Regardless of any online rumours that are currently circulating right now, one of the topics I’d been thinking of discussing for a while was on the importance of Aslan’s mane to the Narnia stories, and how that is depicted in cinema.

As I’m sure most people understand, female lions, unlike male lions, do not have manes. However, I will stress that this post has nothing to do with any discussion of Aslan’s gender per se, or any discussions pertaining to who might do his voice. This is strictly a discussion about the importance of his mane, both as a narrative device, and as an iconic piece of cinematic imagery. Therefore, I will be awkwardly referring to the notion of a “maneless Lion” for the purposes of this conversation.

I'd also note that, even with any online rumours about voices, we still actually have no evidence to suggest that Aslan would be depicted as anything other than a Male Lion. Therefore try to treat this as just a hypothetical thought experiment for now.

Anyway, overall, here are my thoughts on the implications of what a maneless Aslan would mean for the series. I would be interested to see if people think some of them are easier to work around than others, of if there are other areas that I might have missed.

1. Iconography

First and foremost, the image of Aslan with his radiant mane, is probably one of the most iconic pieces of visual imagery that the franchise has going for it. It is quite literally the cover image for the majority of the Narnia collected edition books, and in terms of wider popular culture, it is probably up there alongside the Wardrobe and the Lampost as quintessentially Narnian visuals. Therefore, I simply cannot fathom why you would ever toss that aside for no real gain. Like sure, you could probably change the Wardrobe for a Fridge Freezer, and it could still theoretically just about work in terms of plot mechanics, but why would you throw away such a potent and highly marketable symbol like that? For a lot of people, that image of Aslan is Narnia.

2. The Stone Table scene

One thing I simply cannot get over, is that in one of the most pivotal scenes of the entire franchise, the villain (Jadis) quite literally strips Aslan of his mane, in a powerfully symbolic demonstration of evil triumphing over good. It boggles my mind as to why any director of a Narnia adaptation would ever want to embody the actions of the primary series villain by quite literally depriving Aslan of his mane?

There’s also huge cinematic ramifications here as well. In a visual medium such as film, shaving Aslan’s mane allows you to convey so much information to the audience with such a striking visual moment. The Walden films in particular really carried through that moment by having the White Witch wear his mane into battle. It just feels like such a useful visual storytelling device  that it would be an absolute waste to just discard it like that.

3, The Prophecy

This one would probably be a little bit easier for a good writer to work around, but it is worth pointing out that the prophecy in LWW fairly significantly features the line “When Aslan Shakes His Mane”. In the event of a Maneless Aslan, I guess they could change it to “When Aslan Shakes Her Tail” but I’m not sure where you go from there. It probably wouldn’t really change things up for the stories too much, but its still something to consider.

4. Riding Aslan

When the girls ride on Aslan’s back, its my understanding that they hold onto his mane for balance. Not quite sure what you would hold onto if he were a Lion without a mane. Again, not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but awkward enough from a visual storytelling point-of-view to have to come up with something different.

5. Characters Burying Themselves in Aslan’s Mane.

In Prince Caspian, and maybe elsewhere as well, you have fairly crucial scenes where the characters bury themselves in Aslan’s mane for comfort. As well as the pure symbolism, its also just such as great cinematic visual which is rich with emotion. By having a maneless Aslan you again deprive yourself of these great visual moments, particularly when we are talking about a cinematic adaptation which is all about the big visual moments.

6. Aslan as a Metaphor for the Sun

In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and probably elsewhere as well, there is quite a lot of visual iconography which associates Aslan’s radiant mane with that of the sun. Again, such a powerful visual motif. What would be gained from discarding it?

7. Shift’s Entire Plan in “The Last Battle”

Probably the big one for me. Shift’s entire plan in The Last Battle, from a practical standpoint, revolves around placing a fake mane on a Donkey, and convincing people that he is Aslan. I have no idea how you attempt to pull this off if Aslan doesn’t have a mane in the first place.

Even just putting aside the plot mechanics here, the use of the mane in this story is not just a convenient plot device, but is also a pivotal thematic symbol of Aslan himself. Again, it would just feel so short-sighted to make Aslan a maneless Lion and throw away one of your most powerful and iconic visual symbols.