The Last Battle: Context

At this point in our discussion some may be wondering what this all has to do with Torah or Judaism. We’ll get there (maybe), but for the moment we need to set the background for “The Last Battle.”

A typical reader opening The Last Battle may assume that all is peaceful in Narnia. We are not told of any active battles. The King, a young man between the ages of 20 and 25, is out at his little hunting lodge without much of a retinue, not something a King should do should there be a threat of danger. In fact, we are explicitly told that with respect to Narnia's arch-enemy, “there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those days.”

However, there are a number of clues hinting that the seemingly idyllic portrait is not correct. The Narnian timeline tells us that 21 years before "towers are built to guard Lantern waste, where there has been an increase in outlaw activity." Furthermore, we see evidence of great battles in the recent past. In discussing the relationship between King Tirian and his best friend Jewel the Unicorn we are told, “Each had saved the other’s life in the wars?” What wars? Tirian is not old enough to have participated in wars decades before! Even more telling is the explicit statement later in the story that King Tirian’s father, King Erlian, had been severely wounded, and apparently killed, by the giant. What giant? 

As a first step, let us try to determine who the enemy was in the battles that Tirian fought. Here are some possibilities:

1. Calormen
2. Some other enemy from the islands to the east or the wilds of the west 
3. The just mentioned outlaws or a civil war
4. The Giants on Narnia’s northern border
5. The Giants of Harfang

Possibility 1 seems to fall away immediately due to the declaration that there was peace between the countries in those days. Should war have been fought five years earlier, such a statement would not have been made. Possibility 2 would require having a new enemy pop out of nowhere. Why do that? Possibilities 3, 4, and 5 or some combination of them seem to be most likely. We know that King Erlian was killed by the giant and thus it would make sense that these battles continued into the reign of Tirian.

Whoever it is, perhaps the wars, possibly instigated by the increase of outlaw activity in the region, give us further insight into the true situation of Narnia at that time. All is not comfortable and at peace. Not too long before a Narnian king was killed in battle. Further conflict almost cost the life of the new, young, king. Could this have led the citizens of Narnia to start doubting Aslan’s kindness? Could desperation with a shaky political situation make them willing to accept Aslan’s arrival despite all evidence to the contrary? And, no matter what enemy it may have been, we have still not explained King Tirian’s unwillingness to immediately investigate the arrival of Aslan. Could Tirian have become too self-confident?

To be continued…