Aslan on Stage (Part I)

Poster for one of the many stage productions

When comparing Tolkien to Lewis, Lewis wins in the theatrical department. Every year, around the world, theater groups are tackling The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, creating different interpretations of the same text by their choices of costume, casting, lighting and sets. I can’t see anyone staging The Fellowship of the Ring the same way, even if the trustees of the books would let them. Lewis has the flexibility of being so out-there with his elements of fantasy that audiences have no choice than to be accepting of the stage magic simulating them, from a wardrobe that turns into a snowy forest to a giant talking lion.

The role of Aslan, of course, calls for a larger-than-life, grandiose presence. But how do you simulate a thousand-pound lion deity?

There are only two choices: puppetry, or a costume that kinda resembles a lion deity, like how the dancers in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical Cats resembled cats.

First, puppetry.

The BBC version made in 1988 had a decent Aslan puppet. He didn’t move much, but the story was structured so he didn’t have to. I’ve gotta say the head looks frozen-faced here even in a still, though the voice actor did a fine job.

By the time the Disney movies came around CGI had reached the point where a lifelike lion was possible on the screen. But you can’t do CGI on stage, and for a theatrical run it would be too expensive to do a realistic lion that wouldn’t have moved much anyway. So Aslan became super-stylized, which ties into the major suspension of belief issues of staging Narnia anyway.

This Aslan is operated by performers who likely have the toughest job in the show. Like bunraku puppeteers they wear black, and while they are partly hidden by Aslan’s body the illusion is not total by necessity. The designer created a big cat that is imposing and primal, calling to mind a rough metal sculpture. No idea what scene this is though. That’s Peter or Edmund at the left with a Narnian shield, and the woman may be the White Witch, but what is she doing with Aslan’s head?

Another bunraku puppet Aslan, who is missing his legs for some reason. That, along with the exposed ribs, make him look like’s he’s been partially eaten by vultures before his resurrection.

This Aslan required three puppeteers, being almost elephant-sized! But that’s OK, he wasn’t all one unit, but a set of three: head, forequarters, and hindquarters working in close conjunction.

For theater companies with deep pockets, remote-controlled animatronics are likely to be used.

This one has three operators as well, two for the body and one for the head and mouth. The stylization works as the set itself is stylized: the backdrops are made to look like paper trees and buildings cut from the pages of the book.

One disadvantage of an oversized lion puppet is its weight, which is why the designer of this production made an Aslan of lightweight fabric stretched over a wire frame. Downside: his ankles look broken.

Another wire frame Aslan, but instead of nylon fabric, his hide and mane are made of book covers. Not only The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe itself, but the books named in Tumnus’s library and other children’s classics like The Secret Garden.

An Aslan made of a gauzy fabric, which must have given him an ethereal look under the lights. Sensibly, he has wheels to get around.

Then there’s this one, built for a high school production, which is too easy to make fun of, so I won’t.

The oddest production of The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe I’ve come across is this avant-garde one from Poland, which features a womblike, minimalist white set with a curtain cocoon that can drop down from above. Aslan looks like he’s made out of translucent plastic, operated by droogs. Lighting is used to convey emotion shifts and scene changes.

The woman at the center cupping her ear might be the White Witch, and that might be Edmund at the back with his dwarf captor. But who’s the elven beauty at Aslan’s side?

This might be the master storyteller who narrates the tale. But who is the faceless, gold-suited man behind her?

This might be the Witch Witch with an electrified neon hoop skirt as she is torturing Edmund, who looks to be doing a break dance on the floor. Maybe the black-clad figures are the witch’s wolves? Or her statues? Who knows. Those Poles, always a crazy bunch.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/22/22: Gods of Calormen (Narnia XXXIII)

What I think Zardeenah looked like.

In contrast to Narnia’s monotheism and its “true” God, Aslan, the desert nation of Calormen was polytheistic. Three gods are mentioned: Tash, Zardeenah, and Azaroth, all referenced in the book The Horse and His Boy, which was written by Lewis after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but published later.

