What Reading Level Is Chronicles of Narnia

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"Heed," said the Doctor. "All y'all accept heard almost Former Narnia is true. It is non the country of men. It is the country of Aslan, the state of the Waking Trees and Visible Naiads, of Fauns and Satyrs, of Dwarfs and Giants, of the gods and the Centaurs, of Talking Beasts."

The Chronicles of Narnia are a series of seven books past C. Due south. Lewis, telling the history from its creation to its ending of a land where animals talk, where a varied collection of creatures from European folklore lives, and where a number of children take heroic adventures under the guidance of the peachy Lion, Aslan. Though "Narnia" is sometimes used to describe the whole earth, it is strictly speaking a northern mediaeval European-style kingdom of that world; information technology is bordered by Archenland on the due south (across which lies the quasi-Arabian empire of Calormen), past Ettinsmoor on the Due north, past Lantern Waste on the West, and by the Great Eastern Ocean on the East, beyond which is Aslan'due south State.

In publishing gild, the seven books are:

1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian (1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Male child (1954) (written 1953, before the previous book)
6. The Magician'due south Nephew (1955)
7. The Final Battle (1956)

The first four books are in chronological order, but the 5th takes identify inside the last chapter of the first (equally it takes place during the Pevensies' reign of Narnia which was originally but touched upon), and the sixth is a prequel to the serial. The Chronicles of Narnia were actually not originally intended to be a seven volume series. After the success of the outset book, Lewis wrote ii more, to complete a trilogy. Thus Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader course a natural pair, telling a unmarried more or less connected story within the larger series. When need continued, Lewis wrote another two books, then a "prequel" describing Narnia'southward beginning, and finally The Last Battle, in which the state of Narnia is brought to its own shut, giving the series a definite ending.

Many recent printings number the books in chronological order. For many, still, reading in publication order is more satisfying, as The Wizard'due south Nephew has many references that make sense only if you've read the before published books, and reading in chronological order tin spoil sure elements of The Panthera leo, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Lewis writes the novels with a rather casual, conversational tone. In a letter to a young reader, Lewis stated that a chronological reading seemed to make more than logical sense but affirmed that he had no particular reading order in mind when he wrote. Furthermore, if he'd actually intended for people to read the books in chronological guild, he could have easily bundled for that in his lifetime.

C.Southward. Lewis reverted to Christianity from atheism and wrote many works of apologetics and theology; the Narnia serial, his but work straight targeted at children, is at in one case a work of creative fiction and applied apologetics, even dealing with atheism. Narnia borrows creatures and myths from many different cultures and ages, from the Edwardian run a risk stories of Lewis's youth to the Arabian Nights, from Shakespearean tragedies to the Grimms' fairy-tales, from the Classical and Germanic mythologies that were Lewis'south avocation to the mediaeval literature that was his professional study, interwoven with creatures of Lewis's own imagination (namely, marshwiggles) — a profusion of fantasy highly unorthodox in the prosaic, "realistic" Auto Age, post-state of war '40s and '50s — all undergirded with a solid structure of Christian doctrine. By the third (published) book, it is clear that Aslan is a fictional version of Jesus — withal, as Lewis insisted, the works practise not form an allegory of Christian life, as some have assumed, but rather an adventure-tale in which God is a swain-adventurer. He likewise said that he didn't fix out to include any religious elements in the story, it but ended upwards that way.

The books brandish the influence of J. R. R. Tolkien'due south The Lord of the Rings, not surprisingly since the authors were friends at the time — indeed, Lewis's Space Trilogy was written every bit a result of a friendly wager with Tolkien. While The Chronicles of Narnia has not had the colossal cultural touch on of Tolkien's epic, the serial has remained the best-known and nearly beloved of all of Lewis'due south works.

Television Serial adaptations of the offset iv books have all been televised past the BBC and released on DVD (in some places as Compilation Movies). King of beasts was also the subject of an before TV adaptation on ITV in 1967 (at present largely lost ^note 2 of the x episodes still be) and an Animated Adaptation in 1979. Unfortunately, the BBC master of Panthera leo was manifestly lost to unknown causes several years ago, so the all-time quality copies of that series left are the DVDs ^note at that place were also VHS tapes. A radio adaptation by The BBC also successfully adapted all seven books, originally circulate between 1988 and 1997.

