What if The Chronicles of Narnia inspired a theme park similar to Disneyworld in Florida? Of course, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Or ever perhaps. But think of the possibilities. That’s the theme I’m going to riff on for this July’s Worldbuilding Wednesday posts. What rides, events, eating places, and attractions would it …
Three highly stylized scenes from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, done in a style that, to my mind, imitates the Ballets Russes sketches of designer Leon Bakst. (I’ll be going more into the Russian influence on depictions of Narnia later in the Summer.) The first seems to show Lucy in the woods with …
One of the things I love about these Summers of Narnia is that I’m always discovering something new. Take this illustration on the cover of the 1988 Macmillan hardback edition of The Silver Chair, depicting the climactic moment when the Green Witch snakeifies herself and wraps around Prince Rilian. There’s a distinct aesthetic about it …
So many White Witches! So little time! First, this unusual fashion shoot model who has metal mesh pasted over her eyebrows and glass bulbs for hair. And string. And rock crystals. Another fashion shoot witch in the Tilda Swinton mold. This model was from a web site referencing “Candy Goth” style. But she’s got the …
In Prince Caspian, C. S. Lewis decided to explore the astronomical lore of the Narnian world. He created two planets, Tarva and Alambil, whose conjunction Caspian and Dr. Cornelius witness from a castle tower, and three constellations which Lucy mentions later — the Ship, Hammer, and Leopard. Alchemy and magic are also mentioned. The impression …
… the spells began straight away, and at first there was nothing very important in them. They were cures for warts (by washing your hands in moonlight in a silver basin) and toothache and cramp, and a spell for taking a swarm of bees. The picture of the man with toothache was so lifelike that …
I took inspiration from this Worldbuilding Wednesday Narnia post, specifying a 1920s children’s book illustration model. She’s sampling different rocks, sands, and minerals from her plate.
When Lucy saw … the trees were going to eat earth it gave her rather a shudder. But when she saw the earths that were actually brought to them she felt quite different. They began with a rich brown loam that looked almost exactly like chocolate; so like chocolate, in fact, that Edmund tried a …
This Dutch language edition of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader does away with the ship’s poetic name, calling it simply “drakenschip.” Which means … dragon ship … which calls to mind … Vikings! Not sure what the problem with translation was. This book is interesting as well for the illustration, which is one I …
Cats get short shrift in The Chronicles of Narnia. Oh, sure, Aslan is a lion, and leopards and panthers are also mentioned. But domestic cats, unlike dogs, do not get to be heroes. In fact, a domestic cat is one of the notable villains of the series, the creatively named Ginger of The Last Battle. …