How would the element of Silver fit into your theory?

Typically Werewolves are allergic to Silver, or at the very least can only be killed by a bullet made of Silver.

As such, you might imagine that someone who is half-Werewolf might prefer to build a chair out of a different metal altogether in order to avoid the risk.

That said, if you were going to give the physical Silver Chair some element of backstory, tying that in to Werewolf mythology and the associated magical properties of the metal Silver wouldn't be a bad place to start - I'm just not sure what the link would be.

@tizzle Now that has got to be one of the most interesting and at least reasonably convincing origin theories for the Lady of the Green Kirtle / Green Witch I've ever heard! It may just end up in my own head-canon...   

Posted by: @icarus

Typically Werewolves are allergic to Silver, or at the very least can only be killed by a bullet made of Silver.

As such, you might imagine that someone who is half-Werewolf might prefer to build a chair out of a different metal altogether in order to avoid the risk.

That's a very good point and I've been thinking about it now too. I would say we don't know for certain that Narnian werewolves — or to use Lewis's spelling, Wer-Wolves — have all the same characteristics typical of werewolves in Earthly legend, and there are some notable indications that they don't.

For one thing, it's pretty standard in our world's mythology that anyone who is bitten by a werewolf, becomes a werewolf as well. (Major plot element in the Harry Potter books, of course, with poor old Remus Lupin.) This doesn't seem to happen with the one Narnian Wer-Wolf we encounter, who bites Caspian — badly enough to draw blood and to require a lot of cleaning and bandaging afterwards — during the fight in Aslan's How: "'Yes, I'm bitten,' said Caspian. 'It was that — that wolf thing.'" There's never any indication though that Caspian himself is now a Wer-Wolf, or in any danger of becoming one!

Another point: werewolves in our mythology are closely linked to the full moon. Usually that's said to be when they transform from human to wolf, and this happens automatically and there's no way the werewolf can prevent it. (See Remus Lupin again.) Whereas the Narnian Wer-Wolf can obviously change himself from man to wolf at will, and does so at the moment he's attacked, which is during the daytime. So again, apparently not the same as a typical Earth werewolf.

And then finally, if it's true that Earth werewolves can only be killed by a silver bullet, that clearly isn't the case with the Narnian Wer-Wolf, who is killed by an ordinary sword. In any case, a silver bullet would only be useful against a werewolf (or any other evil creature) in a world where gunpowder and firearms have been invented, and Narnia doesn't seem to have had those at any point in its history.

None of this absolutely proves or disproves whether silver is dangerous to Narnian Wer-Wolves, but given that they're clearly not the exact same type of creature as the werewolves of popular mythology, it seems quite likely that it isn't — or at least that that's not something Lewis had in mind when he created the one example we see in the Chronicles. Therefore if the Green Witch really was the daughter of the Hag and the Wer-Wolf in PC, that wouldn't necessarily mean she would have any problem with silver. But as it's all entirely theory anyway, we'll never know...  

@tizzle Like you, I appreciate the idea of coming up with a backstory for the LOTGK that doesn't involve Jadis. But I don't understand why you think it's odd that she would target Caspian's family. Isn't the royal family who you would normally target if you were trying to take over a country?

Posted by: @courtenay

That's a very good point and I've been thinking about it now too. I would say we don't know for certain that Narnian werewolves — or to use Lewis's spelling, Wer-Wolves — have all the same characteristics typical of werewolves in Earthly legend, and there are some notable indications that they don't.

That is true, when you consider the Werewolf from PC in isolation, you wouldn't say he has much in common with traditional Werewolf mythology at all... For one thing he appears to be permanently stuck as a 50/50 wolf-man, rather than turning from 100% man into 100% wolf....but also for all the other reasons you listed.

That said, I do feel the physical Silver Chair itself does have some hint at being related to Werewolf mythology.

As far as I remember (and it's been a while since I've read the book), when we are first introduced to the titular Silver Chair, the Black Knight explains that he has to voluntarily chain himself into the chair at night because both his mind and body undergo some form of enchanted transformation at night, and therefore he thinks he must be protected from himself.... This is obviously a fake-out and we later learn that this is actually the hour when he turns into his true self as Rilian.

To me, there are several things about this which lead me to believe that the fake-out is trying to make you think he turns into a werewolf...

