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Why is it so easy to become a king and queen in Narnia?

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waggawerewolf27
(@waggawerewolf27)
Member Hospitality Committee

@Thef-Maria I will try to clarify what I feel about "Liliandil" as you asked me to do. Though, just like you, I don't really like that name. Lilian would be fine enough. The "dil" suffix only makes her look like a "dill", which is not really the case, even in Narnia, where she was considered wise. 

C.S. Lewis was known to be an Anglican or Church of England, the very Christian denomination into which I was born, and to which I adhere. This is no place to go into how the Protestant Anglican Church split from Roman Catholicism, which, nevertheless, is still a Christian trinitarian denomination which still reads the gospels, St Paul and the 5 first books of the Old Testament, called the Pentateuch but also originally known as the Jewish Torah. One Catholic concept that I find useful would be The Seven Deadly Sins, traditionally, Anger, Greed, Lust (Desire), Pride, Gluttony, Envy and Sloth.  Obviously, there would be the Seven Opposing Virtues, which, according to Wikipedia, are also called the seven lively virtues of chastity, temperance,  charitydiligencekindnesspatience, and humility. That is slightly different from the seven heavenly virtues which combine the four cardinal virtues, of prudencejustice, temperance, and fortitude with the three theological virtues of faithhope, and charity.

If I were to assign a deadly sin as a theme for The Silver Chair, I would assign Sloth and its opposite, Diligence, otherwise known as Fortitude or Perseverance. This is the book where we see the death of Caspian's Queen, & its ramifications. Caspian's Queen was greatly beloved by her husband, son & the humans & talking animals who lived in Narnia. She wouldn't get that sort of acclaim if she hadn't been considered "wise, gracious and happy" as she was described in that book. So, she must have been doing something right to deserve it. The account, by the way, is in the Parliament of Owls chapter - how appropriate for an ideal Narnian government. Wink   Yes, I see you agree with me that being Consort is a distinctly different job from being the Monarch, being mainly in support of the monarch one is married to, whether it is Liliandil, Queen Camilla, or even King Miraz' Queen Prunaprismia, whose very name conjures up school lessons where we were supposed to learn to speak like BBC correspondents relaying the News, and which I wouldn't see as "romantic", quite frankly, however the owner ended up with Miraz, excepting maybe in fun. Eyebrow Haha yeah right  

@thef-maria  Look, I get that many people said that indeed he didn't intend for romance in his stories but I start realizing I have to either focus on my fanfic to rant about this through storytelling or focus on Aravis' and Cor's story, his short romance with Suspian because I'm sort of tired of responding to the same arguments.

The trouble with being a Consort, is that it doesn't stop for a moment.  It isn't like Cinderella going to the ball, marrying her Prince & then "living happily ever after". Contrary to a Disneyesque Princess movie, in real-time history, there was more than one Princess or Queen who ended up with a nasty marriage breakdown, & not only in Great Britain, either. Nicking off from one's husband's side to have a holiday from being in the public glare at all, even if it is as innocent as Liliandil's "maying" could be considered as slothful or lazy, when her job is to remain, & to be seen to remain employed as her husband's support & "offsider" to use an Australian term. Your view, as I understand it, deplores Liliandil's prior lack of worldly experience & finds her rather dull for a "shipboard romance", but sorry, I can't quite agree, from my own experience of life, having been married for nearly 55 years, to a man still moaning about such a "shipboard romance" which ended in tears, long before he met me when I was only 21. Eyebrow Eyeroll  

When I was just a month short of my 16th birthday, I went with classmates to a club meeting, where the president of that club's ambition was to become the Prime Minister of Australia, according to other club members who regarded that ambition somewhat sceptically. He was a pleasant looking bloke but wore funny, ugly little boxes on each of the legs of the spectacles he wore. He was easy to talk to, and I got the impression he rather liked me. But seriously, I couldn't get involved with him, more than just meeting him, because I had a Leaving Certificate to do, and to tell the truth, who really wants to be a famous person's wife, always in the public eye? Having everything about one's family; state of health & upbringing, being discussed to the nth degree? Eventually, that young man, who had endured a childhood illness which damaged his hearing, did actually get to be Prime Minister of Australia, from 1996 to 2007. Without his perseverance in wearing those ugly little boxes back in 1963, he never would have achieved a high enough pass in the Leaving Certificate to earn a scholarship to university, let alone leave it with a degree in Law & eventually be put in such a lofty career position.

Similarly, Eustace, Jill & Puddleglum's perseverance in Silver Chair, enabled them to eventually find Prince Rilian, just in the nick of time, though with much help from Aslan. I don't think leadership could ever be considered easy, even in Narnia. And getting back to Ramandu's daughter, her father wasn't the only star retired or exiled to an island in the utter East. Coriakin, the Magician, another ex-star, whose book Lucy read in VDT to free the Dufflepuds, might well have a tale to tell as well. Rilian's grief for his mother & what it led to also mirrors C.S. Lewis' own "disenchanted" experience in life. 

This post was modified 1 hour ago by waggawerewolf27
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Posted : December 13, 2025 8:23 pm
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