The Last Battle

Published in 1956 and awarded the Carnegie Medal, The Last Battle chronicles the end of the world of Narnia. Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb return to Narnia to help save it from treacherous invaders and a False Aslan.

Plot Summary
The story of The Last Battle begins with a donkey, Puzzle, and and old ape, Shift, sitting on the banks of Cauldron Pool on the Western Edge of Narnia beyond Lantern Waste. Puzzle has been convinced that he is not a clever donkey and that Shift should make all decisions in every matter of life. As the two sit, a strange object rolls over the falls falling into Cauldron Pool. Using guilt tactics, Shift manipulates Puzzle into jumping into the pool and retrieving the item. Puzzles struggles to bring the object back and delivers a lion skin (a remnant from a hunting excursion beyond the edge of Narnia) to Shift. Immediately, Shift surmises that Aslan has sent this skin and that Puzzle should wear it. Narnians would believe that Puzzle is Aslan and would obey his every command (as Shift gave them). Puzzle does not like the idea but is convinced that he is not clever enough to see the benefit of such an idea. Shift sends puzzle to town for food and commences working on the skin.

After minor alterations the skin is ready. Shift hides his work from prying eyes (birds overhead) and presents his work to Puzzle when the donkey returns. Again, Puzzle protests but is powerless to deny the ape his pleasure. Puzzle dons the skin and, though not completely convincing in daylight, he does present a satisfactory illusion in dim firelight or moonlight. Puzzle protests, feeling that Aslan would be quite upset to see him dressed in a lion's skin but Shift does not allow the argument. Suddenly a great thunderclap knocks both animals to the ground. Both agree that it is a sign, but it is Shift who has his way in the end. Puzzle would pretend to be Aslan and Shift would tell him what to say

Three weeks later the King of Narnia, Tirian, is sitting outside of his hunting lodge to escape the formality of Cair Paravel. His trusted friend, Jewel the unicorn, sits with him as they discuss rumors that Aslan had come to Narnia. Their joy is great at hearing the news, though it is hard to believe that He has finally come. A centaur, Roonwit, approaches and bows to the king. Tirian asks if there is more news of Aslan. Roonwit declares that what he sees in the skies (for centaurs are gifted stargazers) is more terrible than he has ever seen. The coming of Aslan is a lie. This new outrages Tirian.

Much confusion surrounds Roonwit's news. The confusion is fueled by the appearance of a dryad. She pleads with Tirian to save the living trees in Lantern Waste, which are being felled by Narnians for sale to the Calormenes. Tirian begins to question the dryad but is stopped when she cries out and falls over. Her tree far away had been cut down.

Tirian immediately sets off with Jewel toward Lantern Waste. He discharges Roonwit to gather troops and rush to battle. As they travel along the river, they sight a rat, riding a raft on the river. He confirms that the logs are being taken to the Calormenes and that "Aslan Himself" ordered the felling of the trees. When Tirian arrives at the scene, he comes into the presence of two Calormenes who are driving a Narnian horse which is dragging a log. When the log became jammed in the mud, the Calormenes began beating the horse, which immediately spoke in its own defense. Outraged at the abuse of a Narnian talking horse, Tirian draws his sword and kills one of the Calormenes while Jewel runs the other through with his horn.

Other Calormenes shortly discovered the slayings of their countrymen and pursue Tirian into the forest. Tirian runs a short distance but stops, feeling guilty of some treachery for killing the two soldiers. He returns to the Calormene camp and gives himself up. He requests an audience with Aslan but was taken before the ape. The ape, Shift, is completely adorned with all sorts of riches and clothing. He looks utterly ridiculous. He commands the squirrels to deliver more nuts (Aslan wants them) and they must do it immediately. The squirrels ask to see Aslan and have Him tell them but the ape rejects them. Aslan may come out this evening, he tells them.

The ape then goes into a long dissertation that Aslan has been to soft on them and He now is "licking them into shape". Shift also claims to be a very old man, and not an ape, and it is his age (and wisdom) that makes him worthy of being in Aslan's confidence. Additionally, all animals are going to be sent to Calormen where they will work for a living. Their pay will be put into Aslan's treasury and used for the common good. The final, most painful report that he delivers is that Aslan and the Calormene god Tash are one and the same. Ginger the Cat asks if Aslan is no more than Tash and it is confirmed by the Calormene soldier. Tirian is outraged by Shift's dialogue and calls him a liar. For this Tirian is taken and tied to a tree.

During the night, many small animals come and attend to Tirian, feeding him and giving him water, but not untying him, fearful of Aslan's wrath. They confirm Aslan's presence as they saw him the prior evening. The animals leave him alone. Shortly, Tirian sees a bonfire being lit in the distance near the shack where the ape gave his speech. A creature on four legs came out of the stable and stood before the crowd who cried loudly for Aslan's mercy. Shift leaned toward the mouth of the creature and turned, speaking something to the crowd. They moaned terribly and the creature, which looked somewhat, though awkwardly like a lion, turned and went back into the stable.

