Battle of Miraz's Castle

The Battle of Miraz's Castle or the Castle Raid was a surprise attack of Old Narnians on the Telmarine-Narnian royal castle during the Narnian Revolution.

Because the main Telmarine army was preparing for war on Aslan's How, and not guarding their castle, High King Peter decided to attack the castle. Although Caspian X was against it at first, he was eventually pressured into agreeing.

Weapon Raid
The attack was strategically preceded by a raid against the main Telmarine force led by Reepicheep the mouse in order to attain sufficient weaponry for the castle attack. During the night, Reepicheep and his mice stole weapons from four wagons in a Telmarine camp, near to where the bridge across the Fords of Beruna was being built. The Centaur Glenstorm and the Minotaurs seemed to have taken part in the raid as well, as when the Pevensies first meet Caspian and the Old Narnians, they were seen carrying several weapons on their backs. They also left a message from Caspian X on one of the wagons, saying, ''"You were right to fear the woods - X". ''Later on, when Miraz confonted Glozelle about the raid, Glozelle originally said he had lost no men in the raid. However, Miraz told him that three men had died. Those three men, who were there at the time when Miraz spoke, were then presumably slain by Glozelle: presumably to say these were slain by Reepicheep.

The Battle
The raid on the castle occurred before dawn, with a Gryphon lowering Edmund onto one of the castles towers, exchanging him for an unsuspecting Telmarine tower-guard who was dispatched silently. Then, using his electric torch from Earth, Edmund signaled to Susan, Peter and Prince Caspian that it was clear for them to be flown in. The three of them landed on the Telmarine castle wall, and slew the guards on watch before they could raise the alarm. While this was going on, Reepicheep and two of his mice had climbed into the gatehouse from the outside. During this, they came upon a lone cat that was sleeping, and with a tone of mischief Reepicheep had his mice bide and gag it. When the guard on duty returned to the gatehouse, and found the cat, Reepicheep revealed himself and dispatched him. With the help of Trumpkin they also killed the few other Telmarine guards, and secured it so they could lower the draw-bridge for the Narnian raiders. The leaders of the Narnian troops, Glenstorm and Asterius, were waiting outside the castle for Edmund to signal with his flashlight when it was time for them to attack. However, in his boredom, Edmund had been lazily tossing his torch in one hand, and accidentally dropped it over the parapet where a Telmarine sentry picked it up. In trying to figure out what the light was, the sentry accidentally turned the torch on, consequentially sending confusing signals to the Narnians outside. Since the torch was essential to the assault, Edmund had no choice but to leap down and try to get the light from the guard without awakening the entire castle.

At about this time, Caspian learned that his tutor, Professor Cornelius, had been imprisoned in the dungeon, and promptly left to rescue him, leaving Susan and Peter to find Miraz. Upon finding him, Caspian was told the truth about his father's death (that his father had been murdered by Miraz). In an outburst of rage, Caspian diverged from the original plan, and ran to his uncle's bedroom to confront him, to try and force him to confess to the murder of Caspian IX. He found Miraz and his wife, Prunaprismia, asleep in bed, and threatingly put the blade of his sword at his uncle's throat, awakening the two sleepers. While Miraz distracted Caspian with scornful talk, Prunaprismia drew a crossbow from behind the bed's headboard, aiming at Caspian. Peter and Susan then abruptly burst into the room, creating a deadly standoff. After some more heated discussion, Prunaprismia suddenly fired at Caspian, hitting him in the arm, and in the brief confusion Miraz escaped through a hidden door, and aroused the castle guard. The Old Narnians' cover had been blown.

Edmund, meanwhile, was able to retrieve his torch, but found that in the struggle it had been damaged. It eventually started working again, and he signaled the army waiting outside to start charging toward the castle. Peter, Susan and Caspian X were able to escape Miraz's chambers, and were opening the gate. The Narnians, meanwhile, were close to the castle, and Asterius got ahead and killed one of two Telmarine soldiers guarding the drawbridge, while Glenstorm took out the second soldier. Luckily, the gate was opened in time, and the Narnians fought with the Telmarines, with them gradually winning.

