The Last Battle

This article is about the novel by C. S. Lewis. For other meanings, see Last Battle.

The Last Battle

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author	C. S. Lewis
Original title	The Last Battle
Illustrator	Pauline Baynes
Language	English
Series	The Chronicles of Narnia
Genre	Fantasy, Children's Literature
Publisher	The Bodley Head
Publication date	1956
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	228 pages
ISBN	011196103589
Preceded by	The Magician's Nephew

The Last Battle is the seventh and final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. Lewis was awarded the Carnegie Medal for the book in 1956.

Plot summary

In The Last Battle, Lewis brings The Chronicles of Narnia to an end. The book deals with the end of time in the old Narnia and sums up the series by linking the experience of the human children in Narnia with their lives in their original world.

The story begins during the reign of the last king of Narnia, King Tirian, great-grandson of the great-grandson of Rilian, son of King Caspian X. Narnia has experienced a long period of peace and prosperity begun during the reign of King Caspian X. The book begins as a Centaur, Roonwit, comes to warn Tirian strange and evil things are happening to his land and that the stars portend ominous developments.

An ape named Shift has persuaded a well-meaning but simple donkey called Puzzle to dress in a lion's skin, and pretend to be the Great Lion Aslan. Puzzle, though reluctant, is tricked by Shift's assertion that it is not Shift but Aslan himself who is making the request of Puzzle. Shift, using Puzzle as his pawn, convinces the Narnians, both human and animal, that he speaks for Aslan. Once the Narnians have been convinced that Aslan has returned, Shift orders the Narnians to work for the Calormenes, and to cut down talking trees for lumber. The money will be paid into "Aslan's" treasury, held by Shift, on the pretext that it will be used for the good of the Narnians.

King Tirian and his friend Jewel the Unicorn at first also believe the rumors of Aslan's return, but realize the lie when they hear Shift telling the Narnians that Aslan and the Calormene god Tash are one and the same. When Tirian accuses the ape of lying, the Calormenes overpower the king and bind him to a tree. He calls on Aslan for help, and receives a vision of Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Peter Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie, Eustace Scrubb, Lucy Pevensie and Jill Pole, though he does not know who they are. The people in the room can also see him and, though Tirian can't speak to them, they guess that he's a messenger from Narnia. A few minutes later by Narnian time, Jill and Eustace arrive in Narnia. They release the King and rescue Jewel and Puzzle. A band of dwarfs are also rescued, but because their faith in Aslan has been shattered, they refuse to help, claiming "The dwarfs are for the dwarfs." Only one dwarf, Poggin, is faithful to Tirian, Aslan and Narnia and he joins them. Tirian and his small loyal force prepare to fight the Calormenes.

As the battle progresses, all of the animals are killed (many by the dwarfs, who attack both sides) and Eustace, Jill, and Poggin are thrown into the stable where the false Aslan was kept. Tirian, earlier on, had thrown Shift into the stable and Tash, who now haunted the stable, swallowed the ape whole. After Eustace, Jill, and Poggin are dragged into the stable, Tirian, left alone and fighting for his life, drags Rishda Tarkaan, the leader of the Calormenes, into the stable. Much to the Calormen leader's surprise and terror, a very real Tash appears, and snatches him up under an arm. Peter, Edmund, Eustace, Lucy, Jill, Polly, and Digory appear before them, (Susan does not appear in Narnia because she has stopped believing in it, thinking of it only as some silly childhood game) and Peter orders Tash to leave. Aslan appears and as they watch at the stable door, all of the people and animals, including those who had previously died, gather outside the barn and are judged by Aslan. Those who have been loyal to Aslan, or to the morality upheld by Narnians, join Aslan in Aslan's Country. Those who have opposed or deserted him do not pass through the door, rather, they become ordinary non-talking animals and fade into shadow and vanish to a fate unknown even to C.S. Lewis. As the children watch, all the vegetations are eaten by dragons, salamanders, and giant lizards and Father Time calls all the stars down from the skies into the sea, which rises to cover Narnia. Peter closes the door, and Aslan leads them away to his country, which is revealed to be the "real" Narnia (the one the Narnians had previously inhabited was only a copy). Here they meet the deceased characters from all the preceeding novels, and the series ends with the revelation that "for them, it was only the beginning of the true story, which goes on forever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Commentary

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Lewis has been criticised by Philip Pullman and others (notably Neil Gaiman and J.K. Rowling) in the short story "The Problem of Susan" over the values conveyed by The Last Battle. In particular, Gaiman is critical of how Susan Pevensie, one of the children who appeared in previous stories, is described as "no longer a friend of Narnia" as she is interested only in "nylons, lipstick and invitations". Among others, fan-magazine editor Andrew Rilstone opposes this view, arguing that the "lipsticks, nylons and invitations" quote is taken out of context. They maintain that in The Last Battle, Susan is excluded from Narnia explicitly because she no longer believes in it. At the end of The Last Battle Susan is still alive and may end up rejoining her family. Moreover, Susan's adulthood and sexual maturity are portrayed in a positive light in The Horse and His Boy, and therefore are argued to be unlikely reasons for her exclusion from Narnia.

Additionally, Lewis supporters cite the positive roles of women in the series, including Jill Pole in The Silver Chair, Aravis Tarkheena in The Horse and His Boy, Polly Plummer in The Magician's Nephew, and particularly Lucy Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Jacobs asserts that Lucy is the most admirable of the human characters, and that, in general, the girls come off better than the boys through the stories.

Accusations of racism stem from the perception that the Calormenes, the enemies of Narnia, are caricatures of Islamic culture. They are dark-skinned, wear turbans and live in an arid land south of Narnia. In contrast, the humans of Narnia are light-skinned. The Calormenes are seen as repulsive, dirty people who follow the god Tash, a satanic figure that takes away the souls of the wicked characters and demands evil deeds as a service to him. It is worth noting that while most of the protagonists in the Chronicles are light-skinned, the dark-skinned people are not seen as entirely evil. Some Narnians are evil, and some Calormenes are good. In fact, one of the better-developed characters in The Last Battle is an emphatically good Calormene, Emeth, whose name is the Hebrew word for "truth" (אמת).

The train accident, described in chapters 5 and 13 of The Last Battle, in which the characters from our world (Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Digory, and Polly) perish has several parallels to the Sutton Coldfield rail crash that took place on January 23, 1955. In both cases, a passenger train bound for Bristol derailed while entering a station around a curve at excessive speed, causing several fatalities. In Lewis’ chronology of Narnian events, however, the train derailment in The Last Battle took place in 1949.

Film, television, or theatrical adaptations

20th Century Fox and Walden Media currently plans to make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle in the future.

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre has created an audio version of "The Last Battle."

References

• Template:Harvard reference

Further reading

• Downing, David C. (2005). Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-7890-6.

External links

• The Last Battle title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database