The Last Battle

About three weeks later, King Tirian speaks with his dearest friend, Jewel the unicorn. A strong young man with an honest face, Tirian is the last of the kings of Narnia. He and Jewel love each other like brothers and have saved each other’s lives during wars; now they talk about Aslan’s seeming reappearance after generations of absence. Despite various creatures’ reports, Roonwit, a noble centaur, announces that “the stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy” (19). The centaur warns that a terrible evil hangs over Narnia and that it is a lie that Aslan has come. Jewel wonders if Aslan might have arrived anyway, since “He is not a Tame Lion” (20).

A wailing dryad suddenly approaches, pleading for the king’s protection because the talking trees in Lantern Waste are being chopped down. Roonwit advises the king to wait for reinforcements before going after the villains. However, the king sends Roonwit to gather his army at Cair Paravel and then angrily sets off alone with Jewel. They see a water rat on the river taking newly cut logs to sell to the Calormenes. The water rat says he is following Aslan’s orders. King Tirian is shocked. He witnesses the gash in the ancient forest where the Tree of Protection stands. Half of those chopping the trees are dark, bearded men from the cruel country of Calormen. Narnia and Calormen are currently at peace, but it is unusual to see many Calormenes in Narnia. When Tirian and Jewel encounter two Calormenes whipping a harnessed talking horse, they are too angry to think clearly. They rashly kill both Calormenes.

When Tirian frees the talking horse, the horse tells the king that he was enslaved at Aslan’s command. Other Calormenes rush to attack, but Jewel urges Tirian to get on his back, and the unicorn outruns the attackers. However, instead of returning to Cair Paravel, Tirian decides to surrender to be brought to justice before Aslan: Tirian and Jewel feel dishonored by having murdered two unarmed Calormenes, though they are also horrified by the horse and water rat’s descriptions of Aslan, which differ from everything they believe about the lion.

The Calormenes take Tirian and Jewel to a clearing on top of a hill where an ape sits in front of a stable-like hut. Shift looks uglier and sillier than ever because he has a paper crown on his head and wears a scarlet jacket with jeweled slippers. The chief Calormene addresses Shift as “O Lord Shift, mouthpiece of Aslan” (30). Shift seizes Tirian’s sword and belt and hangs it around his own neck; he also orders the talking squirrels to give him most of their winter hoard of nuts. The crowd of talking beasts facing Shift look very worried and groan when they see the identities of the prisoners. A few animals ask why they cannot talk to Aslan face to face as everyone did in the old days. Shift announces that he is not an ape but a man and that Aslan will only speak directly to him because Shift is so wise. Shift declares that Aslan has arranged to sell the Narnians into slavery to the Tisroc, the king of Calormen.

Shift proclaims that the Calormenes’ god, Tash, is just another name for Aslan. The animals look brokenhearted, except for a cat, Ginger, who asks for clarification that Aslan means “no more” than Tash. Unable to bear it, Tirian cries out that Shift is lying. However, Calormenes hit Tirian in the mouth and knock him down, stopping him from speaking. Shift tells them to take Tirian away where he cannot be heard.

The Calormenes take advantage of King Tirian’s dizziness, tightly binding him to a tree. Narnians pass by Tirian looking sad and fearful, but no one speaks to him. At twilight, mice and some other talking animals secretly bring supper to their beloved king. These Narnians say they would have fought off Shift and the Calormenes but that they cannot go against Aslan. They never imagined that Aslan would give harsh orders, such as enslaving them; however, they have seen the lion and assume he is punishing them for some unknown wrong.

After his helpers leave, Tirian sees a bonfire on top of the hill, where Shift speaks to a crowd before opening the stable door. The crowd wails for mercy when a stiff-looking, hairy creature emerges from the stable and says nothing. Tirian has never seen a lion before, but he recalls the earlier falsehood about Tash and Aslan being the same. Tirian realizes this portrayal of Aslan must be a fraud.

Tirian thinks of the worst times in history, when Aslan and some children from another world rescued Narnia. Although Tirian knows those events occurred long ago, he dares calling on Aslan for help now. Even when he sees no change, Tirian begins to feel a faint hope and asks Aslan to let his voice be heard beyond Narnia. When Tirian calls for the children who have helped Narnia in the past, he plunges into a vivid dream: Tirian seems to be standing in a room where seven people sit at a table. They are startled to see him, unsure if Tirian is a phantom. When High King Peter commands Tirian to speak, Tirian cannot. He miserably awakens, still tied to a tree.