What can one of best loved fantasy books for younger readers tell us about plot and story structure? Explore how C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe maps to the Heroine’s Journey, one of many plot templates available in Plottr.
Plot Summary of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second book in C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” series, chronologically. It was the first book in the series Lewis published, in 1950. This portal fantasy for younger readers is the most famous book in the series.
The plot’s premise: A group of four siblings is sent to a grand old house in the English countryside to keep safe from air raids in London during wartime. While holidaying at the house, the siblings stumble across a portal to a magical land in the back of an old wardrobe.
This magical land, Narnia, lies under eternal winter, due to the reign of a cruel witch, the White Witch Jadis.
Jadis has declared herself Queen of Narnia, and turns her adversaries (or anyone who displeases her) to stone. She has various corrupt and ghoulish creatures to do her bidding.
A prophecy states that when four humans, two male and two female, sit on the empty thrones at the castle Cair Paravel in Narnia, the Witch’s reign and life will be over.
With the help of a giant magical lion, Aslan, as well as woodland creatures that have suffered under the White Witch, the children defeat the cruel queen and her army. Winter passes into spring, and the children are crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia.
The siblings grow older in Narnia, maintaining harmony, until a hunt for a white stag fabled to grant wishes leads them back through the portal to the ordinary world they left behind as children. It transpires that little more than an hour has passed and they have become children again.
Plot Structure in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
This classic fantasy story shows many of the hallmark features of the “Heroine’s Journey” plot structure. For example:
- The protagonists find strength and power in numbers, friendship and allyship, compared to the more solitary mission typical of the Hero’s Journey
- Characters are most vulnerable to the story’s villains when alone or isolated
- Gathering friends and allies is crucial for overcoming evil and reestablishing harmony as well as discovering self
You can download a Plottr demo file featuring timelines for each of the main characters.
Although the story doesn’t map to the Heroine’s Journey 100%, here are examples of this plot structure’s beats and how they line up with the story:
Act 1: The Descent
Beat 1: The Illusion of a Perfect World or The Heroine’s Circumstance
In the first beat of the Heroine’s Journey, we see the heroine in a world that seems perfect, where she believes her group will protect her. She may hold the false belief that nothing bad can happen to her.
Example: In Chapters 1 and 2, Lucy Pevensie is curious about an old wardrobe in the house where she and her siblings are staying in the English countryside.
When Lucy ventures inside the wardrobe, she’s transported to snowy woods where she meets a faun who invites her for tea, Mr Tumnus.
Everything seems pleasant (the illusion of a perfect world at first), but this circumstance quickly gives way to betrayal. The faun reveals he intended to befriend Lucy and hand her over to the White Witch, though he reneges on this and agrees to escort her back to the portal and back to safety. Lucy is also betrayed by her siblings upon her return to the ordinary world.
Beat 2: Betrayal/Disillusionment
In this beat in the Heroine’s Journey, the heroine’s network or familial ties are disrupted. The world is not as perfect as she thought, and she is disillusioned of the idea of perfection or the reliability of shelter or protection.
Example: Lucy excitedly tells her siblings about the magical world and the wardrobe, and they go along with her and go to see, but it has become an ordinary wardrobe again. The illusion crumbles.
Lucy’s siblings tease her mercilessly. Her brother Edmund is particularly spiteful and she’s devastated.
Beat 3: Pleas for Assistance
In this beat, the heroine discovers her immediate network is not the source of help she seeks. This causes her to embark on an involuntary quest.
Example: In Chapter 3, the siblings play hide and seek on a wet day, and Lucy hides in the wardrobe. Edmund follows her in, intending to tease her some more, but they both end up back in Narnia.
Lucy hasn’t found support in her siblings, but she finds friendship in Mr. Tumnus, the faun, who tells her of all of the White Witch’s misdeeds in Narnia. Meanwhile, Edmund meets the White Witch who introduces herself as Queen of Narnia and tempts him with Turkish delight, telling him she’ll give him more if he brings his siblings to her.
Note: Here you see how the story doesn’t quite fit the Heroine’s Journey entirely. It is the villain who asks for assistance here, luring in Edmund, and you could say Mr Tumnus also indirectly asks for assistance by introducing Lucy to the woes of Narnia, leading her to feel responsible to help him and its denizens.
So there are pleas for assistance, but flowing to (rather than from) the protagonists.
