A Hag and a Werewolf, executed in Midjourney. Can something this colorful and abstract also be scary? I took inspiration from the more outlandish depictions of Narnia I’ve come across.
One of the things I dislike about Prince Caspian is that, after many, many, centuries, hags and werewolves are still around, even though Lewis told us they had been eliminated at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Seems like someone didn’t do the job they were supposed to. Nevertheless, they’re there, and as such should have names.
Lewis’s conception of a Hag is a witchlike being with malevolent powers masquerading as a harmless old herbwife. I could totally see her hobnobbing and interfering with dim Telmarines even as Dr. Cornelius knows what she is.
The werewolf – or Wer-wolf according to Lewis — is more problematic. For one thing, its bite doesn’t cause its victim to turn into a werewolf; Caspian was bitten and remained fine. Another thing, it seems to have forgotten it even had a name: “I’m hunger. I’m thirst. Where I bite, I hold till I die, and even after death they must cut out my mouthful from my enemy’s body and bury it with me.” Which makes it seem more of a malevolent ghostly being to me than a flesh and blood creature.
(Also… I thought the Stone Table was a holy place, sanctified by Aslan’s sacrifice all those years ago? Why can these horrible creatures hang around there? How did it lose its power for good? I’ve never seen this addressed in any scholarly writing or even fanfic, ever.)
Since I don’t like werewolves much as supernatural creatures, I gave them ugly-sounding, archaic names, while the hags got witchy ones.
Narnian Hags and Werewolves
| Hags
Aineth Clotna Eglina Fotatra Mafrinda Torsga Zillarhea Zilvria |
Werewolves
Churndryne Forcalc Grimvorden Jaundmortus Malraven Margras Morgos Vacculungus |
