Caspian X

"Caspian felt brave and, in a way, happy, to think that he was King Caspian riding to seek adventures, with his sword on his left hip and Queen Susan's horn on his right."

- On Caspian

Caspian X, King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel, and Emperor of the Lone Islands, also called Caspian the Seafarer and Caspian the Navigator (2290 – 2356, Narnian Time) was one of the greatest leaders of the Narnian Empire who took part in the successful Narnian Revolution and began the Age of Exploration. Caspian was descended from the Telmarine Dynasty and succeeded by his son Rilian.

Childhood
Caspian was born the Crown Prince of the Narnian realm around 2290 NY. When Caspian was a small child, his father was murdered, and his mother died shortly after. Afterwards, he was raised as the nephew ("adopted son") and heir to his uncle Miraz, the "Lord Protector" of Narnia. As a prince, Caspian was raised under the care of his nurse, who spent many hours playing games with him and telling him tales of the Old Days of Narnia. These stories sparked a deep longing in Caspian for those Old Days, but he felt sure they would never come back.

Caspian spent very little time with his aunt, but twice a week his uncle would take him on a walk for half an hour, and talk to him. On one such day spent with his uncle, he revealed that he had been told stories about the land of Old Narnia and about the Kings and Queens who ruled it, and most importantly, about Aslan. Caspian believed what his nurse told him, telling his uncle that the stories were real history. Shortly afterwards, Miraz removed Caspian's Nurse as a punishment to both of them, and replaced her with a tutor.

Though Caspian was horrified to lose his nurse, he came to like his tutor, an old man called Doctor Cornelius. The doctor taught him many topics including grammar, astronomy, history, and politics (though of navigation he learned nothing, because the Telmarines hated the sea). As soon as his schooling began, he was also taught nonacademic but princely pursuits such as horseriding, archery, swordplay, and music. Despite his nurse's absence, Caspian did not forget the tales she told him, though he was careful not to speak of them, having learned that Miraz disapproved of such things. During one history lesson with Doctor Cornelius, Caspian asked his professor hopefully whether the old stories might be true and whether Cornelius would tell him more. The professor's reply was cryptic and unsatisfying.

A few nights later, Cornelius roused Caspian and took him to a secret tower for an astronomy lesson. While there, Cornelius led Caspian to guess that the old man was in fact a part-dwarf. His existence proved the truth of the old tales. From then on, Caspian and Cornelius would go often to the tower, and Cornelius would tell Caspian in secret much more about Old Narnia and it's history. During this time, he begged Caspian in the future to be a better king than those before him, and to be fair to all. These meetings were of course kept an absolute secret from any others, and they strengthened the friendship between the prince and the professor.

The War of Deliverance
In 2303, when Caspian was around fifteen, his uncle Miraz's wife gave birth to a son. On the night of the birth, Caspian was roused by his professor and dressed in traveling clothes before being led to the tower again. There, Cornelius told him of the birth and for the first time confirmed the danger Caspian was in. Miraz had murdered Caspian's father for the throne. Now, with an heir of his own, Miraz would willfully murder Caspian so that his son would carry his line. Cornelius urged the prince to flee that very night, giving him advice, money, and the magic horn of Queen Susan. Caspian fled alone into the woods, where he was caught in the midst of a storm and hit by a tree, throwing him from his horse. When he woke, he was in an unfamiliar home being tended to by three strangers. His rescuers were Old Narnians, Trufflehunter the badger, Trumpkin the red dwarf, and Nikabrik the black dwarf. When he announced his own identity, they disagreed about what to do with him, but eventually agreed to take him as their own king if their fellow Old Narnians agreed to it. After meeting with many Old Narnians, a deal was struck. Caspian would be the Narnian's king and leader and give them their freedom if they would fight for him and give him back his kingdom. All, it was agreed, would be loyal to Aslan.

