Does Susan go to the "New Narnia"?/Whatever happened to Susan?

Susan has some task to perform as an adult in our world and that is why she couldn't go on to Narnia along with everyone else. I assume she will make it back into Narnia but it may be her destiny to need to wait until old age to do so. Perhaps, like Digory, it will be Susan's role to serve as a sort of 'mentor' to a new generation of children who will enter Narnia or other magical worlds. Such a role would take place well beyond the period when C.S. Lewis was writing the books and/or the span of his life, and so unless he were to see it as his role to write novels about the future, he necessarily had to leave the question of what ultimately happens to Susan somewhat uncertain. But I think it is safe to assume that she ultimately does make it back into Narnia. Remember, also, that C.S. Lewis says that there comes an age when older adults start to believe in fairy tales again, so I assume when that age comes Susan will believe in Narnia again and make it back. Probably Digory went through a long period of time where he didn't believe--we meet him again in old age when he believes in fairy tales. I assume the same will happen with Susan. C.S. Lewis just couldn't be specific without speculating as to the future of our world and that was never his intent.
 
Girlie said:
Well, if Susan turned back to her faith, wouldn't it be too late for her? I mean in the end times Jesus will return but there's not going to be anymore chances after that. So because there is a new Narnia, she probably cannot get in even if she turns back and then dies.
Well, at least that's how my thinking goes.
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But what about the children that were not even alive when narnia came? what would happen to them? shouldn't they have a chance?
 
The clue to it all is, I suspect, in Aslan's words to the Pevensie children (I think it's in LWW but don't have a copy so I can't give a page reference): "Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia".
 
I was really angry with C.S. Lewis when I found out he hadn't let Susan into Narnia just for growing up. A lot of people have testified that he was a bit of a misogynist - he didn't like women. That really looked apparent to me in Last Battle, when you find out why she's not there, in Jill's speech. I think that was supposed to apply to all grown women, not just Susan.

I posted this somewhere else, but there's a lot of good fics on this topic at fanfiction.net. One that I especially liked was Belief, by someone whose username I can't remember. I think it was Italian-sounding. o_o Use the search function and contain it to works by C.S. Lewis and you'll find it.
 
Astral said:
I was really angry with C.S. Lewis when I found out he hadn't let Susan into Narnia just for growing up. A lot of people have testified that he was a bit of a misogynist - he didn't like women. That really looked apparent to me in Last Battle, when you find out why she's not there, in Jill's speech. I think that was supposed to apply to all grown women, not just Susan.
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Aww, no way! Lucy is pretty much the star of the show for the first book, and plays a major role in the others, and he never puts her in a negative light. Also, in MN, it is Digory, not Polly who messes things up, and Polly always does what's right. If you asked me, he splits up the heroism pretty equally among the two sexes. I think he put the stuff in there about Susan to warn kids not to become shallow, materialistic phonies-guys or girls, not because he was a misogynist.

Looking at Lewis personal life, I don't think this idea holds either. You should read A Grief Observed to see how much observing his wife slowly die tore him up inside if you get a chance...
 
onlymystory said:
In a letter CS Lewis wrote to a child who asked the same question he said that at the end of LB, Susan is still alive in our world and so she still has a chance. Lewis went on to say that it was his belief that Susan did eventually get back to Narnia, she just took a little longer than the others.
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I'd like to think that too. That someday, somehow, someway Susan made it back to Narnia. It's not like people can't get lost, or lose their faith and then get it back.

Arachne also makes a very good point, I think. Aslan did say that, and maybe Susan's behaivor then served some greater purpose...or maybe she was just lost for a bit...the accident I think might have been what brought her back.

But again that's all speculation...but I do think she'd make it back somehow.
 
I actually think Susan DOES make it to the "new Narnia", and this is why.

1. As you will probably be able to recall, Susan "turns away" from the truth about Narnia, and the magic, and Aslan and gets wrapped up in the "material things" of this world (or so say the other 3 Pevensies). She is not on the train with the other kids because I think that she was given another chance at being saved.

2. "Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia." Susan was once a queen in Narnia so, unless Aslan was lying which I believe he was not, Susan will return and become the queen of Narnia once again, which is another reason why she was given another chance on the train... so she can return and because Aslan IS NOT a liar.

Hopes this helps!!!!!
 
