Emeth and the Worship of Evil

In our last post we attempted to learn the true nature of the Calormene god Tash. We saw that Tash is not simply an imaginary chieftain god in the made-up mythology of Calormen. Rather, Tash is an actual being who is Aslan’s opposite, evil incarnate. Speaking from the perspective of other works of Lewis, we would say that Tash is the Chief devil, occupying the lowest rung of the Lowerarchy. He is the dark Oyarsa who rebelled against God, and transformed the world into a battleground between good and evil. Our question was, if so, how were the Calormenes to know that what they thought was a god, was really the devil? 

Let us begin our analysis with Emeth. We will have much to say about Emeth (whose name translated from Hebrew means Truth) in future posts, but for now we would like to understand how he finds his way into the Narnian post-world paradise. Emeth is a Calormene and a devoted servant of Tash. Yet, because his worship of Tash was not vile and because he strove to find truth, he is called a servant of Aslan and attains salvation. Understandably, this has caused much consternation especially amongst Evangelical Christians (see for example here and here) who believe that salvation is attainable only through faith in Christ and not through works. Nonetheless, the existence of someone like Emeth demonstrates that one can have been fooled into thinking that Tash, evil incarnate, is actually good. Evil can and will pose as good and develop arguments as to why he is good, while all the time subtly promoting evil. 

When evil poses as good it will ensnare and sometimes trap innocent lives. In the That Hideous Strength, N.I.C.E. poses as a source of law and order while at the same time torturing innocents, brutally enforcing police law, and murdering dissenters. What posed as good, was actually the worship of evil - and not just in these actions. But as we learn later in the story, the core of N.I.C.E. is the true worship of Satan. 

The worship of Tash presumably started in a similar way. By mixing in some good morals with the evils of human sacrifice and the like, Tash convinced common folk to worship him, while actually leading them towards the side of evil. Some, like Emeth, do not succumb to the temptation of evil and believe that they worship a kind and just god. Such people are eventually shown the truth (as Emeth's name suggest) and are accepted by Aslan. Others, like Aravis, see the evil and escape. Most, however, eventually fail. Arsheesh adopted the foundling Shasta, certainly a moral and righteous deed, but later sold him into slavery. 

Shift also attempts to pose evil as good. He convinces innocent Narnian citizens to kill the dryads. He argues that the selling of Narnians to Calormen as slaves is for their own good, He declares that, “True freedom means doing what I tell you.” All in the name of the good Aslan! However, he is actually serving Tash. It is no wonder Shift eventually declares Aslan and Tash are one. For Shift, the antichrist, is attempting to merge the two so that worship in the name of Aslan will actually be worship of Tash. 

Were evil obviously so, most people would simply reject it. It is when evil poses as good that it becomes such a danger. Unfortunately, and throughout Lewis' writings, we see that this strategy is successful and by the time evil is recognized as such, many have been completely corrupted. 

Tash the Irresistible, the Inexorable

The Calormenes worship, bless, curse, and swear in the name of the “god” Tash. The first we hear of Tash is in The Horse and His Boy when Aravis introduces herself as a descendant of Tash. Whether this truly happened (in the history of the Narnian universe) or whether this was a ploy by which the Tisrocs ensured they could keep power is unclear. Either way, we see plenty of invocations in the name of Tash in The Horse and His Boy, but not much to tell us of the true nature of Tash. For all we know, Tash is simply the chief god in an imaginary construct of Calormene mythology, similar to Greek and Roman mythology. Of course, such theological heresy would be denied by all true Narnians who would regard Tash as simply imaginary. 

In fact, denial of Tash’s existence does appear to be the general belief of the Narnians. This is stated explicitly by the Lamb (perhaps not coincidentally) in The Last Battle, “I don't believe there's any such person as Tash. But if there was, how could Aslan be friends with him?” Interestingly, the Calormenes do not deny the existence of Aslan. When, at the end of The Horse and His Boy, Aslan appears in Archenland, Rabadash, the prince of Calormen does not even seem surprised. Rather, they consider Aslan a horrible phantasm who supports Narnia and thus an enemy of Tash. 

One of the major theological surprises in The Last Battle is that Tash is real. Upon seeing Tash, Tirian, Jewel, and even Eustace and Jill are shocked. This forces us to change our entire approach to the spiritual powers that are at play in the Narnian universe. Tash is not the imaginary leader of pretend gods, but an actual being upon whom the sun does not shine and who emits a foul odor strong enough to kill natural vegetation. The question, of course, is if Tash is real, who or what is he? How does he exist in a world ruled by Aslan’s father the Emperor over the Sea? 

