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The Last Battle and Revelations

hermit
(@hermit)
NarniaWeb Regular

I have often seen it claimed (even on this website) that TLB is an allegory of The Revelation of John   or at least inspired by it. But if you actually compare the two there is little similarity at all. 

In TLB there are no Four Horsemen, no angels with seven trumpets or bowls holding the seven last plagues to be poured out on the earth. I suppose Tash, Puzzle and Shift could be considered the Narnian equivalent of the diabolical trinity of Dragon, Beast and False Prophet in Revelations.  Except that in Revelations all three are cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever, while in TLB the Dragon figure (Tash) devours the False Prophet figure (Shift) before being banished to parts unknown, while the Beast figure (Puzzle) ends up among the redeemed in Aslan's Country!

Even the central image of Judgement in TLB is clearly inspired, not by anything from Revelations, but by the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in The Gospel of Matthew. Even then Lewis puts his own spin on it, in that the Narnians are judged not so much by Aslan as by themselves, depending on whether they love or hate Aslan.

I can't help wondering if the people who make this claim have ever read Revelations, or even if they've ever read TLB properly. 

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Topic starter Posted : June 25, 2025 2:26 pm
Courtenay
(@courtenay)
NarniaWeb Fanatic Hospitality Committee

I've never actually read any claims that LB is based on Revelation (it is correctly called "Revelation", "The Revelation of St John the Divine", or else "The Apocalypse", not "Revelations"), but I totally agree, any close comparisons show that idea to be way off the mark, as you've set out, @hermit.

To me it just further goes to show that the Chronicles of Narnia are not allegorical and are not intended to be read as such. Lewis himself explained this many times. They are based on Christian themes and ideas, but there is nothing like a one-to-one correspondence between elements of these stories and elements of Biblical narratives or the history of Christianity. And yet people still try to read such things into them, or claim that is how they "should" be understood. And that's wrong. Eyebrow  

"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)

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Posted : June 25, 2025 7:18 pm
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