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Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Last Battle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Belief, Deception, and False Prophets
The Value of Friendship
Redemption and Forgiveness
The End of the World
Summary
Analysis
While Tirian is dazed, the Calormenes drag him to an ash tree and tie him up. By the time Tirian comes to, he is fully restrained. He watches as his loyal subjects pass by with fearful looks on their faces. Sadly, because they fear Shift and the Calormenes, none of the Narnians talk to Tirian or attempt to help him. However, when night falls, Tirian does receive a few brave visitors. A number of small creatures, including mice, bring Tirian food and feed it to him because he cannot feed himself.
The Narnians who look upon Tirian but do not aid him are demonstrating their fearful allegiance to Shift—a fake king—rather than to the true king of Narnia. Indeed, fear is a powerful weapon and Shift knows how to wield it effectively. Still, a few of the small creatures engage in a minor act of rebellion and feed Tirian, suggesting that there is still hope.
Themes
The animals apologize to Tirian for not helping sooner, but they fear Shift and do not want to disobey Aslan. Additionally, they express their frustration with Aslan’s orders. They do not understand why Aslan would enslave them to the Calormenes, but they plan to follow along because they are faithful to him. They wonder whether Aslan is punishing them because they have done something wrong.
Unlike Tirian, the animals do not seem to suspect that they are following the orders of a false prophet. They care more about following rules than principles, and, as such, they are easy to manipulate. Still, the animals demonstrate a desire to do good deeds, even if they do not free Tirian.
Themes
After the small animals leave, Tirian watches as a ceremony takes place on the hill near Shift’s hut. A bonfire is raging, and Shift is standing in front of it, addressing a crowd. Then, he opens a stable door and Puzzle walks out. Shift presents him as Aslan. From afar, Tirian cannot tell whether it is Aslan he is seeing or someone else. However, the reaction of the other animals tells him that they think they are in Aslan’s presence. Still, given everything he knows and has witnessed, Tirian thinks Shift must be deceiving the animals somehow.
Tirian’s inner conflict reflects the tension between faith and doubt in the face of adversity. While he remains steadfast in his belief in Aslan and his desire for justice and liberation, Tirian is uncertain as he watches Shift present Puzzle from afar. Ultimately, Tirian’s faith prevails, as he realizes there are too many things wrong with this situation for it to be the work of Aslan.
Themes
Tirian begins thinking back to previous eras of Narnia’s history. He recalls when his ancestors King Caspian and King Rilian fought alongside children from another world and alongside Aslan to bring peace to Narnia. In particular, he recalls the story of four children arriving in Narnia to thwart the rule of the White Witch. These events occurred hundreds of years before Tirian was born. Both Caspian and Rilian are his ancestors.
Caspian, Rilian, and the White Witch are all important figures in the previous Narnia books. In those stories, Caspian and Rilian triumphed over evil, while the Pevensie children (also representatives of the good) overthrew the White Witch. While readers of the Narnia series will be familiar with these stories, for Tirian they are part of a distant history.
Themes
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Not knowing what else to do, Tirian looks within himself and asks for Aslan’s aid. He requests that Aslan summon children from the other world once again to help bring peace back to Narnia. Suddenly, Tirian finds himself experiencing something that resembles a dream, though it is far more vivid than any dream he has ever had. In the dream, he sees seven people, some young and some old. Tirian’s sudden appearance startles the group. Tirian looks around and recognizes one of them as High King Peter, who helped defeat the White Witch. Peter asks Tirian to speak, but Tirian realizes he cannot. Suddenly, the dream ends, and Tirian finds that he is still tied to the ash tree.
Peter—who becomes a High King of Narnia in the earlier novels—is the eldest of the Pevensie children and acts as their leader throughout the novels. For now, the identities of the other figures in Tirian’s dream remain mysterious, though there is an implication that they are characters from past books. Additionally, the nature of Tirian’s “dream” suggests that it is not a dream at all, but rather a vision of some sort. Somehow, Aslan is connecting Tirian to Peter’s world as a way of sending help. Notably, Aslan only sends help after Tirian decides once and for all that Shift does not speak for the true Aslan.
Themes
