The Last Battle

by

C. S. Lewis

Shift Character Analysis

Shift is an ape who pretends to be friends with Puzzle but really just wants to take advantage of him. In general, Shift looks for opportunities to take advantage of others to fulfill his selfish desires. He pretends to be the mouthpiece for Aslan and distorts the religious beliefs of anyone who is unfortunate enough to come into contact with him. Shift gets drunk on power (and alcohol) until Rishda and Ginger decide to usurp him. Ultimately, Shift gets thrown into the stable, where Tash devours him.

Shift Quotes in The Last Battle

The The Last Battle quotes below are all either spoken by Shift or refer to Shift. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Belief, Deception, and False Prophets Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

There were very few Talking Beasts or Men or Dwarfs, or people of any sort, in that part of the wood, but Shift had one friend and neighbor who was a donkey called Puzzle. At least they both said they were friends, but from the way things went on you might have thought Puzzle was more like Shift’s servant than his friend. He did all the work. When they went together to the river, Shift filled the big skin bottles with water but it was Puzzle who carried them back. [...] Puzzle never complained, because he knew that Shift was far cleverer than himself and he thought it was very kind of Shift to be friends with him at all.

Related Characters: Shift (speaker), Puzzle (speaker)
Page Number: 1-2
Explanation and Analysis:

“You look wonderful, wonderful,” said the Ape. “If anyone saw you now, they’d think you were Aslan, the Great Lion, himself.”

“That would be dreadful,” said Puzzle.

“No it wouldn’t,” said Shift. “Everyone would do whatever you told them.”

“But I don’t want to tell them anything.”

“But you think of the good we could do!” said Shift. “You’d have me to advise you, you know. I’d think of sensible orders for you to give. And everyone would have to obey us, even the King himself. We would set everything right in Narnia.”

Related Characters: Shift (speaker), Puzzle (speaker), Aslan
Related Symbols: The Lion’s Skin
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

“Never in all my days have I seen such terrible things written in the skies as there have been nightly since this year began. The stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy. I know by my art that there have not been such disastrous conjunctions of the planets for five hundred years. It was already in my mind to come and warn your Majesty that some great evil hangs over Narnia. But last night the rumor reached me that Aslan is abroad in Narnia. Sire, do not believe this tale. It cannot be. The stars never lie, but Men and Beasts do. If Aslan were really coming to Narnia the sky would have foretold it. If he were really come, all the most gracious stars would be assembled in his honor. It is all a lie.”

Related Characters: Roonwit (speaker), Tirian, Shift, Puzzle
Page Number: 18-19
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“And now there’s another thing you got to learn,” said the Ape. “I hear some of you are saying I’m an Ape. Well, I’m not. I’m a Man. If I look like an Ape, that’s because I’m so very old: hundreds and hundreds of years old. And it’s because I’m so old that I’m so wise. And it’s because I’m so wise that I’m the only one Aslan is ever going to speak to. He can’t be bothered talking to a lot of stupid animals. He’ll tell me what you’ve got to do, and I’ll tell the rest of you. And take my advice, and see you do it in double quick time, for he doesn’t mean to stand any nonsense.”

Related Characters: Shift (speaker), Aslan
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“And he called out “Aslan! Aslan! Aslan! Come and help us now.”

But the darkness and the cold and the quietness went on just the same.

“Let me be killed,” cried the King. “I ask nothing for myself. But come and save all Narnia.”

Related Characters: Tirian (speaker), Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“That’s right,” said the other Dwarfs. “We’re on our own now. No more Aslan, no more Kings, no more silly stories about other worlds. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.” And they began to fall into their places and to get ready for marching back to wherever they had come from.

Related Characters: Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:

Tirian had never dreamed that one of the results of an Ape’s setting up a false Aslan would be to stop people from believing in the real one. He had felt quite sure that the Dwarfs would rally to his side the moment he showed them how they had been deceived. And then next night he would have led them to Stable Hill and shown Puzzle to all the creatures and everyone would have turned against the Ape and, perhaps after a scuffle with the Calormenes, the whole thing would have been over. But now, it seemed, he could count on nothing. How many other Narnians might turn the same way as the Dwarfs?

Related Characters: Tirian, Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 92-93
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Nay, my Father,” answered Emeth. “Thou hast said that their Aslan and our Tash are all one. And if that is the truth, then Tash himself is in yonder. And how then sayest thou that I have nothing to do with him? For gladly would I die a thousand deaths if I might look once on the face of Tash.”

Related Characters: Emeth (speaker), Tirian, Rishda, Shift, Aslan, Tash, Tashlan
Related Symbols: The Stable
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

But Tirian gazed round and saw how very few of the animals had moved.

“To me! to me!” he called. “Have you all turned cowards since I was your King?”

“We daren’t,” whimpered dozens of voices. “Tashlan would be angry. Shield us from Tashlan.”

Related Characters: Tirian (speaker), Shift
Related Symbols: The Stable
Page Number: 146-147
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

“Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”

Related Characters: Emeth (speaker), Rishda, Shift, Aslan, Tash
Page Number: 205-206
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

And the very first person whom Aslan called to him was Puzzle the Donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than Puzzle did as he walked up to Aslan, and he looked, beside Aslan, as small as a kitten looks beside a St. Bernard. The Lion bowed down his head and whispered something to Puzzle at which his long ears went down, but then he said something else at which the ears perked up again. The humans couldn’t hear what he had said either time.

