Andrew Ketterley, better known as Uncle Andrew, is one of the most unpleasant human characters in the Chronicles. He is Digory’s uncle, a self-important dabbler in magic, and the man whose experiments with the yellow and green rings set the plot of The Magician’s Nephew in motion. He likes to think of himself as a bold man of forbidden knowledge. In practice, he is a coward who hides selfishness behind grand language.
The first thing to understand about Andrew is that he treats other people as tools. He sends guinea pigs away with the rings before he fully understands what they do, then tricks Polly into touching one, and finally pressures Digory into following her. That pattern tells you almost everything about him. He is curious, but not responsible. He wants the glory of discovery without accepting the moral cost of what he is doing.
His actions have enormous consequences. Because of Andrew’s meddling, Digory and Polly reach Charn, Jadis is awakened, and the Witch is brought into London and then toward Narnia. Andrew is not the strongest villain in the series, but he is one of the most believable. He feels like the kind of man history has produced many times: half charlatan, half amateur occultist, very impressed with himself, and eager to excuse anything if it flatters his own sense of importance. In that way, he fits the late-Victorian world Lewis is sketching around him, a world where talk of secret powers and scientific progress could mix in ugly ways.
Lewis also makes Andrew faintly ridiculous. He is terrified of Jadis once he realizes she is not under his control, and he cannot begin to understand Aslan. When Aslan speaks, Andrew hears only animal noises because his imagination and pride have shrunk his capacity to recognize anything truly good or truly great. That is part of what makes him such an effective warning sign in the book. He reaches for power, but he has trained himself into pettiness.
Andrew Ketterley helps open the door to Narnia, but he does it for all the wrong reasons. He is one of the clearest examples in the series of intelligence without wisdom.
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