- You may be looking for the Second Battle of Beruna, which occurred during the War of Deliverance.
The Battle of Beruna was the first major battle in Narnian history, fought at the Fords of Beruna at the end of the Long Winter (Narnian year 1000).
The epic battle was fought between the White Witch's Army (commanded by the Witch and the Minotaur General Otmin (in the film)) and Aslan's Army (commanded by Sir Peter Pevensie, the Centaur General Oreius (in the film) and later by Aslan himself). It is considered the coup-de-grâce of the Winter Revolution.
Pre-Battle
In NY 898, Jadis of Charn, the White Witch and usurping Queen of Narnia, returned from her exile in the north and conquered Narnia. She used her magic to make it always winter and never Christmas, and to turn her enemies into stone.
After she built a palace for herself, she began Narnia's Long Winter in its year 900. Gradually, forces of rebel natives of Narnia secretly organized themselves, hoping to eventually overthrow Jadis and restore peace (and normal weather patterns) to their homeland. Their one hope was the prophecy that foretold the arrival of two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve who would bring about the Witch's end and bring peace to Narnia.
In year 1000, the four human Pevensie children arrived, who were believed to be part of the prophecy, which would be the only chance for the Narnians to dethrone the White Witch once and for all. Once all four children participated with the Narnians, Aslan, the Great Lion, appeared at Aslan's camp with the Narnian Army and readied them for war.
In the film, after Aslan's sacrifice, the two Pevensie girls sent word that he was dead, so Peter and Edmund went to war without them.
The Battle
Armies of Aslan and Jadis in full on combat while Aslan Himself defeats the Witch.
The following section intends to carefully integrate information from both official canonical and non-canonical sources into a coherent perspective of the conflict.
Little is known about the battle in the book, but in the movie it is far more detailed.
The Witch charging into battle.
The Battle of Beruna originated on a hilly, grassy field with both armies facing each other. Peter Pevensie, oldest of the four children, led Aslan's Army against the White Witch's Army with General Oreius at his side.
It was reported by a gryphon that the witch's army was much larger and stronger than the Narnians, but Oreius said that "numbers do not win a battle," whereas Peter replied, "No, but I bet they help."
Sir Peter Wolf's-bane leading the charge.
The Witch initiated the battle with a frontal charge. Half of her army, led by General Otmin, charged, with the remainder staying in reserve. Peter responded by ordering his airborne troops to shower the enemy with stones in an aerial attack to thin the enemy's ranks.
The White Witch sent numerous Harpies to weaken the attacking Gryphons. Several Gryphons were killed by Dwarf Archers, while the others retreated.
The Narnians, led by Peter, charged to meet the enemy in the middle of the plains. Leading the charge on the Narnian side were the Cheetahs and Leopards, whilst on the White Witch's side there were White Tigers and Werewolves that rushed to meet them. Both sides collided in a mass of bodies, with the centaur cavalry cutting down multiple foes with their spears, and the felines in both armies bringing down several of each. After her first wave of troops had thinned the ranks of Aslan's army, the Witch then sent the second wave of her attack. To keep his forces from being crushed in the open, Peter ordered a retreat to a fall-back point in the rocks where his archers were stationed. During the retreat, the unicorn that Peter was mounted on was shot out from under him, and he lay stunned for several moments. Seeing that their future king was extremely vulnerable with the enemy closing in, Oreius and a rhinoceros charged into the ranks of the Witch's army to buy Peter some time to recover and retreat with the rest of his army.
Aslan, Lucy, Susan and the liberated prisoners of the White Witch, charge to aid Peter.
Shortly into the charge, the rhinoceros was cut down by ankle slicers, though not before taking out a number of foes, while Oreius continued on in the direction of the Witch, killing Otmin along the way. When Oreius made it to the Witch, they dueled briefly before he was turned to stone.
As the battle wore on, it became clear to Peter that the fight was lost. He shouted to Edmund to leave Narnia and take their sisters with him. Edmund initially obeyed his brother, but when he saw the Witch zeroing in on Peter, he changed course and engaged her. Although his first attack missed Jadis's wand, he was quickly able to shatter it with his sword. Jadis, however, being the better warrior, quickly recovered and stabbed Edmund with the broken wand, mortally wounding him.
After seeing his brother fall, Peter charged the Witch in a rage, her wielding his fallen brother's blade in tandem with her own, and fought with her for several minutes, but was barely able to hold her at bay. When Aslan himself appeared with a reinforcement army, Jadis redoubled her attack upon Peter and managed to pin him to the ground. Just as she was about to deliver the killing blow, Aslan reached her and pounced upon the Witch, knocking her a foot backwards and pinning her to the ground. With her sword knocked from her hand and her death nigh, the Witch and Aslan regarded each other for a moment before the latter finished her by devouring her on the spot.
With their Queen slain, Jadis's army was quickly routed. Elsewhere, Jadis' loyal dwarf Ginarrbrik came upon the mortally wounded Edmund and attempted to kill him in a last-ditch effort to prevent the prophecy from coming true. However, before he could do so he was surprised by the sudden arrival of the three others, and was immediately shot dead by Susan. With their foes dead or routed, the day was won, as Aslan's breath and Lucy's cordial revived much of their army, including Edmund and General Oreius.
Creatures in Aslan's Army
- Badger
- Bear
- Beaver
- Boar (Animated adaptation)
- Centaur
- Cheetah
- Dog
- Dryad (Animated adaptation)
- Eagle
- Faun
- Fox
- Gorilla (Animated adaptations)
- Gryphon (Animated adaptations)
- Horse
Jungle Tribe People (Animated adaptations)
- Leopard
- Lioness
- Mice (Animated adaptations)
- Minotaur (Animated adaptations)
- Moose (Animated adaptation)
- Naiad (Animated adaptation)
- Otters (Animated adaptation)
- Phoenix (Animated adaptation)
- Rats
- Red Dwarf
- Reindeer
- Rhinoceros (Animated adaptation)
- Satyr
- Squirrels
- Stag
- Tigers (Animated adaptations)
- Unicorn
Creatures in The White Witch's Army
- Ankle Slicer (Animated adaptation)
- Black Dwarf
- Boggle
- Cruels
- Cyclops (Animated adaptation)
- Dryads
- Efreets
- Ettins
- Giants
- Giant Bats (Animated adaptation)
- Goblins (Animated adaptation)
- Hags
- Harpy (Animated adaptation)
- Incubuses
- Minoboar (Animated adaptation)
- Minotaur
- Ogre
- Orknies
- Polar Bear (Animated adaptation)
- Sprites
- White Tiger (Animated adaptation)
- Toadstool People
- Werewolves
- Wolves
- Wooses
- Wraiths