- "“Further in, come further in. Right in here. We’re not safe in the open!”"
- ―The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Chapter 7[src]
Mr. Beaver, also known as He-Beaver, was the husband of Mrs. Beaver, and a friend to the Pevensies.
Description[]
He was a gruff but good-hearted Beaver with a sense of humor who firmly believed in Aslan and a free Narnia. He was also a fine builder of dams, and one who highly despised the White Witch above all else.
Biography[]
He was friends with Mr. Tumnus, who had confided in him that a human, Lucy, had arrived in Narnia, and gave him the handkerchief that she had originally given him, to show the Pevensies that Mr. Beaver was indeed a friend.
He met the Pevensies shortly after they all arrived in Narnia, and took them to his house, where his wife was waiting for him.
After he introduced them all, he explained the reason why they were all there, about the prophecy, and how they were all destined to defeat the White Witch, Jadis.
He recognized early on that Edmund might be a traitor, as he had the look of someone who had been with the witch and eaten her food.
When Edmund betrayed them and left for the White Witch's Castle, Mr. Beaver and his wife fled with the rest of the Pevensies to the Stone Table to meet with Aslan. Along the way, they met Father Christmas, who gave the Pevensies their gifts. For Mr. Beaver, he finished his dam, fixed all the leaks, and fitted it with a new sluice-gate. Mr. Beaver was so delighted that he couldn't even reply. Shortly after, they reached the Stone Table, and met the Great Lion.
After they had rescued Edmund, and Jadis demanded an audience with Aslan and everyone at the Stone Table, Mr. Beaver was outraged when she continued to call herself the Queen of Narnia, despite Aslan's return. And when she made a claim on Edmund's life, because of the old laws written on the Stone Table, he remarked:
- "Oh, so that's how you came to imagine yourself a queen - because you were the emperor's hangman."
- ―Mr. Beaver.[src]
Mr. Beaver fought in the First_Battle_of_Beruna_(Walden), after which both he and his wife attended the Pevensies' coronation. When Aslan left and the children asked after him, Mr. Beaver replied: -
- "He'll be coming and going. One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down - and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild you know. Not like a tame lion."
- ―Mr. Beaver.[src]
He and his wife most likely continued to serve their new monarchs, both as their loyal subjects and devoted friends, until the Pevensies were swept back to their own world.
What became of them after that, in the years leading up to the Dark Age of Narnia, is unknown. According to Nikabrik_(Walden), Jadis stamped out the beavers; at any rate, there were no more beavers in Narnia by the time of Prince Caspian.
When Narnia's history finally came to an end, he, along with his wife, were among the ones allowed in Aslan's Country, where they were reunited with the Pevensies.
Trivia[]
- In the 1979 animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Arthur Lowe voices He-Beaver.
- In the 1988 BBC adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Kerry Shale portrays him in costume.
- In the 2005 Disney and Walden Media adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, He-Beaver is voiced by Ray Winstone.
- In the book, it was Mr. Beaver who told the Pevensies that Aslan would return to them someday, and that he was no tame lion. But in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) it was Tumnus who said it.