HHB was Lewis’s ode to British-style Orientalism and its gods call to mind those from ancient Biblical kingdoms. Tash was the most important god and likely the pantheon’s leader, who had the capitol city named after him with a silver-roofed temple at its apex. Zardeenah, Lady of the Night, was the patron of maidens, while Azaroth was only referred to by name. Interestingly, Azaroth is only one consonant-sound off from Azathoth, H. P. Lovecraft’s mad, piping, amorphous deity at the center of the universe. IMO it’s a Lewis tip of the hat to Lovecraft; he also did another, the unpleasant carved deities on the Giant’s Bridge in The Silver Chair. In HHB we are not told what these three deities looked like, though Zardeenah is implied to be human by the honorific “Lady.”

There’s nothing said about more gods then these, but neither is it said there are only three. If Calormen does follow an Egyptian, Assyrian or Babylonion template, there were likely many, and as in Greek and Roman mythology, major ones, minor ones, demigods, and divine heroes.

Any gods would have had influence in areas the Calormenes considered important to their society. For example, the ancient Greeks considered Poseidon, the God of the Sea, powerful and important because they were a maritime people relying on ships and the bounty of the Mediterranean. But for Calormen, which was stated by Lewis to have less adept sailors and slower ships than Narnia and its island nation neighbors, a sea god would not have been so important.

So, I headcanon it this way, from what is available from the books.

Tash is the leader of the other gods and also the god of War, Power, Leadership, Fire (because sacrifices to him are burnt), the Sky, Storms, and Weather (that bird head, plus “the bolt of Tash falls from above”), and the patron of the Tisroc, the distant ancestor who gives the Tisroc his power and authority. Vulture-headed with wings and four arms with clawed hands. Lewis waits until The Last Battle to describe him in detail.

Which creates yet another in-universe contradiction by Lewis, as in HHB the Tisroc states:

[Narnia] is chiefly inhabited by demons in the shape of beasts that talk like men, and monsters that are half man and half beast. It is commonly reported that the High King of Narnia (whom may the gods utterly reject) is supported by a demon of hideous aspect and irresistible maleficence who appears in the shape of a Lion.

Which is quite the pot calling the kettle black, as Tash is a four-armed humanoid vulture! Really, a lion is the most hideous demonthe Calormenes can come up with?  (Then again, Calormenes are masters of double-speak.)

Zardeenah, as Aravis says,  is “Lady of the Night and of Maidens.” She sounds like the Greek goddess Artemis, who was associated with the moon and female virgins. Like Artemis, we can assume she’s young, female, and beautiful. If she has a city it’s Zardeenahbaan.

Azaroth I am going to proclaim as the god of Wisdom, the crafter of those windy, inadvertently humorous proverbs the Calormenes are always sprouting. Gonna says he’s an elderly man with a city called Azarbaan (because Azarothbaan is too awkward to say.)

The three are mentioned in the same phrase only by Aravis, so they are the gods most important to her.

Then I randomgenned some more gods, giving them appearances that vary between human, animal-human, and grotesque, to contrast with Aslan’s pure, lionlike, golden goodness. I also gave some of them cities, as Tash had one. Tehishbaan was one of the cities mentioned, so I speculated that Tehish, too, was a god, and perhaps had a rivalry with Tash.

If any of these gods are “real” that is up to fanfic writer. My guess is that, like Tash, they are not, or at least not in the way the Calormenes thought they were.

 

Gods of Calormen

Armira: Goddess of equilibrium, moderation, balance, justice, and silence. Her left side is white, the right side, black. Below the waist, she has a snake’s body evenly patterned with gray scales. Though her face is lovely, she has no mouth. Her city is Armirabaan.

Barush: God of crafting and calmness.

Charuman: The warrior god of mercenaries, a leopard-man wearing Calormene armor and spiked helmet, his face locked in an eternal snarl.

Dhamiyah: Goddess of motherhood and childbirth.

Falgadi: God of mystics, farseeing and prophecy.

Flauraz: God of both torture and rejuvenation (resurrection) who wields a copper whip. He looks like a demon with red skin, three eyes, clawed hands and feet, and bat’s wings.

Ghazind: The child-god of mischief, who takes the form of a monkey with multiple tails.

Hamadous: God of mummification and the blind. He has brown, wrinkled skin and wears linen strips over his eyes.

Harase: The god of perfumes and unguent creation. He has green skin, a handsome, angelic face, and six arms each holding a vial of some fragrance. His city is Harasebaan.

