I have to confess that I think about characters far beyond what actually appears in the written pages of books.  My favorite characters to think and dream about are those from Narnia.

Edmund.  To me, the most fascinating character in the whole series.  My favorite line of his is when he says, “But even a traitor may mend.  I have known one that did.”  And he looked very thoughtful, or so the book tells us.  I read layers and layers into that.  I love to think about Edmund returned to England after years spent as a king in Narnia, about that crazy heart change that occured.  I wonder what his parents thought of the change when they saw him again after the air raids were over, if they thought it was the Professor who had been a good influence, or that country air, or the opportunity to explore a big house.  I picture that Edmund was a quieter boy when he returned, and that when he spoke, it was often profound.  He had, after all, been an adult– and royalty– a warrior and known for his commitment to justice.

Susan.  I have dedicated much time to pondering “The Problem of Susan,” which we encounted in The Last Battle.  Where did things go wrong for Susan?  And how could she turn her back on it all when she had been present at the Stone Table?  I have struggled through it the best way I can– by writing, both a poem and a short story.

Aravis and Cor.  Because I have the heart of a thirteen-year-old teenybopper, I often wonder about the love story of the king and queen of Archenland.  All Lewis tells us is that they argued so much and made up so much that, when they got older, they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently.  This is one of the few love stories in the Narnia series (the only other I can think of is Caspian and Ramandu’s daughter), so naturally, I am drawn to it.  I can’t help but think that Cor, in his quieter ways, thought that she would fall for his twin brother.  There is so much teenage angst in it that it almost makes me want to write fan fiction.  Almost.

Professor Kirke.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall listening to the conversation between the Pevensies and the professor after their long sojourn in Narnia.  Can you even imagine Digory’s great relief when he learned that they had witnessed the demise of Jadis, whose presence in Narnia can be traced directly back to the professor’s youth?  We obviously get no glimpse into this, since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was written before The Magician’s Nephew.  Lewis was well aware that there were gaps and inconsistencies in his series, and even intended to go back and fix them, but it just never happened.

Anyway, you already knew I was a nerd.  Now you know that I’m kind of beyond hope of any rescue from it.  In fact, it’s Friday night, and I’m sitting alone in Dunn Bros, looking at Narnia fan art.  It’s all over for me. Haha!

deviantART by ~secrethope

(On a sidenote, there is a startling amount of Lucy-Tumnus pairing.  Um, gross.  Really, really gross.)