Why didn't the White Witch kill Edmund?

lieke

New member
i got a question. when the ww saw edmund for the first time, why didn't she kill him imediatly. in the book and in the movie they say that she want all four of them. But if she just killed edmund she also stopped the prophetie from coming true, right? why did she want to wait for all four of the children.

anyone of you know?
 
In the book she nearly does. After ascertaining that he was indeed human, she stands up in her sleigh and says, "he is but one, and he is easily dealt with", and lifts her wand to turn him to stone. Then she changes her mind and proceeds to lure him to her side. Probably she intended to find out just how he got into Narnia, with hopes of stopping that way in.
 
but when she asked him how he got in and he told her that, she could have killed him. but she didn't, so there has to be another reason..
 
When she found that there were four children, she wanted him to lure them to her so she could capture them all. The film portrays this accurately, though in slightly different form than the book.

What the film did not do was explain the obvious fact that when the Witch realized Edmund was useless to her purposes, she whould have killed him. The book unfolds a bit like the movie in the sense that she sets out from her castle in her sleigh, keeping Edmund alive and with her in case he comes in handy. But when it becomes obvious that the spring breaking out all over will prevent her from getting around, and that the other three have found their way to Aslan, she decides to execute Edmund on the spot. The dwarf argues that the Stone Table is the proper place for the execution, but the Witch can't get there (in the book, Aslan's encampment is actually at the Stone Table.) So she ties him to a tree, bares his throat, and is in the process of whetting the Stone Knife when the rescue party from Aslan shows up and rescues him. The Witch uses her magic to disguise herself as a boulder and the dwarf as a stump (in the book it isn't in an army camp) while Aslan's folk take Edmund to safety.

I think the book does a better job of showing how the Witch had a metaphysically "legal right" to Edmund's blood because of his treason. She was ready to claim that right when he was rescued, but the rescue did not rescind the right. When she shows up in Aslan's camp to claim it (in the book it's just her, not a whole entourage), the tension is much higher.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
When she found that there were four children, she wanted him to lure them to her so she could capture them all.

but the only reason why she want all four children is because she can stop the prophety from coming true. but edmund was part of the prophety, and i think the ww realised that (she wasn't totally stupid) so why was she taking it the hard way, when she could easily kill edmund instead of waiting for all four of them.
i hope i don't irritate you
 
No, no, you're asking good questions, but I'm not sure the story can answer them. In the end, I'm sure Jadis would agree with you: she should have killed Edmund right off. But I'm sure Lewis would use this as an example of how evil blinds itself, and good can use the machinations of evil to its own defeat. It was her greed for power that caused the Witch to overreach herself. She could have done the job with one death, but she wanted to be sure of it and wanted four - possibly to prove to Aslan that He didn't have the power to defeat her. In the real story line, no more than a couple of hours passes between the time that the Witch realizes that her power is broken to the time she decides to execute Edmund. In fact, her dwarf proposes keeping him alive "for bargaining with", but she responds, "Yes! And have him rescued", and proceeds with the execution. Only the immediate arrival of Aslan's people saves him. So Lewis is much more realistic in the book about the Witch's brutality and cavalier attitude toward Edmund's life. I agree with you, though. It was upon their first meeting, at the sleigh, that the Witch made her fatal mistake - she should have killed Edmund then, and I'm sure she came to realize that. But don't forget - Aslan was always in charge!
 
I think the witch had several reasons for keeping Edmund alive, but as PrinceoftheWest rightly pointed out she did nearly kill him twice. Here is my theory, well for one she was very interested in the fact that he came from the world of men. Granted it's been quite a while since I read the Magicians Nephew, but I remember Jadis getting out into the world of men, and despite the fact that LWW was written first, I can only imagine that she would want to get back there again. It's true that if she just killed Ed the prophecy could not be fulfilled, but at the same time I think she would like to have control of all four children and dispose of them just to make sure.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
In the end, I'm sure Jadis would agree with you: she should have killed Edmund right off. But I'm sure Lewis would use this as an example of how evil blinds itself, and good can use the machinations of evil to its own defeat. It was her greed for power that caused the Witch to overreach herself. She could have done the job with one death, but she wanted to be sure of it and wanted four - possibly to prove to Aslan that He didn't have the power to defeat her. In the real story line, no more than a couple of hours passes between the time that the Witch realizes that her power is broken to the time she decides to execute Edmund. In fact, her dwarf proposes keeping him alive "for bargaining with", but she responds, "Yes! And have him rescued", and proceeds with the execution. Only the immediate arrival of Aslan's people saves him. So Lewis is much more realistic in the book about the Witch's brutality and cavalier attitude toward Edmund's life. I agree with you, though. It was upon their first meeting, at the sleigh, that the Witch made her fatal mistake - she should have killed Edmund then, and I'm sure she came to realize that. But don't forget - Aslan was always in charge!

thank you, you probably are right Lewis would use this as an example. the witch made her fatal mistake, but lucky for edmund and Narnia she did made it. I think i understand what she was thinking.

Thanks to both of you!!
 
