bedlamsbard | another survey, hopefully less controversial. or, well. more of a question, really.

Giving the Pevensies et al more of a choice (what if they wanted to be with their families?), giving Susan closure, whatever that should be. *shrug*

Hmm, what do you mean as a choice? In LB, you mean, or in LWW?

LB. I'm pretty sure they would've chosen to go to Aslan's land anyhow, but it would've been nice to see more... conflict. *shrug* Minor quibble.

Is there such a thing as a happy ending in Narnia? I thought about it and... I mean, I guess they were happy to get to Aslans Country and all... If Susan had been there too I might not have such a problem with LB. (no that's a lie, I hated the story in LB. Stupid monkey and stupid Narnians. *mumble mumble*) I guess a happy ending would let them grow old and die in Narnia?

That is my reasoning too. I could have also been fine with the entire story ending at PC, if Aslan had, a, forbid all four of them from ever returning, or, b, left it open for all four of them to come back. I mean, I wouldn't have been happy, but I would have been...happier, I think. But seriously -- live, love, and die in Narnia, none of this heartbreak and jumping around.

Exactly. All this in, out and back again. He's so messing with these kids' heads! Let them stay were they want to be!!

YES TIMES ONE MILLION AND SIX.

But that's why we love fanfic- a place where we can explore how messed up they become... *evil grin*

Great, the phrase "messed up" makes me think of serial killers, and now I'm wondering which of the four it is...

I think all four of them *could*. But if they *would* that's a whole different story. (*cough* Lucy *cough*)

Yeah, my money's totally on Lucy. Tragic AU where none of them are killed during Last Battle! Lucy, the serial killer! Peter and Edmund, the detectives! Susan, who's trying not to get drawn into all this!

That's a good crack/AU story in the making. But why is she a serial killer? Oh I know, people not treating the threes right. Or, or... Animal abuse... Or... I got nothing.

*trees. I can't spell!

Or she just snapped. Hey, hopping worlds, times, and ages can get a girl down!

Yes. Lucy has potential for just snapping.

I think of all of them, Lucy is the most likely to just snap.

Honestly, my happy ending would have had the Pevensies staying in Narnia after Prince Caspian and being allowed to live and grow old and die there. I have some notion in my head about them just telling Aslan they refused to leave, that this was their world and their countries and their lives, and, of course, their choice.

Caspian still would have been king, but they would have ruled with him, and Narnia would have entered a second Golden Age, while they rebuilt and reconnected with the country and the people. The Pevensies, I think, would have their happily ever afters, some marrying and having children, some not. Peter and Caspian would have ended up together, to soothe my little shippy heart. ;) Susan, though, never would have married.

I think the events in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader still would have happened, although with Peter in addition on the trip, and maybe minus Lucy. I like the idea of Eustace being there, of Aslan still sending children in and out of Narnia, perhaps trying to manipulate events.

The Silver Chair I could see too, especially with Jill and Eustace both returning. I think the Pevensies have extended lifespans, perhaps due to traveling between two worlds, so they could have been part of the events in that book - older, but not near death like Caspian. Although I always thought Caspian was WAY too old in that book. They don't live forever, though, and when they do die, they become semi-deified by the Narnian people. And their descendants rule as co-rulers, same as they did, because the Narnians figure it's not about having ONE king/queen, they need to have at least 4 at the same time, to ensure that Narnia is always well and healthy.

Hmm, I didn't realize I had thought it out that much. :D Anyway, that's my take. NO LAST BATTLE EVER.

Aw, I like that.

My ideal is, of course, live and love and die in Narnia during the Golden Age, but, well, that's me.

I do like the Golden Age idea too, and I think they all probably would have been way more happy and far less damaged. But I love the return to Narnia conflict and the idea of rebuilding and getting a second chance and this time making everything right.

Also, Caspian. I love him. Blame it on that. :D

Mmm, yes. Option B. *sigh* Oh, Caspian, how you have wormed your way into our hearts.

If we're talking about happy ending time, I'd say that not only did they stay in Narnia the first time, taking comfort amongst each other and whoever else they had close to them, but as they grew old and died, they had the knowledge that their kingdom would be taken care of as it deserved.

*raises hand* That would be mine, too.

Staying in the Golden age for preference. They *were* happy, dammit.

Second to that, staying at the end of PC and taking over.

AMEN TO THAT.

The Pevensies
a) Stay in Narnia and grow old together and die in Narnian in LWW
b) Stay in Narnia and grow old together and die in Narnia in PC
c) Go back to Narnia during the Last Battle and whack the shit out of the Calormenes and then stay in Narnia and grow old together and die in Narnia

Above three all counted as happy ending to me! And someone wondering they are all about the Pevensies? Why, of course. What else does Narnia matter? Or who else? At least not to me. *hides* Okay, maybe I have exaggerated a little, there are some others that matter a bit. But I am sure as long as the Pevensies are having their happily ever after, no one's going to have a tragic ending. *facepalm*

Hey, I am down with all four of those.

but if it were happy, i wouldn't be in the fandom! wouldn't have had to write about how england isn't narnia or utilize the foreshadowing of how susan gets screwed over. my first instinct had been that susan never makes it to aslan's country, in the end. (she doesn't want to, she has chosen to move on.) well, my opinion has changed. my happy ending is that susan joins them in aslan's country when she dies, 'cos this way i can still plumb the angstfest that is their lives for all they were worth. oh the pevensies and their broken hearts! there needs to be fic about how the four of them are reunited in aslan's country, susan rediscovering (remembering?) everything (youth, faith, love, narnia, HER SIBLINGS), her brothers and sister sharing their joy with her AND THEN THEY HAVE SEX.