Tyrus, one of the Satyrs, spotted Miraz up on a balcony, and climbed up in an attempt to kill him, only for General Glozelle to shoot him with an arrow. Miraz saw the chance, and pushed Tyrus off the balcony to his death. Miraz then ordered his men to close the gate.



The Telmarine archers, armed with their crossbows, assembled quietly on a balcony, to shoot as many Narnians as possible (even though some of the Telmarine soldiers were down there at the time). Edmund (who was watching the battle from above) noticed an archer aiming at Peter, and jumped down to kick the archer off the balcony, killing him.

Unluckily for Edmund, the other archers saw him, and began shooting at him. Edmund managed to escape, but was followed by them. He opened a door and jammed his flashlight in it, so the archers would be unable to open it, but his plan was foiled when he noticed that he was standing on top of a tower, and the only escape was by leaping from it to his death. As the archers broke down the door, and faced him with drawn rapiers, Edmund dove off the tower in order to avoid capture, but managed to safely land on the back of a Gryphon, and flew away unharmed.

The Telmarine soldiers knocked Trumpkin (who managed to shoot one of them) out of the gatehouse, and cut the chains holding the portcullis. The portcullis started to fall, to trap the Narnians in the main courtyard, but Asterius rushed in beneath it, and mightily held it open. Peter called for his forces to retreat, allowing most Narnians to escape. Glenstorm grabbed Susan, as Peter kept telling the Narnians to get out. Caspian emerged from the stables with Cornelius and three horses. Peter mounted one of them, as he continued to issue the retreat.

When Miraz told Glozelle to give the order to the archers to shoot, Glozelle objected, stating that his men were still down there. Ignoring him, Miraz grabbed Glozelle's crossbow, and gave the order by shooting Asterius, while the other archers shot some of the fleeing Narnians, as well as some Telmarine soldiers.

When Asterius finally succumbed to his injuries and died, the portcullis fell down with a mighty clang, held up a little bit by Asterius's dead body beneath it, just enough for Reepicheep and his mice to get through. Prince Caspian, Peter, Susan, Cornelius and half of the Narnian troops escaped the castle, but the rest were trapped inside the castle courtyard (including Glenstorm's son Rainstorm), who encouraged those who escaped to keep running and save themselves. Those who remained trapped inside were slaughtered by the archers. Edmund rode a Gryphon over the courtyard, and saw the dead bodies.

Peter, Susan, Caspian, Edmund, Trumpkin, Nikabrik, Reepicheep, two other mice, a panther, two wolves, Glenstorm, a tiger, five Gryphons, three dwarves, two dogs, a small group of leopards, Fauns, and Satyrs, Ironhoof and Suncloud, five Minotaurs, and Cornelius survived the battle.

Sadly, Tyrus, Asterius, Rainstorm, another Centaur, two tigers, a leopard, a wolf, and the other Minotaurs, Satyrs and Fauns were killed.

It was unknown how many Telmarine soldiers were killed. The number of Telmarine casualties were probably as many as two hundred dead or wounded, but the film does not show how many Telmarine lives were lost in the battle.

Video Game Adaption
In the Prince Caspian video game, the Infiltration and Battle of Miraz's Castle was featured as a level. When the battle part begins, Tyrus and Asterius fight the Telmarines until Glenstorm comes to their aide. Asterius ran off to get reinforcements, while Tyrus and Glenstorm continued to fight the Telmarines. Wimbleweather arrived, and was piloted by Tyrus when partnered with Glenstorm. Then Tyrus helps Peter into getting to Miraz, which leads to the cutscene where Tyrus is killed. After the cutscene, where Miraz tells his men to get the gate closed, Caspian and Glenstorm pursue the Telmarines that grabbed Doctor Cornelius, and dragged him into the stables. After Glenstorm leaves, following Doctor Cornelius' rescue, Caspian and Doctor Cornelius secure some horses and escape with the fleeing Narnians, as shown in the cutscene.

Trivia

 * This battle was created alone for the Disney movie Prince Caspian.
 * In the NDS version of the game, Ironhoof was killed instead of Rainstorm.
 * The Raid of Miraz's Castle was based on the first battle of Aslan's How, when Caspian and a small force of dwarfs, Centaurs, some fierce Talking Beasts, and Giant Wimbleweather attacked Miraz's camp at daybreak.

Schlacht um Miraz Schloss