Narnia!

Ciela Rose · **Posted:** May 4th, 2011, 4:11 pm

I was browsing though here, and was astounded to find that we don't have a Narnia thread. Is it somewhere else, or did I just miss it?

This is for discussing one of the most beloved Christian fantasies in history. You can share your readings, interpretings, and anything you just plain love about Narnia!

Have at it! Narnia and the North!

Andrew Amnon Mimetes · **Joined:** May 14th, 2010, 4:43 am **Posts:** 4458

Just wanted to say: what's everyone's favorite books? Mine is Horse and His Boy, but VotDT would be pretty close behind

I like HHB 'cuz the culture and all is so different than the others; I really like it

And Bree is hilarious!

eru

Bethany Faith · **Joined:** January 27th, 2011, 2:13 pm **Posts:** 3226

The Last Battle! :dieshappy:

You get not my reasons beyond the fact that I just plain the love the storyline and symbolism in that book.

Lady Carliss · **Joined:** November 17th, 2010, 5:28 pm **Posts:** 136

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is my favorite book and I also love the movies they made.

Lady Carliss

Yehoshua · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 10:43 am

VOTDT was probably my favorite. But I loved the Horse and His Boy because the culture portrayed in it. Also, I loved the Last Battle. *pauses* Okay, I love them all

.

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 10:46 am

I loved the Horse and His Boy. I mean, I loved them all, but this one just captured me fully. Which was surprising, for me.

Aragorn · **Joined:** September 23rd, 2010, 3:42 pm **Posts:** 9085

I like them all about the same.

Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 10:55 am

In the order I like them they are:

The Magician's Nephew,
Prince Caspian,
The Horse and his Boy,
The Silver Chair,
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,
The Last Battle,
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Ciela Rose · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 11:35 am

Oooh. My favorite book was The Horse and his Boy, with VotDT as a close second. The Last Battle is third, with the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as fourth. The last three can be arranged at will.

LWW was the first one I ever read, and I distinctly remember being devastated when Aslan died. I think I actually cried. It didn't strike me as an allegory until he rose again, and that was when I fell head over heels in love with Narnia.

Kiev Shawn · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 11:47 am

My favorite three are probably The Last Battle, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I love them all, though. *dreams*

I first heard LWW and The VotDT thanks my beloved third grade teacher, who also gave me my love for Story. I was then hooked. One person was amazed when I was 8 and knew the word "bowsprit" from VOTDT.

C. S. Lewis was the first author who caught this concept for me of "aching beauty", if that makes sense. I love how C.S. Lewis put it: "It is as hard to explain how this sunlit land was different from the old Narnia as it would be to tell you how the fruits of that country taste. Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this. You may have been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow different - deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very much want to know. The difference between the old Narnia and the new Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more." (The Last Battle, italics added) It makes me think of 1st Corinthians 13: 10-12.

Celestria · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 12:07 pm

The Horse and His Boy is my favorite! Then again, there's always something or someone I love about each book like the ending in the Last Battle or Puddleglum in the Silver Chair!

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 12:08 pm

When I was a kid, I thought the Silver Chair was creepy... Like, the ending, I mean. Once they are with the giants and beyond.

The Last Battle was very sad, yet happy, I remember.

Celestria · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 12:16 pm

The Silver Chair still creeps me out! But I do love Puddleglum's personality.

"The wood's behind the wigwam. It may be wet. You could light it inside the wigwam, and then we'd get all the smoke in our eyes. Or you could light it outside, and then the rain would come and put it out. Here's my tinder-box. You wouldn't know how to use it, I expect."

Sorry, couldn't resist a good quote.

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** May 5th, 2011, 12:39 pm

He is one of the most iconic characters of all!

Andrew Amnon Mimetes · **Joined:** May 14th, 2010, 4:43 am **Posts:** 4458

The Silver Chair is my mom's favorite book - it also strikes me as creepy, Airianna, and is probably my least favorite.

But she is right, the symbolism is very nice

Seems HHB is a more popular book than I'd imagined

eru

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** May 6th, 2011, 12:56 pm

Well now I don't feel so childish, since several others of you thought it was creepy.

Manda Kondrael · **Posted:** May 6th, 2011, 2:34 pm

My favorites are probably the Last Battle, and Horse and His Boy, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader.... but it's so hard to decide... :rofl:

Celestria wrote:

"The wood's behind the wigwam. It may be wet. You could light it inside the wigwam, and then we'd get all the smoke in our eyes. Or you could light it outside, and then the rain would come and put it out. Here's my tinder-box. You wouldn't know how to use it, I expect."

I love that quote. :dieshappy:

Evening L. Aspen · **Joined:** December 2nd, 2009, 11:01 pm **Posts:** 1461

Shawn Henderson wrote:

C. S. Lewis was the first author who caught this concept for me of "aching beauty", if that makes sense.

Yes yes! That's it! Shawna, you've put a name to it. I love how you described "aching beauty" and I know exactly how you feel. I had never read anything as sad and beautiful as the ending of the Last Battle. I still go back to it whenever I need a good cry.

