See here if you are looking for the World of Charn. See here if you are looking for the capital city of Charn.
- "It is silent now. but I have stood here when the whole air was full of the noises of Charn; the trampling of feet, the creaking of wheels, the cracking of the whips and the groaning of slaves, the thunder of chariots, and the sacrificial drums beating in the temples. I have stood here (but that was near the end) when the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red. All in one moment one woman blotted it out forever."
- ― Jadis [src]
Charn was a country in the World of Charn with an eponymous capital city. The nation ceased to exist when the world was destroyed shortly before the creation of Narnia. It was this nation that the White Witch originated from.
History[]
Many thousand of years ago, Charn was once a vast empire ruled by a powerful royal family; all of them were humanoid, and were of Giant and Jinn heritage. One of these rulers was Jadis' great-grandfather, the infamous Emperor of Charn who killed seven hundred nobles at a feast due to their "rebellious thoughts". Ritual sacrifice of Charn's people, slavery and great violence were common.
At some point, Jadis and her sister clashed over who would take the throne as Empress of Charn. During what Jadis called the "last great battle", many of Jadis' armies had fallen during three days, and her sister appeared to have the upper hand until Jadis spoke the Deplorable Word, destroying all life on Charn except herself.
The life-size images of Charn's royalty, which Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer encountered in the great hall of the palace of Charn, showed the degeneration of the Kings and Queens from generation to generation, culminating in Jadis herself. As time passed, the great cities of Charn collapsed, and the capital city fell into ruin. Jadis had placed herself in an enchanted spell and created a bell, with which to wake herself from said spell; Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer would ring the bell many thousand of years later, and managed to leave Charn before its destruction.
In the end, the pool of Charn in the Wood Between the Worlds had dried up. According to Aslan, "That world ended, as if it had never begun". He added that Sons Of Adam and Daughters of Eve should take that as a warning, which is clearly intended as a warning to the children that their world, too, may be destroyed through unchecked despotism and weapons of mass destruction.
Trivia[]
- Charn was actually the name of the capital city, and presumably its nation, but the name of that world itself is unknown, but is referred to as the World of Charn.