Our answer comes from Aslan himself upon being questioned by the Calormene Emeth. As we will recall, Emeth enters the paradise of Aslan thinking it is the country to Tash. When he meets the great lion, Emeth assumes that his time is up, for he has been a faithful servant of Tash, not of Aslan. Yet, Aslan accepts all the service Emeth has done for Tash as having been done for him. Why? Aslan explains:

Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore, if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.

Tash, then, is the incarnate of evil parallel to Aslan who is the incarnate of good. The Narnian universe is inhabited by an evil being that promotes and rewards wickedness, cruelty, and falsehoods. This being, Tash, is not a god as imagined by the Calormens, but Aslan’s opposite. This is why Tash is the enemy of Narnia. For it is the country that worships Aslan.

This revelation, however, raises even more questions. Did the Calormenes realize they were worshipping evil? Is it their fault if they did not know? Could they simply have assumed Tash is a just and righteous god? The answer to this question I believe is key to understanding Lewis’ belief on the identity of the true enemy of a religious person and a religious nation. It is not another religion worshipping God in a different way, but a sect of people (religious or not) who worship evil.

Narnian Enemies: Calormen

The introduction of Calormenes into the Chronicles of Narnia is found in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. While on the Lone Islands Edmund, Lucy, Reepicheep and Eustace were captured and put on the slave market. After some adventure, King Caspian, supported by the Lord Bern, a former friend of Caspian’s father, mounts a rescue. The slave market is closed for good and the slaves are set free. At that point two Calormene merchants approach our heroes. Lewis describes the encounter as follows:

The Calormen have dark faces and long beards. They wear flowing robes and orange-coloured turbans, and they are a wise, wealthy, courteous, cruel and ancient people. They bowed most politely to Caspian and paid him long compliments, all about the fountains of prosperity irrigating the gardens of prudence and virtue - and things like that - but of course what they wanted was the money they had paid.

These sentences paint a picture of Calormen as somewhere out of the Arabian Nights. Calormenes wear the clothes of the Middle East (and also carry scimitars rather than straight swords). They are courteous and speak with great eloquence but are really seeking something base and mundane. The fact that the Calormen currency is the crescent, cements the connection between it and the Ottoman Empire.

Yet, Lewis builds into Calormen society certain ideas which are patently at odds with a model of an Islamic Empire. First, the religion of Calormen is certainly not Islam. The chief deity of the Calormenes (though not the only one) is Tash who has four arms and the head of a vulture. The Calormenes worship idols of Tash and are said to practice human sacrifice. Tash is also regarded as the ancestor of the line of the Tisrocs (the empires of Calormen). All of which is totally at odds with Islam, a monotheistic religion which rejects idols and images of God. Why? If Lewis was seeking an Islamic enemy to Narnia, make the country fully Muslim!

I humbly suggest that the Muslim-like characteristics of Narnia's enemy is effectively a red-herring. Lewis endows Calormenes with some physical and cultural features of Muslims from the Middle Ages simply to recreate a Crusader-type defense of the Holy Land atmosphere in the Chronicles. However, the true conflict between Narnia and Calormen is not religion.

The major difference between Narnian society and Calormen society is the relationship between the common-folk and the great Lords, be they human or spiritual. In Calormen the populous is worthless in the eyes of the great leaders. Laws in Calormen are created by and for the elite. No man is allowed to stand in the presence of the Tisroc (who must be blessed upon mention of his name), and the traffic regulations in the capital city of Tashbaan are described as, “There is only one traffic regulation, which is that everyone who is less important has to get out of the way for everyone who is more important; unless you want a cut from a whip or punch from the butt end of a spear.” In Narnia, and its ally Archenland, however, “The king's under the law, for it's the law makes him a king.”

The same is true with the relationship towards the Gods. Tash seeks to conquer. He demands human sacrifice, he stretches his arms to “snatch all Narnia.” Borrowing from the description of the devil in the Screwtape Letters, Tash seeks to “draw all other beings into himself.” Aslan, of course, is the very opposite. Tash seeks human sacrifice, Aslan sacrifices himself for a human (Edmund). Tash seeks to swallow up Narnia, Aslan sends the Calormene crown-prince home to Calormen to be transformed back into a man in the Temple of Tash. Upon seeing Tash, Rishda Tarkaan falls face down to the ground. Upon seeing Aslan, Lucy’s face lights up and she runs towards him with joy.

This is the actual battle between Carlomen and Narnia. What is the purpose of the masses? To be servants whose will and very being are consumed by the elite, or to be sons who can receive blessings from He who seeks to give?