More recently, the commencement three (past publication order) have been filmed as the offset of a series intended to adjust all seven books; First by Disney, later 20th Century Trick ^note Which, ironically, would be bought out by Disney in 2019, thus giving them total ownership of all three movies, and Walden Media through the work of Perry Moore spending several years acquiring the rights for Walden. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe came out in late 2005, Prince Caspian in 2008, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in late 2010. Netflix bought the rights to all 7 books in 2018 intending to make their ain gear up of shows, to be helmed by Coco co-writer Matthew Aldrich.

The books are the Trope Namer for Narnia Time, in which the relative flow of time betwixt 2 separate worlds changes co-ordinate to the needs of the plot.

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The serial as a whole provides examples of: ^note See private books' pages for tropes that appear in specific books.

• All Myths Are Truthful: Aslan may exist Jesus, but that doesn't stop river-gods existing, and Bacchus popping up in the second volume.
• Anachronic Order: The books are each linear stories (oh, except for Prince Caspian), only every bit described higher up, they are written in non-chronological order.
• The Anti-God: Tash, as he is literally the antithesis of Aslan. All that is vile and evil is Tash's domain, all that is noble and skillful is Aslan'south. It is explained by Aslan himself that he and Tash are such opposites that anyone who does good in the name of Tash is actually serving Aslan, and anyone who does evil in Aslan's name is actually serving Tash.
• "Arabian Nights" Days: The culture of Calormen is clearly inspired past the Arabian Nights version of the Middle East; notably, C. S. Lewis is on record every bit being a fan of the English language translation and even borrowed the proper name "Aslan" from the footnotes to one edition. It's Turkish for "Lion."
• Arc Words: The phrase: "he'south not a tame king of beasts" (referring to Aslan) is spoken in each of the seven books.
• Archer Archetype: Susan is the graceful, ladylike, slightly haughty Queen famous for her archery, though she hates to apply it in actual gainsay. Queen Lucy is the tomboy who goes to war with the men and fights alongside the other archers in Narnia'south army. Jill Pole, by the last book, develops into a scaled-downwardly version of the Woods Ranger; Rex Tirian notes both her accurateness with the bow and her skill at moving silently through the woods, peculiarly at nighttime.
• Ascended Actress: If you read the books in the gild they were written, Digory Kirke/the Professor becomes this, every bit he has only a pocket-sized role in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe but is the protagonist and title graphic symbol of The Magician'southward Nephew. (If yous read the books chronologically, it becomes a instance of Demoted to Extra for the same reason.)
• Ass in a King of beasts Skin: Done literally. In The Last Battle, Puzzle, a donkey, is, every bit a Shout-Out to the Trope Namer, put into a lion skin past Shift the Ape to disguise him as Aslan so that Shift tin can forcefulness the Narnians to do his bidding under the guise that he's speaking for Aslan. The costume is then bad that the but reasons why information technology works are that the Narnians haven't seen a lion for ages and because Puzzle is forbidden from braying and brought out just at night.
• Author Avatar: Professor Kirke, admitted past Lewis himself, although Kirke is also an avatar of Lewis's own erstwhile tutor, W. T. Kirkpatrick, (as is MacPhee in That Hideous Strength).
• Author Usurpation: Fans of Christian literature might know most Lewis's other works, but they're not nearly as prominent in pop culture equally Narnia.
• Dominance Equals Donkey Kicking: The kings of Narnia and Archenland consider information technology their duty to exist the first in every accuse and the final in every desperate retreat, so this would more than specifically be "Authority Requires The Power To Kick Ass". Aslan has demonstrated the ability to shell any opponent, likewise, and more than ane queen has demonstrated skill in combat.
• Badass Normal: The air of Narnia is stated to be dissimilar from terrestrial air, and it has a manner of turning ordinary children from Earth into these.
• Barefoot Sage: Coriakin, Ramandu, and the Hermit of the Southern March are all wise old men with magical powers who never habiliment shoes.

