The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

by

C. S. Lewis

Caspian, an old friend of Edmund and Lucy’s who first appeared in the earlier book Prince Caspian, is now King Caspian X of Narnia. He is also the head of an expedition on the ship the Dawn Treader. Caspian is a fair and well-liked ruler, but he temporarily leaves the throne behind in order to sail eastward toward the World’s End and find seven lords of Narnia. Caspian has a strong sense of justice and a strong belief in the ways of Narnia, as he demonstrates when he deposes the corrupt Governor Gumpas and abolishes slavery on his island. Still, while Caspian is brave, he is not flawless, and even he is tempted when his crew comes across a special pool of water that can turn anything into gold. Ultimately, Caspian places his duty to Narnia above all else, turning around right before the World’s End because he has other promises to fulfill.

Caspian Quotes in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The The Voyage of the Dawn Treader quotes below are all either spoken by Caspian or refer to Caspian. 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:
Bravery Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter East.

Related Characters: Reepicheep (speaker), Caspian
Related Symbols: World’s End
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:

There was not much difficulty in settling the matter once Eustace realized that everyone took the idea of a duel seriously and heard Caspian offering to lend him a sword, and Drinian and Edmund discussing whether he ought to be handicapped in some way to make up for his being so much bigger than Reepicheep. He apologized sulkily and went off with Lucy to have his hand bathed and bandaged and then went to his bunk. He was careful to lie on his side.

Related Characters: Eustace Scrubb, Caspian, Reepicheep, Lucy Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie, Lord Drinian
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“You needn’t be afraid of me, boy,” he said. “I’ll treat you well. I bought you for your face. You reminded me of someone.”

“May I ask of whom, my Lord?” said Caspian.

“You remind me of my master, King Caspian of Narnia.”

Related Characters: Caspian (speaker), Lord Bern (speaker), Pug
Page Number: 48
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

At this Gumpas began to pay real attention. “Oh, that’s quite out of the question,” he said. “It is an economic impossibility—er—your Majesty must be joking.”

Related Characters: Governor Gumpas (speaker), Caspian
Related Symbols: World’s End
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“The King who owned this island,” said Caspian slowly, and his face flushed as he spoke, “would soon be the richest of all Kings of the world. I claim this land forever as a Narnian possession. It shall be called Goldwater Island. And I bind all of you to secrecy. No one must know of this. Not even Drinian—on pain of death, do you hear?”

“Who are you talking to?” said Edmund. “I’m no subject of yours. If anything it’s the other way round. I am one of the four ancient sovereigns of Narnia and you are under allegiance to the High King my brother.”

Related Characters: Caspian (speaker), Edmund Pevensie (speaker), Lucy Pevensie, Lord Restimar
Page Number: 136
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“I will say the spell,” said Lucy. “I don’t care. I will.” She said I don’t care because she had a strong feeling that she mustn’t.

But when she looked back at the opening words of the spell, there in the middle of the writing, where she felt quite sure there had been no picture before, she found the great face of a lion, of The Lion, Aslan himself, staring into hers.

Related Characters: Lucy Pevensie (speaker), Caspian, Edmund Pevensie, Aslan, Coriakin/Magician, Susan
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

“But what manner of use would it be plowing through that blackness?” asked Drinian.

“Use?” replied Reepicheep. “Use, Captain? If by use you mean filling our bellies or our purses, I confess it will be no use at all. So far as I know we did not set sail to look for things useful but to seek honor and adventure. And here is as great an adventure as ever I heard of, and here; if we turn back, no little impeachment of all our honors.”

Related Characters: Reepicheep (speaker), Caspian, Lord Drinian, Lord Rhoop
Page Number: 192
Explanation and Analysis:

“Fools!” said the man, stamping his foot with rage. “That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I’d better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams—dreams, do you understand—come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”

Related Characters: Lord Rhoop (speaker), Caspian
Related Symbols: World’s End
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“Because,” said the Mouse, “this is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing when I get back to Narnia that I left a mystery behind me through fear.”

