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Magician's Nephew (The Chronicles of Narnia): Discover where the magic began in this illustrated prequel to the children’s classics by C.S. Lewis: Book 1

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When Jadis threatens the crowd, Polly and Digory grab her and put on their rings to take her out of their world–along with Uncle Andrew, Frank the cab-driver, and Frank's horse, Strawberry, who were all touching each other when the children grabbed their rings. In the Wood between the Worlds, Strawberry, looking to drink from one of the ponds, accidentally brings everyone into another world: a dark, empty void. At first, Digory believes it to be Charn, but Jadis recognises it as a world not yet created. They then all witness the creation of a new world by the lion Aslan, who brings stars, plants, and animals into existence as he sings. Jadis, as terrified by his singing as the others are attracted to it, tries to kill Aslan with the iron rod; but it rebounds harmlessly off him, and in the creative soil of the new world it sprouts into a growing lamp-post. Jadis flees in terror. The above is, of course, a reference to the eventual death and resurrection of Aslan the Lion for the sins and betrayal of Edmund Pevensie in *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*. Aslan later warns of what the reader knows to be the Nazis in World War II and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. The Hall of Images displays the regal history of Charn, showcasing lifelike portraits of past rulers who are depicted as tall, beautiful, and powerful figures seated upon their thrones. The sequence of these images, through the expressions on their faces, tells a story of a civilization that was once benevolent but degenerated into a cruel, tyrannical empire. The early Emperors and Empresses of Charn were kind and decent, but over centuries, for unexplained reasons, their lineage devolved into one of malevolence, corruption, evil, and despair, seeing their subjects only as a means to an end. Evidently, their hunger for power was insatiable and they conquered several other realms, as Jadis gloats that "many great kings" attempted to stand against Charn, but were defeated and their names lost to history. Slavery was once common in Charn, as was human sacrifice. The last queen of Charn was Jadis, although the numerous empty thrones after hers suggest a premature end to the dynasty. Sammons, Martha C. (2004). A Guide Through Narnia. Regent College Publishing. pp.128–9. ISBN 1-57383-308-8. Ford, Paul (2005). Companion to Narnia: Revised Edition. San Francisco: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-079127-8.

Should have read this book years ago! It was wonderful in so many ways. First, the magic. One of my biggest pet peeves with fantasy is that I am not a visual person so I can't envision what the author is describing. Never fear! First, this book was more realistic fantasy so you didn't have to imagine all sorts of new inventions. Second, the book had illustrations.

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He returned to The Magician's Nephew late in 1950, after completing The Silver Chair. He managed to finish close to three-quarters of the novel, and then halted work once again after Roger Green, to whom Lewis showed all his writing at the time, suggested there was a structural problem in the story. Finally he returned to the novel in 1953, after finishing The Last Battle in the spring of that year and completed early in 1954. [6] The book was appropriate for children, but I also enjoyed it as an adult. The book had me laughing quite a few times. It also has some deeper meanings and provides some very good food for thought. Parallels with events in the Book of Genesis include the forbidden fruit represented by an Apple of Life. Jadis tempts Digory to eat one of the forbidden apples in the garden, as the serpent tempts Eve into eating a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; unlike Eve however, Digory rejects the offer. (Lewis's Perelandra also features a re-enactment of the same Biblical story, which in that book also ends with the tempter foiled and the fall avoided.)

Narnia: Walden, Fox in discussions on The Magician's Nephew". Bryan Lufkin. Inside Movies. Entertainment Weekly (EW.com). 23 March 2011. Confirmed 10 December 2012.

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According to Jadis's own account, her sister had started a long and murderous civil war. There was a solemn oath between her and the unnamed sister that neither side would use magic, a pact broken by the sister, who gained the advantage as a result. Jadis recounts that during the civil war, she "poured out the blood of her armies like water," but was eventually defeated. In the final battle, which was fought in the city itself over three days, the sister defeated the last of Jadis' forces. For Jadis and Uncle Andrew, the price of being practical before being good results in the loss of a paradise. The world Aslan creates is not particularly practical with its numerous talking animals and spirits, its great forests, magnificent rivers, and active sky, but it is beautiful, and gladdens the spirits of those who are less "practical" than Jadis and Uncle Andrew. The sacred Garden in the west of the Narnian world is surrounded by a "high wall of green turf" with branches of trees overhanging it, and "high gates of gold, fast shut, facing due east", which must be the only entrance because the travellers "walked nearly all the way round it" before they found them. In all these points Lewis echoes John Milton's description of Eden in Paradise Lost: My son was an only child for 12 years, (before the Disney princesses, Pocahontas and Jasmine, arrived), and I read to him, every night, religiously, for an hour, including C.S. Lewis's Narnia collection.