• Battle Discretion Shot: In the volume, the climatic battle between Peter and the White Witch is non shown; it is told 2d hand. The film actually shows the battle, with the result being a iconic battle scene and what is generally agreed to be the most epic and memorable scene of the movie.
• Bilingual Bonus: "Aslan" and "Tash" mean "king of beasts" and "stone" respectively in Turkish. "Jadis" means "witch" in Persian.
• Bloodshot Ending: It manages to be both happy and depressing. Narnia is destroyed and characters we know and love end upwardly dying, however the afterlife is a wonderful paradise where they can eternally be happy.
• Black-and-White Morality: Aslan stands for good, those who would oppose him are evil, and it's mostly made quickly obvious to the reader who's on which side. Recurring characters not clearly committed to either cause when introduced volition end up joining one side or the other (human protagonists always ending upward on Squad Skillful, of course) earlier the cease of the volume.
• Blasphemous Praise: Averted. C. S. Lewis once received a letter from the mother of a young Christian boy who was concerned that he felt he loved Aslan more than Jesus. Lewis wrote dorsum to reassure him that this did non count equally blasphemy since Aslan is a Messianic Archetype, so loving what Aslan did amounts to the same thing as loving what Jesus did.
• Carnivore Confusion: In Narnia there are both talking animals and regular non-sapient animals. Eating a non-talking fauna is no bigger deal than information technology would be anywhere else, but eating a talking animal is considered tantamount to cannibalism. This start is raised every bit an issue in Prince Caspian, where Susan hesitates to shoot an attacking acquit because she is concerned it might be a talking bear (it wasn't, and they melt and eat it). It becomes a serious plot point in The Silver Chair, where the "gentle giants" of Harfang are discovered to have killed a talking deer, which our heroes unknowingly ate for dinner. Jill (who is on her beginning run a risk in Narnia) is sad as she would be when she thinks about any animate being suffering; Eustace who has been friends with talking animals is horrified as though hearing of a murder; but Puddleglum who is a native Narnian is appalled almost to the indicate of suicide and compares it to a human discovering they had eaten a babe.
• Clever Crows: Corvids are for the nearly part benevolent or jokers at worst. The wise raven Sallowpad served equally a royal counselor for the Pevensies, as shown in The Horse and His Male child, while a pair of jackdaws are comic relief in The Sorcerer's Nephew.