Related Characters: Reepicheep (speaker), Eustace Scrubb, Caspian, Aslan, Lord Revilian, Lord Argoz, and Lord Mavramorn
Related Symbols: World’s End
Page Number: 212
Explanation and Analysis:

“You can’t know,” said the girl. “You can only believe—or not.”

Related Characters: Ramandu’s Daughter (speaker), Caspian, Edmund Pevensie, Aslan
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“My son,” said the star, “it would be no use, even though you wished it, to sail for the World’s End with men unwilling or men deceived. That is not how great unenchantments are achieved. They must know where they go and why. But who is this broken man you speak of?”

Related Characters: Ramandu (speaker), Caspian, Lord Revilian, Lord Argoz, and Lord Mavramorn
Related Symbols: World’s End
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

The King took the bucket in both hands, raised it to his lips, sipped, then drank deeply and raised his head. His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter.

“Yes,” he said, “it is sweet. That’s real water, that. I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me. But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now.”

“What do you mean?” asked Edmund.

“It—it’s like light more than anything else,” said Caspian.

“That is what it is,” said Reepicheep. “Drinkable light. We must be very near the end of the world now.”

Related Characters: Caspian (speaker), Reepicheep (speaker), Edmund Pevensie (speaker), Eustace Scrubb, Aslan
Related Symbols: World’s End
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

“Only two more things need to be told. One is that Caspian and his men all came safely back to Ramandu’s Island. And the three lords woke from their sleep. Caspian married Ramandu’s daughter and they all reached Narnia in the end, and she became a great queen and the mother and grandmother of great kings. The other is that back in our own world everyone soon started saying how Eustace had improved, and how “You’d never know him for the same boy”: everyone except Aunt Alberta, who said he had become very commonplace and tiresome and it must have been the influence of those Pevensie children.

