painting of a lion in the attic, and asked if she could hang it up. So, she did, but Susan felt very uncomfortable looking at it. Then, she ended up going to an Easter service I believe, and when she came home, and saw the painting just looking at her, she remembered everything that happened, and.... yeah. :)
 
Susan's fate, however realistic, always saddened me. The line that goes something like 'she's spent all her life trying to be the age she is, and she'll spend the rest of it trying to stay that way...' That really got me. I just found it really tragic that 'gentle' Susan lost faith. And I thought maybe it was a bit out of character. You could probably explain it away with her age, if you were to write a sequel - you know, blame it on a personality crisis due to adolescence. Personally, I didn't like The Last Battle that much. It was a bit too religious for me (although that could have been that by the time I read it, I understood the references), and on top of Susan's remaining in the 'real' world', there was the way in which CS Lewis disposed of the others in this world. That was horrific!
 
judyfromkansas said:
Hmm. I like your idea! But why couldn't Susan's children actually find their way into Narnia? Remember, Narnian times flows differently from our own! Perhaps the children could find their way into Narnia's past - perhaps pick up the events from the time the original Kings and Queens blundered their way back into our world (after the hunt for the White Stag). Perhaps...and this is radical, I know...perhaps the children could even undo what led to Narnia's destruction - and then Narnia could live again! That IMO would rock. Then the oft-discussed possibility of new Narnia books might be made possible - if the right author were found...
Something to think about, anyway...
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Actually, I'm afraid it wouldn't work. Narnia time, while different from our time, still follows a strict foward moving linear motion like ours. In other words, time might move faster in Narnia but once the time has passed you cannot go back to it. Just like in our world, once the time is used that's it, no more. The time relationship between earth and Narnia can be illustrated by two lines paralleling each other. The “left” ends of the lines are stationary and cannot move – this is the beginning of time. The right sides, however, are both constantly extending further right. The Narnia line moves faster than the earth line and is therefore longer than the earth line. The time jump works like this. The children are at the very end of the right side of the earth line (the present) and they jump to the very right end of the Narnia line (the present in Narnia). In the time they spend there, the line moves 3 feet. They are still at the very right end of the line because they are always in the present, they are just 3 feet further into the future than they were when they arrived on the Narnia line. Now, at the time the Narnia line has moved three feet, the earth line has not even moved 1/8 of an inch. When the jump back to the earth line, they jump to the very right end of the line. Then, when they go back to Narnia for the second time, they once again jump to the very right end of the Narnia line which has now moved say 20 feet, while the earth line has only moved 1 foot. See how this works? Time moves forward in both places, one time just moves faster than the other. No one can go back in time in Narnia (except Aslan) just as no one can go back in time here on earth.

Oh, and Narnia was never destroyed. It was the shadow of Narnia that was destroyed. All the characters (except Susan) find themselves in the real Narnia at the end of the LB. Why would you want to undo the destruction of a shadow? No one would want to go back to that shadow after they had experienced the “more real” Narnia.
 
I was reading this and getting ready to get back to my homework (midterms tomorrow and I'm still studying), when popped into my head a little (fairly gruesome and not at all Narnia-like) story fragment. Susan has been staying with her boyfriend (she's in her late teens/early twenties, right?), but she has been having nightmares about the death of her family. One day, Aslan comes to her in her sleep and tells her that her family is fine, and they wave to her. Now she is reassured and believes once more but she wants to get back to Narnia. Not realizing that they are in the real Narnia now, she thinks she can get in by going back to the wardrobe. She manages to track it down to an auction, buys it, and brings it home, but when she goes into the wardrobe, she finds instead of being in Narnia she is in a cold abyss and she can't get out. She panicks, cries, and feels sorry for herself. She's getting cold and her hands are going numb, so she reaches back into her memory and brings back the images of sitting cheerfully by a fire with her family, and it's as if she's there. She's warm and renewed and she opens her eyes and finds herself in the real Narnia. Her body is found in the wardrobe, dead of a heart attack at age nineteen (or whatever age she happens to be).

