Introduction to the Book
The Last Battle is the seventh and last book in the Chronicles of Narnia. It was published in 1956.
A reviewer in the New York Times Book Review at the time, wrote:
This is one of the best... The Christian symbolism is clear enough, but the book can stand on its own feet as deeply moving and hauntingly lovely story...
Why should I read this book?
Christians living in the west hear fewer sermons and less discussion on the “last things” (life after death, judgment, heaven & hell) than our ancestors in the faith. This is very probably a spill-over from our wider culture which would very much prefer not to think of such things at all. But Lewis bucked that trend by speaking and writing frequently about these difficult topics. We find it difficult to visualise life after death. But Lewis, by including “last things” in his imaginative writings (Narnia, but also books like The Great Divorce and Screwtape Letters) helps us see these truths with fresh eyes.
The story in a few sentences
A wicked, greedy ape, called Shift, hatches a plan to deceive good Narnians into thinking that Aslan has returned. However, Shift is actually working with Narnia’s enemies, the Calormenes, to enrich himself and subjugate Narnia.
King Tirian uncovers the plot with the help of Eustace and Lucy, and they fight back.There are hopeful moments but the Calormenes are strong and clever and some Narnians prove fickle. A final battle (hence the book’s title) takes place close to a stable which where Shift and the Calormenes had kept the false Aslan. The Calormenes capture Lucy, Tirian and Eustace and throw them through the door of the stable to be devoured (so they think) by Tash, the Calormene deity. But instead, our heroes find themselves in an altogether better place....
There is a lot in the book for the reader to enjoy and mull over:
1. All gods are the same...or rather they aren’t.
Most of us will have heard someone suggest that all religions are simply different ways of thinking about the same god – different routes to the same destination. That is the line taken in The Last Battle by Shift (the ape) and a Calormene officer called Rishda Tarkaan.
Shift tells the Narnians that:
Tash is only another name for Aslan. All that old idea of us being right and the Calormenes wrong is silly. We know better now. The Calormenes use different words but we all mean the same thing. Tash and Aslan are only two different names for you know Who.
Rishda Tarkaan agrees, saying “Aslan means neither less nor more than Tash”.
The Cat, Ginger, sees through the Tarkaan’s comment and follows this up privately afterwards:
“Noble Tarkaan,” said the Cat in that silky voice of his, “I just wanted to know exactly what we both meant today about Aslan meaning no more than Tash.”
....”You mean,” says Ginger, that there’s no such person as either”
“All who are enlightened know that, said the Tarkaan."
Here, Lewis, is putting his finger very much on the spot. People who say that all religions are simply different ways of thinking about the same god, are often concealing the thought that – in their eyes – all religions are equally false. And the argument that all religions are routes to the same end, glosses over the places where religions hold to incompatible positions. Tirian spots this and tries to ask:
...how the terrible god Tash who fed on the blood of his people could possibly be the same as the good Lion by whose blood all Narnia was saved.
A further twist follows. Rishda Tarkaan glibly invokes the name of Tash (though of course he does not believe that Tash is real at all). But when Tash – a demon – does indeed appear, the Tarkaan is shocked and finds that that he has been playing with fire. A warning against dabbling in occult practice, even as “harmless fun”.
There goes one...who has called on gods he does not believe in. How will it be with him if they have really come.”
2. Blinded by Unbelief
A group of dwarfs are taken in by the false Aslan trick and so are enslaved by the Calormenes. Tirian rescues them, and explains the falsehood. But he is shocked to find that, with the exception of a dwarf called Poggin, they do not return to following Aslan but are hardened in their cynicism and unbelief – even to the point of being unable to hear or see the truth.
“You see,” said Aslan. “They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.”
3. Words of Encouragement, though Death Approaches
Lewis believed firmly that death is not the end of the story, but, for the Christian it is the door to a better world. This truth comforts even when a horrid end to this life approaches:
“I feel in my bones, said Poggin, “that we shall all, one by one, pass through that dark door before morning. I can think of a hundred deaths I would rather have died.”
“It is indeed a grim door,” said Tirian...
“Oh, can’t we do anything to stop it?” said Jill in a shaken voice.
“Nay, fair friend,” said Jewel, nosing her gently. It may be for us the door to Aslan’s country and we shall sup at his table tonight.”
4. The Sister is no Longer a Friend.
On the far side of the stable door, there is a hugely joyful reunion of loyal Talking Beasts and the children who had visited Narnia at different points in the Chronicles. But someone is missing. Susan (an important figure in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and in Prince Caspian) is not there. When asked about her absence, Peter replies:
“My sister Susan,” answered Peter shortly and gravely, “is no longer a friend of Narnia.