• Crystal Dragon Jesus: Averted. Aslan literally is Jesus according to C.S. Lewis' answer to a fan alphabetic character regarding a conversation near the stop of Dawn Treader. This in plow means that the so-chosen "Emperor Beyond the Sea," mentioned as Aslan's father, is the Abrahamic God.
• Demoted to Extra: Susan, Edmund, and Lucy all announced in The Horse and His Boy, only play simply a peripheral role, and even Aslan plays a more minor role than he does in any other book in the series. In the chronological club of the series, Digory Kirke ("the Professor") is this as well in The Panthera leo, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• Destroyer Deity: The dragons and salamanders, as well equally the giant Father Time, who were all introduced in earlier books, are awakened to destroy Narnia at the end of The Last Battle.
• Deus ex Machina: Aslan, who is a Jesus/God Captain Ersatz so information technology'south non that surprising, spends the unabridged serial behind the scenes, spinning the chance and coming before them just when they need him most.
• Afar Sequel:
  • The Wizard'southward Nephew is set ane,000 years before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 1,300 years pass between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, a generation or so between Prince Caspian and The Argent Chair, and seven generations between The Silverish Chair and The Terminal Battle, which in turn takes place at the end of the world. This allows the world to change, often significantly, betwixt novels, such as Narnia being overrun and conquered by the Telmarine people between the first novel and Prince Caspian.
  • Due to time flowing differently in Narnia than in our world, far less time passes between sequels for the homo protagonists than for the country of Narnia. The Pevensie siblings are children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and they're just teenagers or immature adults by The Last Battle, even though millennia take passed in Narnia. The Magician'due south Nephew is the only one that'southward a distant sequel (or rather, prequel) in Earth fourth dimension as well as in Narnia fourth dimension — information technology's gear up in The Edwardian Era and focuses on Digory Kirke as a child, while the next book (chronologically) happens during the rush and shows Digory as an former man.
• Does Not Similar Shoes: Really lots of characters, the Narnia wiki fifty-fifty has a specific category for them. Namely, this includes the Hermit of the Southern March, Coriakin, Ramandu, maybe Ramandu'due south Daughter, Shasta, Queen Jadis and, at some betoken, the Pevensies themselves (especially Lucy). It's a bit subverted with Shasta several times when the called-for desert sand or the freezing dew-covered grass makes him wish he had shoes like Aravis.
• Dragons Are Demonic: Dragons announced to be representative of vice, such as in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader where Eustace is turned into 1 after indulging his greed.
• Eat Dirt, Inexpensive: The Walking Trees. Prince Caspian even describes a tree feast made of different kinds of dirt.
• The Empire: Calormen. Charn was an even worse one.
• Ethnic God: Aslan is considered the ultimate king of all Narnians, whereas Tash is the god worshipped past all Calormens. However this is subverted in The Last Battle, which explains that these two are the gods of good and evil respectively, and anyone who adopts these aspects worships their corresponding being, regardless of the proper noun they use.
• Evil Chancellor: The Space Arabs of Calormen have an Evil Vizier, although the Tisroc himself isn't all that pleasant to brainstorm with.
• Expansion Pack World: The kickoff book published was focused just on the kingdom of Narnia. The next four books cover central directions — west in Prince Caspian, eastward in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (equally well every bit some asides nearly the inhabitants of Narnia's skies), northward in The Silvery Chair besides as two levels of 'underworld', and south in The Horse and His Boy. The final 2 books cover chronal directions, with the farthermost by detailed in The Magician's Nephew and the cease of time featuring in The Last Battle.
• Extremophile Lifeforms: There's a deep subterranean land called Bism, which is very hot and features such wonders as fire salamanders and fresh gems full of delicious juice. When the characters come across some of Bism's natives in a shallower layer of the underworld, these find it far too common cold, its rocks also dead, and the endless completeness of the sky far too close for comfort.
• Faeries Don't Believe in Humans, Either:
  • Mr. Tumnus has some books on his shelf including Is Man A Myth?
  • In Prince Caspian, thank you to Narnia Time elapsing, the Pevensies themselves are considered rather similar King Arthur: rulers from the legendary by gilt age, possibly mythical.
  • In Dawn Treader it'due south revealed that Narnia is a flat world where one tin can canvas over the edge, and they have fairy tales about round worlds like ours. Caspian asks, "Have y'all ever been to the parts where people walk upside down?" and is a scrap disappointed to larn that we consider our round world very commonplace and uninteresting.
• Fairy Tale Motifs: Pervasively in every book. Narnia is a globe of kings and queens and castles and magicians and evil witches and dwarfs and gnomes and satyrs and talking animals and giants and magic rings and magical doors to other worlds.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Calormen Empire is often compared to the Persians or the Turks.
• Fantastic Religious Weirdness:
  • Narnia has a rule that when they are present, humans rule over the talking animals every bit kings and queens. Lewis probably added this because of the Bible verse giving humanity dominion over animals.
  • In that location are references to other gods existing, though they appear to exist all far bottom than Aslan.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: One of the starting time examples in literature. Narnia contains a generous mixture of every fantasy trope C.South. Lewis enjoyed: talking animals, secret gnomes, mer-folk, magicians, creatures from Fairy Tales (dwarfs, witches, kings and queens in castles, unicorns), Classical Mythology (centaurs, dryads, naiads, fauns, fifty-fifty Bacchus and Silenus show up at 1 signal), "Arabian Nights" Days (the Calormene empire), even Father Christmas!
• Fauns and Satyrs: Lewis describes both Fauns and Satyrs as inhabitants of Narnia. Although he describes fauns as having the hindlegs of goats, long tails, curly pilus, and small horns, the only clarification for the satyrs is that they are red as foxes or ruddy-brown in color. The volume illustrations depict fauns and satyrs as basically identical, with the exception of Mr. Tumnus, who is fatigued with a long tail. The movies expand the difference by making fauns caprine animal-legged and human bodied, with regular goat tails instead of long tails, and satyrs as basically human sized goats that walk on their hindlegs.

• Apartment Globe: The globe which contains Narnia is flat, with waterfalls on at least 1 edge (though they fall up). This is eventually Lampshaded in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Caspian is surprised to hear that there's such a thing every bit a circular world, and thinks Eustace and Edmund are kidding.
• Foreign Ruling Class: In between The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, Narnia is conquered by pirate-descended Telmarines from a mysterious state in the Westward, who force the local Talking Animals and supernatural entities into hiding. Prince Caspian himself is a Telmarine Defector from Decadence who sides with the native Narnians, only his descendants remain Narnian kings for the rest of the world'due south lifespan.