Maybe she was ALWAYS secretly hoping to take down Aslan once and for all by putting him in an impossible situation.
 
maybe, that could be a good reason to. but why did she eventually want to kill edmund, i mean, she knew about the deep magic on which narnia was built. so she knew that Aslan could never take edmund away from here.
If she knew that Aslan would give himself up for Edmund she would immediatly have given Edmund back i think
 
The thing is, the Witch didn't know Aslan would be the one give himself up for Edmund; she wouldn't have wanted Edmund to escape so that the prophecy would be fulfilled and have some other creature die in his stead.

If she knew Aslan would die for Edmund, I'm sure she would have let him go. But I don't think the Witch would have taken that chance, especially seeing that Aslan knew that it would be a much better bargain for her if she could kill Aslan instead of Edmund.

Does this answere your question at all?
 
Good observations by PotW on the subject matter. I believe she was playing her cards a certain way to see what she would end up with (and as I will soon write, she no doubt thought she had got the best deal out of it all, until the uttermost end).

Indeed she kept Edmund around as the "bait" (as we hear Mr. Beaver declare in the film), and used whatever means possible to catch the other three children and destroy them expeditiously. Her plans failed; she then attempted to destroy the prophecy by ridding herself of the one traitor - she had the right to his blood, and Jadis in the film declares to Peter, "Do you really believe mere force will deny me my right, little king?"

In the end she no doubt believed she got the better deal, taking away Aslan's life. Yet she never truly understood the Deeper Magic that was before the beginning of time. She had knowledge that aided her since she was there at the creation of Narnia, but paled in comparison to Aslan, who was even before its creation. So we see the end result, and the Witch, who had been taking some gambles and risks, lost entirely because she never understood nor realized what Aslan had actually done: "General, prepare your troops for battle! Oh how short it will be!" Fatal error! :)

What was intended for evil was used for good, and we all know the happy ending to this story.
 
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Just a correction, POTW, it is actually the witch who insists that Edmund should be executed on the Stone Table and the dwarf who reminds her "it will be a long time before the stone table can be put to its proper use again." Obviously evil has blinded her to intelligence as far as keeping him alive, but the dwarf was not the one who cared about proper procedure for an execution.
 
I thnk that The ww kept edmond alive because he could take over her position after she dies and with him being evil and all the snow curse thing would never stop and the prophecy will never come true...just one gals opinion
 
A sweet thought, but most certainly not the reason for the White Witch keeping Edmund alive. Her charming words to him as he sat with her on her sleigh were only a ploy to get him to come - with his siblings - to her house, where she would kill them and therefore nullify the prophecy. She had no intention whatever of leaving him her "throne."

The White Witch cared only about herself, and used whomever she had to use in order to achieve her own ends. As I've stated before in a different thread, she viewed herself in many respects as a goddess, the one to whom all would have to answer.
 
onlymystory said:
Just a correction, POTW, it is actually the witch who insists that Edmund should be executed on the Stone Table and the dwarf who reminds her "it will be a long time before the stone table can be put to its proper use again." Obviously evil has blinded her to intelligence as far as keeping him alive, but the dwarf was not the one who cared about proper procedure for an execution.
Well, she's the one who makes the protocol point that the proper place would be the Stone Table, but she doesn't insist on it - the tree will do fine for her purposes. And she certainly never had any intention of handing over the throne to anyone, least of all Edmund (she was immortal, at least until Aslan ripped her throat out.)
 
the witch got the best deal, but eventuatly it wasn't really good for her. so if she knew about the time for beginning of time she would have killed edmund and not Aslan. I mean, she was the one with the choice, she still could have killed Edmund and not Alsan, Edmund was the traitor.
So the best thing wasn't good at all, really strange, but i think i understand it
 
Although the death of Edmund would not have been a "game" of some kind, the idea that he SHOULD be killed at the Stone Table seems to indicate that she would have gained more from the act if he died there. As if she got more "points" for killing him that way.

She is an immortal. Perhaps her eternal youth is the result of some form of sacrifice, the blood of the young to restore beauty. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that killing Edmund on the Stone Table would have benefitted her somehow, but his death in general was more important than what extra benefits it would provide.
 
Chakal said:
She is an immortal. Perhaps her eternal youth is the result of some form of sacrifice, the blood of the young to restore beauty. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that killing Edmund on the Stone Table would have benefitted her somehow, but his death in general was more important than what extra benefits it would provide.

she is immortal because she ate an apple in the beginning of (narnia) times. And i think the reason why edmund should be killed on the stone table was that on the stone table there were some inscriptions that explained that every traitor belongs to the ww, Edmund was a traitor, so he probably should be killed at that place.
 
The origin and role of the Stone Table itself is obscure, never explained in the books. In Lion, the laws of the Deep Magic are engraved on the Table, on the Sceptre of the Emporer, and (depending on your edition) on the Fire Stones or the World Ash tree. My presumption is that only a part of the Deep Magic pertained to the fate of traitors; it probably dealt with other matter as well, which are never discussed.
 
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