The Last Battle | Chapter 10: Who Will Go Into the Stable?

Chapter Summary:

Jewel tells Jill to cut the lion skin off of Puzzle, and Jill does so. Shift tells the crowd of Narnians that Aslan is angry, and therefore won't come out of the stable anymore. When a dwarf in the crowd speaks up and says that the whole false Aslan getup was Shift's idea, Shift responds by telling the crowd that there is a Tashlan (what they are now referring to Aslan/Tash) in the stable. Shift says that now, they would have to go into the stable to see Tashlan; however, Tashlan is angry, and who knows what might happen to them.

Tirian and Jill wonder to each other what is really in the stable--and they speculate that it's just likely a few Calormene soldiers with swords. But then, Ginger the cat volunteers to go into the stable. Tirian realizes that Ginger is in on the scheme, and everyone holds their breath as Ginger enters the stable. 

Ginger is only in the stable for moments, when it bolts like lightning from the stable and climbs a nearby tree, clearly terrified. Everyone quickly realizes that Ginger has been transformed from a Talking Cat to a non-Talking Cat. Ginger disappears up the tree, and is never seen or heard of again.

Then, a Calormene soldier named Emeth speaks up to Rishda the chief soldier and says that he would like to go into the stable to meet Tash. Emeth is clearly a very devoted Tash follower. Rishda tries to talk Emeth out of going into the stable, but Emeth makes Shift swear that Tash is in the stable. Shift reluctantly swears it, and Emeth goes into the stable. 

Very soon after, a man is thrown out of the stable, dead. Rishda goes up the man, reacts in a startled way for a split second, and then announces that Emeth is dead. However, Tirian and company can tell that the man is not Emeth--it is someone else. 

Shift then asks who wants to go in next, and he along with Calormene soliders start closing in on the Narnians. Tirian sees that it is time. He tells the others to get their swords out. Seven figures leap into the firelight as Tirian proclaims his presence and calls all loyal Narnians to his side. 

Reflection:

This chapter may as well be titled "The Plot Thickens." What makes this chapter the most interesting is that in a vast majority of novels, including a majority of the TCON series, there is a protagonist (or several) and an antagonist (or several). And generally, one of those two parties has the upper hand. Now, in the grand scheme of The Last Battle, our antagonists certainly have the upper hand. But this chapter brings us something new entirely. In this chapter, the mystery has the upper hand. 

We know this because literally nothing is going right for anyone. Tirian, Eustace, Jill, and company are having to revise their plan in an impromptu manner after Shift foils their plan to reveal Puzzle to the Narnians. Meanwhile, Shift, Ginger, and Rishda clearly had a plan in which Ginger went into the stable. I don't think the plan was for Ginger to come flying from the stable in absolute terror and somehow turn into a non-talking animal. This, by the way, was not something that just happened. This is not a normal event. This is a thing of mysterious legend--a thing that the Narnians grew up hearing could happen to them if they were bad. It would be like peeing in the pool and your pee actually turning purple. Or crossing your eyes and they actually stayed crossed forever. Or getting a lump of coal in your stocking instead of presents. You get the idea. This isn't something that just happened every day, or ever. It was a thing of legend; it wasn't supposed to actually happen. 

Anyway, their plan also obviously did not involve a young soldier named Emeth voluntarily going into the stable to meet the god that he had worshiped loyally all his life. And the plan was not for Emeth to disappear into the stable. And the plan was certainly not for a man (who Rishda clearly recognizes) to be thrown from the stable, dead. Something is going on in the stable that no one currently understands--not Tirian, not Shift, and no one who can be labeled a protagonist, antagonist, or a victim (the Talking Animals of Narnia) within this novel.

Thus, the mystery of the stable is the winner of this chapter. The mystery is the 'side' with the upper hand. And it's going to absolutely make things interesting from here on out.