The creatures depicted within the world of Narnia can be both charming and frightening, but mostly the former. Mythological beings, such as centaurs or fawns, are a large part of our canon, only being further cemented in the imaginations of thousands when C. S. Lewis chose to incorporate the creatures into his series. However, the Narnia books were still for children—which meant that certain details about the creatures had to be tweaked, or left out altogether. Many were of a…promiscuous nature, while others were outright violent.
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1) The Fawn
What might be confusing to readers is the fact that Fawns like Mr. Tumnus exist alongside Satyrs. While the terms Fawn and Satyr have become synonymous, C. S. Lewis was technically correct in separating them. Mr. Tumnus is an accurate interpretation of the Fawn: he’s kind, guiding Lucy back to his home when she is lost. Though he initially plans to kidnap her, his conscience wins out and he shows her the way back to the lantern. This role as guide correlates with a short story, The Satyr and the Traveler, in which a traveler is aided by the creature—writers changed the term Satyr to Faunas. Satyrs are of Greek background, while Fawns were derived from Roman mythology.
2) The Minotaur
Another Greek creation, the original legend of the Minotaur is one that’s best left out of the hearing of children. The Minotaur was originally one being, rather than a race, and he was created when a woman had a…relationship with a bull. In a tale of adultery and bestiality, the woman (under the enchantment of a furious Poseidon) mates with the bull—the Minotaur, her unnatural offspring, is the result.
While C. S. Lewis depicted the Minotaur people as a race, his representation of them as bloodthirsty servants of the White Witch is not inaccurate. After the bull besotted woman gave birth to the Minotaur, it grew vicious, eating people to sustain itself. It was placed in the center of a labyrinth, that it might not harm others unless they dared to venture in.
3) The Dwarf
The depiction of Dwarfs we are most familiar with is derived from German folklore, and also resembles those portrayed by Tolkien: Dwarfs are short, usually skilled at mining and smith work, and prefer to dwell underground or in mountains. In German legends, Dwarfs can be good or evil, depending on the story. C. S. Lewis’s Dwarfs do little to deviate from their mythological counterparts. They fight both with, and against, the heroes of the stories. Male and female Dwarfs are attracted to humans in the ancient tales, and the Dwarfs in Lewis’s works can likewise have relationships with humans. Prince Caspian’s Professor, Cornelius, later confesses to being half-Dwarf, half-human.
4) The Dryad
For someone telling an otherwise Christian story, Lewis borrowed heavily from other mythologies, Greek in particular. The Dryad is another Greek creation, a tree spirit, though originally they dwelt only in oak trees. Dryads that lived in other trees were given different names: Meliades lived in apple trees, or trees that bore fruit; the Meliae frequented ash trees; and the Hamadryad expanded on the Dryad mythology. C. S. Lewis references Hamadryads too: when these Dryads have their trees cut down, they die—their life force is tied to their homes.
5) The Giant
Giants are represented in mythologies the world over, though the Greek legends and those stories told in the Bible are those we remain most familiar with. In the Bible, the Nephilim are likened to giants, being human like but massive in size. They made ordinary humans look like “grasshoppers.” The Bible’s most famous giant is Goliath, though he is smaller than other giants depicted in the stories.
Greek giants descended from Uranus and Gaia, and could even be separated into different races: the Cyclops, which only had one eye, and the Hecatoncheires, which had a profusion of limbs and heads – one hundred arms and fifty heads to be exact. That makes the Hydra sound tame.
Most of the tales agree that these enlarged people are vicious, attacking others and eating them. C. S. Lewis’s representation of giants in The Silver Chair follows this narrative, with the giants not only enjoying humans, but Talking Animals too. Given that Talking Animals have the intelligence of people, it is tantamount to cannibalism to eat them.
6) The Centaur
Centaurs have a number of creation myths, though they appear in various Greek legends. Some are enemies, crushing their foes to the ground like the beasts they resemble, while others are wise, acting as mentors. Chiron was an example of a teacher figure, his human intelligence winning out.