Ithydris: Known as the patron god of scholars. He has two heads and four arms, basically twins from the waist up. One twin writes on a scroll while the other holds a scroll and reads.

Lephna: The mermaid goddess of water: rivers, lakes, fountains and the desert oasis. Though lovely she is  more fish than human.

Munda: God of encryption, codebreaking, diligence, and intelligence. He appears as a hunched elderly man wearing an orange turban. His city is Mundabaan.

Nezganeen: God of speed, a mash-up of human and grasshopper.

Parvad: Goddess of tea, coffee, hospitality, and gossip. Her holy symbol is a cup carved of ivory.

Rubimen: God of merchants and caravans, expeditions and exploration. He looks like an anthropomorphized camel dressed as a traveler.

Sabreza: Goddess of dance, pantomime, singing, celebrations, color, and splendor. She is honored with colored pigments and chalk. She wears rainbow-colored garments and has the head and green wings of a parakeet. Also known as “The Lady of Happiness.” Her city is Sabrezabaan.

Shauzu: The god of librarianship and libraries, whose symbol is a crystal of golden chalcedony. He looks like a man with the head of a greyhound wearing glasses.

Sumna: Goddess of massage, courtesans, and other forms of sensual entertainment. Her city is Sumnabaan. also known as The City of Twenty Thousand Vices.

Tarjina: Goddess of mirrors and beauty.

Tehish: The god of agriculture, healing, labor, and husbandry. He resembles a minotaur: a man with the head, hooved legs, and tail of a bull.  His city is Tehishbaan.

Zarael: God of drugs, sleep, corruption, and lassitude. Appears as a handsome youth wearing the skin of a wild beast. Some think he’s the same god as Bacchus.

Zardeenah’s Handmaidens: A group of stars in the night sky (like the Pleiades) who are personified by the Calormenes as the goddess’s companions. Their names are Zhenaë, Ranna, Sarondra, Mirambis, Sherael, Ilrisha, Lazhora, and Madjira.

Zilne: The goddess of richness and plenty. Appears as a richly dressed, very weighty, sensual woman on a cushioned litter, holding a bunch of grapes to eat.

The Lion of Lucerne

Aslan, is that you?

The Lion lies in his lair in the perpendicular face of a low cliff—for he is carved from the living rock of the cliff. His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.

Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion—and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.

— Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad, 1880

If you’ve ever been a tourist in the Swiss city of Lucerne, you’ll know that one of the must-see attractions is the Löwendenkmal or The Lion Monument. Carved lying in a grotto of stone, the tip of the spear that killed it protruding from its back, it’s an arresting image for both its pathos and sense of grandeur. Who killed this lion, and why? Why was it monumentalized and put on display? I certainly asked those questions when I was a young’un seeing it on a family vacation to Switzerland. If a younger C. S. Lewis had been in my shoes, he might have asked himself the same questions, so inspiring the pivot point of the plot of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Reality is different. For starters, the sculpture is on display behind an iron fence and across a pool, requiring a telephoto lens to take a proper photo of. And it honors not a lion, or a member of nobility who had the bearing of a lion, but a group of Swiss guards — mercenaries, basically — who were killed during the French Revolution while protecting Tuileries Palace. Though the inscription below the sculpture on the rock face states 760 guards were killed, recent estimates align more with 300 and that it was a more even-handed battle than the massacre that was initially presented. Plus the fact that the slain soldiers were glorified for defending the last gasp of the moribund French royal family and thus rebuking notions of liberty and equality gives the monument some controversy in spite of its emotional tugging on our heartstrings.

Today only one regiment of Swiss guards are left: those protecting the Vatican.

The other great tourist attraction of Lucerne is the gruesome Spreuer Bridge dating from the 16th century, a covered footbridge which sports an interior covered with paintings of cavorting skeletons and plague victims, a theme called by Germans the Totentanz.

Do I sense a theme here?

Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/15/22: Queen Swanwhite’s Descendants (Narnia XXXII)

As I wrote in my previous post, Queen Swanwhite is something of an oddity, in Narnian terms. The reader hears about her only through the comments of another character, unlike, say, Ram the Great and King Erlian, two other characters the reader never meets but receive a mention from Lewis-the-narrator with the authorial weight that implies. Plus, she’s a Queen of supernatural beauty with the magic power to retain her reflection in woodland pools, while other monarchs have no magic. Then, there’s the oddness of her name. She’s named for an animal, actually a description of an animal with folkloric, tragic origins.