And this is why I would never, ever be hired to write anything for the Narnia series. W00t. *hides* I'm actually debating not pressing the submit button, but oh well.
 
Wow...
In spite of the fact that you may be right about not writing anything to do with Narnia, Lord Darcey, I would venture to say that whatever you might write would be critically acclaimed. That sort of depressing but deep thing is exactly what they're making me read in college right now, lol.
 
VeritasRatioque3D said:
Narnia was never destroyed. It was the shadow of Narnia that was destroyed. Why would you want to undo the destruction of a shadow? No one would want to go back to that shadow after they had experienced the “more real” Narnia.
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can I reword and borrow that quote from you for my siggy?
 
I dunno that your story fragment is so depressing. Look at it this way. I just had a friend in college die and the worst part is wondering if he was a Christian. Yet if Susan were to be visited by and your fragment run its course Susan would wind up in the real Narnia and the shadow of this world. What is better? True that those left in this world would grieve, but she would be in a much cooler place. Small problem might be the wardrobe ceased to be a door to Narnia. I think Prof. Digory made that comment at the end of LWW.
 
You're right, SDG, I spoke too soon. It's not depressing at all. But Lord Darcey never said Susan went through the Wardrobe to Narnia, just a cold abyss, and besides, that could have been all in her mind. Wow, it really is an amazing psychological allegory! Are you planning on being a writer at all, Lord Darcey? Because you have talent, I must say.
And to Dryad: haha, you're right about VR3D's quote. It's awesome!
 
Where's Susan now?

I think Susan found her family dead and inherited everything from all of them; I think she ended up lonely and wealthy, living an empty life. Maybe she searches the Earth for the Wardrobe...maybe she used the rings...Maybe she never got to Narnia again. But if she did, it would happen because she found a way to make it happen. A strange view; people would say, how awful, her whole family dead, how could a loving God let this happen? Just Lewis' way of demonstrating; we don't know or understand the reasons behind what God does, but we can trust that He loves us. :rolleyes:
 
Susan and parents

I have wondered about the parents and Susan. It was a bit rough of Lewis to leave Susan there alone with her whole family smashed up on the railway. If he just put the Pevensie parents there so the kids could be happy to be in the new Narnia for eternity, what about Jill and Eustace's parents? I do like the idea that maybe Susan came into possession of the rings, and that brought back to her how real Narnia was, and she was able to use the rings to join her family ...
 
Susan

A couple of observations. I don't have the books with me, so I cannot quote chapter and verse, but of the four kids, Susan is always the one in a crisis who wishes they had never begun their adventure, so it is not out of character that she distances herself from Narnia. I am thinking she says they ought to turn back when they first get into Narnia, then for sure at the end of LWW when the grown-up kings and queens are chasing the white stag and it bounds into the unknown, she counsels the rest to stop following and turn back for Cair Paravel. In these instances, I think Lewis is foreshadowing that she will eventually "turn back" from Narnia. Also, I like the idea of grown-up Susan trying to find her way back to Narnia, but I think in TMN, the Wood Between the Worlds has just dried up puddles for worlds that have ceased to exist, so perhaps if she tried to get back to Narnia, she would find herself there, just looking at the dried up spot where she can't go -- and instead she might go to some other world, and there meet Aslan as he is in that world, and make her peace with him in that form?
 
judyfromkansas said:
When I first read "The Last Battle" I received a genuine shock when I learned that Susan was no longer a friend of Narnia. Apparently she'd gone materialistic and turned away from the rest of her siblings.

Ever since then, I've wished that Lewis had written a book following up on Susan's fate.

If YOU were to write such a book, what would you have happen? :)

Me, I'd have her find her faith - and her way back to Narnia - again! :D

(BTW, "The Last Battle" is by far my LEAST favorite of the Chronicles).
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What??! I don't remember that!!! :eek:
 
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