After coming to an agreement, the Narnians were joined by Doctor Cornelius, who had fled for his own life. He warned them that Miraz knew of their doings and intended to attack and kill them all. The Narnians fled to the hallowed site of Aslan's How and prepared for battle. For several weeks the Narnians unsuccessfully battled the Telmarines before Caspian and his advisors decided to blow the magic horn of Queen Susan in the hope that they would be answered with a powerful form of high magic. Two scouts were sent out to discover the results of the experiment, and for several days they waited.

When no response came, Nikabrik proposed that they call on yet another power, the evil White Witch. When Caspian and his fellows refused, Nikabrik and his companions (a hag and a were-wolf) attacked them. Caspian was attacked by the wer-wolf, but rescued by the arrival of one of his scouts bringing back the Kings and Queens of Old, summoned by the blow of the horn. After saving Caspian's life, the High King Peter introduced himself and set plans to defeat Miraz in a champion's duel.

Later that day, the duel was held, and Caspian witnessed it alongside King Edmund and Doctor Cornelius. Eventually the duel was disrupted when Miraz was killed by one of his own men, and battle was joined. Caspian fought alongside the two kings for a few moments before the Telmarine Army retreated in the face of the attacking Narnians. Shortly afterward, Aslan and the Queens of Old (Susan and Lucy) cut off the Telmarine escape route, and the army was captured.

On that day, the 12th of Greenroof, 2303, Caspian first met Aslan and was made a knight by the High King Peter. A few days later, the kings and Queens of old returned to their own world, and the most hostile Telmarines were sent out of the country. Caspian was shortly thereafter made King of Narnia. Therefore Narnia's sixth era had begun.

Early Reign
In the three years following, Caspian truly took control, appointing his private council and knighting many of his officers. He ensured equality for all races and beings and making alliances with both Archenland and Telmar. Shortly after his coronation, the Northern giants began to rebel, and he waged a successful war against them to beat them back. He also began rebuilding the Narnian navy and setting right all the wrongs his uncle and ancestors had commited. His work in these years was the beginning of a long labour which would eventually turn his reign into an era of glory remembered well by his descendants.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
By 2306, order had been reestablished in Narnia, and Caspian constructed a ship, The Dawn Treader, to search for seven lords that had been loyal to his father but sent away by Miraz. They also had a secondary purpose of finding the End of the World, or, alternately, Aslan's Country. The ship stopped on Galma, where they were treated to banquets and jousts, and Caspian briefly courted the Duke of Galma's daughter. On the way to the Lone Islands, the ship discovered King Edmund, Queen Lucy, and their kinsman Eustace flailing in the sea, once again magically transported back to the Narnian world. Caspian himself dove to rescue them, and willingly gave up his cabin for the Queen.

Not long after, they arrived at the Lone Islands, where Caspian, the foreign royals, and Reepicheep the mouse elected to go for a walk on the island of Avra. There they met a slave trader called Pug, who captured them with the intent of selling them at the Narrowhaven slave market that day. While en route to the market, Caspian was separated from his companions and purchased as a manservant by an island Lord. His new master told him after the purchase that he had been bought because of his resemblance to a man the Lord had once served. This information led Caspian to guess correctly that the man was Lord Bern, one of his father's banished lords. Having proven that he was indeed Caspian X, he and Bern began to lay plans to rescue his Narnian friends from the slave market.

They sent a message to the Dawn Treader to trick and frighten the Islanders into thinking they had a fleet. Caspian then brought his entire crew ashore and dressed them all in armour, then paraded through the streets to announce the visit of the King of Narnia to the Governor of the Lone Islands. The Governor was unprepared and unwilling to shut down the slave trade or to pay the due taxes to Narnia. Caspian immediately removed him and installed Lord Bern as Duke of the Lone Islands. Thereafter, he learned that Lord Bern's six companions had sailed on, and as soon as he and his crew were ready, Caspian, too sailed away after them.

