The Last Battle | Chapter 11: The Pace Quickens

Chapter Summary:

As soon as Tirian and company jump into the light of the fire, Rishda retreats to gather his army. Shift is too slow; Tirian and Poggin grab him and throw him into the stable. The result is a blinding blue-green light, a severe earthquake, and the noise of a loud bird. 

Several Talking Animals immediately join Tirian, including all of the Talking Dogs and many smaller animals. Tirian tells the smaller animals to go release the Talking Horses that will join them. The small animals run off to find the Talking Horses to do this. 

The two enemy lines gather and clash. Several Calormenes die, as well as several on the Narnian side--three dogs and a bear. The dwarfs (aside from Poggin) just watch. Tirian tries to call them to the aid of the Narnians, but they reply that the dwarfs are for the dwarfs.

Just then, the Talking Horses all start running up the hill toward Tirian. The dwarfs shoot every single one of them with arrows, killing them all. Eustace and Jewel are in an absolute rage. The dwarfs, again, say that the dwarfs are for the dwarfs--they don't want either side to win the battle. 

A drum begins booming, and Tirian knows that it's a call to other nearby Calormenes to come to the battle. Tirian creates another plan of attack quickly, to strike before the other Calormenes arrive. Jill shoots at the Calormenes with her arrows while Farsight the eagle pecks at their eyes. Then, the other Narnians fall upon the Calormenes. The fight seems to be going well for the Narnians until the Calormene reinforcement arrive. Tirian calls for retreat.

Reflection:

As has been the theme throughout the TCON series, C.S. Lewis is continually (as the kids would say) upping his game. This battle is more important, and certainly more of a violent depiction of real battle than any other previous Narnian battle. This book is no longer one that I would direct specifically at children--it has gone beyond a little violent, and has become pretty graphic. 

And that's not the only emotion that C.S. Lewis has increased throughout the TCON series. Let's take a look at one of the saddest passages in the entire series. Now, you need a little context first. Throughout The Last Battle, there has been a bear who has been reluctantly following Shift and his scheme. The bear has always been the one to ask the questions that everyone else is thinking. But the bear, who is unnamed, is much like Puzzle--he is used to just doing what he's told, and in general believes what others say about him. So when Shift tells him several times that he just doesn't understand and isn't very clever, he just does along with it. 

But during the battle, the bear dies. And it is the saddest moment in the TCON series thus far. Here's the very brief moment:

"The Bear lay on the ground, moving feebly. Then it mumbled in its throaty voice, bewildered to the last, 'I--I don't--understand,' laid its big head down on the grass as quietly as a child going to sleep, and never moved again" (p. 500).

How sad! What makes it so sad is that the bear never understood who he should be following. He never understood the evil that had come to Narnia. And he never understood why he was fighting in the battle. He just went along, because his country and his king called him to do so--but he never knew why. 

This, my friends, is the absolute tragedy of war. Without a doubt, C.S. Lewis had WWII in mind as he was writing his passage--and all of the young men who gave up their futures without a real understanding of who they were or even why they were fighting. It is the truest tragedy of wars everywhere, and C.S. Lewis captures it perfectly.

And with that, let us open the stable door.