To be fair, I don't strictly remember the first time I read the book, namely because I first heard the Chronicles when my dad read them to us as bedtime stories when I was very young. The first time I remember understanding the story, though, I figured it out pretty quickly. Aslan appears as normal-looking animals twice in VDT (though he does speak both times and "gives himself away"), so it didn't seem strange to me that he was apparently behaving like a normal lion. I think I was around 10-11 at this time.

The one that confused me the most was the two lions during the run by the river. It didn't occur to me that Aslan was just... fast. I just assumed that Shasta and Bree were correct in assuming there had to be two lions. I also didn't figure out the cat in the tombs was Aslan until the lion appeared to scare off the jackals.

And, like you, I also couldn't figure out why the lions always seemed to be threatening the characters. So there was still plenty I didn't know when Aslan finally explained things.  

I think I was so involved with the story, after getting over the opening (which didn't seem to be Narnia at all - actually it wasn't - and I found it harder to get into). I was 18 at the time - I came late to Narnia.

I must admit it's a bit over 30 years since I first read HHB (in early primary school), so I can't remember in detail what I thought of all the lions. I think I guessed that the cat that comforted Shasta among the tombs, and apparently turned into a lion or grew to lion size to protect him, might be either Aslan in disguise or some sort of emissary of his. But I know I didn't think that the (apparently) two lions that chased the horses near the beginning were anything but dumb lions, and I don't think I guessed anything about the lion that scratched Aravis either. They all seemed to be acting like fully wild and quite savage lions, very unlike what we'd seen of Aslan elsewhere — he's not a tame lion himself, but he doesn't normally chase and attack people!! — and as Bree admits early on that he's scared of lions, it seemed clear enough that there could be plenty of non-talking and very dangerous lions around in Calormen. So no, apart from the cat, I really didn't twig what was going on. It makes for a memorable twist when Shasta at last encounters "the Voice" on that dark and misty mountain road and is told "There was only one lion..."

I seem to recall having my suspicions about the cat, but I think the two lions threw me off. The cat is obviously abnormal, as Courtenay mentioned, but the fact that there appear to be more than one lion just ruled out the presence of Aslan in my mind. 

I'm looking forward to the spine-tingling moment of Aslan revealing that "there was only one Lion" being dramatized on screen. Please hurry Netflix!  

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

I'm looking forward to the spine-tingling moment of Aslan revealing that "there was only one Lion" being dramatized on screen. Please hurry Netflix!  

Hmmm, on that note — and sorry for going a bit off topic — it does make me wonder just how they'll dramatise that scene on screen. It basically involves Shasta riding in pretty much pitch darkness, lamenting aloud how unlucky he is, and then suddenly realising there's something alongside him, breathing heavily... it works fine in the book and in audio dramas, but for a screen version, there are almost no visuals, until the very end of the conversation when the light dawns and Shasta sees the Lion. I can't help suspecting they'll rewrite it somehow to make it more visually dramatic... I only hope they won't mess it up in the process. I wonder how they might do it so it works well on screen and still remains faithful to the spirit of the original scene in the book? But maybe that had better go in a thread on our hopes and fears for the Netflix series, if we have such a thread... or do we need to start one?  

I first read the books when I was 14 and since I read them in the order in which C.S. Lewis wrote the books (meaning HHB was the 5th book I read) I already knew all about Aslan and so I right away caught on that all the different lions were him. It somehow mad logical sense to me, since each time the lion comes at a critical moment in the plot.

When I first read the books, I did not assume the lion's were all Aslan. I think it kind of confused me because there was more than one lion. I always thought of Aslan as the "one and only" lion and he always came by himself and he was unique and different from all. Also as people mentioned before he was hurting the main characters. Aslan never did strike me as a typical "Lion."  Of course he was a lion in form, but he talked and he did not usually hurt anyone or do things that lions would normally do in our world. So when I found out that multiple lions that were aggressive were all Aslan it was a major surprise for me. 

I am far too old and crusty to remember what I thought the first time I read the books.  I know I read the books in the series all out of order as I got them over a series of Christmases all out of order.  I know it was one of the later ones I read.  I really enjoyed it.  I am sure I would have guessed that the lion protecting Shasta from the jackals at the Tombs of the Ancient Kings was certainly Aslan.  I was always very willing to buy into the worlds of books and movies so I think I recall being surprised that all of the lions were Aslan.

I am reading through the books with my kids and we are about halfway through this novel currently and my oldest thinks the lions are just lions and my youngest is guessing it is Aslan.  We're reading through in chronological order so they haven't seen Aslan in all of his forms yet. 

It never even crossed my mind that all of the various lions in the story were Aslan. I don’t know why exactly, other than the fact that I was so invested in the story that I didn’t have time to think much on the backstory of who the lions were. When I read the chapter where Shasta and Aslan are walking next to each other and Aslan says,

”I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead... etc.”

My mind was blown. ? It reminded me so much of how Christ has shown up in all of our lives in ways that we didn’t really see in the moment. It’s my favorite part in The Horse and His Boy, and if Netflix ever makes an adaptation of it, I hope they get that scene right.