The Magician's Nephew

The Creation of Narnia and the Birth of Evil

The Magician's Nephew is the sixth book published in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, but it is chronologically the first story in the series. Published in 1955, the novel functions as a prequel, answering the fundamental questions about Narnia's origins: how the world was created, where the White Witch came from, and how the magic wardrobe came to exist. It is a profound exploration of temptation, creation, and the consequences of moral choices.

The Rings, the Woods, and the Worlds

The story begins in London, featuring two children: Digory Kirke and his neighbor, Polly Plummer. Digory lives with his eccentric and cruel uncle, Andrew Ketterley, a minor magician who has discovered a way to travel between worlds using magical rings.

Uncle Andrew tricks the children into testing the rings, which transport them to the Wood Between the Worlds, a quiet, dreamlike place filled with pools that lead to countless other universes. Curiosity leads them to jump into one of these pools, landing them in the desolate, dying world of Charn.

In Charn, Digory makes the fateful mistake of ringing a bell, which awakens the last living being of that world: Queen Jadis, a powerful and evil sorceress. The children are unable to stop her from following them back to London, where her chaotic magical power creates havoc.

The Dawn of Narnia

The true climax occurs when the children, Uncle Andrew, Jadis, a cab driver, and his horse are all accidentally transported from London into an empty void. In this void, they witness the majestic Creation of Narnia.

Lewis depicts this event with powerful, mythological simplicity: the great Lion, Aslan, sings Narnia into existence, bringing forth stars, land, and life. The sequence is one of the most beautiful and moving parts of the entire series.

However, the Queen Jadis (who will become the White Witch) and the seeds of evil have been inadvertently brought into the new world by Digory's mistake. The novel ends by establishing the moral and physical safeguards of Narnia, including the tree planted from a magical apple to keep the Witch at bay, and the eventual origin of the famous wardrobe in the professor's house. The theme is clear: every action has consequences, and the creation of a beautiful world necessitates a confrontation with the evil that seeks to corrupt it.