While at sea, they were struck by a hurricane for many days, and recieved substantial damage to their craft. They landed on an uninhabited island for repairs. On their first day there, Eustace disappeared. Search parties were sent out for him all day, but found nothing more than the carcass of a dead dragon. The next morning, Caspian and a few of his crew were camping on the beach when they rose to find that another dragon had landed between them and their fellow crewmen. When they went to fight the dragon, they discovered it to be friendly, and eventually realised that was none other than the missing Eustace, under an enchantment on the island. After their repairs were complete and Eustace was returned to human form by Aslan, they sailed on. The concluded that the dead dragon was none other than the missing Lord Octesian, and named the island Dragon Island.

They next happened upon an island which had once been inhabited, but was by then burned down. They named it Burnt Island and sailed on. While still at sea, they were attacked by a great sea serpent, which they escaped by pushing it's coils off their ship. They then stopped on another uninhabited island where they found nothing more than a set of armour and a statue of a man in a pool which turned all things to gold. They concluded from the armour that the man was Lord Restimar, and after naming the island Deathwater Island, they sailed on.

They landed next on a cultivated island. On exploration, Caspian and his companions discovered an apparently empty manor house, when Queen Lucy found them, telling them that she had heard the plans of invisible people on the island to cut the Narnians off from their ship. Though they hurried back, their invisible enemies had already taken up a position between them and the Dawn Treader. Caught, Caspian and his companions were forced to hear and accept terms of their captors, an invisible race called Duffers, who served a magician they regarded as evil. They begged Queen Lucy to incant a spell to make them visible again. This she did, meeting the magician and finding him to actually be a fallen star, Coriakin, who was in the service of Aslan. He welcomed Caspian and his crew, and told them that a ship and four lords had passed that way many years before, and contined sailing East.

Sailing on, they came afterwards to a dark blot in the sky. Determined to explore, Caspian ordered his captain Drinian to sail into it. They sailed on, growing completely lost, until they found a man, weak and frightened, swimming for his life in the water. When the rescued him, he told them that he was Lord Rhoop, and that they were then within the bounds of Nightmare Island, the island where all dreams came true. Eager to escape attack from their worst nightmares, Caspian and the crew turned about and were guided away from the island by the appearance of Aslan.

They next came to a dark, wild, quiet island where they found only a table with a great banquet set, and three men sitting at the table. All three were sound asleep and could not be wakened. After spending the night on the island, Caspian and his friends were met by a girl who told them that the island they were then on was the beginning of the end of the world, and that the three were the remaining lost lords (Mavramorn, Argoz, and Revilian). They were, she told Caspian, under an enchantment. Caspian, quickly smitten, asked the young woman how to break the enchantment. She responded that her father, a star called Ramandu could tell him that. Ramandu revealed that the only way to break the enchantment was to sail to the very end of the world and leave one person there.

The Dawn Treader sailed on past mermaid colonies and into a lake of lilies dubbed the Silver Sea. When the ship could sail no further, Caspian, determined to go to the End of the World and break the enchantment, gave orders to his captain and dear friend, Drinian, to return to Narnia and choose a new king. Drinian and the crew refused, even threatening to detain the King by force. Caspian persisted, and was only dissuadded from his goal by a visit from Aslan, who reminded him of his duty as a king. Thereafter, King Edmund, Queen Lucy, Eustace, and Sir Reepicheep sailed away on a rowboat to break the spell, and Caspian and his crew returned the way they had come. They retraced their voyage, taking with them four of the seven Lost Lords. Caspian also brought the lovely Daughter of Ramandu back to Narnia with him.