In yet another tale involving lust and a jealous God (Zeus in this case) the Centaurs were created. Zeus, knowing that Ixion had an interest in his wife, created Nepheles, a cloud who took the form of Hera. Ixion acted as expected, beginning a relationship with the fake Hera. Their children were the Centaurs, though some tales say their child was Centaurus, who was instead the father of the race. In yet another story, Centaurus creates the Centaurs, but is the son of Apollo and a nymph named Stilbe.
Though C. S. Lewis, as with the other creatures, removes the Greek backstories, replacing them with Aslan as the creator, he keeps their natures intact. The Centaurs retain their status as both intelligent beings and skilled warriors, with the author adding his own details along the way—unlike humans, Lewis’s Centaurs have multiple stomachs.
7) The Unicorn
C. S. Lewis doesn’t go into deep detail on his unicorns, though his depiction is one we’re familiar with: appearance wise, they appear to be beautiful horses with a single horn on their forehead. In Narnia, they are on the side of the hero.
The original stories about unicorns, however, differ slightly. While in many cases they did resemble horses, some were likened to goats instead. These versions even had a goat’s beard. Unlike many modern tales, unicorns were also not respected in the same way—instead, humans hunted them for sport. They would even use a “maiden” or “virgin woman” to lure the unicorn in. The unicorns would only approach women, and virgins at that; they didn’t trust men, which makes Lewis’s portrayal of King Peter riding one a change to the lore.
The horn of the unicorn was called the alicorn, and was supposed to have medicinal properties. Unicorns could cure ailments and detect poisons, leading many to hunt for unicorns and sell their horns. Sadly, the so called horns people did sell likely came from narwhals. Just as with elephants or rhinos, these animals were hunted for their horns; many would have been killed to satisfy those looking for miracle cures.
8) The Dragon
Dragons appear across cultures, whether that be in western literature or in the form of the Chinese dragon. Though dragons differ, sometimes having four legs, two legs, or being more worm like, most seem to be reptilian. Those in medieval tales usually breathe fire and live in caves.
Dragons could have been the result of people seeing larger creatures like the Komodo Dragon or the Alligator, reptilian animals that are dangerous in their own right. The massive size of the dragon could have been the result of people coming across dinosaur bones, or those of other prehistoric animals—though this is only a theory.
The dragons seen in Narnia are most like their European counterparts, having four legs, living in caves, and breathing fire. However, the dragon becomes an ally when Eustace is turned into one and tasked with helping his friends using the benefits of his new form.
9) The Satyr
The Satyrs, like the Minotaur, involve a backstory that is not so child friendly. What differentiates them from Fawns (besides their terrible behaviour) is their appearance: while Fawns have the legs of goats, Satyrs have the legs and tails of a horse. Their faces are also described as ugly, and their actions more so. They are reported to force themselves on human women and Nymphs alike, though thankfully they often fail in these endeavors. Due to their…lusting nature, they also appear to be constantly loaded on Viagra (to put it in a less explicit way).
Satyrs became conflated with the more family friendly Fawn. Though Lewis mentions both creatures in his works, the less appropriate behaviour of the Satyrs is (understandably) left out of his children’s series.
10) The Werewolf
In traditional legends, werewolves are humans who become wolves at the full moon, or who transform. Sometimes silver hurts them; sometimes it doesn’t. In some cases, they still walk upright, while in others they are indistinguishable from typical wolves.
Narnia doesn’t reference werewolves often, except as servants of the White Witch. In the series, they serve alongside creatures like hags, and alongside other Talking Animals, the Wolves. No mention of them being human is made; instead, they appear to be their own creatures, even speaking while in beast form. This makes them a more dramatic departure from their counterparts than other monsters on this list.
In Conclusion
The creatures seen in C. S. Lewis’s world are apart of mainstream fiction, reappearing in other stories, including the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books. With each retelling, the monsters evolve, though their core components remain unchanged. While C. S. Lewis kept the creatures much the same, only removing those elements which were obscene or contradicted his Aslan myth, they nevertheless morphed. The versions seen in Narnia are closest to what each person imagines now, and their inclusion in the series impressed those legends on new generations.
What startled you the most when it came to these creatures original stories? What other monsters have you heard of, that have far uglier sides than their kid friendly counterparts suggest? Let me know!