Narnia (nation)

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"Narnia, the happy land of Narnia - Narnia of the heathery mountains and the thymy downs, Narnia of the many rivers, the plashing glens, the mossy caverns and the deep forests ringing with the hammer of the dwarfs. Oh, the sweet air of Narnia! An hour's life there is better than a thousand years in Calormen."

- Bree

The nation of Narnia, often and officially the Kingdom of Narnia, was guarded over by Aslan, the Great Lion, and was filled with humans, talking animals and other more mythical creatures. Narnia was a land of rolling hills rising into low mountains to the south, and was predominantly forested except for marshlands in the north. The country was bordered on the east by the Great Eastern Ocean, on the west by a grand mountain range known as the Western Wild, on the north by the River Shribble, and on the south by a continental divide and the Kingdom of Archenland.

The economic heart of the country was the flourishing Great River of Narnia and all regions that fed from it. The River entered Narnian lands from the northwest on an east-southeasterly course to the Eastern Ocean. Officially, the seat of government was the castle Cair Paravel, at the mouth of the Great River, however under other circumstances (the Age of Winter and the Telmarine Age), separate locations were used as the capital centres of Narnian control.

Inhabitants
There were several notable races that inhabited Narnia and the surrounding countries. These included Humans, Dwarfs, all manner of Talking Beasts, and even Winged Horses, Centaurs, Satyrs, and Giants. Narnians do not have an organised religion (compare to the Calormenes worship of Tash), however most Narnians seem to have personal faith in Aslan.

Time
Visitors to Narnia observe that the passage of time while they are away is unpredictable. The tendency is for more time to pass in Narnia than at home, but this is not universally true.

Rulers of Narnia
The known and deduced rulers of Narnia are as follows: Dates in italics are approximate.

Creation, Early Years and the Golden Age
Aslan created the world of Narnia by singing it into being. However, a few moments before Narnia was created, Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer accidentally brought Jadis, Uncle Andrew, a London cabbie and his horse into the void that would become Narnia by use of the magic rings. Because of this, Aslan charged Digory with the task of planting the Tree of Protection since his actions had brought Jadis into the infant world.

The cabbie's horse became a pegasus, and took Digory and Polly to the Western Wild, where Jadis tempted Digory to break into the garden and steal an apple to cure his ailing mother. The cabbie, Frank I became the first King of Narnia, and his wife, Helen was transported to Narnia for their coronation.

The land of Narnia was in peace for hundreds of years after its creation and during this time it began to expand its influence to the unknown lands all around it in the new, unexplored world. However, Jadis returned to the Kingdom in Narnian-year 898, in order to usurp power for herself. She bound the entire land in ice and snow for one hundred years, making it always winter but never Christmas. This was known as the Hundred Year Winter.

When four siblings named Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie were evacuated from London during the Blitz, they found their way into Narnia through the wardrobe in The Professor's spare room. Their arrival prophecied an end to the White Witch's reign. Following an uprising by loyal Narnians and the first Battle of Beruna, the Pevensies were made Kings and Queens of Narnia. Because of the great prosperity Narnia experienced under their reign, this period of history was known as the Golden Age of Narnia.

The Golden Age did not mean absolute peace, however. High King Peter led a raid on the Giants of the North in the Ettinsmoor War. Meanwhile, relations were re-established between Narnia and the border kingdom of Archenland. Queen Susan and King Edmund also traveled to Tashbaan to establish peace with the empire of Calormen. After Susan rejected the affections of a Calormene prince, however, the prince led a raid against Archenland and Narnia in what was deemed the Archenland Conflict. The raid was stopped at the very gates of Archenland's captial by a combined Narnian-Archenland army at the Battle of Anvard Pass.

After many years, the Pevensies all went hunting for the legendary White Stag when they found the lampost. After commenting on the "strange device", they continued after the stag and found themselves returning through the wardrobe to their own world.

The Telmarine Reign and the Narnian Revolution
Under the Dark Age of Narnia, it fell into a state of power struggles and eventually anarchy until finally, many years after Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy returned to their homeworld of Earth, a group of people of mysterious origins, called the Telmarines, immigrated into Narnia and claimed it as their new home. The Telamarines had been struck by a terrible famine, and they found the former Kingdom of Narnia to be a plentiful land. Caspian I, also known as Caspian the Conqueror, led the Telmarines in their conquest of Narnia. The Telmarines, though, were scared of the talking beasts that inhabited the country, and believed them to be demons. Due to this, they drove them into hiding.

The beasts of Narnia lived in hiding for many years, calling themselves Old Narnians. In the year 2290, Miraz, killed his brother, King Caspian IX, and took the throne for himself. His nephew, Caspian X, was allowed to live because Miraz had no heir up until that point in time. During the years he was growing up, Caspian X was told stories of Narnia before the Telmarines invaded.

Eventually, when Caspian was a young man, Miraz's wife gave birth to a son. This meant that Caspian was now a liability to Miraz, and was set to be killed. Caspian's current teacher, Doctor Cornelius, warned Caspian to flee, and even gave him the magical horn of Queen Susan. Sometime after escaping Miraz, Caspian blew the horn. This brought the Pevensies back to Narnia after thirteen hundred years.

After meeting the Old Narnians, Caspian pledged that he would help them win back their country. This started the Narnian Revolution. The Pevensies eventually caught up with Caspian, and gave him their assistance. After several battles, the two sides (the Old Narnians vs. the Telmarine-Narnians) faced off in the Second Battle of Beruna. After a duel between Miraz and Peter, Miraz was secretly assassinated by one of his generals. The general blamed it on the Narnians, and the battle began. While the Narnians were outnumbered, Aslan awoke the trees and River-God to help them. The defeat of the Telmarine army marked the end of the Telmarine Reign in Narnia.