Knowing that the creature was not Aslan, Tirian reflects on the times when Aslan appeared to kings in the past - Peter, Miraz, Caspian - and begins praying for Narnia. He asks nothing for himself but to let Narnia be saved. He asks for help from the kings of old and help from the outer world. As he begins to cry out to the children, he falls into a deep dreamlike state. In the dream, he sees several people seated around a table preparing for a meal. They can apparently see him as well as several of them rise from their seats and one of the girls screams. The one man who stood identifies the group as the seven friends of Narnia and he is Peter the High King. Tirian tries to speak but finds that he cannot. The image of the seven fades and Tirian awakes exhausted in the forest, still tied to the tree.

He is not alone long, however as the woods seem to open and two of the children he had seen in his dream appear before him. They quickly untie him and give him food. The two children turn out to be Jill and Eustace (see The Silver Chair). They are dismayed to find that Tirian is seventh in descent from Rilian, whom the two had saved. When all things are explained to Tirian, the three start toward some battlements that are visible in the distance. Tirian opens the tower door and they enter. They search the lockers and find Calormene arms which they keep ready just in case. To complete the disguise, Tirian decides that they will dress like Calormenes in order to breach their camp and expose the phony goings-on.

After some sleep and brief training with the weapons they had found, the three begin their journey toward the stable. Their first order of business would be to rescue Jewel, who had been stabled with the other horses then retreat to join the army which Roonwit would be bringing. Jill leads the party silently and effortlessly through the woods until they arrived at the stable. Tirian sneaks forward and grabs the lone Calormene guard who offers Jewel's location and leads Tirian to his old friend. When Jewel is freed, Tirian ties the sentry and leaves him in the stable. Tirian and Jewel return to the place where Jill and Eustace were supposed to be. They find that Jill is not where she should have been. After some brief moments of concern, Jill silently returns to Eustace's side, giggling under her breath. When asked what was funny, she presents the false Aslan to the men. Tirian draws his sword to kill Puzzle, who had been forced to play Aslan by Shift, but is stopped by Jill who defends Puzzle's ignorance of his situation. Puzzle tells Tirian that Shift told him that Aslan wanted him to dress up. Tirian is forgiving and he leads them all to meet a band of dwarfs. They meet the group, led by two Calormenes, and stop the dwarfs' procession.

The Calormenes tell the disguised Tirian that they are leading the dwarfs to calormen to work in the Tisroc's mines. Tirian adresses the dwarfs and challenges the Tisroc's orders. The soldiers are astounded when Tirian pulls Puzzle into the torch light and reveals the deception to the dwarfs. The dwarfs stare in amazement but the Calormene soldiers challenge Tirian, who attacks them, and, with some help from Eustace, kill the two. The dwarfs settle the remaining Calormenes who were bringing up the rear of the procession. Cheers for Aslan are hailed but are less than accepted by the dwarfs. They are tired of the name Aslan and refuse to be taken in. After much discussion, they proceed on their own away from Tirian and his people.

One dwarf, Poggin, returns to Tirian and announces his loyalty. The party then trooped back to the tower to spend the night. After victuals are done the nwxt morning, Poggin tells of the fanciful tale concocted to cover the disappearance of Tirian. Ginger said she had seen and heard Tirian cursing the name of Aslan when suddenly in a flash, Aslan appeared and swallowed Tirian whole. It is surmised that Ginger and Rishda Tarkaan are actually pulling Shift's strings. Poggin relates an episode in which he overheard the cat and Tarkaan discussing the use of Shift until their victory is complete. They will let some of the Narnians in on the secret as they deem them worthy, but in all the plan is to hand Narnia over to the Tisroc.

During the discussion, the sky clouds over and a great darkness falls upon Tirian's group. A great cloudy figure shaped like a man with a birds head and huge curved beak soars overhead and northwards, toward Shift and his band. The grass withered beneath it, its claws outstretched, appearing to take all of Narnia into its grasp. When the thing is gone, Poggin suggests that demons should not be summoned unless one wants to see them. The thing was Tash.

The group continues their discussion, gaining whatever information possible from Jewel during his imprisonment. Though the Calormenes tried to force him to admit that the false Aslan is real, which Jewel refuses to do, he really learned very little about the enemy's plans. The decisions they are faced with are either to go back to Stable Hill and reveal the false Aslan to the Narnians or to join Roonwit and the army coming from Cair Paravel. They decide to meet Roonwit.

Tirian and the children remove the Calormene disguises and pack some biscuits before locking the tower and leaving. All felt lighter knowing that war was about to be waged against Shift and the Calormenes. The conversation is lighthearted, Jill talking about how she wished Narnia could go on forever, the history of Narnia, etc. The mood changes when Tirian stops and greets Farsight the Eagle who brings news. Cair Paravel has fallen to the Calormenes. Worse yet, Roonwit is dead from a Calormene arrow and the army they seek does not exist. Narnia is no more.

