The Last Battle | Chapter 14: Night Falls on Narnia

Chapter Summary:

Everyone stands by the doorway, which is now open, and watches as Father Time emerges from the north of Narnia. Father Time blows his horn. The sky fills with shooting stars until the sky empties of them, and only blackness remains. The stars, which are living beings, fall to Narnia and then the beings come through the door. 

Then, all of the creatures of Narnia come racing to the doorway--thousands upon thousands of them (including friends that everyone thinks are dead--including Roonwit the centaur). Each of them look Aslan in the face (they have no choice it seems), and immediately feel either terror or love. Those who feel terror go off into the darkness to the right of the doorway, never to be seen again. Those who feel love go into the doorway. 

The grass and trees die. The ocean rises and rises, until only ocean and no land is visible. The sun and moon come up. The sun's fire devours the moon. Aslan calls to Father Time to make an end. Father Time reaches up, grabs the sun and squeezes it. Then, there is nothing but blackness and extreme cold. Aslan tells Peter to close the door and lock it, and he does. Lucy and Tirian cry over the ended world.

Many Talking Dogs then announce that they smell a Calormene. Indeed, they have found Emeth. Peter and Emeth meet. The Kings and Queens of Narnia sit with Emeth to hear who he is and how he came to be there. 

Reflection:

If you must know just one thing about this chapter, it is this: Never has my summary done less justice to the contents of any chapter in the TCON series. This chapter is not really about what happens, but rather about the imagery behind how it happens. The entire chapter is absolutely magical--well, for a scene that is essentially depicting a boiled-down version of Judgment Day. Nevertheless, the chapter is absolutely captivating, and is unquestionably the best writing in the entire TCON series, as well as the best imagery. This is the climax of The Last Battle and the TCON series. No, not anything in the next two chapters even compare (and there is still at least one bombshell left). 

I don't really know how to do justice to this chapter in a short reflection. So I will look at the passages that stand out to me as the most significant, or perhaps in this instance, the ones that I have questions about. Here is the first, which occurs just after Jill and Eustace see Father Time and are reminded of their journey beneath the earth when they had encountered him sleeping (in The Silver Chair):

"'Yes,' said Aslan, though [Eustace and Jill] had not spoken, 'While he lay dreaming, his name was Time. Now that he is awake he will have a new one'" (p. 511). 

This is an unusual statement, and not one that I immediately made sense of. I would speculate that Father Time's name would now be Eternity, but I don't know that for sure. I think this is one mystery that is going to remain unsolved, and I think it's that way for a reason. (A quick Google of this question reveals no certain results. Not even any speculations as far as I can tell. I'm sure speculations have occurred, I'm just not finding any quickly.) 

And then there's the other passage, in which Aslan asks Peter to close the door. Here's how it goes down:

"'Peter, High King of Narnia,' said Aslan. 'Shut the Door.'

Peter, shivering with cold, leaned out into the darkness and pulled the Door to. It scraped over ice as he pulled it. Then, rather clumsily (for even in that moment his hands had gone numb and blue) he took out a golden key and locked it'" (p. 515).

Another very interesting passage. I'm sure that Aslan could have closed the door himself, either with his body or with his mind--but he doesn't. Instead, he asks Peter to close the door. Why not any of the other individuals present, such as Digory or Polly, who were present when Narnia first formed? What about Tirian, the last of the Kings of Narnia? For some reason, it had to be Peter. There was no question about it. It always would and always had been Peter's duty. And we know this because he has the key. What key? From where? How did he obtain it? How did he know it would lock this door? We just don't know, and I just don't think we'll ever find out.

So there you have it--very likely the best chapter of the TCON series, in my opinion. It's all about the imagery and the fine details in this chapter. Everything is very carefully orchestrated and carried out, exactly as Aslan has planned. Of course, there's also the morbid implication that the animals and creatures who did not go into the stable were, within a few moments, drowned when the entire world became engulfed by the ocean... But we try not to focus too much on that detail. The chapter is a wonderful mix of beautiful, horrifying, enchanting, mysterious, unreal, unnerving, and powerful. I strongly encourage that you read it for yourself--I cannot do it justice. Of course, the power of this chapter is only derived from having read the entire series, so I would recommend that you begin with the previous 108 chapters, and then make your way to this one. The journey is great, and the destination is well worth it.