• sammer510 [none/use name]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Literally Jesus. Many people think Aslan the lion was intended to be an allegory for Jesus but Lewis from what I understand did not intend for The Chronicles of Narnia to be an allegory for Christianity but rather a supposition of sorts. Aslan is literally Jesus, in the Narnian universe. Like in our universe we call him Jesus and he died on the cross and in the Narnian universe his name is Aslan and he dies on a stone table. It's more like a Jesus fan fiction than a Jesus allegory. That's how Christian it is. Lewis answers the question "What would Jesus look like if he existed in a fantasy universe"

      • happybadger [he/him]
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        2 years ago

        I now need a Passion of the Aslan where all the Narnia characters reenact the actual crucifixion of Jesus. Overly melodramatic portrayal of Jesus by a man in a lion suit.

    • star_wraith [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Yes. As sammer510 said it may not technically be allegory but "Aslan is Jesus" hits you with all the subtlety of a Ayn Rand character.

      • Findom_DeLuise [she/her, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Maybe I just didn't catch it at the time because I was like 10 years old when I read them, but it seemed like he toned it down a lot in the later books in the series. I started with like the fourth or fifth one because that was what my elementary school library had, and it was pretty much just that or Lloyd Alexander for fantasy genre stuff. When I got to middle school and they had the whole series, though, holy fucking shitballs. All the subtlety of a nut shot with a sledgehammer.

        • danisth [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I mean the Last Battle is pretty Revelations-y, but yeah Dawn Treader and some of the other middle ones are more chill.

        • star_wraith [he/him]
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          2 years ago

          What's funny is that his buddy Tolkien hated allegory with burning hatred of a thousand suns. I can't imagine what he thought about it, probably a reason AFAIK we don't have any notes or letters from Tolkien that express his feelings about it.

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            We have plenty of evidence that Tolkien despised the books, they almost stopped being friends he was so pissed about father Christmas in Narnia.

          • FuckItNewName [they/them]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Tough luck, Tolkien. You exist in a cultural context and your artistic sensibilities are shaped by your life experiences just like everyone else, bucko

        • Blep [he/him]
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          2 years ago

          I mean in the first one he creates the world and the the last one he destroys it to create heaven, that combined with the ressurction in book 2 are all the direct god bits. I font think he was a character in any of the rest of them

          • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            He shows up usually at the beginning and end, sometimes in dreams or visions in the middle.

      • FuckItNewName [they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        If we wanna talk about a lack of subtly in a christ allegory, I am compelled to bring up The Matrix and how I didn’t recognize it the first time