The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

by

C. S. Lewis

Edmund Pevensie Character Analysis

Edmund is Lucy’s brother and Eustace’s cousin. Like Lucy, he has been to Narnia twice before, and so when he arrives this time, he is not afraid, acting almost as bravely as Caspian. In contrast to his always-complaining cousin Eustace, Edmund is a hard worker who is willing to do whatever it takes to help the Dawn Treader on its journey. On a couple occasions, Edmund and Caspian clash, with Edmund using his status as an old ruler of Narnia (from a previous visit) to try to assert his authority over Narnia. But these arguments never last long, and when, at the end of the novel, Aslan tells Edmund that he will never come back to Narnia, it is a sign that Edmund has already learned everything Narnia can teach him.

Edmund Pevensie Quotes in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The The Voyage of the Dawn Treader quotes below are all either spoken by Edmund Pevensie or refer to Edmund Pevensie. 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

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 7 Quotes

“Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly toward me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn’t that kind of fear. I wasn’t afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it—if you can understand.”

Related Characters: Eustace Scrubb (speaker), Edmund Pevensie, Aslan
Page Number: 113
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 13 Quotes

“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 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

“Dearest,” said Aslan very gently, “you and your brother will never come back to Narnia.”

“Oh, Aslan!!” said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices.

“You are too old, children,” said Aslan, “and you must begin to come close to your own world now.”

Related Characters: Lucy Pevensie (speaker), Edmund Pevensie (speaker), Aslan (speaker), Eustace Scrubb
Page Number: 269
Explanation and Analysis:

“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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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader PDF

Edmund Pevensie Character Timeline in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The timeline below shows where the character Edmund Pevensie 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
...bully but isn’t strong enough. He likes animals but doesn’t like his cousins: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie. While Peter is busy studying for an exam and Susan is off... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
...of a ship that looks like it’s sailing right out of the frame. Lucy and Edmund agree that the ship looks Narnian. They both long to someday return to Narnia. Eustace,... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Lucy and Edmund can swim in the water, but Eustace flails around. Eventually, they all get pulled onto... (full context)
Chapter 2
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...everyone is changed, Caspian introduces them to his captain, a dark-haired man named Lord Drinian. Edmund learns it’s been three years since the last time he was in Narnia and that... (full context)
Chapter 3
Temptation Theme Icon
...man named Pug. All of a sudden, Pug’s men reach out and grab Caspian, Reepicheep, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace. It turns out that Pug plans to sell his new prisoners into... (full context)
Chapter 4
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...instead Caspian is pardoning him and freeing every enslaved person on the island. Lucy and Edmund are happy to be saved. Two merchants from Calormen, who have dark skin, long beards,... (full context)
Chapter 5
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...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 feeling sick.... (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 realizes he hasn’t seen Eustace in a while. Meanwhile, Eustace is still in the valley... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...to worry about him. Although 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)
Chapter 7
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
After about six days on the island, Edmund sees a dark figure wandering around and realizes that it’s Eustace in human form again.... (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...realized he was a boy again. Eustace wonders if this was all a dream, but Edmund assures him it’s not. He explains that the lion was Aslan, the great leader of... (full context)
Chapter 8
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
...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 continue to... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...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 they’re exploring,... (full context)
Temptation Theme Icon
All of a sudden, Edmund tells everyone to get away from the water. He realizes that the water turned the... (full context)
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...island as his own for Narnia, making everyone else swear to keep it secret. But Edmund argues that he’s no subject of Caspian. Reepicheep warns them both that the island seems... (full context)
Chapter 9
Bravery Theme Icon
...runs ahead and finds Caspian and Eustace in the courtyard of the house. Along with Edmund and Reepicheep, they all try to figure out how to fight an invisible enemy. (full context)
Chapter 12
Bravery Theme Icon
The Dawn Treader sails southeast for 12 days. On the 13th day, Edmund sees a dark mountain in the distance. The Dark Island remains dark even as the... (full context)
Chapter 13
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
Edmund asks Ramandu’s daughter how they can trust her, but the girl says that he only... (full context)
Chapter 14
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...so big and bright, so close to the World’s End, is the most exciting thing Edmund has seen so far on the voyage. (full context)
Chapter 15
Christianity Theme Icon
Edmund worries what will happen if The Dawn Treader actually reaches the World’s End, and where... (full context)
Chapter 16
Christianity Theme Icon
Drinian, Edmund, Lucy, and Reepicheep continue to be the only ones who can see the Sea People... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
...can’t go on ahead in the boat after all. It will just be Reepicheep, Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace going on to the World’s End. (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
Meanwhile, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace wade south in the water on instinct. They come out of the... (full context)
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Aslan tells Lucy and Edmund that they will never come back to Narnia again because they are too old. They... (full context)
Bravery Theme Icon
Christianity Theme Icon
Growing Up and Selflessness Theme Icon
Temptation Theme Icon
...Narnian lords on the island wake from their slumber, and Caspian eventually marries Ramandu’s daughter. Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace all make it back to the real world. Everyone compliments Eustace on... (full context)