This is a warning against falling away and an encouragement to persevere!
5. Last Judgement
In Chapter 14 Aslan calls time on the whole world, including Narnia, and all the intelligent (“Talking Beasts”) animals and creatures approach Aslan one by one where their fate is decided:
But as they came right up to Aslan one or other of two things happened to each of them.They all looked straight in his face, I don’t think they had any choice about that. And when some looked, the expression of their faces changed terribly – it was fear and hatred: except that, on the faces of Talking Beasts, the fear and hatred lasted only for a fraction of a second. You could see that they suddenly ceased to be Talking Beasts. They were just ordinary animals. And all the creatures who looked at Aslan in that way swerved to their right, his left, and disappeared into his huge black shadow... The children never saw them again. I don’t know what became of them. But the others looked in the face of Aslan and loved him, though some of them were frightened at the same time. And all these came in at the Door, in on Aslan’s right.
This section certainly owes a lot to the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew, chapter 25. But there are differences too since Lewis was not trying to retell the Christian story precisely, but rather to re-imagine the Christian story in the context of another world. Lewis explained himself like this:
You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books “represents” something in this world. Things do that in The Pilgrim’s Progress, but I’m not writing in that way. I did not say to myself “Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia”: I said “Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia . . .”
6. The Enemy who Discovers he was actually on Aslan’s Side, without Realizing it
A young Calomene officer, called Emeth, enters through the Stable Door in search of his god, Tash, but instead finds himself face to face with Aslan. He fears the worst because of his allegiance to Tash but is surprised to find himself welcomed. Emeth asks Aslan:
“Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, “It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites – I take to me the services which thou has done for him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore, if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that they have truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says the name Aslan, it is Tash who he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.
Some Christians may struggle with the “salvation” of Emeth, given his belief in Tash, but Aslan’s explanation contains important truths. His warning that not everything done in the name of Aslan is, is truly done for Aslan reflects what Jesus has to say about true and false disciples in Matthew 7, verses 21-23.
7. Visions of a Better Place
Many of us find it difficult to visualise heaven in ways which are helpful to our faith, and this gap in our perception can stop us feeling any excitement when we contemplate our mortality. Intellectually, we may believe that “the best is yet to be” but feelings tend to lag behind when our imaginations are not engaged. So, by bringing his own “baptised imagination” and intellect to bear on the subject, Lewis can help to bring colour to orthodox Christian beliefs. Certainly, there is lots to savour and enjoy in chapters 12-16.
Somehow our joy in the resurrection of the body is enlivened when we read Digory and Polly, both now elderly and infirm, talking about their death and what happened next. Not only do they pass through death and enter Aslan’s country, but in the process old age and its ailments are undone.
“I think you and I, Polly, chiefly felt that we’d been unstiffened. You youngsters won’t understand. But we stopped feeling old.”
“Youngsters, indeed!” said Jill. “I don’t believe you two really are much older than we are here.”
“Well if we aren’t, we have been,” said the Lady Polly.
The writer of the book of Hebrews describes how, in this world, believers long for a better country, their true home. Lewis often talked about this longing and the hints we get of our future home. And, in the Last Battle, he gets the chance to describe this from other side of the door:
It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right fore-hoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried:
“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason we loved the old Narnia is that sometimes it looked a little like this.
Lewis believed that Christians ought to look forward to the life to come. But sometimes we picture heaven as something which isn’t that attractive to our imagination – for example, as if it were some kind endless church meeting! Lewis helps to correct this by describing it as a place of adventure and discovery and joy and homecoming.
The children are concerned that – as had happened on earlier occasions, Aslan may send them back to continue their lives in our world, rather than remain in His world. Aslan reassures them:
“No fear of that,” said Aslan. “Have you not guessed?
Their hearts leapt, and a wild hope rose within them.
“There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are – as you used to call it in the Shadowlands – dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dread is ended: this is the morning.
....now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
I’ve enjoyed “The Chronicles of Narnia”, what is next?
Many readers first encounter Lewis’ books through the Chronicles of Narnia. The Last Battle is the final book in that series So what to try next? Well if you want to branch out and read some non-fiction there is plenty of choose from, perhaps starting with Mere Christianity. Lewis also wrote a number of other imaginative works you might enjoy of which the best known is Screwtape Letters. Others which come highly recommended are The Great Divorce and Lewis’ science fiction trilogy.
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Christopher Simpson
Chris Simpson lives in Sheffield, UK, with his wife where they are members of Meadowhead Christian Fellowship. Chris is well-known for his interest in C S Lewis.