DeplorableWord said:
"Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia." Susan was once a queen in Narnia so, unless Aslan was lying which I believe he was not, Susan will return and become the queen of Narnia once again, which is another reason why she was given another chance on the train... so she can return and because Aslan IS NOT a liar.
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Actually, Aslan doesn't say that - Professor Kirke does, back in England after the children tell him the story (in the book he isn't walking into the room.) And even if He had said it, that wouldn't prevent Susan from choosing her own path. She could be a queen in Narnia who exiles herself by her choices - she'd just be an exiled queen.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
Actually, Aslan doesn't say that - Professor Kirke does, back in England after the children tell him the story (in the book he isn't walking into the room.) And even if He had said it, that wouldn't prevent Susan from choosing her own path. She could be a queen in Narnia who exiles herself by her choices - she'd just be an exiled queen.
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I'm suprised by you POW. Aslan does to say "Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen, Bear it well, Sons of Adam! Bear it well, Daughters of Eve!". It is the last thing Aslan says in LWW. And that is what suprises the children when the Professor quotes Aslan.
 
Dead right, TimmyOfOz! I stand quite corrected. Aslan did say it, and then Professor Kirke echoed it. My point about Susan's choice still stands, but I need to be more careful in my research.
 
Not a virgin anymore??

From reading the HHB, I got the idea that only Susan, not Lucy, was being sought after as a bride. I don't know if it was here, or another Narnia forum that I read, but someone said that Susan could not come back to Narnia b/c she had been sexually active. Now, I don't know whether Susan ever gets married or not, but it seemed to me, if Lewis meant this as a biblical parallel, that Susan would not be allowed into "heaven" b/c she was promiscuous, having sex outside of wedlock, or something along these lines. Was Lewis trying to send a message to young girls reading his books? We know that Lewis was Christian, and maybe he was saying that if you are materialistic and lustful, w/out repentance, then you will not be allowed into "heaven"? I may be way off here, but I was always intrigued by the statement I read in the mysterious thread. Any thoughts??
 
Old and New??

Aslan_FootSoldier posted this:

"narnia is not heaven, but the 'new' narnia that exists in LB is. hope this helps!"

How come in PC, Caspian, and others refer to "Old Narnia", if "New Narnia" is not established until the LB?? :confused:
 
TolkienGoddess said:
How come in PC, Caspian, and others refer to "Old Narnia", if "New Narnia" is not established until the LB?? :confused:
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You have to remember that Lewis did not plan out every book before he wrote them. He was not expecting a continuation to LWW, and later believed that VDT would be his last book. When Caspian refers to the "Old Narnia" in PC, he is talking about the Golden age when the 4 Pevensie children ruled Narnia. As far as I know PC is in no way refering to "New Narnia" that appears in LB, because CSL had not thought of New Narnia yet.
 
I think Susan does eventually go to New Narnia because when Aslan was at the entrance to the New Narnia he chose who would be able to enter and who would not. Susan still has time to 'repent' and I don't think she really doubts Aslan's existence unlike the Dwarves who couldn't be helped in the LB, rather she put it aside while she 'grew up'. I did like the ending in a sense but I thought it was really unfortunate that all of them (except Susan) died due to a train crash. It made me quite sad.
 
I dont think that Susan was sexually active, I mean she was sought after as a bride but that doesnt mean she slept with anybody!!!
 
inkspot said:
I have wondered about the parents and Susan. It was a bit rough of Lewis to leave Susan there alone with her whole family smashed up on the railway. If he just put the Pevensie parents there so the kids could be happy to be in the new Narnia for eternity, what about Jill and Eustace's parents? I do like the idea that maybe Susan came into possession of the rings, and that brought back to her how real Narnia was, and she was able to use the rings to join her family ...
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I always saw Susan moving in with Eustace's parents and getting the rings also. She is kind of old by now and may be just entering college. But rings only take her to the magic woods though.
 
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The Tisroc said:
I'm actually reading the insert form the older bbc dvd collection (the new one has bonus discs and stuff) and in the "Little Known Narnia Facts" it states:

"Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Peter Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie, Lucy Pevensie, Eustace Scrubb, and Jill Pole were all killed in a serious railway accident in 1949"
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All of that, except the date (which is speculation) is revealed at the end of Last Battle. As far as it being depressing - well they certainly didn't think so, because they all ended up back in Narnia, never to have to leave again! That's an interesting speculation on the part of TimmyOfOz as to what happened to Susan. Personally, I can't see her toying with the Rings at all, even if they did eventually come into her hands - but who knows?
 
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