• Going Cosmic: The series has Christian analogy from the get-get, just it becomes more than and more heavy-handed with each sequel.
• Greater-Telescopic Paragon: Aslan the lion plays the well-nigh prominent role in supernaturally aiding the heroes, while only brief influence is felt from his father, the Emperor-Beyond-The-Sea. As the books are Christian apologue, it is by and large assumed that Aslan represents Jesus Christ (aka God the Son) while the Emperor is God the Begetter.
• Growing Up Sucks: A lot of people charge Lewis of promoting this, partially because the kids can't become dorsum to Narnia when they're older, and partly because of Susan's fate (run into Mis-blamed, in YMMV). Simply nosotros see other characters abound up without it being a bad thing, well-nigh notably Caspian, Cor, and Digory. The Pevensies, in fact, do all grow up for some time, and Aslan makes it clear that outgrowing the need to visit Narnia in favour of living in their own world is a good thing. It seems to exist more "Growing up sucks if y'all forget your childhood in the procedure," which falls in line with opinions Lewis is known to have expressed about adults who think being "grown up" means looking downwardly on childhood and "childish" enjoyments.
• One-half-Human Hybrid: Several cases, even with at least one star, of all things. A couple decades afterward Narnia's offset, the children of King Frank and Queen Helen wedded non-human being Narnians. The sons married woods nymphs and river nymphs, and the daughters married wood gods and river gods. The peoples of Archenland and Calormen are descendants of these unions, despite the fact that they physically look completely human. Later the Telmarine Conquest in Narnia, some of the dwarfs disguised themselves as humans and married humans and spawned a few half-dwarfs, Dr. Cornelius being one of them. It is debated whether Ramandu's daughter (Named "Lilliandil" in the film) is a total star or only half-star, though her son Rilian and his descendants, like Tirian, at least count as part-star. If y'all put the beavers' business relationship of the White Witch's origins to her story of being queen of Charn and beingness brought into Narnia, information technology can be assumed that the race of Charn are descended from Jinn (demons) Giants.
• Hard Truth Aesop: The books contain the lesson that the real world is a harsh and tearing place that sometimes takes a fair amount of violence to survive in. C. S. Lewis was even quoted in one case equally proverb that pretending otherwise would practice a great disservice to children.

• In It for Life: "Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia." Of import considering information technology is non unknown for children from Earth to exist taken to Narnia, installed equally rex or queen, returned to Earth, so be returned to Narnia years, decades, or centuries afterwards at which time a new ruler may exist in identify.

• Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Inverted and combined with the fact that making Eastward the cardinal management is a characteristic of mediæval Christian maps (because that'south the direction Jerusalem is from Europe). Aslan'southward State is in the distant East (contrast Tolkien'due south Valinor being "Westward of W") and he is said to exist the "son of the Emperor over the sea." It is likely in this example that Lewis was particularly influenced by the beginning book of Edmund Spenser'southward The Faerie Queene, in which Una'south male parent is Male monarch of the East and the evil Duessa (who has some affinities with the White Witch) is associated with the West. (Note that the two are allegorical representations of Protestantism and Catholicism, respectively.)
• Legendary in the Sequel: Thanks to Narnia Time, occurs to the main characters in well-nigh every volume; they may render to Narnia to find that thousands of years take passed and their adventures from the last time are treated as history or even legend. In Prince Caspian when the Pevensies return to Narnia it's treated as more or less equivalent to King Arthur returning to present-mean solar day Uk (many people fifty-fifty believe they are a myth). Taken even further in The Concluding Battle: Tirian is dumbfounded that Digory and Polly are still alive in our world, because they are part of Narnia'due south creation myth, then information technology'south almost like coming together Adam and Eve.
  • And lest we think Tirian is just a naive native, the awe goes both ways: '"I saw [this world] brainstorm," said the Lord Digory. "I did non recollect I would alive to see it die."'

• Low-cal Is Good: Played with. Most of the villains are not "nighttime", and while Aslan arguably fills the "low-cal Big Good" niche the only truly light-oriented creatures, the stars, don't play a large office - nor practise they seem any more than morally conventional than whatever other race. The inhabitants of Narnia's underworld are mostly proficient, and the very beginning villain is a witch dressed in white (although not explicitly lite-related).
• Loads and Loads of Races: Besides numerous species of talking birds and beasts, the world of Narnia is full of mythological creatures, monsters, and magical beasts. LWW Introduces fauns, dwarfs, dryads, naiads, centaurs, minotaurs, ghouls, werewolves, boggles, hags, ogres, spectres, wooses, cruels, sprites, people of the toadstools, orknies, ettins, efreets, jinn, giants, horrors, incubuses, unicorns, winged horses, and merpeople. PC introduces maenads, male tree and river spirits, one-half-dwarfs, and telmarines. VDT introduces people of the islands, star people, monopods/duffers/dufflepuds, sea people, dragons, sea serpents, and birds of the morning. SC introduces marshwiggles, gnomes/earthmen, and (sleeping) giant lizards.
• Mad Lib Fantasy Title: Most probable the Trope Maker for all the later fantasy serial that include "Chronicles" in their title. The books themselves also count, with their titles' invocations of such stock fantasy elements as "Wizard," "Prince," "Battle," "Dawn", and then on.

