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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silver Chair, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Deception and Illusion
Freedom and Imprisonment
Temptation
Courage
Summary
Analysis
Now that Rilian has killed the Queen of the Underland, the next step is to figure out a way out of the Underland. As Jill, Scrubb, Puddleglum, and Rilian plan, they also wrap some cloth around Puddleglum’s burnt foot. Rilian has been out of the Underland many times with the Queen, but never without crossing the sea. He also knows that the Earthmen are close to finishing a tunnel leading to the Overland, but he suspects they will get caught and questioned if they try that route.
Rilian's knowledge of the Underland suggests his potential as a guide. However, the fact that he has never made the journey without the Queen of the Underland's guidance highlights his dependence on her and represents the lingering shadows of past deceptions. Additionally, the possibility of the Earthmen capturing them demonstrates how the Queen’s rule could still come back to bite them, even though she is dead.
Themes
As the group discusses what to do next, they hear a rumbling noise outside that starts quiet and gradually gets loud. They look outside and see a red light emanating from the Underland and Earthmen scrambling about. They realize that the Queen of the Underland cast many enchantments on the realm to ensure that it would fall apart as soon as she died. As such, the group has little time to make their escape.
The Queen of the Underland operated on a selfish view of the world—she felt that, upon her death, the rest of the world should cease to exist, too. Again, the adventurers feel the negative consequences of the Queen’s power even after she has been destroyed.
Themes
Rilian suggests that they quietly make their way to the stable and fetch his horse and the Queen of the Underland’s horse. He says the Queen’s horse is a noble steed that had the poor luck of having a cruel master. While fetching the horses and then riding through the Underdark, the group notices that the Earthmen look like they are preparing for an attack.
Rilian likely feels a kinship with the Queen of the Underland’s horse because, like him, the horse is a noble creature that the Queen forced to commit immoral acts. Rilian’s desire to rescue the horse from the fall of the Underland is a microcosm of his larger belief that there are parts of the Underland that can be salvaged.
Themes
Rilian suggests that they capture one of the Earthmen and figure out what is going on. Puddleglum sneaks up on a lone Earthman and drags him back to the group. The Earthman struggles and promises to tell them everything he knows, as long as they do not share his information with the Queen of the Underland. Rilian informs the Earthman that the Queen is dead and that she died by his hand. Immediately, the Earthman’s tone and demeanor changes, and he says that Rilian must be his ally.
Although the Underland is a dark and frightening place to Puddleglum, Rilian, and the children, the more they learn, the more they realize that it may not have been a source of evil before the arrival of the Queen. She seems to have corrupted everyone and everything in the Underland, which is starting to revert to normal now that she is no longer present.
Themes
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