Did she leave any descendants? Perhaps she did, and they may have named in the same manner she was: Fairy Tale style.

 

Narnian Names After Queen Swanwhite

Aelfgold

Amberleaf

Bellaviolet

Cedarfall

Lionhair

Maplewhite

Mistwhite

Moonbrook

Rubyna

 Sealeaf

Silverina

Snowfire

Starsnow

Sunhair

Swanlily

Swanwillow

Truescarlet

Viridiane

The (Al)Lure of Queen Swanwhite

Queen Swanwhite

[Jewel] spoke of Swanwhite the Queen who had lived before the days of the White Witch and the Great Winter, who was so beautiful that when she looked into any forest pool the reflection of her face shone out of the water like a star by night for a year and a day afterwards.

This one-sentence toss-off from Jewel the Unicorn in The Last Battle is all the reader gets to know of Queen Swanwhite. When I read the book as a young teen, that’s all I took of it, too. A way for the writer to relieve the grimness and reassure  young readers that Narnia wasn’t all dark, there were plenty of moments of light and numerous untold, exotic stories that happened in the centuries leading up until the end. As Lewis told a young fan after the publication of the book, “Why not try it (telling an untold story) yourself?”

Yet, to me, it came off as bittersweet.

Swanwhite is intriguing because she is the only monarch of Narnia the reader does not meet in the books, and because her reign dates from the mysterious period between Narnia’s founding and the coming of the White Witch. That is, if you go by what Jewel says. Lewis’s historical timeline of Narnia, published after his death, states she reigned after the Pevensies.

Swanwhite herself seems confused on the matter. Artwork by Trefle Rouge.

Me? Lewis just didn’t keep of things very well and slipped up on the minutiae, something even modern fantasy writers have done. I’ll stick to the pre-White Witch date for her, thanks.

Even more interesting is why Lewis would choose to mention a Queen with the name of Swanwhite, exalt her as a great beauty, and have her reflection be her claim to fame, or notoriety.

On the surface it seems like he is retreating to his Medieval Romance and fairy tale roots and using hyperbole. I mean, come on, in the traditional telling of “Snow White” the heroine’s “skin white as snow, lips red as blood” isn’t meant to be taken literally. Such a creature would look ghoulish, or like some bizarre mime. It’s just a way of elevating pale skin and plump, healthy lips. Remember Medieval Europe loved its whiteness. It wasn’t racial — the concept of a Caucasian race didn’t even exist back then — but classist, a way to elevate cleanliness, purity, and nobility, as opposed to the unwashed, uncouth, sun-browned peasants laboring in the fields. Clean, white clothing was a sign of status; there wasn’t much in the way of bleaching (or soap) back then, and it was expensive. Clean, white (pale) skin meant a woman lived protected from the elements and was cared for and cherished.

What else has comparable whiteness and beauty? Swans. Which may or may not have been clean, but they certainly looked it.

Swan Queen, by Lhianne

Even more interesting is what Queen Swanwhite is known for: the retention of her reflection in a body of water, which means she must have looked into that body of water intent on admiring herself, like Narcissus.

Echo and Narcissus, by John William Waterhouse, 1903

For those unfamiliar with the myth, the gist of it is this. Narcissus, a handsome youth, falls in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Entranced and unable to look away, he forgets to eat and drink and so dies, leaving behind the little white and gold flower of spring, the narcissus or daffodil. There are many variations, such as Narcissus killing himself instead of starving, or the one Waterhouse depicted above, in which the nymph Echo, herself fading away to a mere voice from love of him, curses him to die likewise. The latter gave the English language the word Echo and also Narcissist, meaning a person too occupied with themselves to relate properly to others. There have many depictions of Narcissus in classical art over the years — mainly because it gave artists an excuse to lovingly depict a naked or near-naked good-looking young man — but IMO this one is the most potent. Not only do the figures look very modern, but for the sheer desperation of how Narcissus stares into that pool, all his muscles on edge as if he means to slither right into it and have coitus with his watery double.

I think Lewis was too much of a mythological scholar for this to be a bit of offhand local color. To my mind he was riffing on the theme and making it less sinister. Instead of Swanwhite falling in love with her reflection, it’s the water that falls in love with her and retains her presence, as conveyed in the watercolor at the beginning of this post.

