Gospel Insights from the Chronicles of Narnia -- Prince Caspian

Whether or not it was intentional, to me Prince Caspian is clearly about Apostasy and Restoration. Crazy right? Well, take a look at a few things with me.

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Aslan establishes his kingdom, with Peter as High King directly under himself (also discussed in ch. 12 of Prince Caspian). After the kings and queens are taken back to their own world, the kingdom fades and falls into disorder (that’s all we ever learn about that period, in ch. 15). The land is eventually conquered by a new people, but in conquering Narnia, they drove the magic from it. So this new kingdom, rather than truly ruling Narnia, merely rules the land of Narnia. The truth of old Narnia and Aslan is all but lost (ch. 4).

Then along comes Caspian. I won’t tell the whole story: I’m assuming you already know it. But in short, he believes in Aslan and the old stories, and, being the rightful king, sets out to find old Narnia, and to restore the kingdom as it was of old. With the help and Aslan, and Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy, he ends up doing just that. But there is a key detail left. In fact, it was the following point that first led me to the Restoration connection. In chapter 15 we read, “then, at Aslan’s command, Peter bestowed the Knighthood of the Order of the Lion on Caspian. And Caspian, as soon as he was knighted, bestowed it on [others]”. (Peter, as you may remember, was knighted by Aslan himself at the time he slew the wolf captain.) Caspian is then made king of Narnia, under Aslan and under high king peter, and his lineage continues to rule Narnia until the end of that world. So while rediscovering the lost truth of old Narnia was important, it was the restoration of royal authority that was crucial to the establishment of the kingdom.

Can you see the uncanny parallels? It was Peter (along with James and John) who appeared to Joseph Smith and conferred upon him the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God (known now as the Melchizedek Priesthood (D&C 107:3)) (JS-H 1:72, D&C 27:12), giving him the authority to preside over the true church of Christ, and restoring the line of priesthood authority that they, Peter, James, and John, received directly from Christ.

Is this coincidence? Or could Lewis have felt a Restoration necessary? Did he have any idea that one had already taken place? Maybe in the next life I’ll have the answers to these questions.


One of my favorite little lessons of this story is the part when Aslan first appears. The lesson here is twofold. He shows himself to Lucy and beckons here to follow. However, none of the others believe she saw him, and the way he called her seemed the more foolish option to them. So they all go the other way, only to spend a great deal of time finding a dead end. That night Lucy wakes and finds Aslan. Here’s Lucy speaking:
“I’m sorry… but it wasn’t my fault anyway was it?”
The Lion looked straight into her eyes.
“Oh Aslan,” said Lucy “you don’t mean it was? How could I? I couldn’t have left the others and come up to you alone. How could I? Don’t look at me like that. Oh well, I suppose I could. Yes, and it wouldn’t have been alone I know, no if I was with you.”
Aslan tells her that she must go wake the others, tell them that she’s seen him again, and that they must all follow. If they won’t then she must follow alone. That’s lesson one. Lesson two is that Lucy’s able to convince them to follow, even though none of them can see Him. However, as they follow (and, I suspect, as they find that there really is a path, and that they never would’ve found it on there own, and that it leads exactly where they need to go), one by one they’re able to first see a shadow, then some dim shape in the moonlight. Eventually, as their attitudes and hearts change, they all see him.