Seven Great Lords of Narnia
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The Seven Great Lords of Narnia are fictional characters in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. They are briefly mentioned in Prince Caspian and are central to the plot in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the second and third published books, respectively, in the series.
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In the book Prince Caspian, Caspian overthrows Miraz, with the help of the Old Narnians, to take his rightful position as King of Narnia. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader he sets sail for the Lone Islands and beyond to look for the seven lords who had been sent to explore the lands beyond the Eastern Ocean.
[edit] Miraz and the Lords of Narnia
In chapter 5 of Prince Caspian we learn that after the death of Prince Caspian's father, Miraz initially ruled Narnia as "Lord Protector" for his young nephew. In order to elevate his status, he arranged for the lords loyal to Caspian IX to be removed from Narnia; some were killed deliberately, some fell in battle, and some were sent on impossible missions in the hope that they would never return. Once these loyal lords were removed from Narnia, Miraz allowed himself to be proclaimed King by his own followers, having already placed them into high office as part of his scheming to be accepted as King. Dr. Cornelius, Caspian's tutor speaks of Miraz's rise to power thus:
| “ | And then, one by one, all the great lords who had known your father, died or disappeared. Not by accident, either. Miraz weeded them out. Belisar and Uvilas were shot with arrows on a hunting party: by chance, it was pretended. All the great house of the Passarids he sent to fight giants on the Northern frontier till one by one they fell. Arlian and Erimon and a dozen more he executed for treason on a false charge. The two brothers of Beaversdam he shut up as madmen. And finally he persuaded the seven noble lords, who alone among all the Telmarines did not fear the sea, to sail away and look for new lands beyond the Eastern Ocean, and, as he intended, they never came back. | ” |
[edit] The seven remaining Lords
[edit] Lord Bern
Bern is the first lord to be found by the crew of the Dawn Treader, when they land on Felimath, one of the Lone Islands. Caspian X, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace, and Reepicheep go ashore on Felimath and are taken prisoner by slave traders. Caspian is bought as a slave by Lord Bern but reveals his true identity when Bern promises to treat him well and says that he bought him because he reminded him of his master, King Caspian IX. Bern tells Caspian that he arrived at the Lone Islands, married a girl there, and decided to stay. Together, they free the rest of the landing party from the slave market.
When Caspian learns that the island's government has become corrupt, he uses his official standing as Emperor of the Lone Islands to appoint Lord Bern as Duke of the Islands. Lord Bern remains on Doorn, in the city Narrowhaven (Voyage of the Dawn Treader, chp. 4) when the crew set sail again, now in a position (Duke of the Lone Islands) to restore order to the island.
[edit] Lord Octesian
A bracelet bearing Octesian's family crest was found on Dragon Island, where the Dawn Treader stopped for repairs after being caught in a storm. There are two theories about what happened to Lord Octesian when he was on Dragon Island - he either was eaten by a dragon who was already there, or else was himself turned into a dragon. If either theory is correct, Lord Octesian died as a dragon or was eaten by the dragon that Eustace saw dying prior to being turned into one.
[edit] Lord Restimar
Restimar's corpse, in the form of a gold statue, was found on Deathwater Island, where he had dived into a lake that turned everything in its waters to solid gold. He was discovered by Caspian, Edmund, and Eustace, who later identified the solid gold body as Restimar's when Coriakin informed them that he had been the only one missing from the party when the remaining four lords arrived on Duffer Island.
[edit] Lord Rhoop
Rhoop was found on the Island Where Dreams Come True, also known as the Dark Island. He went to the island thinking that dreams meant daydreams, and found himself trapped in nightmares for seven years. He is a broken man by the time he is rescued, so when the voyage sets anchor at Ramandu's Island the crew leave Rhoop behind to enjoy a blissful, enchanted "sleep without dreams". He remains in this sleep until one of the members of Caspian's crew, Reepicheep, sails into the land of Aslan. It is not stated if he ever recovers from his ordeal.
[edit] Lords Mavramorn, Revilian and Argoz
These three lords are found on the Island of Ramandu, and are the last to be discovered. Their hair has grown exceptionally long when Caspian and his followers find them; and they are in a deep sleep from which the travellers are unable to wake them. Ramandu's daughter tells the travellers that the three lords quarrelled over whether to remain at the island, to sail onwards, or to return to Narnia, and that one of the lords, in his anger, picked up the knife which had been used to kill Aslan centuries before. This inappropriate handling of a sacred object caused the three lords to fall into an enchanted sleep. Caspian and his friends are told that the only way to awaken the three sleeping lords is to sail voluntarily to the end of the world or as close as possible, and to leave behind at least one member of the crew. After the Dawn Treader has sailed east for some time in this quest, Aslan appears to Caspian, and informs him that Reepicheep, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace are to continue on towards the end of the world, but that the other crew members are to go back. This requirement is fulfilled, Reepicheep goes on towards the end of the world, as he has always wished, the three children are sent back to England, and the three lords awake from their sleep.
[edit] Portrayals
[edit] BBC Adaptation
- Lord Bern - Pavel Douglas
- Lord Rhoop - Christopher Godwin
[edit] See also
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