Charn (city)

See Charn (world) if you are looking for the World of Charn



Charn was a martial empire forged on a world separate from both Narnia and Earth, which is called the world of Charn here. It was destroyed by Jadis, the last Empress of Charn, who later ruled Narnia as the White Witch.

The little known about Charn comes from the brief accidental visit 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 it's world. The capitol 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 Djinn and giants, of which the last was Empress Jadis.

In fact, magic may have been widely used by the Charnish culture; Jadis referred to the common use of magic carpets for transportation. However, it's 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 which had conquered and destroyed the other nations of it's 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.

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 except herself. 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 her palace 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.

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