I think it's worth bearing in mind that the various film and TV (and stage) adaptations of the Chronicles aren't "canon", so to speak, as far as Narnia itself is concerned — they're all someone else's interpretation of Narnia, rather than being what C.S. Lewis actually wrote or intended. There are definitely times when they contradict what the original books say or imply. But in this case, that line from the film of Prince Caspian is verbatim from the book:

"... This is the true King of Narnia we've got here: a true King, coming back to true Narnia. And we beasts remember, even if Dwarfs forget, that Narnia was never right except when a son of Adam was King."

"Whistles and whirligigs! Trufflehunter," said Trumpkin. "You don't mean you want to give the country to Humans?"

"I said nothing about that," answered the Badger. "It's not Men's country (who should know that better than me?) but it's a country for a Man to be King of. We badgers have long enough memories to know that. Why, bless us all, wasn't the High King Peter a Man?" (Prince Caspian, pp. 64-65 in the Puffin edition)

I never thought about contrasting that statement with what Jewel says in The Last Battle, so this is pretty interesting to consider! I'm aware there was a gap of a few years between Lewis writing Prince Caspian and writing The Last Battle — occasionally he does contradict himself on some minor points in the later books versus the earlier ones. (Don't get me started on the discrepancies between The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew!! )

But thinking about it, I'm not sure this is a complete contradiction. Jewel is talking about how "the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve were brought out of their own strange world into Narnia only at times when Narnia was stirred and upset" — which I think means he's talking specifically about the times when humans are magically drawn into Narnia from our world to fix up things that need fixing. Like the Pevensies coming to end the reign of the White Witch, or to ensure Caspian is crowned King, or to rescue Prince Rilian, or to support Tirian in Narnia's last days.

Meanwhile, the Kings and Queens of Narnia in between those times have always been human (or part-human, for the direct descendants of Frank and Helen who married nymphs and wood-gods due to lack of other humans in Narnia at the time!), but they weren't brought into Narnia from outside — they were born there. And going by what Jewel is saying, their reigns were almost entirely peaceful and harmonious with "hardly anything to put into the History Books".

That said, I'm not sure Jewel is entirely right in his statement that humans are only brought into Narnia from their own world when there's trouble in Narnia. Digory and Polly in The Magician's Nephew (which I gather Lewis wrote almost simultaneously with The Last Battle) weren't brought in when Narnia was "stirred and upset" — in fact, they themselves (specifically Digory) brought the first stir and upset into Narnia at its creation, by bringing in Jadis! And in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Narnia is peaceful and prosperous under Caspian and the visitors from our world help him in his quest, but there's no particular evil that needs to be defeated. Plus there's the fact that the ancestors of the Telmarines stumbled into Narnia more or less accidentally, and they definitely caused more troubles than they alleviated for much of their history!! But we could argue that they weren't "brought" in, so they weren't there to fulfil a specific purpose on Aslan's behalf.

Overall, though, I don't get the impression that Jewel is outright contradicting Trufflehunter. Trufflehunter tells us that Narnia was never right except when it had human rulers; Jewel's description of "peaceful King follow[ing] peaceful King" is a description of Narnia under human rulers, in long eras when the country was definitely "right". So I'm pretty sure his remark is meant to refer specifically to the particular humans who were brought into Narnia from outside to help set things right, not to the Narnian-born humans ruling Narnia in between those times.

That's the best I can make of it, anyway!  

Isn't Miraz a "Son of Adam" anyway? 🤔 

Posted by: @icarus

Isn't Miraz a "Son of Adam" anyway? 🤔 

Hmmm, yes, good point — I never thought of that, and it IS pretty much a contradiction within the one book!!

I can only think that Trufflehunter doesn't mean that just any "Son of Adam" should rule Narnia, but only one who will rule wisely and let the Narnian creatures live in peace and freedom, and that's what he means by calling Caspian a "true King". Perhaps some of the Old Narnians at that time — including Trumpkin and Nikabrik — were inclined to think that Narnia could only be made free by getting rid of the human monarchy entirely, whereas Trufflehunter is reminding them that Narnia is meant to have a human as King, despite the devastation caused by humans who have abused that role. But yeah, it is a bit confusing there...

(Now I think about it, there's probably a hint of a Biblical theme there — humans being created and divinely ordained to "have dominion... over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:28), even though quite a lot of humans seem to do a pretty bad job of it. But that's getting a bit off topic.)

It may be that Jewel doesn't think of the humans in the Narnian world as "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve." Aslan tells the Telmarines that they are at the end of Prince Caspian, but that detail may have been lost in history.

Posted by: @icarus

Isn't Miraz a "Son of Adam" anyway?

You have to keep the quote's context in mind. Trufflehunter is responding to Trumpkin's incredulity about Caspian being king. He's not saying any man should be the king of Narnia, just one particular man.

P.S.

Posted by: @courtenay

I think it's worth bearing in mind that the various film and TV (and stage) adaptations of the Chronicles aren't "canon", so to speak, as far as Narnia itself is concerned...But in this case, that line from the film of Prince Caspian is verbatim from the book:

Yeah, this thread should be moved to Talk About Narnia.

Posted by: @courtenay

There are definitely times when they contradict what the original books say or imply. But in this case, that line from the film of Prince Caspian is verbatim from the book:

Posted by: @col-klink

Yeah, this thread should be moved to Talk About Narnia.

 

Thanks for telling me! I actually didn't notice that the exact same line was in the book, but I should've checked. Truth be told, I was wondering which thread this should go in, because it was like a mix of the movie and the book together.