- For the item, see Silver Chair.
The Silver Chair takes place in Narnian-year 2356, or Earth year 1942, and tells the story of Eustace Scrubb's return to Narnia with his friend Jill Pole.
Dedication[]
Blurb[]
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Chapter list[]
- Behind the Gym
- Jill is Given a Task
- The Sailing of a King
- A Parliament of Owls
- Puddleglum
- The Wild Wastelands of the North
- The Hill of the Strange Trenches
- The House of Harfang
- How They Discovered Something Worth Knowing
- Travels Without the Sun
- In the Dark Castle
- The Queen of Underland
- Underland Without the Queen
- The Bottom of the World
- The Disappearance of Jill
- The Healing of Harms
Plot summary[]
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This section is incomplete and needs to be updated. Please help The Chronicles of Narnia Wiki by expanding this section. |
Jill's Task[]
The Silver Chair tells the story of Eustace Scrubb's second trip to Narnia, accompanied by his friend Jill Pole, who had never been there before. The two of them were running from bullies at their school when they entered a door to hide, and found themselves in Aslan's country, next to a great cliff.
Trying to show off, Pole wandered close to the edge, and in an effort to keep her from falling off, Scrubb fell off of the cliff himself. Because of this, the lion Aslan tells Jill the task that he has for both of them, but that her part would now be harder because she made Scrubb fall off the cliff. She needed to remember The Four Signs they would need to find Prince Rilian.
Once she memorised them, Aslan blew her into Narnia to join Eustace. Scrubb was talking to an Owl named Glimfeather, and he took the two of them to the Parliament of Owls, where it was decided that someone had to be sent with them, to help.
A Marsh-wiggle was chosen, by the name of Puddleglum. The Owls flew the children to the Marshlands to see him, and the three of them set off the next day.
Giants[]
They traveled north, and soon were in Ettinsmoor. As they traveled, they encountered giants, who did not seem to notice them at all. Days later, they come across a Giants' Bridge. After they crossed it, they met a beautiful woman wearing a fluttering green dress, who introduced herself as the Lady of the Green Kirtle. A Knight who wore dark armor was with her, though he did not speak at all.
The Lady told them of a castle not far ahead where some friendly giants lived, and that they would love to have guests for their Autumn_Feast_(books) that was not far off. The children were so desperate for beds and hot baths that they did exactly what the Lady said, and Jill gave up repeating the signs she had gotten from Aslan.
Once they were inside the castle Harfang, they realized just how difficult it was going to be to get out. They figured out the sign that they had missed, and began investigating a way to get out of the castle and on with their task. In the process, Jill discovered a giant's cookbook that was open to a page labeled "Man". There was a page for Marshwiggle as well, and they immediately escaped the castle - only to find themselves lost in Underland.
Prince Rilian[]
The Earthmen who lived in Underland took Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum on a long journey across the Sunless Sea to the Dark Castle where they would wait for their Queen. A man was there to keep them company while they waited, and they learned that he was the silent Knight who had ridden with the Lady of the Green Kirtle, who happened to be Queen of Underland.
After a time, Earthmen came and bound the knight into a silver chair, where they were told to leave him no matter what he said, or he would kill them. But as they watched, the Knight spoke the words of the last sign to them, and they had no choice but to free him, for fear of muffing this sign like the first three. Upon being cut loose, the knight took his sword and destroyed the silver chair, before introducing himself to them as Prince Rilian of Narnia.
When the Queen arrived, she took some green powder, threw it on the hearth present there. It had an enchanting smell. She then took a stringed instrument, and began to play it, speaking in very beautiful tones to them. The children, the Prince and the Marsh-wiggle talked to her about the Overworld, mainly about the sun and Aslan, while trying to fight off the enchantment. Though the others were about to completely succumb to it, Puddleglum fought against it. This made the others' heads clear, and the witch-queen angry.
She then turned into a poison-colored serpent, and attacked. Though it coiled around Rilian, they killed it, and when the Queen died, a chasm opened in the earth, leading to the fiery world of Bism. The Earthmen, now disenchanted as well, jumped down into it, for it was their home. Soon the chasm was sealed. The three travelers escaped with Prince Rilian through a tunnel the Queen was having dug in order to conquer the land that lay above it. That land was Narnia, and Rilian was returned to the castle to see his father Caspian X before his death, and take his place as King of Narnia.
When Caspian died, Aslan appears to the children, and blows, but everything seemed to be blown away this time. Then the children saw that they were back on the mountain, with the body of the dead King. Aslan tells Eustace to get a thorn and drive it into his paw. Eustace obeyed, and Aslan's blood splashed all over Caspian, which brought him back alive again as a young man. The boys then get swords, and Jill gets a riding crop.
Aslan leads them to the wall of Experiment House and roars, so the wall collapses, and they frighten the bullies away. The Head witnesses what happened, reported the incident, but wasn't believed since Caspian had returned to Narnia with Aslan, at whose word the wall is made whole again.
Far off in Narnia, Rilian buried his father, Caspian, and mourned for him. He became a good king of Narnia, and the land was once again at peace.
Editions[]
- 1953 - first edition published by Geoffrey Bles
Adaptations[]
It has also been produced in audio format:
- The Silver Chair (BBC Radio 4)
- The Silver Chair (Focus on the Family Radio Theatre)
- Harper Audio audiobook read by Jeremy Northam
Behind the scenes[]
- The character of Puddleglum was modelled after Fred Paxford, C. S. Lewis's gardener.
- Lewis considered these other titles for "The Silver Chair": "The Wild Waste Lands," "Night under Narnia," "Gnomes under Narnia," and "News under Narnia".