It is decided that they will fall upon the ape and expose his deception to the Narnians. Tirian begs the children to return to their own world rather than meet death in battle. The children refuse to go, pointing out that even if they wanted to they didn't know the way. Tirian thought of sending them to Archenland, but Calormen would almost certainly take it next. They proceed towards Stable Hill together.

Jill and Eustace chat on the way, trying to decide what would happen if they died in Narnia. Would they be dead in their own world, too? Eustace surmised that it would be better than getting bashed up in a British Railways accident. Jill finds this a rather odd statement. Eustace describes the sudden jerking movement that pulled them into Narnia as being in an accident. While the children discuss trains, the others discuss battle plans. Several options were discussed, including living in solitude (such as happened in Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia and sums up their experiences and child's play). Peter suggests that they eat of the fruit of the trees and Tirian realizes at last where he is.

After eating as much as they wanted, Tirian asks how the others came to be in Narnia. Peter and Edmund had been standing on the railway platform when the train came around the bend a bit too fast. There was a loud roar and something hit him (Peter) hard but it didn't hurt and they found themselves in Narnia. Old aches had disappeared. Digory tells about being on the train with Polly and not feeling old and stiff any more. Peter says that they just stood there until the door opened. Tirian turned and saw a door just standing in the middle of a field. He looks through a crack in the door to see the glow of the fire, stars, and sky. The inside of the stable is bigger than the outside. Lucy tells how in our world once a stable held something that was bigger than the stable.

Tirian, pleased at the sound of Lucy's voice, asks her to tell how she came into Narnia. She tells of the shock and the noise and just showing up. She told how a Calormene had come through the door and stood with his sword upraised as if waiting for someone to come in. He appeared not to notice the blue sky and trees all around. She tells how Ginger came in then dashed off at the sudden appearance of Tash. When the second Calormene entered, the first seemed very surprised but the second killed the first and through him out the door. They tell one by one of those who were tossed in and Tash's dealing with them. The dwarfs are there and are as unfriendly as ever, as Lucy points out. However, they acted strangely, sitting in a tight circle, not looking around or noticing anyone around them. As it turns out, they believe they are in a dark stable and act accordingly. After many attempts to show the dwarfs that they were, in fact, in the great outdoors with flowers and grass and birds had failed. Without warning, Aslan suddenly appears before them. Lucy begs Aslan to do something about the dwarfs, but even Aslan is unable to bring their vision to them. He says that their prison is in their own minds and that their fear of being 'taken in' keeps them from being taken out.

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 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. Aslan walks to the door leading to nowhere and shouts with a great voice - TIME!

The door swung open and the Kings and Queens could see the darkness beyond. Aslan again roared, waking Father Time who rises into the sky like a giant among giants. Father Time crushes the sun like a grapefruit and then raises a great horn to his mouth and sounds a call. The sky immediately fills with shooting stars and a great starless patch forms as the stars fall to the ground around them. The stars in Narnia are people and they land, falling behind Aslan and the humans. Their light shined into the darkness, enabling the onlookers to see all of what was happening. Peter closes the door, and Aslan leads them away to his country.

Arc Advancement
A pivotal story that reveals the end of Narnia. All characters from the previous books that remained true to Narnia appear in the book's final chapters.

Controversy
Much controversy has arisen over the fact that in the final book, Susan Pevensie does not get to re-enter Narnia or the Narnian version of paradise, because she now loves many things of the world--such as dating and clothes--and has come to believe that Narnia was just a child's game that she once played with her siblings.

Many feel that Lewis was too harsh with one of the most beloved characters in the stories, particularly condemning of her for liking things that are natural for humans to enjoy. Many fan-written stories and plays attempt to correct this issue and allow Susan to rejoin her siblings. Others, however, believe that Lewis realistically portrayed the "falling away" from their faith that many people experience. They also feel that Susan was not condemned for liking clothes and boys, only putting emphasis on these things above all else.

Another controversy arises over the character of Emeth, a flatly pagan character from Calormen who worships Tash (Aslan's opposite), but nonetheless gets to enter Aslan's paradise because he lived a good and noble life, and Aslan counted that as work done unto him and not Tash.

Some feel that this scene undermines the Christian correlation to Narnia, as it seems to be Emeth's works and not true faith in Aslan (read: Christ) that gets him into heaven. Others, though, feel that this scene attests to Aslan's goodness, as Emeth never got a chance to know Aslan and simply did the best with the knowledge that he had. (This correlates to the argument in Christian doctrine about what happens to people in underdeveloped countries who never get a chance to hear about Jesus.) Also, some would say that this scene effectively argues against charges of racism in the Narnian books, as the "whitebread" Susan does not get into paradise while the outsider Emeth does.

It is also important to note that Emeth, while clearly not a servant of Aslan, does not claim to have been satisfied with what he knew of Tash. Aslan tells him that all the good he did for Tash was impossible for Tash to accept because Tash cannot receive good service. He goes on to tell him that if he had truly been serving Tash, he would have not continued to be seeking for Tash.