Narnian Diet

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The Land of NoD

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Just curious, do people in Narnia eat meat? I mean, how do people, centaurs find meat to eat if it often mean dining on their neighbors? I mean, given that neighbor kitten or bunny can talk and be intelligent, don't it smack a bit of cannibalism?

Or how do predators like Wolves (or Lions!) eat then? I can't see those beasts of prey start dining on tea and salads. I do know the Prevenies in LWW were chasing/hunting a Stag, which struck me as odd even as a kid, because that would seen to be unusually cruel to one's own citizens.
 
It is clearly stated in the Chronicles that some species of animals are TALKING where others are NOT. And that in some species SOME are talking while OTHERS are not.

In the Castle at Harfang where the giants were preparing for the harvest festival, they were serving stag. One of the giants let slip that the "stag was a liar" because he claimed he was old and tough and not worth eating.
 
Lol..um, maybe they all just eat plants and stuff. Natural things that grow from the earth. And I believe there are other dumb creatures in like Calormen and Archenland. Dumb as in Non-talking, non-gifted by Aslan.

But then those are faraway neighboring countries...Maybe there is some Narnia too.
 
You have to say "Give me ONE GOOD REASON why I shouldn't shoot you!" and if they can, you don't! :D

Problem is, people have accidentally murdered French poodles that kept shouting that strange barking sound, "Ne tirez pas! Sil vous plait!"
 
The Land of NoD said:
Or how do predators like Wolves (or Lions!) eat then? I can't see those beasts of prey start dining on tea and salads. I do know the Prevenies in LWW were chasing/hunting a Stag, which struck me as odd even as a kid, because that would seen to be unusually cruel to one's own citizens.
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Ah but you have to remember, they were not hunting it to kill it, merely to catch it. If you catch the elusive White Stag you will have your wish granted. (It talks about that in the books.)

EveningStar said:
Problem is, people have accidentally murdered French poodles that kept shouting that strange barking sound, "Ne tirez pas! Sil vous plait!"
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Hehe! :p LLL!
 
good point, NP. I was going to point that out; the Pevensies weren't going to kill it, they just wanted to catch him to make a wish...

I'm sure they had meat of some kind because it's implied in Prince CAspian that Ed and Peter knew how to skin\clean a bear and Susan and Lucy went away because they knew what a "horrid messy" job it would be. and I'm sure Aslan provided meat because as Christ provides for us, I'm sure Aslan provided for the Narnians and Archlanders *sp?* who believed in him. and if you remember from TMN, Aslan didn't give some of the animals speech or wisdom, as ES said in a way above.

I'm sure as well that the fish didn't talk....because they fished in Prince caspian and it didn't seem as if they were worried about catching a "talking" fish.
 
It appears that only warmblooded animals, i.e. mammals and birds, were eligible for promotion to talking status.

Anyone who reads my tiger story, or the related story still in progress from Timbalionguy, will see our speculations on how Talking Carnivores might have not only taken care to distinguish whether a herbivore in front of them was intelligent or not, but even intervened to protect Talking Herbivores against wild-beast carnivores.

The LWW movie did a disservice by allowing uninitiated viewers to get the impression that ALL mammals and birds in the Narnian world were thinking beings.
 
As I say, the movie did make it seem as if everything vertebrate in Narnia had human intelligence. But the book does make it clearer that there still are "dumb beasts" also. And if doubts remain, the bear-attack scene in "Prince Caspian" spells it out.
 
Copperfox said:
As I say, the movie did make it seem as if everything vertebrate in Narnia had human intelligence. But the book does make it clearer that there still are "dumb beasts" also. And if doubts remain, the bear-attack scene in "Prince Caspian" spells it out.
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But there isn't many in Narnia (at least in LWW). Only beasts that were even in the story of LWW (NOT MOVIE) if I recall correctly (minus demi-races such as Centuar and Nymphs) are the badgers, the fox (and a few beast that got frozen for having tea), the Wolf police of the witch...and that were about it.
 
I'm not entirely sure about what you mean but the bottom line is: there were a lot of beasts who were intelligent and talked, and there were others that were not fit to be intelligent and talking animals.

and you hvae to remember, the Centaurs had two breakfasts: one for the man part of them, the other for the horse part, meaning they had what you and I might have for breakfast but after they were done they would eat hay, grass, etc....*although I have to admit, the combination doesn't sound very tasteful, lol.* obviously, it wasn't very important for Lewis to mention or he would have included it in his stories. and as Copperfox said, the movie didn't expand as much as the book did; so you should never hold the movie up as a "bible" about Narnia....the book is much more in-depth. In fact, NEVER look to the movie as the best source in anything.
 
References to dumb animals and meat-eating abound in the Chronicles. Peafowl is a dish frequently mentioned at royal feasts. The bear in PC was mentioned. Also, in PC, when the Telmarine army was being held captive, Caspian ordered they be fed 'Beef and Beer'. Hunting and meat eating is mentioned on the journey in SC. And, Aslan's table in VDT had enough meat on it to make me start drooling.

In MN, Aslan gives the power of thought and speech to a select group of all the animals He creates. These end up not only in Narnia, but all over in the Narnian world. Dumb horses are mentioned frequently. One notable one not mentioned yet is the dumb lion that was shot and skinned by a hunter in LB. It is very unusual for someone who takes a lion for any reason, not to use the skin for something. (lion meat is quite edible.) So, that is uncharacteristically odd. It also implies that there were a lot of humans living in the western realms in those days.
 
As I recall in the film at the end you clearly see the kids all grown up hunting a Stag (I assume that's another name for Deer) so meat is not outside of Narnian diet...
 
There was a way to tell the difference between talking animals and the dumb animals. The talking animals were larger and you could see it in their face. As for why we didn't see as many of the dumb animals in the movie, well, we didn't have any need to.

As for the fish, well, there may be some that are smart and others that are dumb. What we do know, however, is that there are intelligent water-dwelling peoples such as the merpeople and the people who lived in the waters near Aslan's Land that Lucy saw.

Punkmaister, the White Stag would grant a wish to the person who caught it. They were not hunting it for food.

MrBob
 
Copperfox said:
As I say, the movie did make it seem as if everything vertebrate in Narnia had human intelligence.
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I slightly disagree. Whereas most of the animals talked, some didn't seem to be able to. For example: the polar bears that pulled the Witch's chariot for battle, the phoenix, the raindeer (Father Christmas' and the Witch's).
 
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