• Magic Antidote: Lucy's cordial, fabricated from flowers that grow but on the surface of the sun, no less. One drop has the power to heal whatsoever wound or injury.
• Medieval Stasis: Very strongly. Dwarfish smiths create crowns for the offset royalty of Narnia on the first day of its existence, and almost four thousand years later, the concluding day of that world withal involves people fighting with sword and bow.
• Mirror Reveal: Eustace first discovers his transformation into a dragon upon seeing his reflection in a pool of h2o.
• The Multiverse: The books mainly feature travel to and from the titular Narnia, simply in The Sorcerer's Nephew it'south explained that our world and Narnia are just 2 of a Multiverse of worlds. We only e'er see iii, though. Four, if you count Heaven, although this information technology is portrayed equally beingness as clearly and obviously different from the balance as a cube is from a square.
• Nature Spirit: Narnia is total of these. Forest-Nymphs/Dryads/Hamadryads/Silvans, Naiads, Woods Gods (male person versions of wood nymphs since wood gods have been mentioned as being husbands and brothers to them), River Gods (aforementioned species as naiads, since ane river god is mentioned ascent out of a river with a group of naiads who are described as being his daughters), Bacchus, Maenads, and Silenus. The stars and sea people may possibly count likewise.

• Nice Mice: Mice are the only race of Talking Animals that gets a racial storyline of their own.
• One-Gender Race: Although Narnia has races from Classical Mythology that are depicted as one gender but (male centaurs, male person fauns, male person satyrs, male dwarfs, female dryads, female person naiads, etc.), Lewis is rather ambiguous about these races as existence either one-gendered or not. Lewis mentions male tree and river gods that are implied to be the male versions of the tree and h2o nymphs of Narnia. And Lewis never states that female fauns, centaurs, satyrs, and dwarfs do not exist, all the same some centaurs have centaur sons. Why, when the children of King Frank and Queen Helen go out and marry, the sons marry dryads and naiads, and daughter marry male person tree and river spirits instead of whatsoever of the dwarfs, centaurs, satyrs, or fauns. Lewis does however mention races with both males and females such as giants and giantesses, and mermen and mermaids. In the films, they do depict female dwarfs and centaurs forth with the males, the big river god is depicted, simply without naiad daughters, and in a deleted scene, when the Pevensies and Trumpkin see a dryad dice because its tree was cut down, when it screams, information technology has a man's voice. All the on-page Dufflepuds are male person but one mentions his daughter.
• One Steve Limit: Averted with Queen Helen and Helen Pevensie, although Helen Pevensie is not named in the books.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: These are actually proficient guys, and quite heroic, too.
• Our Dragons Are Unlike: They don't show upwards all that often compared to other species, but they're among the creatures present in the world of Narnia, generally existence plant in its more remote corners. Physically they're the giant, fire-animate, bat-winged reptiles of Western myth, although their elbows are noted to rise above their backs like a spider's. They're immensely greedy, and often aggregate immense hoards of treasure. Sleeping on a dragon's hoard risks transforming the sleeper into a dragon themselves, and dragons live alongside Fiery Salamanders in the land of Bism Beneath the Earth, sleeping until the terminate times when they will rise to the surface and burn away the world.
• Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Grumpy and aggressive metalworkers and miners. Subverted in one detail: the weapon of choice for Narnian dwarfs is non the axe or hammer, just the bow.
• Our Gnomes Are Weirder: Instead of dwarfish sprites, they look like bizarre human being-animal mixtures, simply mostly humanoid, and no ii are alike.
• Our Mermaids Are Unlike: Narnia has 2 varieties of merfolk. The ones that live in the coast of Narnia are the traditional merfolk with the heads, arms, and torsos of human men and women and long fish tails below the waist. They are friendly, tin can breathe the air of the surface, tin can leave the water, and have cute, sireneqsue/angelic singing voices. The other kind that dwell in the oceans at the world'south end are completely humanoid in appearance with regular human legs, have ivory white skin, night imperial hair, wear no clothing except for royalty, who wearable cloaks and coronets, and ride of the backs of spiny body of water horses (that's gotta be painful if you lot are riding barrel naked.). They are manifestly unable to leave the water (either they are unable to breathe air, or they don't know what might happen to them if they do), and are very violent and hostile to the Dawn Treader crew, except for ane fish shepherdess girl who waved to Lucy when she saw her. In the moving picture version of VDT, the Sea People are replaced past Naiads, who weren't featured in the first two films (Unless you count the River God), and they are depicted as basically mermaids fabricated out of liquid...
• Our Nymphs Are Different: Dryads are amidst the numerous fantastical creatures native to Narnia, and Lewis describes them in some detail. Birch dryads look like slender girls with showery hair, dressed in silver and fond of dancing, beech dryads wait like gracious, queenly goddesses dressed in fresh transparent green, and oak dryads wait similar wizened old men with warts, gnarled fingers, and pilus growing out of the warts.
• Pals with Jesus: Quite literally, our heroes are pals with Aslan who basically is Jesus in a king of beasts form.

