When the queens and kings of Narnia
receive their crowns, they are also given a title to describe their
character. The titles for the others –
King Peter the Magnificent, Queen Lucy the Valiant, Queen Susan the Gentle –
seem apt when you consider the rest of the story of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. King Edmund, however, receives a name that
does not always fit. He is King Edmund
the Just. This is an odd title. The story begins with him belittling his
younger sister Lucy, it progresses to him aligning himself with the Witch, and
moves toward him betraying his brother and sisters. These are hardly the actions of a person we
would describe as just. His title
implies a change, which is a change we see in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. A key lesson from Edmund’s story is that
repentance not only turns away from the
wrong but also turns into the right.
This
essay is best read after reading the novel and will reveal significant plot
points.
I have read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe countless times. Each time, I read the similar account of how
Edmund and the others came across Narnia, helped Aslan defeat the Witch, became
kings and queens, and returned to the professor’s mansion. With this most recent reading, I was struck
by a smaller character in the book and how he drives the narrative. I think this is a story about the rescue of
Mr. Tumnus, how this rescue leads to the collision between the lives of Aslan
and Edmund, and how it could not have occurred without the ultimate transition
of Edmund from a traitorous boy to a just king.
A parallel between the accounts of how
the youngest Pevensie siblings come to know Narnia will
suffice to explain the genesis of Edmund’s treachery. Lucy enters Narnia and meets Tumnus the faun. Tumnus, under the employ of the Witch, tricks
Lucy and intends to turn her over.
Knowing that this is wrong, he immediately confesses and helps Lucy
escape. Edmund enters Narnia and meets
no one. He is sour and embarrassed. Lucy, not Edmund, was correct about the
existence of Narnia and he falsely perceives a slight that Lucy is shunning him
when she in fact cannot hear his call.
Alone, he encounters the Queen of Narnia, the evil witch who cloaks
herself in light. She promises Edmund
power – particularly over his older brother Peter – if he is able to bring the
rest of his family to her. The
consequences of this meeting are seen during the journey to rescue Tumnus
(whose repentance resulted in arrest by the queen). Edmund must choose a side so he chooses the Queen
and her promise. He immediately realizes
the error of his choice. The Queen does
not make him a King, but instead a hostage.
He is helpless until Aslan arrives.
Aslan knows the rules. Edmund is a traitor and any traitor in Narnia
is the property of the Queen and she means to execute. Aslan negotiates with the Queen, Edmund is
released, and he and his siblings have a rather awkward conversation about
apology and forgiveness. The deal
between the Queen and Aslan still results in an execution, though. The Queen takes Aslan to the Stone Table
where her minions bind him, shave him, and kill him. The Queen means to defy her part of the deal
she struck with Aslan and kill Edmund and the others regardless (all the while
not noticing that this is the same sort of treachery that she claims to
convict).
The Queen does not know the rules,
however. If an innocent exchanges his
life for that of a convicted traitor, the Stone Table will break and death will
work in reverse. Aslan is resurrected
and in this resurrection we see the dual benefit of repentance.
Edmund is no longer a traitor but now a
hero. Peter makes it clear that he would
not have been able to lead his troops to victory if not for the actions of his
brother. Edmund did not passively turn
away from the Queen, but actively turned against her. He destroys the Queen’s magic sceptre so she
can no longer turn her enemies to stone.
Edmund’s repentance literally destroys evil’s power and makes it a
conquerable enemy.
With repentance, the rescue of Tumnus is
also possible. By Aslan’s breath, each
creature the Witch turned to stone is re-turned to life. Tumnus is among these and is able to return
to his friend Lucy and her family.
Edmund’s earlier destruction of the sceptre means that Tumnus cannot
again be captured. Evil no longer has
the capability of imprisoning Tumnus.
The power of Edmund’s story is its
demonstration of the two things that pervert justice. The first is obvious – acting unjustly will
lead to injustice. Edmund’s unjust
actions lead to unjust results. The
second is not as obvious – not acting justly may not always cause injustice, but
such ambivalence will not lead to justice, either. If we truly want to make society fairer,
seeing this happen will require effort.
Most of us have done something unjust at
one point or another. (We have certainly
all sinned.) Stopping these unjust
actions is important, but it is not enough.
We will never see a fair and equitable society if we sit back and do
nothing. It is not enough to not be
evil. Justice is only possible if we embrace
goodness. To simply stop acting unjustly
does not heal the results of previous actions.
The repentance that justice grows out from acknowledges the damage that
injustice has done and works to repair it.
That is what turning away from injustice entails.
At the beginning of the story, Peter
says of Edmund that it is difficult to take him at his word. At the end of the story, Peter is able to
change his report to say, “It was all Edmund’s doing, Aslan. We’d have been beaten if it hadn’t been for
him. The Witch was turning our troops
into stone right and left. But nothing
would stop him.”
Edmund shows us how to be just. Repent.
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