Bear

"All you have heard about Old Narnia is true. It is not the land of Men. It is the country of Aslan, the country of the Waking Trees and Visible Naiads, of Fauns and Satyrs, of Dwarfs and Giants, of the gods and the Centaurs, of Talking Beasts."

- Cornelius (Chapter four: The Dwarf Tells of Prince Caspian)

Talking Bears of the World of Narnia were large and sometimes almost childlike creatures. They are depicted as strong but gentle, who pass their time napping and eating honey, but are also very wise, intelligent, and are very loyal to Aslan.

A Bear was traditionally one of the Marshal of the Lists.

Physical Description
From what is known, bears in Narnia are about the same size as Earth bears.

Although each species of bear has certain different characteristics about them, which separates them from the others, the most common things that all bears have is their large bodies, with stocky legs, long snouts, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

Notable Bears

 * The Three Bulgy Bears
 * The Lapsed Bear of Stormness
 * The grey-coloured bear that Trumpkin shot (Black Bear in the Prince Caspian film)

Black Bear
Black Bears were black coloured creatures that were loyal to Aslan.

During the Age of Winter, they suffered under the terrible rule of the White Witch, and travelled to Aslan's Camp near the Stone Table to join his army.

After the Witch's reign ended, they fought in the First Battle of Beruna against the White Witch's Army, where one fought a Wolf, and another fought a White Tiger.

During the Narnian Revolution, when the Pevensies returned to Narnia, Lucy Pevensie saw a black bear. She first tried to befriend it, thinking that it was a talking beast, only for it to turn out to be a dumb beast, which then attacked her. Trumpkin the dwarf managed to save her by killing the bear with his bow and arrow.

Trivia

 * Black Bears only appeared in the Disney adaption films.
 * A Black Bear was used for the shooting scene in the film, though in the book it was apparently a grey-coloured bear, or possibly a Brown Bear that had turned grey, as Susan referred to it as "Poor old Bruin". (Bruin is an Old English word used for brown bears.)
 * The Black Bear in Prince Caspian may have once been a Talking Beast, or at least was descended from some, before the Telmarines invaded. Trumpkin remarked: -

"Get treated like a dumb animal long enough, that's what you become."

- Trumpkin

Brown Bear
Brown Bears were highly intelligent, and very wise bears in the World of Narnia. They enjoy mostly to eat honey as their diet.

After the World of Narnia was created, two brown bears were summoned out of the ground with many different beasts, which gathered in the council of Aslan to hear his speech.

They both chased Andrew Ketterley with many of these animals, thinking him to be evil, and then thought that he might be an animal, but one of the bears didn't believe that because of the way Andrew rolled over when he fainted. He believed that because they were also animals, one should be able to stand up without rolling over, and then tried standing up on his two legs, only to end up falling flat on his back.

After eventually realizing he was human, they all decided to keep him as a pet, until Aslan decided what was to be done with him. One of the bears was even kind enough to give him some honey that he had found, instead of eating it himself. Unfortunately, the honey was from a wild bees' nest, which still had some live bees in it, when it landed on Andrew's face.

The bears later appeared at the coronation, where Frank I and Helen became the first king and queen of Narnia.

During the Age of Winter, like many Narnians, the brown bears suffered the Long Winter, and fought in Aslan's Army during the First Battle of Beruna against the White Witch's Army.

Over a decade later, during the Golden Age of Narnia, they were also part of the Narnian army that fought with King Lune, Prince Corin and the people of Archenland against Prince Rabadash and the Calormene army of Calormen.

Centuries later, when the Telmarines invaded, the Brown Bears had to flee to the Shuddering Woods, after the fall of Cair Paravel, and spend the next 300 years in hiding. During the Narnian Revolution, when the young Prince Caspian fought against King Miraz and the Telmarine army, all the brown bears, including the three Bulgy Bears, swore their allegiance to him.

"And when everything had been explained to them (which took a long time because they were so sleepy) they said, just as Trufflehunter had said, that a Son of Adam ought to be King of Narnia and kissed Caspian - very wet, snuffly kisses they were - and offered him some honey."

- Chapter 6

Fifty years later, when the Marsh-wiggle Puddleglum and the two humans, Eustace and Jill, searched for and found Prince Rilian, and escaped through the underground tunnel from Underland, some Brown Bears were there, gathered with all the other Narnian creatures and beasts, to help them out of the tunnel.

Two hundred years later, during the last days of Narnia, brown bears fought with the Narnians against the Calormenes at the Battle of Stable Hill.

Trivia

 * After the Golden Age of Narnia, there was one bear who had apparently gone bad. It's unknown whether this bear was a brown bear or not, but it was known as the Lapsed Bear of Stormness. It was defeated in a boxing match with Prince Corin, and became a reformed character afterwards.
 * Brown Bears are the second largest land carnivore on Earth.
 * In chapter 9 of Prince Caspian, Susan refers to the bear that Trumpkin shot as "Poor old Bruin". Bruin is an Old English word used for brown bears (from the Dutch word, bruin, meaning brown), although in the book it was described as a grim-looking grey bear.

Polar Bear
Polar Bears were white-coloured beasts that were apparently loyal only to the White Witch during the Long Winter.

They fought for her during the First Battle of Beruna, by pulling her in her chariot.

Nothing else is known about them or what happened to them after the battle.

Trivia

 * Although they are never mentioned in the Narnia books, Polar Bears had to have existed, for the Witch's Dwarf was mentioned dressed in Polar Bear fur in the LWW book. They did, however, make an appearance in the battle-scene of the first movie, but were not seen again in any of the other films.
 * Polar Bears are the largest land carnivore on Earth.
 * They are the largest of all bears, the closest relation of the Brown Bear, have a more elongated body build, and a longer skull and nose.

Giant Panda
Giant Pandas appear in the Silver Chair.

Links
American Black Bear

Brown Bear

Polar bear

|Giant Panda