However, even though Swanwhite remains alive, it still suggests a form of vanity. How did she feel about this odd power of hers? Maybe it’s me, but I’ve always thought she was in the habit of gazing at herself whenever she was out and about, perhaps lounging around some forest pond while combing her hair. Turning away, she goes on with her business, but the water retains an imprint. What should be ephemerel turns out not to be.

Such an ability might be a curse, even. Suppose Swanwhite came upon a reflection of herself from a year earlier, and so notes the subtle changes of time on her once-perfect face? Or that, a year earlier, she had been happier and younger? Like a reversed, short-term version of the Portrait of Dorian Gray, the water shows her a self unaffected by the passage of time.

(I just noticed on re-reading the passage that it’s unclear if the reflection shines out by night only, and glows like a star, or shines out 24/7 while glowing like a star. Another example of unclear wording. Thanks, Lewis!)

Perhaps because she can’t wipe out her own reflection, the character has a tragic feel, even though so little is said of her. The other great Swan Queen, that of Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, contributes to this: the lovely Odette has been cursed by the sorcerer Von Rothbart to be a swan by day and a woman by night. Young Prince Siegfried almost shoots her on a hunting trip, but when she turns into a human, he falls for her, and she tells him the curse on her and her swan ladies-in-waiting can only be broken by a pledge of true love.  Determined to marry her, he returns to his castle, only to find Von Rothbart with a Swan Queen lookalike, the wicked Odile, aka The Black Swan, who entrances him with many leaps and plies. The prince pledges himself to her thinking she’s Odette, but the deception is revealed… but not before the real Odette, watching from a window, runs away to her lake and the other swan maidens. The prince follows and explains to her the mistake, but then the sorcerer appears, there’s a fight, and the prince and Odette jump into the lake together, and drown. (Depending on the director, there’s often a happier ending to the story.)

Swanwhite’s beauty: A blessing or a curse? Artwork by Hang Luo.

The story of the Swan Queen may have been cribbed from a fairy tale called “The Stolen Veil” and altered by the composer for his purposes. He may also have been inspired by the Bavarian King Ludwig II, who lived in a dreamworld of operatic fantasy and took the swan as his personal symbol. Known as The Swan King, he was most likely gay, adding to the tragedy, and committed suicide, many think, by drowning himself in the lake by his castle of Berg. But there’s also evidence he was murdered.

The young King Ludwig looking angsty

Ludwig was the patron of the German composer Richard Wagner and without him, The Ring of the Nibelung might never have been written. But Ludwig was more than a patron, he was Wagner’s number one fan, even indulging in cosplay way before there was a word for it. In the illustration below, likely based on a photograph, he is dressed as The Swan Knight from Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, who arrives to save the day in a boat pulled by one of the birds. Not only that, Ludwig actually created a place for this cosplay: The Blue Venus Grotto, in the grounds of his palace of Linderhof.

As in Swan Lake, Lohengrin ends in high tragedy. The Swan Knight has forbidden any who know him to ask him his real name and his birthplace, but when his new wife, whom he has cleared of the charge of murder, does, the Knight states he must return to his birthplace, leaving his wife to die of sorrow and shock — the swan pulling the Knight’s boat was actually her younger brother under the spell of a pagan sorceress. Alas!

Ludwig’s death occurred little over a decade before Lewis’s birth year of 1898. But it was likely the monarch’s death and affinity for swans was still in the news, and being a Medieval scholar as well, I am sure Lewis was well familiar with the motif of The Swan Knight in chivalric literature. Though Lewis did not state Queen Swanwhite met a similar fate, it’s interesting that he chose to mention her only during the tragic, apocalyptic events of The Last Battle.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/8/22: Narnian Magic (Narnia XXXI)

Edmund being healed by a drop from Lucy’s magic vial, even though he has no visible wound.

I haven’t heard much about campaign settings based in Narnia, as opposed to those set in Middle-Earth. Something about Narnia resists this, either the religosity,  or the set-in-stone nature of the plot. But if someone did, here is some magic that might be used there.

