Into the Wardrobe

Nt that it's an inconsistency or anything... I'm reading LB to my daughter now. I'm not quite to the destruction of Narnia yet, so I have to reread it to get it in my mind. But it struck me the other day: What happens to all the people from all the different countries in that world? Colormen, Telmar, the Duffers? What about the gnomes in the land of Bism, what happened to them?

Now, of course, we can speculate that the whole scene of people and creatures passing through the door before Aslan was one that included all those peoples, and that Aslan could have drawn them all toward the door instantly (or perhaps even over time as I think God drew the animals to the ark so they arrived at the right time). We can speculate until we're blue in the face.

I think the reason that any speculation is ok and perhaps quite valid is supported by a reply that someone else made regarding the new Caspian movie. I had stated that the fight scene at the castle was not part of the story but it was ok for the movie. Someone else replied that it very well could have been in the book without exactly being mentioned (as having been the day mentioned in the book that had been particularly bad).

So, perhaps all those people from all those places came through the door anyway. Just because Lewis doesn't mention them all by name, doesn't mean they weren't there.

I hope that makes sense. It's late and I'm tired, but I hope it maks sense.

I'm still vexed by the nagging sensation that there was something in MN that I thought was inconsistent but I couldn't remember what it was. Perhaps it'll come to me some day.

There seem to me to be some problems in MN ...

real inconsistencies:

- The Wood. Does it take time to travel from a world to the wood? Lewis sais they come back from Narnia to the lamp post in the same moment (noone noticed them going) - so apparently it doesn't. But then, on the first journey Wood-London (where they turned halfway) they passed stars, and Jupiter and Saint Pauls Cathedral, so they were already in our world, travelling through space ...
- There is a river near the lamp post and the Tree in MN, but no river mentioned in LWW (and on the map from PC there is a little river, but it begins there, there is no connection to the great falls)
- And again Aslan, never telling such things: "That is what would have happened, child, with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now ..."

just some thoughts:

- Of course there is no time in the Wood, nothing happens. Polly must have been there, in respect of wood-time, infinitely long before the arrival of Digory (well, not really a problem, why not).
- Charn - not an inconsistency, but it is not likely (/possible) that a tyrannical government will allow history to be preserved (the Hall of Figures)
- Narnia - How could Jadis get her right to all traitors, coming to Narnia from without, through the pool? It seems that "Before the Dawn of Time" referes to the period between the creation of the pool (it must have been there already for some hours, the children did not notice any empty places nearby on their way to Charn and back) and Aslans song?
- The stars begin singing at the same moment when they are visible. Does it mean, in Narnia the sound has the same speed as light (why not) and the air goes as high as the stars so the sound can propagate there.
- The Stone Table is not mentioned where the the rights of the Witch are engraved (they obviously have to be written there with the beginning of the Song - and even having these rights she wants to fly from this world)
- On the morning before the Garden, Fledge bathes in the river, neighing several times - in HHB it is said that beeing horsy in accent is a sign that Bree is angry (about Shasta and riding a donkey)

The one that bug me the most was Aslan telling Digory in MN what would have happened if he had stolen the apple from the garden and taken to his mother after having told everyone else, "What would have happened, Child? No one is ever told that?"

The rest are small enough I can ignore them. That one bugs me.

Interesting. That quote I haven't thought of as an inconsistency, but rather whenever I've read MN, it always strikes me as a profound theological truth. God doesn't tell us what might have happened if we had followed a different course of action than we chose. It's part of the solemn responsibility of having some degree of freedom as creatures - we don't get to do a replicated experiment with our lives and see what other options we have.

Oops, re-read your post again and I see what you're saying. Sorry - I need to read more carefully the first time! My comment was responding to the general statement of Aslan you quoted, that Lewis comes back to a lot.

You're right - Aslan does tell Digory that he would have lived to regret his decision, even though his mother would have gotten better through his disobedience. So that information is a type of exception, if not an inconsistency. However, I don't remember that he gives him any more details about what would have happened, does he?