Susan Pevensie

This article might cause some controversy among fans and readers of the Narnia books, but I wanted to give my opinion on the topic of Susan Pevensie and her fate in the Narnia series. This article will contain spoilers mainly from the The Last Battle, but also from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Prince Caspian.

In the last few chapters of The Last Battle, we see Tirian, the Last King of Narnia, jumping into a stable dragging his opponent, Rishda Tarkaan with him. He is almost immediately greeted by the Calmormene god Tash who plucks Rishda and takes him away never to be seen again, after a strong, strange male voice commands Tash to do so. There Tirian is greeted by the seven friends of Narnia: King Peter, King Edmund, Queen Lucy, Lord Digory, Lady Polly, and his two newest friends Eustace and Jill. Tirian is quick to point out that Susan is not among them, to which he is told that Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia. Lady Polly and Jill even jump in and say she is focused on her beauty and parties and says that Narnia is a made-up game that they played as kids.

When I read these words for the first time, my heart immediately sank. While Susan wasn't among my favorites of the Narnia characters, her absence among the four Pevensies felt strange. Why did Susan not believe in Narnia anymore? When did this happen? and after I discovered what really happened to the Seven Friends of Narnia, I asked myself, Will Susan return to Narnia?

Yet as I pour myself back over the pages of Narnia, I discovered that Susan's problems with Narnia may very well have started in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. When all four children find themselves in Narnia and discovered that Lucy's friend; Mr. Tumnus, had been taken by the White Witch's secret police, Susan isn't super keen to save him, going as far to say. " I almost wished we hadn't come at all." but reluctantly agrees to help find the Faun for her sister's sake. It showed to me at least, that she was either having a hard time accepting this world or would rather pretend it never even happened.

In Prince Caspian, we see Susan's reluctance to believe in Aslan. Despite the fact that she knew that they were in Narnia, and that Aslan could appear in Narnia whenever he wanted to, she asks Lucy " Where do you THINK you saw him?" Normally I would just chalk it up as a way to get Lucy to point out where he was, the fact that Lucy got offended by her sister's question, tells me that Susan was thinking that Lucy imagined the whole thing. When Lucy gets the whole group up in the middle of the night to follow Aslan, Susan is the last one to go with the group. Not Trumpkin, the dwarf who didn't believe in Aslan, but Susan, Queen of Narnia, who has seen Aslan before, was refusing to go. The fact that she was going to be left alone was the only reason she went along with the group.

So now we find ourselves back at The Last Battle, and the three questions I asked myself. " Why did Susan stop believing in Narnia?" " When did this happen?" and finally " Will Susan return to Narnia?"

First answer is this. Susan grew up and got over Narnia. She was reluctant to accept being in Narnia, though it changed when she became Queen and lived there for years. Yet we see it again in Prince Caspian, the fact that she seemed quite ready to give up Narnia when the four kids were being sent home by Aslan, which tags into my second question on when did it happen.

I believe it was after her last adventure in Prince Caspian. I think she was already kind of ready to give up Narnia, from not believing in Aslan, to the end where she knew she was never coming back again, there was no tears nor words from her saying she was going to miss it. Peter seemed solemn but there is nothing described by Susan. Not her thoughts on leaving.

Finally the last question. Will she return to Narnia? If you want a firm yes or no, my answer would be no. I think she didn't want to be a part of Narnia in the first place, granted when she was, I think she enjoyed it. But too many times we saw Susan's hesitation to believe in Narnia. And if her conversation with Aslan was anything like the conversation Aslan had with Edmund and Lucy, and Peter, Edmund and Lucy were all able to come back but not her, tells me she didn't take his words to her heart and fully embraced her life outside of Narnia.