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Polly's Sisters/Siblings

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coracle
(@coracle)
NarniaWeb's Auntie Moderator

If they are all older than 15, we could assume that they were evacuated during the war. Wonder what parallels with LWW this could produce, especially if the older siblings aren't all girls at all. 

There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."

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Posted : October 15, 2025 5:10 pm
Courtenay
(@courtenay)
NarniaWeb Fanatic Hospitality Committee
Posted by: @icarus

If Violet is "Sister 3" at 17 years old, then it makes sense to me that Sisters 1 and 2 would be even older still.

I think this would create a clear sense of divide between the 3 older siblings, and the much younger Polly, and thus wouldn't impinge too much on the existing character dynamics.

To me, it would be super weird if Polly had younger siblings who were also of Narnia-going age, but who didn't get to come with her to Narnia, but thankfully that doesn't appear to be the case here.

All this definitely makes sense to me too. 

I don't have much more to add, except that I'm largely just baffled as to why Polly needs siblings. I suppose it's something of an indication that her character / role / backstory will be expanded upon in this film — we really don't learn much at all about her background and home life in the book.

(In fact, we learn very little about the families of most of the main child characters in the Chronicles, except where there's something about them that's directly relevant to the plot. The only ones that stand out in this way are Digory with his terminally ill mother, strict maiden aunt and creepy uncle; Eustace with his utterly obnoxious parents; and Shasta discovering that the harsh and unlovable man he calls "father" isn't his father at all. And we do learn about Aravis's family too, but only in her own words and descriptions, not as a part of the main "on stage" action.)

I only hope, whatever is being done with Polly's family, that it doesn't become a distraction from the main part of the plot. But then, I think I've already given up on this being any kind of a "faithful" adaptation. 

"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)

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Posted : October 15, 2025 5:28 pm
DavidD liked
coracle
(@coracle)
NarniaWeb's Auntie Moderator

@courtenay The boat labelled Faithful has sailed. 

Lewis didn't give most his child characters siblings. It was probably simpler not to bother, once he'd set up the Pevensies

A number of them were in unhappy situations, but we don't know about Polly. He didn't tell us anything about her family, just what her father said about the empty house on the other side of the Ketterleys', and Uncle Andrew referring to her mother (and her mother being cross when she came home with wet feet from the first journey).  Lewis doesn't talk about Polly's friends, only that she's playing by herself, and that she wasn't going away to the seaside for the summer. 

She doesn't need siblings, but some uninvolved ones would be acceptable.

There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."

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Posted : October 15, 2025 5:57 pm
DavidD and Courtenay liked
Courtenay
(@courtenay)
NarniaWeb Fanatic Hospitality Committee
Posted by: @coracle

She doesn't need siblings, but some uninvolved ones would be acceptable.

Yes, but then why make them part of it at all??

That was exactly my point — there's nothing in the story that makes it the slightest bit necessary for Polly to have siblings, or for us to know anything very specific about her family. If they're going to the trouble of writing parts for her sisters, and casting known actors for them, that to me strongly suggests they are going to be involved in the plot somehow. And I can't see that doing anything but drag it further off the track of the original story. 

"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)

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Posted : October 15, 2025 6:05 pm
DavidD liked
waggawerewolf27
(@waggawerewolf27)
Member Hospitality Committee

@courtenay I'm largely just baffled as to why Polly needs siblings. I suppose it's something of an indication that her character / role / backstory will be expanded upon in this film

At the beginning of MN, it appears that she is at home for the school holidays when that year they weren't going to the beach. I suppose that some more detail might be supplied, such as an older sister with a new baby a distinct possibility, if older siblings were needed at all.

But if Polly has an older sister at 17, I think that is still a bit too young in the 1955 era to be the eldest of her sisters, if she has as many as 3, let alone to be saddled with a baby, knowing that British law & custom established 17 as the age of consent long before 2021. In British society girls at 17, especially middle class and upwards, might make their debut or "coming out". I don't know much about how it works, when at the time I was too busy with my Leaving Certificate & other family problems to be bothered, though I remember my father asking me if I wanted to do such a thing. 

I gather that it is social clubs that sponsor these things, such as Rotary or the Freemasons, or something like that. The girls sign up for a bit of training in deportment & etiquette among other things. They have to have escorts, maybe a brother? There is a big occasion that might or might not be attended by Royalty. This is a formal coming of age introduction to take part in society, and for the next year they go around to various parties & other occasions to socialise better. I can well imagine Susan Pevensie doing something like that.

@coracle  (and her mother being cross when she came home with wet feet from the first journey).  Lewis doesn't talk about Polly's friends, only that she's playing by herself, and that she wasn't going away to the seaside for the summer. 

Yes the second occasion where we see a bit about Polly's family life when on returning from Charn, Polly's mother is cross, & she has to eat just the main course, without pudding as a punishment, before being sent to her room for two hours, I think it was. C.S. Lewis suggests that such a punishment was probably more bearable than Digory's having to wait on tenterhooks for the return of Jadis and Uncle Andrew from their restaurant meal. Sounds like boarding school, though there is nothing exciting about prunes and junket, Sigh loathed by the inmates at the Red Cross home I was sent to during holidays, though I preferred it to the prunes and custard we'd get at the Baulkham Hills establishment I was at during school terms. 

This post was modified 46 minutes ago by waggawerewolf27
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Posted : October 15, 2025 6:57 pm
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