Ba'alei Teshuva in The Horse and His Boy

We have already spoken of the Chronicles’ two great ba’alei teshuva, “returnees” to the true religion, Edmund and Eustace. Edmund had rebelled against his siblings and, for his own personal gain, joined the forces of evil. Eustace suffered from the lack of a spiritual upbringing and refused to see the truth when clearly presented to him. The first two returnees we will discuss in The Horse and His Boy seek the truth for another reason, they have learned the evils of their former worldview and are seeking an alternative.

Shasta is raised by his adoptive father the fisherman Arsheesh and is motivated to look elsewhere when he is sold as a slave. Aravis is raised in the home of a powerful Calormen Tarkhan and is sold as a wife to one she does not love. Both are looking for a better life elsewhere and are drawn to Narnia by talking horses they meet.

However, there is a sharp contrast between them Shasta and Aravis. Shasta is a natural Northerner and has long had an impulse to travel in that direction. When alerted that this impulse arises from his natural propensity as a Northerner, he immediately claims to identify himself with this new culture (though he does not yet know it). Aravis is a Calormene and in every way a stranger to Northern ethics and culture. If anything, she has been taught to hate this culture. Yet, she follows a guide who promises her a better life as the biblical Ruth followed her mother-in-law to the Land of Israel.

The Horse and His Boy feature other returnees as well. The two horses themselves, Bree and Hwin, return to their native land after being captured by Calormen. Unlike Shasta, however, both knew of their Narnian origin though not much of the culture or religion of Narnia. The horses, however, are very different characters. The proud Bree expects to be welcome with open arms by his fellow Narnians while Hwin would be glad just to get home.

The Calomene prince Rabadash was a potential convert in the same way as Aravis. He too was sold by his father, the Tisroc, for the price of Narnia and Archenland. Unlike Aravis, Rabadash requested the sale, but, as with Aravis, the sale was never consummated. This should have opened his eyes to the truth of Aslan, but instead he settles for fear of Aslan as a demon rather than belief in Aslan as a god.

Finally, there is the Lapsed Bear of Stormness. We know practically nothing of his regression to wild bear behavior, but he too becomes a reformed character.

Perhaps this wide array of characters with their background stories is meant to teach us that there is no one road to travel to come to the service of the one God. 

We’ll discuss all of them over the next series of posts.