Aslan later told the Telmarines that their ancestors were once pirates from Earth who found a way into Narnia. He offered any Telmarine who wished to leave the chance to return to Earth. While many Telmarines chose to stay, a number of them chose to leave. This marked the beginning of Caspian X's reign.

Caspian's Reign
Caspian, at one time, made a pledge to Aslan to find the Seven lost Lords of Narnia. These seven lords had not supported Miraz when he usurped the throne, and Miraz sent them away in a ship so they wouldn't bother him. To carry out his task, Caspian ordered the rebuilding of a Narnian navy, since the old navy had not been in use since before the Telmarine conquest. One of the newly constructed ships, the Dawn Treader, became the ship that Caspian would sail on. During the voyage, Caspian met Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, as well as their cousin Eustace Scrubb, who had been pulled from their world into Narnia. The crew found all seven lords, two of which were dead when he found them. This voyage also gained Caspian the nicknames the Navigator and the Seafarer.

In the year 2310, Caspian married the daughter of a retired star, and she became the Queen of Narnia. Fifteen years later, she gave birth to their son, Rilian. In the year 2345, Ramandu's daughter was killed by a witch in the form of a snake. Rilian became determined to avenge his mother, and constantly returned to the spot where hs mother died to find and kill the serpent. During one of these times, he was captured by the witch and taken to the Underground, a world beneath the surface of Narnia.

By the year 2356, Caspian was in a deep depresstion over the loss of his wife and son. Around this time, Eustace returned to Narnia with his friend Jill Pole. Aslan appeared to both of them and told them they needed to find Rilian before Caspian died. With the help of a Marshwiggle called Puddleglum, they journeyed to the Underworld. There, they found Rilian under the control of the Green Witch. They helped him break the enchantment, and Rilian slew the Witch when she became a serpent again. They returned Rilian in time for Caspian to embrace his son before he died. Rilian became king after his father's death.

Destruction of Narnia
The world of Narnia was finally destroyed some two hundred years later during the reign of King Tirian, son of King Erlian and seventh in descent from Rilian.

The events that culminated in its destruction were begun by a talking ape named Shift who had constructed an elaborate conspiracy in a selfish attempt to 'modernize' the kingdom of Narnia to his liking. By dressing a donkey in a lion's skin and claiming him to be Aslan, Shift began surreptitiously gaining control of the western portion of the country by forcing the inhabitants to do his bidding in the lion's name. He then made contact with the current Calormen regime, inviting them to take advantage of the situation and fulfill their centuries-old goal of conquering Narnia. A small group of soldiers under command of Captain Rishda Tarkaan was soon sent and by the time King Tirian learned of the ape's traitorous plans they were well on the way to completion.

With the help of Eustace and Jill (who arrived in time to rescue the king from capture), Tirian attempted to rally Narnia and drive out the invaders, but thanks to the dividing effect the faux-Aslan had had on the populace and the simultaneous capture of Cair Paravel by a Calormen fleet, his efforts were unsuccessful. Tirian and his remaining supporters were eventually forced into a last stand against Rishda's army in the Battle of Stable Hill.

Around this time, Aslan proclaimed the end of Narnia and destroyed it, calling all of its inhabitants to him in the process. All the creatures of Narnia who had been faithful to Aslan were taken with him into his own land where they met previous people who had lived in Narnia and died. Aslan's land was bigger and better than the old Narnia, because it was the real one, whereas the old Narnia had been just a copy of Aslan's land.

Trivia: Human contact
There are seven documented events of contact between the world of men and the world of Narnia. Dates are taken from a timeline provided in the book Past Watchful Dragons by Walter Hooper (ISBN 0020519702).


 * In The Magician's Nephew, four humans, Frank (last name unknown), Andrew Ketterley, and children Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, were present at the creation of Narnia, having been brought there by a series of unfortunate events. The same day, Aslan called Frank's wife, Helen, from England, and the two remained in Narnia as King and Queen. The children and Andrew returned to London.
 * In Narnian Year 460, as alluded to in Prince Caspian, six human pirates from the South Sea entered the land of Telmar through a magic cave. They remained in Telmar and their descendants formed the Telmarine civilization.
 * In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, in Narnian Year 1000, four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, entered Narnia through a wardrobe Digory had built from the wood of a magical Narnian tree. Aslan returned to Narnia at the same time, defeated the foreign ruler Jadis, now known as the White Witch, and set up the four children as kings and queens. They ruled for fifteen years before returning to England back in the state of their childhood.
 * In Prince Caspian, in Narnian Year 2303, the Pevensie children were summoned to Narnia by magic to help remove a Telmarine usurper King Miraz from the Narnian throne and establish the teenage Prince Caspian as king. After this, Aslan allows the Telmarines, descendants of the pirates who had arrived long ago, to go back to an island in the South Sea if they so wish.
 * In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in Narnian Year 2306, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie and Eustace Scrubb entered Narnia through a magic painting, and took part in Caspian's voyage to the edge of the world.
 * In The Silver Chair, in Narnian Year 2356, Aslan brought Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole to Narnia, where they rescued Rilian, son of the now elderly Caspian, from his enchanted captivity. Caspian died, but was resurrected and briefly crossed over into England in 1942 to help remove a corrupt school administrator.
 * In The Last Battle, in 1949, King Tirian of Narnia appeared to the friends of Narnia in England, and Aslan brought Eustace and Jill to Narnia in Narnian Year 2555 to assist Tirian at the end of his reign.

Narnia