• Recursive Reality: All universes are connected to the Wood Between The Worlds, a forest dotted past puddles. Each pool is a portal to a universe.
• Red Is Heroic: All skilful dwarfs take red hair and all evil dwarfs have black hair.
• Imperial Cruiser: During the Golden Age of the Narnian kingdom, under High King Peter, the rulers would travel aboard a galleon carved to resemble a giant swan, named the Splendor Hyaline.
• Royals Who Really Do Something:
  • The rulers of Narnia and Archenland are expected to be "starting time in every accuse and last in every retreat" as well every bit have lean tables during famines. Ane gets the impression that descent is an unimportant part of beingness royalty: Aslan appoints a random cab driver from London the kickoff King of Narnia. When the cabbie objects, Aslan asks him if he would recollect that the Talking Animals of Narnia are gratis subjects, avert holding favourites, bring upwardly his children to do the same, et cetera. His answers are between "yes" and "A chap tin't know that, but I hope I'd effort," and Aslan tells him "You will have washed all that a Male monarch should do."
  • The Calormen royalty as well; any other faults you tin lay at their door, are too directly involved in politics and battles. When the Jerkass prince (unable to go out his city because of a curse) becomes Tisroc (king), he makes peace with his neighbors, because he knows better than to let his lords win glory in battle while he'south stuck in the palace - "for that is the way Tisrocs get overthrown".
• Sapient Steed: Inevitable when you accept sentient and Talking Animals, and particularly of import in The Horse and His Boy, where two of the protagonists are horses. However, it's noted that this is something not washed except in times of need.

