Lady of the Green Kirtle
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- For Green Witchcraft, see Contemporary Witchcraft
| Narnia character | |
| Lady of the Green Kirtle | |
|---|---|
| Race/Nation | Witch / Unknown |
| Gender | Female |
| Title | Queen of Underland |
| Major character in | |
| The Silver Chair | |
| Portrayals in Adaptations | |
| 1990 BBC miniseries: Barbara Kellerman | |
The Lady of the Green Kirtle, also known as the Queen of Underland, is a character in The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis, appearing as the main villain. She is an evil witch who has enslaved Prince Rilian of Narnia and a horde of Earthmen (gnomes) and plans to use them in a plot to take over Narnia. Her plans are foiled by three friends of Aslan — Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, and Puddleglum. She is given very little back-story and it is never made clear who she really is, or where she came from.
[edit] Overview
The Lady of the Green Kirtle seems to prefer acting indirectly to achieve her ends, as demonstrated when she sends Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum to the giants' castle for the Autumn Feast, and bids them explain that she salutes the giants by them. She knows full well that "man-pies" are a traditional dish for this feast and this is an easy way to get rid of her adversaries. She also plans to attack Narnia from underground, using the enslaved prince as her general, and then rule Narnia perhaps through him as a puppet king.
If she cannot kill them, then she will try to co-opt her foes and bring them under her control. To do this, she uses a magical powder that, along with the lulling thrum of a stringed mandolin-like instrument, makes it difficult for people to think. She used this to her advantage by hypnotizing Eustace, Jill, Puddleglum, and Prince Rilian. She very nearly convinces them that not only Narnia, but also the Earth, do not exist. The children are briefly enchanted by her, but Puddleglum and Rillian successfully avoid this.
She has the ability to shapeshift into a gigantic green serpent. She used this power to try to kill Prince Rilian and his friends, but was instead killed by the Prince who recognized her serpent form as the one that had killed his mother.
[edit] The Green Lady & The White Witch
Some readers believe that the White Witch (Jadis) and the Lady of The Green Kirtle are the same person.The Lady explains to the children that the Giant words "Under Me" were once part of a longer poem which read, "Though under earth, and throneless now I be, yet while I lived all earth was under me." The hidden implication is that they are speaking with the Witch who ruled Narnia long ago.
Perhaps because of this, the BBC cast the same actress for both roles in their TV adaptations. However, it should be noted that this choice of casting was also due to the limited budget of the TV productions, and they did in fact re-use several other actors and actresses in multiple roles, in order to save money.
The character sketch for Jadis included in the latest version of the books describes Jadis as "completely evil, even in The Silver Chair." Since it is the Lady of the Green Kirtle who appears in The Silver Chair, some construe this as evidence that the two are the same. But the character sketches are recent additions to the books, and were not written by Lewis and (in this regard) not supported by Lewis's text.
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