Queen Helen: The wife of King Frank, the first queen of Narnia, and the ancestress of the ArchenlandersAll of these questions and more are answered in *The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew*. As the story begins, two children in turn of the century (19th to 20th) England, Digory Kirke (who will become the professor Kirke of the previous books/future stories) and his friend Polly Plummer, meet on a summer day in London. Digory is crying and dirty because he is so forlorn due to his mother's terminal illness. Aslan is stern as well as joyous, and he notes that Jadis represents the introduction of evil into his brand new world, and he lays responsibility for her presence on Digory, who had revived Jadis while hurting Polly, and who had brought her to the world of Narnia. "And as Adam's race has done the harm, Adam's race shall help to heal it," declares Aslan, drawing on I Corinthians 15:21, which says, "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Digory reveals how much he has matured by accepting Aslan's task of fetching fruit from the walled garden in the western mountains, and later shows that he has taken great strides toward manhood by defying temptation in the garden and delivering the fruit to Aslan, whole. A BBC Radio 4 adaptation exists. [55] Focus on the Family also made an adaptation of this book with a full cast, sound editing, and music. [56] Both productions adapted all seven books.

I really can not say much more without giving away too much of the plot. As it stands, some of the book covers give away too much as it is. The story is especially lovely when the creation of Narnia occurs. There are similarities in a broad, mythical context to the creation of the cosmos by Eru in *The Silmarillion*, written by Lewis's friend, J. R. R. Tolkien. The beauty and power displayed in the Creation event really does bring across the idea that Aslan (like God in real-life) is both good and terrible. And He is so unbelievably awesome and unbelievably great for it. The creation of Narnia may also have been influenced by his close friend J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, which also contains a creation scene driven by the effect of music. [37] Morgan Le Fay and Pandora's Box [ edit ] The element of the cupboard leading to a new world Lewis proceeded to use in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but the snowy Narnia of that book is quite unlike the balmy Garden of the Hesperides, most of whose major mythological features appear as attributes of the sacred Garden in The Magician's Nephew where it differs from the Biblical or Miltonian Eden. It is set in the far West of the world; it has a watchful guardian; a hero (Digory) is sent, like Hercules, to fetch an apple from it; a female villain (Jadis) steals another of the apples, like Eris. Since the eponymous Hesperides were daughters of Hesperus, the god of the planet Venus in the evening, advocates of the planetary theory adduce this as evidence for a special association between The Magician's Nephew and Venus. [35] Edith Nesbit [ edit ] Within the Narnian arc, of course, this story is important simply for explaining how Narnia started and why a certain wardrobe acted as it did. (And why a certain professor in a future story expressed less incredulity than expected, once.) It may also be interesting for the Biblical stories it's obviously intended to varyingly echo and evoke, blended with classical mythological references. (On that note, this time reading I noticed that in Narnia it wasn't woman who sinned and offered man the opportunity to sin, but rather man who sinned with the woman at worst egging him on. I don't think anyone should particularly care about the gender blame game in either instance. But it is interesting to note nonetheless.)

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What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.” As the only survivor left in her world, she placed herself in an enchanted sleep that would only be broken by someone ringing the bell. ... It isn't a room in any of the houses. In a way, it isn't really part of any of the houses. But once you're in the tunnel you can go along it and come out into any of the houses in the row. Mightn't this wood be the same?" The two think that the event is over when they hear a sound from the end of the room. The last figure, the fiercely beautiful one, rises from her chair and comes to the children, asking how she has been awakened. Digory takes responsibility for her waking. The woman states that Digory is not of royal blood and asks how he came to the palace. Polly answers that they came by magic. Ignoring Polly, the queen again asks Digory if it is true. He responds affirmatively and the woman grabs him suddenly by the chin and studies him for several minutes before surmising that he is not a magician but rather traveled on another person's magic. Digory tells her that it was Uncle Andrew's doing. The story begins in London during the summer of 1900. Two children, Digory and Polly, meet while playing in the adjacent gardens of a row of terraced houses.

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