This'll be a fun 70 years.

[heverus.livejournal.com]

Hi all.
In lieu of a catalyst for thought provoking discussion, I come bearing a xkcd comic that you've probably all seen, but none-the-less, reminds me of our beloved Narnia and some of the conversation back on the old NFFR forum.



Enjoy! And who knows, maybe some thought provoking discussion will come out of it (you're all very good at that *wink*)
- Hev

Comments

[starbrowsings.livejournal.com]

Funny and sad all at once because it's TRUE.

Do you think the ending of LWW was Lewis just not thinking through the implications of turning them back into children? Did he assume they were mere children again mind AND body? And then they forget how to do certain things in the gaps between books (poor Lucy thinking they can eat tree roots in PC ::HEADDESK::), but quickly re-acclimate to adult-like status in each return to Narnia, finally reassuming their Golden Age glory and capabilities.

One of the best illustrations of that is in PC where 11-year-old Edmund is delivering the challenge to Miraz's camp, and this pre-teen boy is scaring the heck out of the hardened soldiers. I've always loved that scene! I shall have to write more about it in the Edmund thread ;)

I also love this quote about Peter dictating the challenge letter:

"Peter leant back with half-closed eyes and recalled to his mind the language in which he had written such things long ago in Narnia's golden age. 'Right,' he said at last." And then launches into a terrific courtly letter of state complete with titles that last whole paragraphs.

Anyhow, because Lewis was rather making it all up as he went along, I don't think he planned to turn the Pevensies from children to adults and back again three different times (at least for Edmund and Lucy, they had to make this adjustment three times). Granted, in PC and VDT they weren't quite adults, but had essentially the same adult responsibilities they had before. They become children again, surely....but not quite ordinary children either. Even Eustace's schoolmates recognize the difference and leave him well enough alone after he returns to school.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

The safest, fandom answer is that they turned back into normal, albeit slightly unusual children with hazy memories of Narnia because Aslan wouldn't do that to them, or create the aberrations of adults in children's bodies. And sure, I can see that approach but you know, there's something way too convenient about it all, too. We know that Eustace is able to tell Jill about it; we know that Lucy and Edmund recognize the DT as a Narnian ship; they recognize the feel of magic on the platform; they get together to talk and reminisce about Narnia; and as you point out, Eustace's classmates and parents notice the change. We assume, but do not know, that everyone would have noticed the change in Edmund.

OK, so maybe they do forget how to swim but then the magic of Narnia works its wonders and they all come back to the way they were. I actually think the more rational response is otherwise, which is that Lewis did some handwaving at first when they arrived in Narnia in PC in order to build suspense. That part of the book reads weird -- they are simultaneously dense and insightful and so much of it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Eustace doesn't miss a beat when he lands in Narnia. We don't have any of that "I forget" when Lucy and Edmund return in DT either.

Ahem... it's also that I've developed huge head canon about the adults in children's bodies because I like writing them as adults. I'm more comfortable with it and I like writing smart, savvy, politically astute adults whose composure and maturity is what is noticed rather than the usual, oh gosh, Edmund is so good with a sword. Yes, adults in children's bodies can be very angsty way but I consider that the challenge of the writing not a reason to not do it.

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm sure Lewis was making it up as he went along -- at least for the first two. I don't think he imagined he would write more than one book, at first, and maybe thought PC was the only other book he would write. ("Chronicles of Narnia" was a post-Lewis marketing title, I think. I'm pretty sure.) Then I think he realised he was stuck with it, and began to work on consistency and implications, and so on, but by then it was too late for Lucy to not have been still the child-Lucy re tree roots.

His solution, that they grow back into their Narnian selves is not a bad one technically, as he was writing for children, since it gave him the chance to pitch things at reader-level, at least to start with, so his child-readers wouldn't feel too excluded.

The growing-back-up aspect is awkward, but generally works -- more for the male characters than the female, though. I love the letter Peter composes, and it's one of the scenes I can not-quite-recite from the book, but know many, many phrases from. Randomly: "for to prevent the effusion of blood", "Narnia, comma, greeting" "a scholar is never without them, your majesty" :)

I certainly agree that the great difficulty of writing adults-in-children's bodies is not a reason not to do it. On a general note, and not with ref to PC, I would point out that "simultaneously dense and insightful" sounds not all that unknown in humans!