What Lion? You ask. I am smiling now for I can picture some readers with clueless, puzzled faces. Heck, maybe even a few head-scratchings there. So before I proceed I may as well enlighten those imaginary countenances. To tell you the truth, I am honored and thrilled to be the person to introduce these books (there are seven in all) to those who are not familiar with them. I feel like I am about to read my newly-writ poem to a discriminating audience or like a silly romantic about to present his girlfriend to his mom and dad. When that day will come I will never know. Yes. That is how beloved these books are to me.
But first let me tell you how I met that Lion. Like in Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, I got acquainted with the Chronicles of Narnia after seeing its film trailer. But unlike in the Ring’s case (I did not get Tolkien’s trilogy until I’d seen the entirety of Peter Jackson’s masterpiece), I postponed my ordinary habit of delaying. I promptly visited a second-hand bookstore and there they were, waiting to be owned and cherished. This is a rare moment for me, this rashness, because I usually do some research first if a book, much more if it is a serial, is worth investing on. And I am glad I did not procrastinate this time.
Narnia is a land of talking beasts and animals. Aslan, the Great Lion, created it by singing it into existence. "Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees, be talking beasts. Be divine waters." The Land is to be governed by a human king and queen, both chosen and ordained by Aslan. But though Narnia is not five hours old, an evil has already entered it. Eventually that evil gained the upper hand and put Narnia in everlasting snow so that it is "always winter but never Christmas." That is, until two boys and two girls stumbled into the magical land via a magical wardrobe. Unfortunately the evil White Witch deceived one of the boys and he unwittingly betrayed his siblings. To make matters worse, there is this Narnian Law, which states that every traitor’s life must be forfeited. Out of love, Aslan took the erring boy’s stead and saved Narnia in the process.
The allegory is very clear. Aslan mirrors our Savior and Redeemer. The Lion of Narnia also represents the Lion of Judah: powerful, beautiful, compassionate, understanding, merciful and eternal.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in the Chronicles, tells of Aslan’s utter obedience to his Father’s will. It also shows the climactic laying down of his life for the children. "He made no resistance at all… no noise, even when the enemies pulled the cords so tight that they cut into his flesh." There were tears to those who witnessed Aslan’s sacrifice as well as in my eyes. This is one of C.S. Lewis’ triumph: to make the reader realize the gravity of sin and the terrible prize it cost our Creator but most of all the illimitable love our Lord have for us.
The Last Battle, the final book in the series, is the most allegorical and the most symbolic of the lot. It narrates the coming of the false Aslan, the tribulation that engulfed the land, the signs and wonders that lit the Narnian heavens, and finally the very end of Narnia itself. "Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more." As a matter of fact, reading The Last Battle is like reading the Book of Revelation.
In Aslan’s world, only children and the pure of heart have been able to enter and enjoy the wonders of Narnia. And they are also the only ones, besides the animals of course, to understand Aslan. The proverbial sinner can only hear growling and roaring because he has made himself unable to hear the Lion’s voice. In grief, Aslan can only sigh: "Oh Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourself against all that might do you good!" Aslan was also Narnia’s hope, just as Christ is to us. C.S. Lewis writes: "Whenever he looked at the things about him, and saw how ordinary and unmagical they were, he hardly dared to hope; but when he remembered the face of Aslan he did hope." The inferences here are obvious. And I was waiting for the author himself to confirm them, and he did. I read that last paragraph with a fast-beating heart: "And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a Lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories…".
You might begin to think that the Chronicles of Narnia are heavy reading based on what I’ve discussed so far. They are not. The genius of C.S. Lewis is that he has successfully managed to weave biblical truths into simple tales that the young can easily grasp. He has woven yarns that are adventurous, fantastical, exciting, funny and entertaining, but always with a deep and sublime depth of meaning. And though C.S. Lewis doesn’t have the complexity of J.K. Rowling or the superb philological prowess of J.R.R. Tolkien, it is Lewis that I admire because he has chosen the better and loftier subject.
And this is the reason why I hold The Chronicles of Narnia dearer than Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings: true, those two have made our young generation discover the joy of reading, but it is Narnia that has riveted my focus and interest gently but surely back to Book of Books and back to the Faithful One. What was once a dying flame became a conflagration and I have Mr. Lewis, a Christian, and his Chronicles of Narnia to thank for.