Her opinion does not change drastically. Her thinking that he wasn't annoying any more starts at the very beginning of Silver Chair. As for her feeling strangely shy around him, he had just killed someone; she had never seen him do that. Her feelings do not have to imply that she is getting a crush.

It doesn't have to imply that she is getting a crush on him, but that is always what I got out of it, and I have heard of many other people who got the same thing out of it as well.
You are right -- it could go either way. The only way to tell for sure would be to ask the author himself, if we could. And he could have written it that way on purpose -- going either way -- so that the reader can decide for themselves how Eustace and Jill feel about eachother. That's the best part about fiction -- many people can have all different opinions on it, and none of them are necessarily wrong or right.
However, whether C.S. Lewis meant it that way or not, it is grounds enough for them to make a romance between them when the movie comes out. After all, it's more ground than Suspian had, and the filmmakers still put that in the movie. It could even be more ground than (or at least, equal ground to) any of the other romances mentioned here, like Jill/Tirian or Lucy/Emeth. (No offence to any one who are voting for those. You have just as much right to want Jill/Tirian and Lucy/Emeth as I do to want Eustace/Jill)
So the filmmakers could very well put it in. And, as I said before, I don't think it would be too close to the Shasta/Aravis story -- anymore than them being just friends would be too close to the relationship between Digory and Polly.

Again, no offence to anyone who has a different opinion. I just want to have as much right to want a Jill/Eustace romance, as you have to want what you want.

~Riella

My thoughts on this question...

In LB, human romance is totally inappropriate. Why? It's not what the book is about. It's not what the biblical counterpart, Revelation, is about. So what are they about? World judgment for sinners, and the glories that follow for saints. As such, neither LB nor Revelation is even conducive to human romance.

Aslan's Country = our heaven. Guess what? There's no marrying in heaven! People will be like the angels, neither marrying nor giving in marriage. [And that doesn't mean we become angels either. We become like them, i.e. sexless and perfected servants of the King.]

Notice I said "human romance" above. There is romance in LB and Revelation. It's divine = Aslan + his children (Narnians and humans), Christ + the church. In LB, the saints enter Aslan's country forever. In heaven, saints will be invited to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. Christ will marry his bride the Church.

I believe people that marry on earth will still be married in heaven. I don't believe earthly romances will be nearly as important as God's, but I think they still would exist.

And I think its because the world is falling apart and is so evil by the time of The Last Battle, it makes sense that Jill and Tirian would find brief happiness in each other.

To be honest, as hateful as a lot of people are going to be in LB I would rather a love story to be taken place throughout the film, not just at the end. I also agree with you Josh!

Aslan's Country = our heaven. Guess what? There's no marrying in heaven!

Quoting one of my posts above...

Just pointing out that Lewis's stories weren't meant to be an exact parallel to the Bible. So while Aslan's Country is pretty obviously a sort of "heaven", there's absolutly nothing that says it's going to have all the same "rules" as the Bible's heaven does. So we really can't say whether or not there would be marrying and giving of marriage in Aslan's Country or not.

An example of the "Lewis's stories weren't meant to be an exact parallel to the Bible" is Emeth--he arrives in Aslan's Country because although he served Tash his whole life, he was a "nice person", and because Aslan counts all his service for Tash as toward himself. I think some Christians would say otherwise about getting into heaven.

Also, who says The Last Battle is supposed to follow Revelations exactly? Sure, there's some similairities! And reading the Chronicles, it's obvious that the author was a Christian. But as Lewis has said, his books weren't meant to be an exact parallel. It's a fantasy world with it's own rules, after all, even if he drew on his faith to write them.

And, before this becomes too N&C-ish I'll get back on topic:

Of all the possible "romances" in TLB, I'd most prefer Eustace/Jill. But when I say "romance" I don't mean kissy-kissy stuff or "boyfriend/girlfriend" but merely a very strong, close friendship that could be intrepretated as more if the viewer so chose. They could have them hug or even Jill give Eustace a chaste kiss on the cheek--but they could do it so as to imply either a friendship, or "more feelings" depending on how you read it...

I'd also not be adverse to "something" between Lucy/Tirian. I don't mean anything crazy or "oh lets get married!" But if they kept the scenes between them exactly as they are written, again, I think it would play out that the viewers who wanted to see more would see "more" and those who wouldn't wouldn't...actually, overall that would be a handy way to do things.

^Ugh so disagree on the Lucy/Tirian thing. Honestly he's just showing his respect for her which was what I got out of it.