 

Narnian Magic for an RPG

Cry of Bacchus: Allows the caster to yell a loud, ululating cry of “Eu-wan! Oi-oi-oi-oi!” that will make everyone hearing it rush to drink whatever alcoholic beverage is available to them until they are good and drunk.

Trufflehunter’s Peachstone: A nondescript brown rock that resembles the center of a peach or nectarine, this magic item was created by Aslan to honor the hero of the Narnian-Telmarine war. It grants the owner the bravery and steadfastness of a badger in combat and can also detect ripe truffles in wooded areas.

Heart of Wonderment: Imbues the recipient with a child-like awe and respect of the world, making it impossible for them to think evil thoughts or do evil deeds.

Create Talking Serpent: When Aslan imbued certain Narnian animals with human speech and intellect, he left out members of the Ophidian kingdom. This spell will do the same to any snake.

Shoes of the Reindeer: Magical gold shoes similar to horseshoes but made for the cloven hooves of reindeer. Used by The White Witch to enable her team to carry her sled over any kind of cold or icy medium.

Glenstorm’s Social Candor: A spell that enables the recipient to speak clearly, gravely, and respectfully while giving an honest opinion to others.

Sylvan Courage: The recipient’s bravery is boosted as long as they remain in a forested area or with creatures of the forest like dryads, fauns, and satyrs.

Fiery Cup: A parlor trick based on the magic of The White Witch. Makes a chalice, cup or flagon appear to burn brightly for a second as if the contents are made of pure flame.

Kiss of the Star’s Daughter: When a recipient of this spell kisses another, they leave a small glowing silver imprint on the recipient’s cheek which lasts for 24 hours.

Horn of the Hamadryad: When sounded, it will magically summon hamadryads out of their trees. (Note that some might be irritated with the blower at being disturbed.)

Fledge’s Deeper Magic: A powerful spell that gives any Talking Beast a pair of permanent bird’s wings that enable it to fly as well as an eagle.

King Peter’s Instant Law of Chivalry: Forces evil or duplicitous creatures to act without cheating in any competition or contest.

Quiver of the Ancient Tombs: This cursed artifact was found in the beehive-shaped tombs just outside the city of Tashbaan. Any arrows put in here will always cause maximum damage to their target when they hit, but the same amount of damage will be distributed evenly amongst the owner’s immediate companions.

Galman Holly: This plant is larger than Narnian holly and has a blueish cast. When it is steeped in wine it gives the wine hallucinogenic properties so the drinker hears and sees lifelike visions, so lifelike they are convinced they have received a true prophecy.

Voice of the Lion: Makes the caster’s voice sound as commanding and beguiling as Aslan’s.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/1/22: People of Calormen (Narnia XXX)

The city of Tashbaan

I’m going to start off this third Summer of Narnia with this Pauline Baynes illustration from The Horse and His Boy that I just found. I assume it wasn’t included in the American edition of the books, because I don’t remember it from my childhood. It shows the moment when the Narnian entourage, headed by King Edmund, is walking through Tashbaan and spots Shasta, taking him for the runaway Prince Corin. Not only does it give an idea of Tashbaan’s architecture (very much like Samarkand, with Ottoman domes) it shows the actual people who live there, who seem to be a mix of races and nationalities. Some wear Byzantine-style hooded caps, others Sihk turbans, or Arabic turbans, or even Mongolian furred hats. Women and girl children are present, implying that females are not sequestered and are allowed to walk the streets with males. It’s a delicate, ornate, and pretty depiction, but it’s at odds with the text which highlights the city’s great contrast of wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness, much of which Lewis puts across by smells.

Inside the gates Tashbaan did not at first seem so splendid as it had looked from a distance. The first street was narrow and there were hardly any windows in the walls on each side. It was much more crowded than Shasta had expected: crowded partly by the peasants (on their way to market) who had come in with them, but also with watersellers, sweetmeat sellers, porters, soldiers, beggars, ragged children, hens, stray dogs, and bare-footed slaves. What you would chiefly have noticed if you had been there was the smells, which came from unwashed people, unwashed dogs, scent, garlic, onions, and the piles of refuse which lay everywhere.

On the surface it’s a factual description of any ancient city’s marketplace, but on the other hand, neither Narnia or Archenland were described in such terms, implying that Tashbaan, for all its splendor, is at heart a rotten place. The free North, we can assume, is free from the foul odors of sewage and unwashed people and dogs, because it is egalitarian and free also of cities. Even as a child this conceit bothered me.