Related Characters: Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Last Battle LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Last Battle PDF

Shift Quotes in The Last Battle

The The Last Battle quotes below are all either spoken by Shift or refer to Shift. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Belief, Deception, and False Prophets Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

There were very few Talking Beasts or Men or Dwarfs, or people of any sort, in that part of the wood, but Shift had one friend and neighbor who was a donkey called Puzzle. At least they both said they were friends, but from the way things went on you might have thought Puzzle was more like Shift’s servant than his friend. He did all the work. When they went together to the river, Shift filled the big skin bottles with water but it was Puzzle who carried them back. [...] Puzzle never complained, because he knew that Shift was far cleverer than himself and he thought it was very kind of Shift to be friends with him at all.

Related Characters: Shift (speaker), Puzzle (speaker)
Page Number: 1-2
Explanation and Analysis:

“You look wonderful, wonderful,” said the Ape. “If anyone saw you now, they’d think you were Aslan, the Great Lion, himself.”

“That would be dreadful,” said Puzzle.

“No it wouldn’t,” said Shift. “Everyone would do whatever you told them.”

“But I don’t want to tell them anything.”

“But you think of the good we could do!” said Shift. “You’d have me to advise you, you know. I’d think of sensible orders for you to give. And everyone would have to obey us, even the King himself. We would set everything right in Narnia.”

Related Characters: Shift (speaker), Puzzle (speaker), Aslan
Related Symbols: The Lion’s Skin
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

“Never in all my days have I seen such terrible things written in the skies as there have been nightly since this year began. The stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy. I know by my art that there have not been such disastrous conjunctions of the planets for five hundred years. It was already in my mind to come and warn your Majesty that some great evil hangs over Narnia. But last night the rumor reached me that Aslan is abroad in Narnia. Sire, do not believe this tale. It cannot be. The stars never lie, but Men and Beasts do. If Aslan were really coming to Narnia the sky would have foretold it. If he were really come, all the most gracious stars would be assembled in his honor. It is all a lie.”

Related Characters: Roonwit (speaker), Tirian, Shift, Puzzle
Page Number: 18-19
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“And now there’s another thing you got to learn,” said the Ape. “I hear some of you are saying I’m an Ape. Well, I’m not. I’m a Man. If I look like an Ape, that’s because I’m so very old: hundreds and hundreds of years old. And it’s because I’m so old that I’m so wise. And it’s because I’m so wise that I’m the only one Aslan is ever going to speak to. He can’t be bothered talking to a lot of stupid animals. He’ll tell me what you’ve got to do, and I’ll tell the rest of you. And take my advice, and see you do it in double quick time, for he doesn’t mean to stand any nonsense.”

Related Characters: Shift (speaker), Aslan
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“And he called out “Aslan! Aslan! Aslan! Come and help us now.”

But the darkness and the cold and the quietness went on just the same.

“Let me be killed,” cried the King. “I ask nothing for myself. But come and save all Narnia.”

Related Characters: Tirian (speaker), Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

“That’s right,” said the other Dwarfs. “We’re on our own now. No more Aslan, no more Kings, no more silly stories about other worlds. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.” And they began to fall into their places and to get ready for marching back to wherever they had come from.

Related Characters: Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 91
Explanation and Analysis:

Tirian had never dreamed that one of the results of an Ape’s setting up a false Aslan would be to stop people from believing in the real one. He had felt quite sure that the Dwarfs would rally to his side the moment he showed them how they had been deceived. And then next night he would have led them to Stable Hill and shown Puzzle to all the creatures and everyone would have turned against the Ape and, perhaps after a scuffle with the Calormenes, the whole thing would have been over. But now, it seemed, he could count on nothing. How many other Narnians might turn the same way as the Dwarfs?

Related Characters: Tirian, Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 92-93
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Nay, my Father,” answered Emeth. “Thou hast said that their Aslan and our Tash are all one. And if that is the truth, then Tash himself is in yonder. And how then sayest thou that I have nothing to do with him? For gladly would I die a thousand deaths if I might look once on the face of Tash.”

Related Characters: Emeth (speaker), Tirian, Rishda, Shift, Aslan, Tash, Tashlan
Related Symbols: The Stable
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

But Tirian gazed round and saw how very few of the animals had moved.

“To me! to me!” he called. “Have you all turned cowards since I was your King?”

“We daren’t,” whimpered dozens of voices. “Tashlan would be angry. Shield us from Tashlan.”

Related Characters: Tirian (speaker), Shift
Related Symbols: The Stable
Page Number: 146-147
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

“Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.”

Related Characters: Emeth (speaker), Rishda, Shift, Aslan, Tash
Page Number: 205-206
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

And the very first person whom Aslan called to him was Puzzle the Donkey. You never saw a donkey look feebler and sillier than Puzzle did as he walked up to Aslan, and he looked, beside Aslan, as small as a kitten looks beside a St. Bernard. The Lion bowed down his head and whispered something to Puzzle at which his long ears went down, but then he said something else at which the ears perked up again. The humans couldn’t hear what he had said either time.

Related Characters: Shift, Puzzle, Aslan
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis: