Edmund Pevensie
Edmund "Ed" Pevensie, is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. He comes out in three of the seven books (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), and a smaller character in two other books (The Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle).
In the live-action films, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Edmund is portrayed by actor Skandar Keynes. Actor Mark Wells portrays an older Edmund at the end of the first movie.
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he betrays his siblings to Jadis, the White Witch while under her influence, but as the story goes on he accepts that he has done wrong. In the book, Edmund is described as having ash blonde hair, grey eyes and dimples like his siblings. He is the only one out of brother and sisters to have light hair which as Lewis states represents him being an outsider.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Edmund is one of the main characters, at the age of 10 years old, and the character who develops the most over the story.
It is said in the book that Edmund started his life as a likeable person, but then changed for the worse and began to act meanly after moving into a new school. However, in the 2005 movie adaptation of the book, it is said that he is upset that they are sent away from home, on account of their father forced to serve the war.
Edmund talks cruely to Lucy when she first finds the entrance to Narnia through a wardrobe, and is the second of the Pevensie children to go to Narnia, after following Lucy so he could tease her. While there, he meets Jadis, the White Witch (who introduces herself as the Queen of Narnia) and he gets to eat some magical Turkish delight, which causes an addiction in the person who eats it. After that, he promises the White Witch that he will bring his brother and sisters to her castle, not knowing that she was intending to kill them all to prove a Narnian prophecy. Lucy did mention the White Witch in a conversation and Edmund realizes that the witch was none other than the "Queen of Narnia", but the magic of the Turkish Delight was so strong that he decided to go to the castle for more.
When Edmund returns to the normal world, he refuses having been in Narnia, not wanting to admit that Lucy was speaking the truth.
When the four of the Pevensie children later go through the wardrobe he says that he has been in Narnia before. He and the other siblings are protected by Mr and Mrs Beaver. But when the Beavers and the other three Pevensie children are having a conversation about the arrival of Aslan, Edmund sneaks away to the White Witch's castle, where he hopes to be made a prince and later on a king.
However, his thoughts of the Witch changes when she berates him for coming without his siblings, and even more so when on their journey to the Stone Table they find a small group of creatures enjoying a feast made by Father Christmas. When the creatures continue to say that Father Christmas is their benefactor and has entered Narnia, a sign that her power is weakening, she turns them to stone.
Edmund now finds to his horror that the White Witch was evil, and would give anything to be with his brother and sisters. The White Witch's sledge eventually stops as the snow melts (another sign of the witch's crumbling power), so they have to continue their journey on foot. They stop in a wooded valley, where the Witch prepares to kill Edmund, on account of his betraying her. She ties Edmund to a tree and takes out a dagger, but a rescue party sent by Aslan arrives, frees him and brings him to his siblings and the rest of Aslan's troop. Edmund becomes fully sorry after a long talk with Aslan who afterward commands the Pevensies to agree the matter of their brother's misdeeds forgotten. The next day, the Witch claims that Edmund's life is hers. She and Aslan work out an agreement that Aslan will die in Edmund's place (though the other Narnians do not know this), but unknown to her, the magical nature of this agreement allows Aslan to be brought back to life. Susan and Lucy witnessed Aslan's resurrection.
While Aslan and Lucy and Susan race to free the stone prisoners in the Witch's castle, Edmund joins Peter's army in the battle, where he plays a role in breaking the White Witch's dangerous wand, and is wounded in the attempt. Then the Witch's army outnumbered very quickly, and she is soon killed by Aslan, while the leftover of the enemies either give themselves up or take to flight.
However, Edmund is saved from death by the arrival of Aslan, and of Lucy, who gives Edmund a few dropse of a magic cordial which can quickly heal any sickness.
Eventually, Edmund heals is crowned to the Great Western Wood by Aslan as King Edmund the Just, co-ruler of Narnia with Queen Lucy, Queen Susan and High King Peter, and is knighted as Duke of Lantern Waste, Count of the Western March, and Knight of the Noble Order of the Table.
15 years later, he and his siblings return to England, where they all appear as children again.
Prince Caspian
Edmund and his siblings return to Narnia to meet Caspian, rightful King of Narnia, against King Miraz. He convinces Trumpkin the dwarf that they are the Kings and Queens from the legend by defeating him in a sword-fighting practice. Later, he helps Peter and Trumpkin defend Caspian against Nikabrik (the black dwarf), the hag, and the were-wolf. Edmund is also there to see Peter's sword duel against King Miraz.
Edmund has since become more caring for Lucy, and is the first one to believe her when she "sees" Aslan, going on her side against the disbelief comments of Trumpkin and her other siblings. Edmund is shown in the book more nicer than in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
In the movie, Edmund proves to be much more mature than Peter and Caspian both, but he stays out of their arguments. Also in the movie, he is able to stop the White Witch from being brought back from the dead by crashing the ice wall she is slipping out of.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Edmund, Lucy and their cousin Eustace come back to Narnia again by a painting, and end up in the ocean. They are saved and brought on board the Dawn Treader by King Caspia who is on a journey to find the three Lords that disappeared. This was Edmund and Lucy's last adventure in Narnia, because Aslan told them they were getting too old to come back. By this point Edmund had matured a great deal which can be seen in the way he deals with Eustace (cousin) and in the fights with King Caspian. Also, Edmund has completely stopped insulting Lucy. When Eustace (cousin) changes his behavior after being changed back from a dragon, Edmund mentions his own betrayal and says that Eustace was not worse than he was with the words "You are an ass, but I was a traitor".
The Horse and His Boy
King Edmund, Queen Susan and Mr. Tumnus the Faun are visitors in the country of Calormen, where Prince Rabadash wants Susan to marry him. Thinking that Shasta is the missing Prince Corin of Archenland, Narnia's ally, Edmund scolds the boy for running off and making everybody worried sick of him. The Narnians escape, thanks to Tumnus' cloever plan, which leads Rabadash to make his father agree that they should take Narnia by invading Archenland.
Shasta meets Edmund once again in Anvard. Edmund reminds Shasta that he should not eavesdrop. Edmund and King Lune of Archenland lead the fight against the Calormene army and they manage to win.
The Last Battle
After dreaming of King Tirian in Narnia begging for their help in England, Peter and Edmund go to the Ketterleys' old home in London to dig up the magic rings that Professor Kirke buried in the yard as a boy in The Magician's Nephew to be used by Eustace and Jill to reach Narnia. They are waiting for the others on the train platform when an accident happens.
When King Tirian sees the Seven Friends of Narnia in his dream, he thinks that Edmund and Peter 'had already the face of a King and a warrior'.
Edmund joins everyone, except Susan, into Aslan's country. Like his Peter and Lucy, he is killed in the train crash and goes back to Aslan's country, where they can all live forever in a peaceful way.
Other websites
References
- Ford, Paul (2005), Edmund Pevensie (in The Companion to Narnia: A Complete Guide to the Magical World of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia), HarperSanFrancisco, ISBN 0-06-079127-6