I’ve been saving up artwork of desert landscapes, cities, and caravans, but they all tended to blend together. Typical of concept art. So, I really did blend them together.
Tag: The Horse and His Boy
Narnia Evergreen Library Editions, 1965
These Evergreen Library hardcover versions of The Chronicles came out in 1965. All seven books had been released by this point, but for this series, only these five were published. The cover artist was Giorgio de Gaspari. I’d never seen this artwork before and was struck by how different it was from post-1970s depictions. For …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/1/22: People of Calormen (Narnia XXX)
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 …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/18/21: Narnian Horse Names (Narnia XXVII)
The horses Bree (front, gray dapple) and Hwin (back, brown) are my favorite animal characters from the Chronicles. Not only are they featured throughout the whole of The Horse and His Boy, they play vital roles in the plot. Both were stolen as foals from Narnia and raised in Calormen, where normal non-talking horses …
Tashbaan and its Protector
A beautifully rendered view of the city of Tashbaan, top, and the God Tash, bottom. It wasn’t until The Last Battle that the reader finds out Tash is real, and evil, and received sacrifices of human beings.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/23/21: The Twins of Archenland (Narnia XIX)
Archenland is a country to the south of Narnia proper (that is, Narnia the nation-state not Narnia the world) and lies between it and Calormen, providing a buffer of sorts. Rather, its mountains provide a buffer. There’s a northern range lying between it and Narnia, and a southern range that provides a barrier to …
Worldbuilding Wednesday
8/12/20: Narnia XI
The Horse and His Boy ties for my third favorite of the Chronicles with The Magician’s Nephew. Perhaps Nephew has the edge, because of the awesomeness of Charn, the Wood Between the Worlds, and Aslan’s Garden. But Horse has Tashbaan and the desert. It’s a close call. The flavor is different from the rest of …
Calormen and the South
Other posts in this series: The Odd Geography of the Utter East The Wild Lands of the North When speaking of Narnia, the name can mean both the country, and the world. Narnia-the-country’s boundaries are straightforward. This is a Baynes map from Prince Caspian. North: That line of hills that has a V-shape at the …