• Sequel Number Snarl: The series started out in chronological order but the fifth and sixth books were, respectively, a interquel and a prequel. Later editions of the serial number the books in chronological order, just many fans maintain that reading them in publication order is more rewarding because the prequel contains references that only make sense if you've read the other books start. Every bit for C. S. Lewis himself, he never actually cared virtually the order in which people read his books.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Fallen correct off the Idealistic cease.
• Smurfette Principle: Averted. Every single 1 of the seven books features at least one female in a prominent role. Most, if non all, feature more than one.
• Talking Fauna: Narnia is full of them and some similar the Beavers act like Civilized Animals. It's important to annotation however that there are ordinary "dumb" animals which can be used for labour and exist butchered for meat; but killing and swallow a talking animate being is a grave offence, and so is mistreating them — King Tirian kills a Calormene soldier who dared to whip a talking horse. Aslan was the one who created the Talking Beasts; they were originally ordinary animals that he granted the gifts of spoken language and intelligence and he withal does and so centuries afterward Narnia's cosmos - Reepicheep and his followers are descended from the mice that freed Aslan from the White Witch'south ropes, and were given the souvenir of speech communication in gratitude. However, Aslan can also accept the gift of voice communication away; In "The Last Battle" those talking animals that pass up him or betrayed Narnia to Calormen go dumb beasts.
• Tokyo Is The Centre Of The Universe: Aside from Dawn Treader, all the books' antagonists' plans involve Narnia in ane form or another. Justified, in that Narnia was the outset country made in the other world, and therefore the ane nigh special to Aslan.
• Trapped in Another Earth: With the slight twist that characters who stay in Narnia age normally— quite considerably in the Pevensies' case— simply Snap Dorsum to their original ages when they return to Earth. Too, finding a mode back home is never a goal of anyone's quest in Narnia.
• Unanthropomorphic Transformation: At the creation of Narnia, shown in The Magician's Nephew, Aslan grants the gift of voice communication and intelligence to some of the animals, just he warns them they may lose this souvenir and become ordinary animals over again if they indulge their baser instincts besides much. This threat really happens in The Final Boxing. Ginger the true cat joins a group of tyrants as The Quisling, which ultimately results in him seeing the God of Evil Tash confront-to-face. The sight is and so terrifying, Ginger reverts to a dumb brute and never speaks again.
• Waterfall into the Abyss: The earth has this characteristic described in some detail in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Continually sailing to the east doesn't bring you around to the west again, but to The Stop of the World. If you go over the border, you end up in Aslan's Country - 1 of the few ways to go there without dying first.
• Wish Fulfilment: Arguably, the two instances in the entire series when Narnian magic intervenes directly in the real earth: in The Magician'south Nephew, when Aslan gives Digory the means to salvage his mother, and in The Silver Chair, when Aslan, Caspian, and the children teach the bullies at the boarding school a lesson. This becomes clear when one reads Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and sees that he lost his own mother at a young historic period, similarly to Digory, and that he had attended a realistic Boarding School of Horrors, where he experienced bullying.
  • Moreover, the entire series (or at to the lowest degree its earlier instalments) may count as Wish Fulfilment: in his essay "On Iii Ways of Writing for Children", Lewis says that he never set out to write a children's volume on the principle of writing what i supposes children like, but that he merely wrote the sort of book he himself would have liked to read.

• Writers Cannot Do Math: Averted in discussing how loftier Aslan'south state is. If you take Lewis' clues every bit to its pinnacle literally, in both The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair, they add up to the aforementioned figure: approximately 1,500,000 feet above body of water level.
• Year Within, Hour Outside: Narnia's time moves far more quickly than our universe'southward. Characters spend years in Narnia but then return to find it is the aforementioned twenty-four hour period as when they entered. They revisit Narnia a year afterwards, and find that centuries have since passed. That said, it's somewhat inconsistent, as Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair, all happen within Prince Caspian's lifetime, despite taking place months autonomously in the real world, with The Last Battle happening after those books, yet 200 years have passed.

Older adaptations provide examples of:

• Cut Brusk: Neither the BBC adaptation nor the Walden Media films were able to adapt all the books. The Walden media films only managed to suit three books, stopping at The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the 3rd published book, whereas the BBC version was at least able to go upwards to The Silver Chair earlier stopping. Even so, neither version managed to arrange all seven novels. Time will tell if the upcoming Netflix shows will avoid this or not.
• Evil Is Hammy: The White Witch in both the animated and BBC adaptations. Both have No Indoor Vocalization, with their lines rarely dropping beneath a deafening screech, and both are prone to Chewing the Scenery. Barbara Kellerman'southward acting in the BBC version is such that even the near innoculous lines are hammed upward to the extreme, such as the White Witch screaming "NEXT TIIIIIME!" as her sleigh slowly pulls away. Probably an example of Ham and Cheese. Averted in the film version, where Tilda Swinton gives a much more restrained operation.
  • Brainwashed Prince Rillian qualifies likewise.

    "WHAT?! Is our little maiden A DEEP POLITICIAN?!?"

• Loads and Loads of Sidequests: The commencement Nintendo DS entry has around 70 sidequests. The creatures of Narnia will enquire the player to do things for them in exchange for new skills. Most are adequately simple, and can exist ignored without a hassle... At least until the very end of the game, where information technology turns out that to face to White Witch one has to consummate ALL of them.
• Mood Whiplash: In the blithe motion-picture show, after Aslan'southward murder and subsequent resurrection, he spends nearly one-half a minute just jumping around playing with Susan and Lucy. Granted, it happened in the volume likewise (over the form of a sentence or 2), but the way it'south presented here is just startling.
  • Episode 5 of the BBC series plays the rather uplifting theme music at the end seconds after Aslan'south horrific murder.
• Roger Rabbit Effect: In the before instalments of the BBC series, a lot of the magical creatures that couldn't exist played by people in costumes are animated.

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Culling Title(southward): Narnia

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia

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