My other favorite is the Horse and His Boy. I loved all the characters; the horses were hilarious! And I also really liked Aravis.

I didn't care much for book LWW, PC, or VotDT, but maybe that's because I'd worn out the stories by watching the BBC movies so much. :roll:

Sienna North · **Posted:** May 6th, 2011, 10:24 pm

I love Magician's Nephew. But I always heartily disliked Last Battle, especially as I've had a particularly nasty recurring dream about it ever since I was about ten years old or so. I'll do an order of favorites, too!

Magician's Nephew
Horse and His Boy {y'all are right on with this one!!}
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe {except...I wish it had ended differently somehow}
The Silver Chair {yes, it's creepy, but I like it. I think.}
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Last Battle

Still, each of the books is splendid in its own way. Filled with vivid characters, believable realms, startling imagery, true allusions and allegory... C.S. Lewis was a truly brilliant Christian fantasy author!

Kiev Shawn · **Posted:** May 7th, 2011, 7:43 am

Evening L. Aspen wrote:

Shawn Henderson wrote:

C. S. Lewis was the first author who caught this concept for me of "aching beauty", if that makes sense.

Yes yes! That's it! Shawna, you've put a name to it. I love how you described "aching beauty" and I know exactly how you feel. I had never read anything as sad and beautiful as the ending of the Last Battle. I still go back to it whenever I need a good cry.

Exactly. He tapped into something that I hadn't grasped before: the desire people have for something higher, deeper, brighter, higher, more real, something eternal. It showed me something I want in my writing.

Constable Jaynin Mimetes · **Posted:** May 7th, 2011, 11:04 am

I'll do a list of favorites too! I don't remember Silver Chair being creepy but I do remember it not making a whole lot of sense. I loved Puddleglum though, and that more than made up for it.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Silver Chair
Magician's Nephew
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Last Battle

I just didn't like the last battle very much.

Andrew Amnon Mimetes · **Joined:** May 14th, 2010, 4:43 am **Posts:** 4458

Now how can you rate HHb so low? :shock:

eru

Suiauthon Mimetes · **Posted:** May 17th, 2011, 12:51 am

My list:

The Horse and His Boy
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Prince Caspian
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Last Battle
The Magician's Nephew
The Silver Chair

One thing I love about the books is how C. S. Lewis interjects lots of random facts. Because of The Last Battle I'll never say "Sshhh" again.

Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes · **Posted:** May 18th, 2011, 2:57 am

Yeth!
"...thee better."
But it can get a little troublesome...
"huth, huth, don't make a noidh."

Tsahraf ChahsidMimetes · **Posted:** May 19th, 2011, 1:15 pm

Of course I like the whole series, though not as much as I like Tolkien's works. Though C. S. Lewis defended Fantasy in a skeptical time period, Tolkien seemed to take Fantasy more seriously.

Even so, it is not wrong, or less quality, to write stories as C. S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.

Princess Arante Weneve · **Posted:** May 19th, 2011, 1:34 pm

I love the Last Battle.

Riniel Jasmina · **Posted:** November 10th, 2012, 3:11 am

It's hard to rate each one in line with the others, because they all played such great roles in the over arching story... I wasn't very fond of the Last Battle in the past, but I've grown to love it as I've matured as a believer. I like the difference in characters in The Horse and His Boy, and the beginnings of things in The Magician's Nephew and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think the dragon did it over as a child to make Voyage my favorite. The Silver Chair and Prince Caspian tended to rank a little lower because of the bickering, but they have fantastic characters and stories as well.

I have had the pleasure of recently securing a copy of "The Unofficial Narnia Cookbook" (it doesn't have recipes for humans and marshwiggles) which attempts to recreate everything that was eaten in the books. It doesn't have dirt in it, but as it wasn't humanly palatable anyway, I'm willing to accept the loss.

Lord Tarin · **Posted:** November 10th, 2012, 4:40 pm

Wow. How did I not know about this thread?

It's been awhile since I read any of the books, but I've heard the audio dramas more times than I can remember, and of course I've seen all the movies thus far.

I have to say that one of my favorite books is Horse and His Boy. Maybe it's because the culture is different and it gives a foreign (if you will) perspective of Narnia. I also love Silver Chair. It might be my top pick.

Can we talk about the movies here, too, or not?

Idril Aravis Mimetes · **Posted:** November 12th, 2012, 12:14 am

The Horse and His Boy has always been a favorite from the day I read it. I don't know what comes second. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, maybe?

Mistress Kidh · **Posted:** November 12th, 2012, 5:06 am

My favorite? Impossible... * shakes head * The one I am reading at the time is my favorite. At least it's the closest I'm going to get.

Narnia!

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