Beat 4: The Actual Descent
The fourth beat of the Heroine’s Journey shows the protagonist(s) descending into a new world. This world brings with it increasing isolation, as well as personal danger. Sometimes, it also brings a loss of identity.
Example: In Chapters 5 and 6, ‘Back on This Side of the Door” and “Into the Forest,” all of the four siblings finally enter Narnia. They have to concede that Lucy wasn’t lying about Narnia’s existence.
One day, while avoiding the housekeeper who’s giving a tour of the old house, they all hide in the wardrobe. The four siblings find themselves in the snowy woods of Narnia, having passed through the portal in the wardrobe. They go to Lucy’s friend Mr Tumnus’ home, but find it has been damaged and ransacked. They find a note stating that he’s been arrested for treason against the Queen (the White Witch).
The siblings follow a robin that they ask to lead them to where Mr Tumnus has been taken, and realize that they are lost.
Act 2: The Search
The second act of the Heroine’s Journey kicks off a search.
Beat 5: Isolation and Risk
In this beat of the Heroine’s Journey, the loss of the ordinary world means a loss of control. A series of try/fail cycles (striving and failure) kicks off.
Example: The siblings meet a talking beaver who shushes them and tells them it isn’t safe to speak in the open. He leads them to his home on a dam, where they have dinner and are able to speak more freely. Although he cautions them about the White Witch, he offers hope by saying cryptically that Aslan is on the move.
This beat of the story ups the tension, suggesting how the children are at risk in Narnia. There isn’t much isolation, though, as they already begin finding allies in the kind Mr Beaver and his wife.
Beat 6: The Need to Connect
In Beat 6 of the Heroine’s Journey, the protagonist forms connections that will help on the journey to come. The journey is about saving others, which also saves the protagonist.
Example: The need to connect is evident in how the siblings band together with Mr and Mrs Beaver. In Chapter 8, Mr Beaver shares vital information with the children after dinner about how it would be dangerous and foolish to try to enter the Witch’s house to rescue Mr Tumnus.
Meanwhile, though, their traitorous brother Edmund slips away, intending to go to the White Witch who promised to make him a King of Narnia one day when they first met.
In breaking the social and familial network, Edmund is more isolated. He travels in great discomfort, getting cold, wet, and bruised as he stumbles through the snow toward the Witch’s house.
Beat 7: Withdrawal – A Visit to the Underworld
In the seventh beat of the Heroine’s Journey, we see withdrawal from support structures and the consequences that follow. We see how a protagonist is most vulnerable when alone.
Example: Edmund approaches the Witch’s house, which is really a small castle. He is afraid when he sees a crouching lion in the courtyard, but then realizes that it is made of stone.
The house is certainly underworld-like: A wolf guards the Witch’s quarters like Cerberus, and Edmund mistakes him for another stone animal at first. It’s the Captain of the Witch’s Secret Police, and he calls the Witch to tell her Edmund has arrived.
We see how isolation and separation from family networks weaken characters here, as Edmund seems much smaller and less brave.
Edmund is disappointed, too, when the Witch is much crueller to him than when he first encountered her. She gives him stale bread, not the second helping of Turkish delight he hoped for.
Beat 8: Support – The Goddess
In the eighth beat of The Heroine’s Journey, the protagonist meets a deity-like or spiritual figure who offers support.
Example: While Edmund is betraying his siblings and the beavers’ whereabouts to the White Witch, they are preparing to meet Aslan. They head out in Chapter 10, “The Spell Begins to Break,” and sleep in an old beaver hiding place overnight.
In the morning they hear bells. They’re initially afraid, thinking it’s the Witch’s sleigh, but it turns out to be another sleigh. It’s Father Christmas, and his arrival suggests the Witch’s spell over Narnia is starting to break, as winter is finally passing.
Father Christmas gives the three remaining siblings gifts: A sword and shield for Peter, the eldest, a small ivory horn to Susan to blow in a time of great need, and a vial of healing balm and dagger to Lucy, the youngest.
Act 3: The Search
Beat 9: The Actual Ascent
In this beat of the Heroine’s Journey, the protagonist begins an ascent towards a consistent network of allies. The protagonist finds and embraces connection.
Example: In Chapters 11 and 12, signs of winter thawing out increase as evidence of Spring appears, including the sound of running water, birdsong, and flowers appearing.
Peter, Susan and Lucy literally ascend towards the Stone Table, a stone structure engraved with magical symbols on a hill. It lies next to a pavilion of silk where they see Aslan, the Great Lion. Together with Aslan, they find an assortment of good creatures including leopards, eagles and others who will help them later in a battle against the White Witch.