• The implication of a magical transformation from man into beast (mentally and physically)
• The fact that it happens at night
• The fact that the chair is made of silver - the perfect metal for restraining a Werewolf

Again, I know it never says "werewolf" and I don't think it ever even says monster or beast, but the implication seems to be there that both his mind and body will be transformed into something terrifying....and why else make the chair from Silver?

Either way, even if it's just a narrative misdirection, and the whole Silver thing is just to try and subconsciously make you think "werewolf" as part of the misdirection, I'm not sure it especially helps with tying the Witch herself to a Werewolf heritage . But maybe there's something to work with there.

Posted by: @icarus

That said, if you were going to give the physical Silver Chair some element of backstory, tying that in to Werewolf mythology and the associated magical properties of the metal Silver wouldn't be a bad place to start - I'm just not sure what the link would be.

That’s a good point, and maybe as we try to find an answer, it makes sense  to ‘follow the silver’. 

In this ‘supposal’, we know as little about the actual silver chair as we do the Green Witch herself. Where did it come from? Did she make it herself? Steal it? Find it? Did the gnomes from Bism craft it? Or maybe it came from the race of giants that inhabited the long forgotten giant city?

And why was it a chair made out of silver in the first place? Maybe it was initially created to restrain a werewolf, employing the same magical properties of silver as the fabled bullet?

The witch uses things; people and even places, because she didn’t create the underworld. It was already there before she inhabited it and enslaved the gnomes of Bism. Perhaps she just used the chair, too, finding or inheriting it and subverting it for her own needs?

Posted by: @col-klink

@tizzle Like you, I appreciate the idea of coming up with a backstory for the LOTGK that doesn't involve Jadis. But I don't understand why you think it's odd that she would target Caspian's family. Isn't the royal family who you would normally target if you were trying to take over a country?

Perhaps odd is the wrong word. But it feels that having a plot that is in preparation for more than ten years, killing the wife and then enslaving the son, makes it quite personal.

Ok then, how's this for a grand unified theory to flesh out your original concept....

• A werewolf and a hag/witch are in love (doesn't necessarily need to be the same ones as in PC, but it can be if you want)

• They have a child together, who being half of each species has some magic powers, and some trans-mutation powers (in this case turning into a snake)

• In order to protect the child from the Werewolf father when he turns into an uncontrollable beast at night, the hag/witch creates the Silver Chair to constrain him on the full moon (silver being the best metal to restrain a werewolf)

• At some point they relocate to live underground - the hag/witch because she wants to escape persecution and the Werewolf because he wants to avoid the light of the Full Moon.

• Eventually the hag and werewolf die (killed by Caspian if you want) leaving the now teenage girl (LOTGK) with the Silver Chair in the Underground Kingdom to plot her revenge on the King and the Kingdom that wronged her.

• However, since she is only half Hag/Witch by birth, she finds that her powers aren't as strong as a regular witch, so her enchantments only work during the day (at night her Werewolf DNA reduces the effectiveness) hence she decides to use her Father's Silver Chair to restrain her enchantment victims during these hours - also adding a sense of poetic justice to her revenge scheme.

Whilst I don't think the LOTGK necessarily needs a sympathetic backstory and motivations, nor that the Silver Chair needs an thorough in-universe explanation for it's existence, I do like that your Werewolf theory is capable of neatly connecting the dots on quite a lot of pertinent plot points without needing to add a lot of new concepts into the mix.

Also, bonus fun fact - in Michael Ward's "Planet Narnia" theory, the Silver Chair is the book which corresponds to the Moon, so that's another potential Werewolf tie-in.

I still think the Green Witch is some kind of Naga (Indian snake-person.) Or a Dark Fae (Unseelie)

Posted by: @icarus

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Whilst I don't think the LOTGK necessarily needs a sympathetic backstory and motivations, nor that the Silver Chair needs an thorough in-universe explanation for it's existence, I do like that your Werewolf theory is capable of neatly connecting the dots on quite a lot of pertinent plot points without needing to add a lot of new concepts into the mix

Loving your synopsis which is very much along the lines of how I was imagining it. 

It often seems that filmmakers are looking for a ‘red thread’ as they develop a storyline into a movie. Something that holds it together and gives the plot direction if they feel the original story lacks it . You could see that in the Dawn Treader movie with the idea of the malevolent green mist to add drama to the search for the seven Lords. One could quite imagine that a Netflix adaptation of the Silver Chair would look to widen the narrative to include more backstory, and then look for a new thread to pull it all together. Who knows, maybe they will find something in these ideas!