Later Life
Caspian later married Ramandu's daughter and made her the Queen of Narnia. After fifteen years, she gave birth to Prince Rilian, the heir apparent to the Narnian Throne. Twenty years after this, the Queen was killed by a serpent, a tragedy for the entire realm, but especially for Caspian, who had loved her very dearly. She was killed by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Not long afterward, Rilian also vanished while in the woods to find and destroy the serpent, another crushing blow to his aging father. Not long after, Caspian's dear friend Lord Drinian also died, of old age. In N.Y. 2356, Caspian sailed east to the Seven Isles' capital of Redhaven in order to seek Aslan's advice as to who should be king after him. On its way, the ship presumably stopped on both Galma and Terebinthia. While on his journey, just as the Seven Isles where in sight, he had a vision to return to Narnia. When he arrived, Rilian had returned, safe and alive. Caspian lived long enough to embrace his son before he died at the age of 66. His body was then buried and mourned by Rilian, in which he was shortly coronated himself and took his father's place, thus beginning Narnia's seventh era. Caspian was revived in Aslan's Country, as a young man once more, finally getting his wish to reach it. Once there, he was greeted by his old friend Eustace and his companion Jill. He asked for only one wish: to see, even for a moment, the land from whence the King and Queens of Old came. Aslan granted his wish, letting him spend five minutes on Planet Earth, to help Eustace and Jill punish the bullies at their school. Caspian then returned with Aslan to Aslan's country, where he lived forever, even past the end of the Narnian World.

Afterlife
When entering Aslan's Country, Caspian was happily reunited with his wife and his father; he was later joined by Rilian, though it is unknown when Rilian died. Caspian was one of the many main characters, along with his wife and son, who were present at the Great Reunion in Aslan's Country following the end of the Narnian world and the deaths of the three Pevensies.

Character
Caspian was more than a borderline daydreamer. From the time he was a small boy he was thrilled by the idea of Old Narnians. He disliked his Aunt and he tried to get the local pets to talk to him, which suggests that Caspian was not happy at home and that daydreaming was a way for him to escape. Caspian grew up to live many of the adventures he dreamed of, including sailing in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where he became extremely upset because he could not go off the end of the world with Reepicheep.

Caspian was a little unsure of himself, but he had good leadership qualities. His uncertainty can be seen because many of his first reactions were fearful. Caspian thought Cornelius might kill him after he discovered Cornelius' Dwarfish heritage; Caspian was reluctant to leave his home, even though he didn't like it, and Caspian showed a great fear of Miraz on several occasions. When asked whether he wanted to be king, Caspian said he did not feel ready. Caspian is unusually quiet around Peter, suggesting that he felt unsure around such a great warrior. His leadership skills improved as he grew more mature.

Caspian was also known to have a bit of a temper. He expressed a wish to kill Miraz himself, drew a dagger at council when he disagreed with Nikabrik, and later on the Voyage of the Dawn Treader he became very angry with Reepicheep. He almost attacked Edmund on Deathwater Island, but whether that was his temper or the magic of the island is unknown.

Appearance
Caspian was golden-headed in his youth, and fair like most of the Telmarines. When he grew old, he had a long gray beard. He was said to resemble his father.

In the movies, he had shoulder-length, wavy dark brown hair with brown eyes. In later movies, he had grown stubble and a short beard. Caspian was tall and muscular, though being slender and handsome. In the television series on the bbc he was much younger, about Edmunds age, with ginger, short curly hair.

Skills/Powers
Caspian's education taught him to be proficient in many areas, including archery, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and jousting.

Appearances

 * Prince Caspian (book, appearance)
 * The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (book, appearance)
 * The Silver Chair (book, appearance)
 * The Last Battle (book, appearance)
 * Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989 serial film, appearance)
 * The Silver Chair (1990 serial film, appearance)
 * Prince Caspian (2008 film, appearance)
 * The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010 film, appearance)

Behind the scenes

 * To date, Caspian X was protrayed by four different actors: first by Jean Marc Perret and Samuel West in the BBC production Prince Caspian &amp; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, then by Geoffrey Russell in the BBC movie The Silver Chair, and most recently by Ben Barnes in the Walden Media productions of Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.