Beat 10: Dark Night/All is Lost
This is the moment in the Heroine’s Journey where it seems dark forces will be too much to overcome. More may be required to achieve the ultimate goal.
Example: In Chapter 12, Peter faces off against the wolf Maugrim, the Captain of the Witch’s Secret Police, and kills him with his sword. Edmund is rescued by Aslan’s forces and carried back to the Stone Table.
In Chapter 13, “Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time,” the Witch comes to speak with Aslan, sending a messenger ahead to seek safe passage. She reminds Aslan of old magic that declares that she owns the blood of any traitor, and that Edmund thus belongs to her.
Aslan speaks with the Witch alone, and later tells everyone they have come to an agreement whereby she will spare Edmund.
In Chapter 14, “The Triumph of the Witch,” Lucy and Susan learn the awful truth. Aslan has agreed to sacrifice himself to be killed by the Witch and her minions in exchange for Edmund’s freedom.
Beat 11: Reconnection and Renewal of Community and Family
This beat shows the protagonist realizing that old methods won’t work. It sees community or family rally together to find new solutions and a new way forward.
Example: Lucy and Susan have secretly followed Aslan back to the Stone Table. He allows them to accompany him some of the way, but then goes it alone. They cover their faces as the Witch kills him, but rush to his side afterwards.
In Chapter 15, “Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time,” mice arrive to where Aslan lies dead and gnaw him free of the cords the Witch and her minions used to bind him. The girls cry over him and stroke him. They leave but hear a loud crack. They turn around and the Stone Table Aslan was lying upon is cracked in two, and he’s gone.
Aslan appears behind the sisters, brought back to life. He explains how older magic than the Witch knew says that a person who sacrifices themselves in a traitor’s place will be reborn.
Lucy and Susan are overjoyed and Aslan offers them a ride on his back to the White Witch’s castle.
Beat 12: The Power of Connection in Action
In Beat 12 of the Heroine’s Journey, we see how coming together helps the protagonist(s) to achieve their goal.
Example: Aslan takes Lucy and Susan on his back to the Witch’s house, where he starts breathing life into all the statues. They come back to life, including Mr Tumnus. With the help of a giant, they bust out of the castle and they head for where Peter and Edmund and a small group of creatures are holding off the White Witch’s forces.
Beat 13: The Final Battle
The Heroine and her team are now unified and will thwart their enemy. This is a time of strategy and togetherness as well as eventual resolution and compromise. The Heroine has to give a little to get a little to achieve the main goal.
Example: At the battlefield, Peter reveals that Edmund has been courageous and was badly injured while breaking the Witch’s wand. Lucy remembers the vial Father Christmas gave her and sets about nursing the wounded on the battlefield back to health, administering drops. Edmund recovers to his old self, and Aslan knights him.
Aslan springs upon the White Witch and kills her. Their forces emerge victorious.
Beat 14: Moment of Truth
This beat in the Heroine’s Journey sees a moment of reconciliation once the final battle has been won.
Example: The siblings are all reunited at last, as they make their way to Cair Paravel with Aslan and their allies.
Beat 15: Ascent to Power or Something More?
This penultimate beat of the Heroine’s Journey sees the protagonist ascend to their full power. They may change their former seat of power for power of another kind.
Example: The four siblings are crowned as Kings and Queens of Narnia in Chapter 17, and they grow older and grow into themselves.
Beat 16: Seeing the World through New Eyes
In this beat, the protagonist returns to the ordinary world, but changed.
Example: Chapter 17 ends with the four adult siblings setting out to hunt a fabled white stag that allegedly grants wishes. They pursue it into a thicket, and find themselves brushing past coats as they tumble through the wardrobe, back into the primary world.
Little more than an hour has passed, and the siblings are children again. They speak to the Professor who owns the house. He tells them that the portal to Narnia in the wardrobe will no longer work, but that they’ll go back one day when they’re not looking for it.
Conclusion: Creating Fantasies that Prize Connection
From the above examples, you can see that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a Heroine’s Journey in many ways.
- Characters are weakest and most imperiled when alone
- It is only through banding together and overcoming differences between family members and friends that protagonists overcome villainy
- There is support from spiritual, deity-like figures (Aslan)
- Identity is reconfigured (Edmund leaves behind his traitorous ways and becomes kinder and more self-sacrificing, for example)
- Final battles lead to the ascent to power
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