If you are writing Narnia fanfic set in Calormene, here’s some character names.

 

Characters from Calormen

Male

Ankhaat the Red Magician

Chlarek the Dyer

Prince Al-Khaat

Prince Waskhat

Prince Zedrek

Quamad Tarkaan

Rheeth of the Flame

Sharhan the Butcher

Sidrish Tarkaan

Taraz Tarkaan

Wasyet Tarkaan

Yometh the Mad

Zaryef the Thief

Zarmash the Wine Merchant

Zedammed the Gem Cutter

Zhornish the Ancient

 Female

Anjinda the Sweetmeat-seller

Anjnaa Tarkheena

Chaniris Tarkheena

Jalinda the Healer

Khemisa the Goat-Girl

Ladis, a slave

Lazarra the Poetess

Lyris the Wine-Girl

Parvaqa The Golden

Princess Hyatis

Princess Jandalan of the Jasmine Flower

Princess Shvakomis, aka The Honeyed Lily

Princess Zylmira

Saphys Tarkheena

Sephneen the Priestess

A New Summer of Narnia

Artwork by Polina Pokrovskaya

Yes, it’s the start of a new Summer of Narnia! This is the third one. Stay tuned for more Narnian names, essays, worldbuilding, commentary, and artwork, like the marvelous painting above. Which shows the unshowed final meeting of lion and witch, though she’s more resigned than terrified, and looks like she’s rather enjoying it. But I’ll get around to that later.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 5/25/22: Let’s Talk About Dumbledore

 

As I’m sure every fantasy fan already knows, Dumbledore (full name Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore) is the mysterious but kindly Headmaster of Hogwarts, the magical boarding school Harry Potter attends. In the movie series, he’s depicted in full-on Gandalf mode, with hippy-style long gray hair and a like beard he keeps tied in a frontal ponytil over his chest. He wears long pale gray robes with Celtic imagery and instead of a pointy hat, a round crushed-velvet pillbox hat.

What I never knew about Dumbledore, however, is that his name — actually his last name — is an Old English word for bumblebee, Rowling stating she chose it because she imagined the character humming to himself as he “bumbled” around the Hogwarts campus. While this may be a sort of retcon (as Dumbledore’s homosexuality was) it’s true that the name itself invokes a cozy, homey feel. Dumbledore is approachable, and someone you’d want to have a cuppa tea with. Say what you will about Rowling herself, or her creations,  it’s undeniable she had a knack for names.

Want to name a character like Dumbledore, but who’s not Dumbledore?

 

Variations on Dumbledore

Grumblebone

Dambledare

Dimpledore

Trumbledora

Dumplingdote

Crumblegor

Sprigglegor

Darbledove

 Schumblefell

Dustyodor

Speddleroar

Dumblefairy

Mumbledot

Shamblehole

Hufflefast

Kressjolly

Worldbuilding Wednesday 5/18/21: Comic and Crunchtastic Cs

The letter C, plastered with comic book images.

The letter C has an identity problem: it doesn’t have a distinct sound of its own. You can pronounce it with either the sibilant hiss of the letter S (as in censure) or the harsh spit of the K (as in cocoa.) Only when paired with an h does it come into its own: church, Bach, chrysoprase. It’s a copycat of a letter. Even from first grade, when I started to read, it came across as dishonest.

Yet, it has a certain elegance. That shape, for one thing, which lends itself well to cursive and creative ornamentation. It’s associated with wealth and tradition: chandelier, champagne, celebration, Chesapeake. It’s also insanely onomatopoeic. Click, clang, crickets chirping, catastrophic caca, ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

Here’s some randomgened fantasy names that start with C.

 

Character names beginning with C

Male

Clytis

Cutrian

Chasrin

Claudvere

Chansar

Curmas

Caeestian

Cithernt

Cheffald

Camguy

Cavnu

 Female

Clopha

Chloine

Clythene

Cleorabia

Cirvissa

Chrysique

Chyrlethanwe

Clarfavette

Ciranda

Cleirama

Catendra

 Surnames

Crefflod

Canishfield

Cressmonk

Cantreece

Clabittern

Chessblue

Caraboss

Cadplum

Cassilk

Cranbeach

Chipton