Related Characters: Eustace Scrubb, Caspian, Lucy Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie, Ramandu’s Daughter, Alberta
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:
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Caspian Character Timeline in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The timeline below shows where the character Caspian appears in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...Eventually, they all get pulled onto the ship. Edmund and Lucy are surprised to see Caspian, the boy king of Narnia. Caspian is glad to see them again and asks who... (full context)
Chapter 2
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
When everyone is changed, Caspian introduces them to his captain, a dark-haired man named Lord Drinian. Edmund learns it’s been... (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
Caspian promised Aslan, a talking lion who has authority over even Caspian, that if Caspian brought... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Caspian gives back to Lucy a cordial (a type of medicinal drink) she used to own... (full context)
Chapter 3
Bravery Theme Icon
...Avra. Lucy remembers seeing them before and is glad to see them again. She convinces Caspian to dock at Felimath, and Eustace agrees to get off too, just for an excuse... (full context)
Temptation Theme Icon
Caspian and the others run into a black-haired man named Pug. All of a sudden, Pug’s... (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
...prisoners onto his ship, a man named Lord Bern—one of the seven lords of Narnia—buys Caspian because his face reminds him of King Caspian of Narnia. Bern takes Caspian away from... (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Caspian blows his horn to signal to his allies still on the Dawn Treader. Drinian hears... (full context)
Chapter 4
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Caspian and Bern round up all of their people the next morning and prepare for battle.... (full context)
Temptation Theme Icon
Caspian confronts Governor Gumpas about how his island hasn’t paid tribute to Narnia for about 150... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
Caspian goes down to Pug’s slave ship. He declares that Pug should lose his life, but... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
When Eustace finally comes out, he complains that Caspian must have been off enjoying himself somewhere on his own. At night, there’s a large... (full context)
Chapter 5
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...for almost two weeks, Eustace writes about it in his diary. He complains about how Caspian and Edmund forced him to work after the ship’s mast fell, even though Eustace was... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...realizes that for the first time in his life, he feels lonely. He fears that Caspian and the others will leave him behind. He hurries through the fog, thinking he’s going... (full context)
Chapter 6
Bravery Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Caspian and the others are washing themselves in the river, when all of a sudden, Edmund... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...some on the Dawn Treader, like Rhince, don’t miss Eustace, Edmund and Lucy are worried. Caspian insists that they must make every attempt to find Eustace. (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...that his new dragon body is so much stronger. He decides to head back toward Caspian and the others, feeling confident that he can convince them of his real identity, even... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
But when a dragon (Eustace) passes over the camp of the Dawn Treader crew, Caspian advises everyone to get their weapons ready. When the dragon gets close, Lucy realizes that... (full context)
Chapter 7
Bravery Theme Icon
Caspian, Drinian, and Reepicheep recognize the dragon’s gold armband as belonging to a famous Narnian named... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Finally, the Dawn Treader is ready to leave. Caspian leaves an inscription on a rock, taking credit for the discovery of “Dragon Island.” Eustace... (full context)
Chapter 8
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...leaves Dragon Island and comes across a new island that is burned and in ruins. Caspian and Edmund wonder whether it was the dragon or pirates that did the destruction. They... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
...hide. The creature squeezes the ship. Eustace tries to attack the serpent with a sword Caspian lent him, but it just breaks the sword. Reepicheep advises everyone not to fight but... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...to take shelter in a natural harbor on an island. After the rain is over, Caspian, Eustace, Edmund, Lucy, and Reepicheep decide to explore a hill on the new island. As... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
Caspian claims the island as his own for Narnia, making everyone else swear to keep it... (full context)
Chapter 9
Bravery Theme Icon
...to be planning an ambush, but she can’t see anyone. She runs ahead and finds Caspian and Eustace in the courtyard of the house. Along with Edmund and Reepicheep, they all... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Caspian decides they have to go out and face their enemies at once and perhaps parley... (full context)
Chapter 11
Bravery Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...the others seem to accept their new forms as Monopods. Then Lucy heads back to Caspian and the rest of the Dawn Treader crew. That evening, the Narnians all have dinner... (full context)
Chapter 12
Bravery Theme Icon
...why. Reepicheep believes that noble Narnians shouldn’t ever be afraid of going into the dark. Caspian reluctantly agrees with Reepicheep. (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
...of time. All of a sudden, a cry of terror comes out of the darkness. Caspian senses someone swimming toward the ship and welcomes the stranger on. The stranger is a... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...Reepicheep, who isn’t human, is the only one to fully resist the island’s pull, but Caspian also stays strong and orders everyone to row away quickly. (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...reveals himself to be Lord Rhoop, one of the seven lords of Narnia. Rhoop asks Caspian to promise never to bring him back to Dark Island, but just as he says... (full context)
Chapter 13
Temptation Theme Icon
Caspian wonders if the men are dead, but Reepicheep can see that one of them has... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...candle to the table. She asks why no one has eaten yet from Aslan’s table. Caspian explains how they feared that the food put the three men in chairs to sleep.... (full context)
Chapter 14
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...Ramandu has—he is a retired star who used to hang in the sky. Ramandu tells Caspian that Lord Revilian, Lord Argoz, and Lord Mavramorn are under an enchantment, and the only... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
Caspian ponders what to do next with Reepicheep. They have found the lords of Narnia that... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Reepicheep is already determined to go east with or without Caspian and the others. Caspian gives a great speech about how everyone who comes with him... (full context)
Chapter 15
Christianity Theme Icon
...prophecy that he must go East. Drinian pulls up a bucket of water, and when Caspian tastes it, it tastes like light. Lucy tries some too, marveling at how strong it... (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
...you just fall forever. Eustace tries to tell everyone that the world is round, and Caspian is amazed to learn that Eustace, Edmund, and Lucy come from a round world. (full context)
Chapter 16
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...gets shallower and shallower, and the Dawn Treader is in danger of grounding. At last, Caspian announces that they have accomplished their goal. He entrusts his ship to Drinian and abdicates... (full context)
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Christianity Theme Icon
But as the crew of the Dawn Treader continue to argue with Caspian, he remembers old promises he still has to keep to the people of Narnia. Feeling... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
The children are sad to leave Caspian behind, but they go ahead in the boat with Reepicheep. The boat floats on east... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
Caspian and the crew of the Dawn Treader make it back to Ramandu’s island. The three... (full context)