The Last Battle | Chapter 12: Through the Stable Door

Chapter Summary:

As the Narnians retreat from the battle and reorganize, they see that Eustace being carried toward the stable and then thrown in. While the Narnians recover from the battle, the dwarfs begin firing arrows at the Calormenes to keep the battle even--the dwarfs want neither side to win.

The Calormenes quickly overwhelm the dwarfs, and then attack the Narnians again. This begins the last battle of the last of the Kings of Narnia. Jill is pulled into the stable by a Calormene soldier. Tirian fights the enemies around him until he finds himself dueling with Rishda himself directly in front of the stable door. Tirian suddenly rushes at Rishda, throwing them both through the open stable door.

The door is slammed closed behind them. Tirian realizes that they seem not to be in a stable, but somewhere much better lit. Rishda is next to him, pointing at Tash. Tash asks Rishda why Rishda has summoned him, but Rishda simply cowers in fear. Tash picks up Rishda under his arm, and then a voice from nearby commands Tash to leave. Tash vanishes with Rishda under his arm.

Tirian looks around to see seven Kings and Queens standing before him. He first sees Jill and then Eustace, neither of whom look like they have just been in battle. Then he is introduced to Peter, Polly, Digory, Edmund, and finally Lucy. Tirian asks Peter where Susan is, and Peter replies that she is no longer a friend of Narnia. Jill and Polly explain that Susan is too busy being a grown-up and rushing from one moment to another in her life. 

Tirian then looks around him and realizes how strange his adventure had become.

Reflection:

As the fifth-to-last chapter in the TCON series, this chapter brings us to the battle climax of the entire TCON series, beginning with the words "And then the last battle of the lasdt King of Narnia began" (p. 504). Ohhh, they said it! Sorry, couldn't help myself there. Anyway, the whole battle portion is rather an anticlimax, but I think it's written that way on purpose. All that really happens (and over the course of only a few paragraphs) is that the Narnians fight, Jill gets pulled into the stable, and Tirian finds himself pushed toward the stable. 

Of course, what you may have figured out by now is two things: First, the climax is not the battle. The climax is that Tirian believes that he is giving up his life in order to save Narnia. The second thing you might realize is that we really have not yet reached the climax. The climax of The Last Battle is not the battle itself, but what comes afterward, in the last three chapters in particular. 

But we will have to wait for those last few chapters--at least for a few more days. What we can look at is Tirian's sacrificial moment. Here's the very short scene:

"A new idea came into Tirian's head. He dropped his sword, darted forward, in under the sweep of the Tarkaan's scimitar, seized his enemy by the belt with both hands, and jumped back into the stable shouting: 

'Come in and meet Tash yourself!'

There was a deafening noise. As when the Ape had been flung in, the earth shook and there was a blinding light" (p. 505).

I think Tirian remembered the words of the dying centaur Roonwit, delivered to him by the eagle Farsight--that there is nothing wrong with a heroic death. And that is exactly what Tirian does, at least what he believes--he believes that he is sacrificing both himself and Rishda to Tash, thereby ending both of their lives together for the sake of Narnia. It is one of the most heroic acts in all of the TCON series.

And while we're at it, I don't yet know what to make of the blinding light and earth shaking that has occurred when both Shift and Tirian/Rishda enter the stable. Nothing that happens within the stable seems to imply anything like a bomb going off, but that's exactly what is described. Perhaps we will get an explanation sooner or later.

We'll leave this behind for the moment. I had just written a paragraph on the Susan situation, but I realized that we still have a few chapters left to go before we discuss the controversy surrounding Susan's absence from this scene in this chapter. Lest I spoil things if you are actually reading along with both my blog and the novels (ha), I will do you the small favor of waiting a day or two or three before discussing this further. After all, there are scenes in the next few chapters that will contribute to that discussion, so it is best to wait anyway. Just don't let me forget. Discuss Susan.