An example of the "Lewis's stories weren't meant to be an exact parallel to the Bible" is Emeth--he arrives in Aslan's Country because although he served Tash his whole life, he was a "nice person", and because Aslan counts all his service for Tash as toward himself. I think some Christians would say otherwise about getting into heaven.

I think it's accurate. I think when Aslan told Emeth that, he didn't mean it was because Emeth was a "good person"; but because Emeth, in his heart, was actually worshipping a good God -- Aslan -- even though he thought the God's name was Tash (because thats what his parents had told him the name was). Like God in real life, Aslan judges people by their hearts. And if Emeth had ever found out in his earthly life that Aslan was actually the good God, he would have turned to him instead. But he had been lied to by his parents, and so he had the names mixed up. But I'm sure he was actually worshipping Aslan in his heart.
So that part is accurate too. Even though not *everything* is completely like the Bible, I think Lewis tried to make it as accurate as possible. What aterations he did make were made because it was necessary, the story taking place in a fantasy world instead of in our world. But the basic principles are still the same.

That said, I don't think there should be any romance at all in Aslan's country, for two reasons --
1. Aslan's Country is supposed to be our Heaven. At the end, it says Aslan started to look "less like a lion" and was beginning to appear in His true form -- the God we know. It was written to be the same place as ours. So there wouldn't be romance there, just as there wont be any in ours, as the Bible clearly states.

2. It would be distracting. It would be the very end of the last movie, and its purpose is to show them finally coming their very closest to Aslan himself. Romance would be the last thing from their minds, even if it was permitted.

~Riella

Valiant_Lucy wrote:
Of all the possible "romances" in TLB, I'd most prefer Eustace/Jill. But when I say "romance" I don't mean kissy-kissy stuff or "boyfriend/girlfriend" but merely a very strong, close friendship that could be intrepretated as more if the viewer so chose. They could have them hug or even Jill give Eustace a chaste kiss on the cheek--but they could do it so as to imply either a friendship, or "more feelings" depending on how you read it...

I completely agree with you that would make sense! I love how someone finally understands what I was thinking!! Good job!!!!

Which verse in the Bible specifically says there is no marriage or relationships in heaven (aside from with God).

Which verse in the Bible specifically says there is no marriage or relationships in heaven (aside from with God).

Matthew 22 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.

Also in Romans, it says that after your spouse is dead, you are free to marry someone else. That wouldn't be the case if you would still be married after death. Otherwise, you would be married to more than one person in the afterlife.

Also in Galatians it says that a soul has no gender. So if there is no gender, there can be no marriages.

~Riella

Josh, in Matthew 22:30, Jesus says "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven"
(KJV)

EDIT: Whoops! Looks like I posted at the same time as Eustace+Jill!

I voted for no more romances. I do like the idea of a Jill/Eustace and Tirian/Lucy romance but only if CS Lewis had written that in. I am NOT a fan of them changing the movie to include that.

And .... ok, I'm finally declaring which side my allegiance is on. I am not a fan of Suspian.

I voted for no romance.

Why is it that American teenagers insist on seeing romance in everything? Two characters share a single scene and they automatically become peoples' OTP.

New Narnia is heaven. It just happens to be a different area than the heaven of people who die on Earth. Thus unless C.S. Lewis said otherwise, fans are fully justified in believing that the rules governing our real heaven also govern Narnia's fictional heaven. So no romance. Besides, are you seriously going to argue that after watching Narnia die the characters would actually have romance on the brain?

I really hate the idea of Jill/Tirian. It's Susaspian all over again.

I voted for no romance.

Why is it that American teenagers insist on seeing romance in everything? Two characters share a single scene and they automatically become peoples' OTP.

New Narnia is heaven. It just happens to be a different area than the heaven of people who die on Earth. Thus unless C.S. Lewis said otherwise, fans are fully justified in believing that the rules governing our real heaven also govern Narnia's fictional heaven. So no romance. Besides, are you seriously going to argue that after watching Narnia die the characters would actually have romance on the brain?

I really hate the idea of Jill/Tirian. It's Susaspian all over again.

Exactly. It's beyond inappropriate.

As for Tirian's behaviour around Lucy, and I'm going to sound a lot like glumPuddle here, is because he's in awe of Queen Lucy from the Golden Age of Narnia. No romance was intended.

Just a friendly mod reminder:

7.) When quoting other members, only quote the relevant sentence or two of their post. Do not include the whole post over again as this makes for long page loads.

Especially if it is from the post just previous to yours.