Symbolism in Narnia

The Narnian books were and still are popular books in Children’s and Christian Literature. However, are the Narnian books more than just some kids’ book thrown together by another B-rated author or are they something much more intelligent? It turns out that CS Lewis put much more thought into his book series than meets the eye.

Aslan represents Jesus in Narnia.

The most obvious piece of Christian Symbolism in Narnia happens in CS Lewis’ first book he wrote in the series; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In the book, the great lion of Narnia, Aslan, sacrifices himself for the traitor Edmund to The White Witch. Later Aslan is resurrected and returns to free The White Witch’s prisoners and kill the witch herself. Aslan represents Jesus in Narnia, being known as the “Son” of the so-called “Emperor over the Sea”, who is never seen in the books, but represents God in the story.

More symbolism comes in Lewis’s second book in the series; Prince Caspian. In the book, Lucy, the youngest of the four Pevensie siblings, and the only one who can “see” Aslan. As the other siblings begin to believe that Lucy is actually seeing Aslan, they begin to see him too. There is plenty of talk of “seeing” in The Bible.

The last big piece of symbolism happens in Lewis’s epic finale, The Last Battle, where Aslan destroys Narnia in order to bring the land and its creatures into “his” country, which represents Heaven. This is similar to the Book of Revelation in The Bible, which is a prophecy predicting Jesus’ return and the final judgement of humanity.

Michael Ward's book points out even deeper symbolism.

Even deeper symbolism was specified by author Michael Ward in his novel The Narnia Code. In The Narnia Code, Ward explains that each book is symbolic for the seven planets of medieval cosmology. For example, Jupiter is the biggest,  ”king” planet, so because The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is about royalty and kingship, the book represents Jupiter. Prince Caspian represents Mars. Mars is the roman name for Ares, the god of war. Prince Caspian has to do with war as Aslan summons Narnia’s creatures for battle.  See The Narnia Code website for more info. or read the book.

Narnia is on a simple level, another fantasy novel, but when you look deeper, you see the genius CS Lewis has put into his books. The amazing thing about these books is that you do not have to be a genius to enjoy them, but geniuses will still find it intelligent in a very subtle way. That is the beauty of Narnia.

-Del H