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Chapter 10: The Return of the Lion
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Prince Caspian, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Good vs. Evil
Faith and Belief
Power vs. Leadership
Fear and Courage
Summary
Analysis
When everyone is awake, Lucy repeats her story. Peter and Susan struggle to trust her because they themselves can’t see Aslan. When Lucy insists that she, at least, will be leaving with Aslan, Susan retorts that she’s being “naughty” and tells Peter to stop her. Edmund, pointing out that Lucy has been right before, volunteers to go with her. Peter asks their D.L.F for his input, and Trumpkin replies that he doesn’t believe in magic and has no use for talking lions, especially invisible ones, as guides. Still, he’ll follow High King Peter’s decision. Noting Aslan’s increasing impatience, Lucy prepares to leave. Finally, Peter and Edmund give in, although Susan continues to grumble until Trumpkin forcefully suggests that she “Obey the High King.”
Peter, Susan, Trumpkin, and—to a lesser extent—Edmund want proof before they trust Aslan. Because faith and belief involve trusting what a person cannot necessarily see, or trusting in goodness and truth even when the world is falling apart, Aslan wants them to show faith in him before he gives them proof of his existence. The drama of this moment arises from the tension between faith and evidence. And once again, the book reminds readers that cooperation and compromise are well and good, but at the end of the day, sometimes obedience to a higher power (the High King, perhaps, or Aslan himself) becomes necessary.
Themes
Lucy’s frustration with her siblings disappears when she looks at Aslan. She concentrates on following his shape through the dark. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Trumpkin can’t see Aslan and must trust Lucy to lead them. Lucy watches Aslan so intently she doesn’t notice if the trees of the grove have fallen still or not. They walk carefully along the edge of the gorge. Finally, Aslan turns and disappears into the darkness. Lucy gasps, afraid that he’s fallen off the cliff, then follows him and discovers that he's turned into a narrow, down-sloping path. She claps her hands and plunges after him, causing some consternation in the rest of the group. Partway down, Edmund can see Aslan’s shadow; by the time they’re in the bottom of the gorge and the giant lion is daintily stepping across the river on rocks, Edmund can see him clearly.
Just as Aslan wanted her to do earlier, Lucy focuses on him (and exercises her faith) rather than paying attention to her siblings’ discontent. And when she follows the lion with single-minded attention, he leads her across the easiest path. The only hard part is having the faith to follow him into the dark, even when it looks like he’s fallen off the cliff. And the more miraculous and inerrant her navigation seems, the more her siblings believe that she’s receiving guidance. Importantly, Edmund believes in—and thus sees—Aslan first after Lucy. In the first book, he was the last sibling to reconcile himself to the great lion, and his change of heart here helps to complete the redemption of his character that began in that book.
Themes
By the time they start climbing back up the steep cliff on the far side, Peter can see Aslan, too; only Susan and Trumpkin can’t. When Lucy finally reaches the plateau, she’s almost totally spent. The open ground slopes gently down to Aslan’s How just half a mile away. As they walk toward it, Susan apologizes in a chastened voice. She says that she has no excuse for distrusting Lucy. In fact, she knew deep down that Lucy was right. But she was too tired and anxious to get out of the woods to accept it. Now she worries about how disappointed Aslan must be.
Susan cannot see Aslan until they’ve finally reached their goal and can see Prince Caspian’s camp in the distance. Her confession to Lucy again reminds readers that faith is voluntary: a choice a person makes to accept a truth that they cannot see. Aslan won’t force anyone to believe in him. And Susan, in fact, did the opposite, choosing to ignore what she knew to be true. And now she fears the consequences.
Themes
Aslan stops and turns back toward the children. Peter and Edmund rush to embrace him. He greets Peter as his “son” and congratulates Edmund on a job well done. Then he calls Susan forward in a powerful voice. He doesn’t chastise her for listening to her fears; instead, he breathes on her until she feels courageous and strong once more. Then he calls Trumpkin, the “little Dwarf” who doesn’t believe in lions. Trumpkin, although clearly terrified, steps forward, and Aslan pounces on him, gently picking him up and tossing him into the air before placing him on his feet again. He asks Trumpkin if they will be friends. Through chattering teeth, Trumpkin says yes.
Because faith is voluntary, Aslan encourages and credits the boys for theirs but doesn’t punish Susan or Trumpkin for their doubts. His words to Susan oppose faith with fear rather than disbelief, suggesting that faith is a natural state for anyone who looks at the world around them, as long as they don’t listen to their own worries and fears too much. And he gives Susan, as he did Lucy earlier, the renewed courage she needs to face coming events. And his kindness towards the terrified (and no longer doubting) Trumpkin reassures the Dwarf. The book links faith and courage through Aslan himself.
Themes
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Aslan tells Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin to go to the mound and deal with the situation there. Lucy and Susan stay with Aslan, who shakes his mane and then lets out a roar which grows and grows until it seems to fill the entire world. Far away, Miraz’s troops wake in fear and mothers clutch their babies. Every living animal stirs, and the nymphs and dryads wake up. In the northern mountains, the giants pause. Then Lucy and Susan see a dark shadow converging on them from all directions: every tree in the country, in its human form, seems to be rushing toward Aslan. They crowd around and begin to dance.
Aslan begins to do the work of restoring the world that Lucy earlier hoped for, but only after the children become fully involved in the fight for Narnia. He has the power to defeat evil, but he demands the participation of the people he serves, placing the responsibility for upholding the virtues of goodness—including honesty, courage, and selflessness—on their shoulders. Like faith, goodness requires an ongoing choice.
Themes
Lucy notices a young, very pretty, and very wild boy in the crowd. He seems ready to do absolutely anything. A lot of wild girls and an old, fat man on a donkey accompany him. He asks Aslan if it’s a “Romp,” and Lucy has the impression that it is, even if she’s not exactly sure what the rules of a “romp” are. The fat man falls from the donkey and calls furiously for refreshments, and suddenly, there are vines everywhere, running along the ground, climbing up trees and legs and even into Lucy’s hair. The most delicious and juicy grapes Lucy has ever eaten grow on the vines, and everyone becomes stained and sticky as they eat the ripe fruits. Finally, everyone stops and turns towards Aslan. In the sudden calm, Lucy realizes that the boy and old man are Bacchus and Silenus.
The Chronicles of Narnia include elements of Norse and Greek mythology, from mythical creatures like fauns, satyrs, and dryads to deities like Bacchus (the Greek god of wine and fertility) and Silenus (Bacchus’s foster father and the god of drunkenness). Bacchus and Silenus represent a wild, untamed force, filling the world with revelry that verges on violence and fertility that threatens to overwhelm the land and its people. Without Aslan’s guidance, the pair might constitute a threat, but in the hands of a just and wise deity, they contribute to the common good.
Themes
