Charn (city)

"Such was Charn, that great city, the city of the King of Kings, the wonder of the world, perhaps of all worlds."

- Jadis describing her city. Charn was the capital city of a world-wide, war-like empire that was forged on a world separate from both Narnia and Earth (of a name unknown), which is here called the world of Charn. That world was destroyed by Jadis, the last Empress of Charn, who later ruled Narnia as the White Witch.

The few facts known about Charn comes from the brief accidental visit made by Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, long after it was destroyed, and the few remarks made about it by the last member of the Charn culture, Jadis. Charn was a wealthy, populous empire, the 'superpower' of its world. The capital city, which Digory and Polly landed in, went on 'as far as the eye could see'. It was ruled by a line of magically-adept emperors and empresses, descended from Jinn and giants, of which the last was Empress Jadis. Its sun was a dying red giant star, accompanied by a small white star.

In fact, magic may have been widely used by the Charnish culture; Jadis referred to the common use of magic carpets for transportation. However, its use was apparently limited to the nobility, who inherited inborn magical powers. Jadis dismissed Andrew Ketterley, Digory's magician uncle, as an amateur conjurer without a drop of real magic blood in his veins, saying, 'Your kind was put an end to in my world a thousand years ago'.

There are indications that Charn had originally been a benevolent nation, but by Jadis's time it was an aggressive empire that had conquered and destroyed the other nations of its world. Jadis mentioned three of them: Felinda, Sorlois, and Bramandin.

It was a cruel, absolute despotism, whose rulers regarded the population as their property, to be killed if it suited them. Charn's degeneration is evidenced in the Hall of Images, a lineup of past Charnian rulers in the royal palace; the first images are of kind and wise rulers, but the lineup progressively degrades towards vanity, arrogance, cruelty, and even despair.

The entire population of Charn was destroyed, along with all other living things on the world, by Jadis, when she lost a war with her sister for control of the empire. The war was extremely bloody, and when the sister eventually won, Jadis used a magical 'ultimate weapon', the Deplorable Word, to destroy all living things on the planet, particularly her sister’s army, in which only she herself remained. Jadis showed no remorse for her act, and claimed she had offered to spare her sister's life if she surrendered, so the resulting destruction was the sister's fault.

Afterward, since Charn was uninhabitable, Jadis put herself into suspended animation in the Hall of Images, to await possible rescue by chance visitors from other worlds. During their accidental visit, Digory succumbed to curiosity and rang a magical bell, which awoke Jadis, and she was able to leave Charn with them. Afterwards the world of Charn ended completely, and its pool in the Wood Between the Worlds evaporated, leaving a dry, warm hollow. It is not clear whether this was due to the dying sun simply collapsing, or Aslan putting a final end to the destroyed world.

Trivia
The name Charn was possibly taken from the phrase "Charnel House," which is a vault where corpses and bones are kept.

Charn