The simularities between Anderson's 'Snow Queen' and Jadis.

Soldier of Aslan

Soldier of Aslan

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Has anyone ever pointed out the simularities between Jadis and Hans Christian Anderson's 'The Snow Queen'?
I know C.S. Lewis was a fan of folklore, but the 2 evil women have several simularities:

-Both are Beautiful but horrid monsters underneath
-Both have dominions of Ice
-Both obsess about a boy
-Both pick up boy in a sled after offering kindness and then return to their palace.

Seems very similar to me...
 
The difference is that the Snow Queen is not exactly evil. She is cold and unfeeling; but there is no sense of malevolence about her.

The Snow Queen seems to represent the world of adulthood, harsh, uncaring and lacking the loving innocence of childhood.

CS Lewis was undoubtedly inspired by the Snow Queen, but he uses his character quite differently.
 
I would argue that the Snow Queen is evil, though not the outright evil that Jadis presents. It came across to me (and Maria Tatar, author of 'The Annotated Hans Christian Anderson', seems to agree) that the Snow Queen and the trials that Gerda go through represent reason and science, where Gerda seems to represent Christian faith, and a mutual understanding between the two. The Queen, presents Kai with reason, and puzzle, though is completely cold and devoid of any feeling herself. A hollow echo, of the beautiful evil of the shattered looking glass that has pierced Kai's heart.Though, I agree that reason and science do have a lot to do with Adulthood.
 
I don't think that interpretation (which I think is correct) sits very easily with describing the Snow Queen as evil.

Jadis and the Snow Queen stand for quite different things, though visually they have some similarity.
 
I have to vote with Soldier on this one. A person doesn't have to get up in the morning consciously SAYING, "How can I be evil today?" to be evil. The New Testament Greek word for sin connotes a SHORTAGE OF GOOD as being enough to count as sin. This is why I keep arguing against those who think all evil can be explained by "hate." All sorts of monstrous things can be willfully and wickedly done by someone who DOESN'T feel any hate for his victims.
 
Interesting observations, interesting question...
It's been ages since I read Snow Queen, but I think of her less of a person and more of a personification of the cold winter harshness and ice and snow. So to me she is dangerous as Jadis but does not have the same aura of evil as the White Witch who not only uses ice and snow to subdue Narnia but she also deceptively puts herself in opposition of all that is good and true (Christmas, Spring, Aslan, mercy, etc.) and twists others to her will as well.
 
Winter is the season of death. Animals go into hibernation, it becomes cold and plants either lose foliage as in teh case of trees or just "winterize" themselves againt the cold and darkness.

After reeading a basic overview of the Snow Queen, it seems both Jadis and her are personifications of this Winter. I would say that you could find many Winter personification stories and find a similar character who has a similar MO.

MrBob
 
Copperfox, the problem I see is that you are personalizing a very abstract figure. The Snow Queen is not a character in the same way that Jadis is. She is more a force of nature, an element or just simply an allegorical symbol.

You can see what she represents in terms of sinfulness, but I'm not sure that was Hans Christian Anderson's intention with the character.
 
Winter Queens

I am planning on writing a fic later about Utuk'ku, from Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. She is another frosty Winter Queen.

Of course, Utuk'ku, like Jadis has motivations and intent. I could write a thousand fics exploring the history and motivations of Jadis (I think you would all get weary though). I couldn't do that with the Snow Queen. I don't think the Snow Queen has a real personality in the way that Jadis or any other fictional villainess has personality.
 
I've been following this debate with some interest. I think it is fair to say that both Jadis and the Snow Queen were evil, but Jadis far more so in my view. The Snow Queen did not plan to conquer the whole world, neither did she seek and then have no qualms in using such a terrible power as the Deplorable Word. I also agree that Jadis seems far more of a real person than the Snow Queen. I wonder if C.S.Lewis was influenced by the story of 'The Snow Queen' in his portrayal of Jadis as the White Witch?
 
I think it's fairly obvious that Lewis had taken inspiration from The Snow Queen.

But I think there are other sources to Jadis, such as ancient mythology and H.Rider Haggard's 'She.' And of course Machiavelli, if you want to consider her philosophy.
 
Obviously Jadis is going to be more developed, than The Snow Queen, as her story requires her to be. 'The Snow Queen' as a story, is much more focused on Gerda, and her third person-limited POV. Since LWW is told from a Narrated third person POV, Jadis is allowed to roam and become part of the story, as well as interact with more people than Snow does. Also, I think the biggest difference between the 2 women and their roles is that both have very different plots. Jadis is a villain in an Epic Fantasy, and Snow Queen is force with evil intent in a coming of age fantasy.
Anderson, being a very religious man, placed many religious references and allegories into his stories. 'The Little Match Girl', and 'The Little Mermaid' reflect this.

For those who are interested or haven't read the story , here's an annotated copy of 'The Snow Queen', the annotations are available on the side menu:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/snowqueen/index.html
 
It's important to consider what the Snow Queen represents.

If, as is generally agreed, she represents the adult world of rationality, it is difficult to define her in simple terms as good or evil.

Is Hans Christian Anderson saying that rational adult society is evil? He is certainly saying it is deficient and morally inferior to the innocence and lovingkindess of childhood, but that is not exactly the same as saying it is evil.

To categorise the Snow Queen as evil is to fail to grasp the depth of the story.
 
Coming back two years later (LOL), I still stand with 'Different Story-type, Different characters', but I see your point. I don't agree that Anderson is saying Adult rational society is evil, but rather that Sense alone is not a virtue. Gerda helps Kia put the puzzle together, so rational/sense isn't evil. Rather the lack of sense and sensibility in balance turns sense into a monster. It's cold and manipulative, just like the overly kind witch woman is too much into sensibility. She wishes to remove Gerda so much from the painful outside world she practically traps her in a 'Endless Summer', thus delaying Gerda's rescue of Kia.
Building on my last comment, both Jadis and the Snow Queen are similar but meet the needs of their respective story. Anderson is working in a short story allegory about high minded and deep things. C.S. Lewis is writing a Children's fantasy series, with arguably just as deep allegory, but with more time, space and allowance to do it. LWW seeks to capture the idea of salvation through grace, where the Snow Queen seeks to capture the spiritual, mental struggle we go though as children and adolescences. In essence both men are using two shades of the same color, only Lewis' shade owes a bit of debt to Anderson and other fantasy writers.
 
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