Sibling Stories Week | The Pevensies

    Salvete! As I’ve been getting more involved in the blogging world, I’ve tried to look for other Christians who love literature as much as I do. I came across Hamlette’s Soliloquy not too long ago, and when I saw her Sibling Stories Week challenge, I decided to try it out. Of course, being a lover of all things C.S. Lewis, the Pevensies immediately sprang to mind. 

The Chronicles of Narnia was the first thing of Lewis’ that I’d ever read, and thinking of it now brings back lovely memories of sitting by the fireplace as a wee lass discovering the wonder of the world and the beauty of the allegory Lewis wove throughout his story. 

    We are all Peter, trying his best to protect his family and yet struggling to truly understand. We’re all Susan, doubting that the truth could really be so wonderful. We’re all Edmund, tempted by sin and material pleasure but eventually led to understand the tremendous sacrifice our LORD made for us. We’re all Lucy, trying to believe with childlike innocence and feeling for the first time the weight that grief holds upon us. And every one of us needs a Saviour, the Lion of Judah, who died so that we could live. If you don’t think that’s an amazing story… well then, we’ve got to talk. 

    But until then, here’s a little more about each character and their wonderful sibling dynamic. 

§ Peter

    The Magnificent

“Shadow or spirit, whatever you are, if you are from Narnia, I charge you in the name of Aslan. Speak to me! I am Peter the High King."

        The fierce protector who would die for his siblings a thousand times over. That’s Peter. He’s loyal to a fault—that fault being endangering himself for love of his family. He wants to be the shepherd who guides his flock, but he also knows that he can’t succeed alone.

§ Susan

    The Gentle

“And I really believed it was Him tonight, when you woke us up. I mean, deep down inside. Or I could have, if I’d let myself."

    Susan is quiet but nurturing. The peacemaker, the mediator, but fierce when she has to be. She would rather tend to things that grow than fight in a war, but if fighting is the only way to save her family, then she’ll go down resolute. 

§ Edmund

    The Just

“But even a traitor may mend. I have known one that did.”

    Edmund made a mistake once, and he won’t let himself be tempted ever again. After he betrayed his family, he became more loyal to them than ever. Though he’s more often snarky than serious, he won’t let anything get between him and someone he loves. 

§ Lucy

    The Valiant

“I think—I don’t know—but I think I could be brave enough.”

    Lucy is hope. She’s sunlight on golden flowers and everything that is pure. Without her, her siblings wouldn’t know Narnia. Yet despite that, she’s still humble. Her trust in them is unfailing, and her trust in Aslan is even greater. She is bold and courageous and ready to fight anything that dares oppose her. 

____

    And yet, without each other none of them would be the same. Theirs is the pure friendship of trust and love, the kind that flourishes most with hard times and rejoices with peace. 

———

What are your thoughts on the Chronicles of Narnia? Do you have any favourite literary siblings?

Namarië,

Astrya

Quote of the Month! | February Edition

 It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than a month since I started this blog. It feels like yesterday, sometimes! Well, it’s February now, and time for the second edition of the Quote of the Month. 

    My highlighted quote of today comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved epic The Lord of the Rings. (Are you surprised?) At any rate, this is not just because of my undying love for this book, but also because I just spent a week reading it in the middle of nowhere. A wondrous experience. But during this particular re-read, a few things stood out to me that hadn’t before. I won’t go into all of them here, but one in particular was how deep and wonderful the characters really are. They have true depth (at least most of them!), and I really enjoyed reading about their adventures. 

    A beautiful and beloved passage in particular was in The Return of the King, book 2, in which Faramir meets Éowyn for the first time. Their love is a true and beautiful thing, and Faramir in particular is strong and noble, while also being sweet and gentle. 

    What I really love about this entire chapter is the strength with which they both bear the oncoming Shadow, and both of their desire to forego things of war and destruction, and instead tend to beauty and light and things that grow. Such a desire glorifies God, I believe, and in the words of Thorin Oakenshield, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” There’s light and beauty that no shadow can touch!

“And Éowyn looked at Faramir long and steadily; and Faramir said: ‘Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart, Éowyn! But I do not offer you my pity. For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten; and you are a lady beautiful, I deem, beyond even the words of the Elven-tongue to tell. And I love you. Once I pitied your sorrow. But now, were you sorrowless, without fear or any lack, were you the blissful Queen of Gondor, still I would love you. Éowyn, do you not love me?’

Then the heart of Éowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her.

‘I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun,’ she said; ‘and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.’ And again she looked at Faramir. ‘No longer do I desire to be a queen,’ she said. 

Then Faramir laughed merrily. ‘That is well,’ he said; ‘for I am not a king.’…

And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many. And many indeed saw them and the light that shone about them as they came down from the walls and went hand in hand to the houses of Healing. 

And to the Warden of the Houses Faramir said: ‘Here is the Lady Éowyn of Rohan, and now she is healed.’”

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Chapter 5

    

    Is that not truly beautiful? We all need a Faramir in our lives, I think, to remind us that we are loved, that no darkness can hold at bay the things that truly matter—not war, but beauty, and things that grow. 

———

    What’s your opinion of Faramir and Êowyn? Do you have any other favourite moments from The Lord of the Rings? (I do, by the way). Let me know what you think!

Glory be to God!

Namarië,

 Astrya

Quote of the Month! | January Edition

 Greetings, all, and welcome to a new tradition at Inkling Corner! I’m excited to introduce the Quote of the Month, where every month I’ll be posting a new quote that inspired, touched, or influenced me in any way. 

I’ll be doing a quote from a different genre each month, usually going between fiction, theology, and history. 

I’d love it if you could share your opinions in the comments, and also offer suggestions for next month! 

This month’s is from C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, which is a “Christian apologetic novel” (description from online, not me) which was dedicated to Lewis’ great friend J.R.R. Tolkien and written in a satirical style.

The plot and characters are very fictional, but Lewis expertly uses them to address Christian theological issues. Lewis and Tolkien are, incidentally, two of my favourite authors and you’ll be seeing a lot of them in the near future. (The stories I posted last week are based on Tolkien’s work, actually).

 

But that is the cursed thing; the gods are strange to mortal eyes, and yet they are not strange. He had no faintest conception till that very hour of how they would look, and even doubted their existence. But when he saw them he knew that he had always known them and realised what part each one of them had played at many an hour in his life when he had supposed himself alone, so that now he could say to them, one by one, not ‘Who are you?’, but ‘So it was you all the time.’ All that they were and said at this meeting woke memories. The dim consciousness of friends about him which had haunted his solitudes from infancy was now at last explained; that central music in every pure experience which had always just evaded memory was now recovered.

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 31

This quote, while spoken in the book by the demon Screwtape, is in fact quite poignant and very true (at least in my humble estimation). We have always known, somehow, that God is there, but when we finally “see Him face to face” we realise that it was Him in our lives all along. We might not choose to recognise Him, or if we do we might not see Him there, but He is. “And that is an encouraging thought”.  

Thanks for joining me for this month’s edition of Quote of the Month! I hope you enjoyed my mini-essay, and if you did, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

The LORD be with you!

_______

Quotation #1–C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

Quotation #2–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

(Didn’t I tell you you’d hear more from these astounding writers?)

Thanks for reading!