I would not be in the fandom either! BUT JUST SAYIN' HERE.

AND THEN THEY HAVE SEX.

Mmm, yes please. Answer to everything of course!

Unless it is immortal!Susan. Because she never ends up in Aslan's Country because she never dies.

mmm, while you are here: a susan song (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dashboardconfessional/carveyourheartoutyourself.html), y/n? man it takes a silly girl to lie about the dreams she's had / lord it takes a lonely one to wish that she had never dreamt at all / oh, look now, there you go with hope again

i reckon lyrics-wise it is, except that i kind of loath dashboard confessional. many of the songs i associate with the chronicles (YOU KNOW WHICH CHRONICLES I MEAN) are not so specific. sound and feel trump lyrics for me. haha there is nothing upbeat on my narnia playlist. optimistic maybe. narnia: you can't dance to it!

and the next lungful of air she takes in doesn't smell of dust or must or dying, and when she opens her eyes she is on the seashore, dressed in her summer finery, facing the sunrise. she doesn't have to look behind her to know that the white walls of cair paravel are reaching for the sky, pennants fluttering, windows gleaming like jewels. she doesn't have to run and call her brothers' and sister's names to know they are here. they are here somewhere, and they will eventually find each other for this is the way of things, here, and always.

she doesn't look around for aslan. he is here, too. he is everywhere. susan doesn't rush, doesn't hurry, and even her joy (and relief, she will admit) is an eventual thing, accreting at the back of her mind, the bottom of her heart, like the strains of a childhood lullaby as she watches a new day begin.

there is all the time in the world now, for everything.

hmm. do i have upbeat music on my narnia playlists? i have upbeat and bittersweet in the susan mix! hmm, aside from the peta/caspian playlist, most of my upbeat stuff is either upbeat and bittersweet, upbeat and bemused, upbeat and rueful, or upbeat and JUST PLAIN DISTURBING. (See also this song (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/handsclean.html), the Peter/Narnia anthem from Narnia's POV.)

OH SUSAN. but where is the reunion! and the sex! or i will write peter/narnia-made-flesh in aslan's country at you.

i've been on an alanis kick lately. this is due to the fault of "wunderkind", which i love to listen to when i walk around on sunny days because it makes me feel like QUEEN OF THE FUCKING WORLD. oh narnia, how you have insinuated yourself into my life.

i was totally going to read more durkheim but now LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

and lucy, radiant with happiness, can't seem to decide whether she wants to take susan's hand or run ahead of her, and she dances back and forth as old stories tumbling from her lips: this is where we had a picnic once, this is where the maenads taught us their wild dances, this is where this, this is where that. do you remember?

and susan does, of course, but she is content to be led through her past, now her present once more, solid beneath her feet and warm to the touch. the only things slipping through her fingers is lucy's hair as her little sister wraps her arms around her like she had so many years ago, laughing and exultant and all do you remember, do you remember without expecting an answer. queen susan has returned to narnia, and this is answer enough.

the narnia of aslan's country is narnia as susan has always remembered it to be. it is not like in life, where you return to find always the cracks that memory has mended, the rust that time has covered up, all the dust swept under the carpet. a new coat of paint over everything. it is the arithmetic of memory: what is added, what is taken away. but in the end math and memory were just abstract models, incapable of keeping you warm as you watched one two three four five (and so on, so many) coffins being lowered into the ground.

but things are as they should be, here.

"it's like death is just a rebirth," edmund tells her as they walk through the orchards, always in season, red apples on every branch.

"like a second chance?" asks susan.

edmund considers this. "more like a last chance. oh, but that makes it sound so gloomy. the thing is, you don't need chances here, su, not a second one, not a last one, not anymore. it is enough that we are here, don't you see?"

they hold hands as they walk, and this makes susan's heart flutter for they had not held hands for a long time, not even when edmund was alive, those last years in england.

she smiles and says, "i do."

he reaches up and picks an apple as they walk past, offers it to her, and when she moves to take it he moves his hand further and further away. rolling her eyes, susan leans over and reaches, and edmund slips his arm around her waist and pulls her close, his breath warm on her cheek. "don't get kicked out of eden this time," he says.

i love alanis! she is all over my narnia fanmixes, along with vanessa carlton and kasey chambers. this (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/youlearn.html) is a very zen edmund song, i feel.

queen susan has returned to narnia, and this is answer enough.

DAMN STRAIGHT HONEY. ~~ALL YOU BITCHES BETTER RECOGNIZE OH WAIT WRONG NARNIA~~ *cheers* and oh, edmund. but doesn't peter get in on the reunion? *bats eyelashes*

OH HE WILL. considering that this is pretty much real fic (OXYMORON?!?!) that will end up as an Actual Post later, 'cos it's 3/4 done or something, almost. it's like i don't write fic anymore unless it is in comments, and i'm kind of fine with that, 'cos not only do i write it faster, i write more of it 'cos i write it faster. oh languishing calormen and white stag fics!

"it's mind-boggling to think that three quarters of a century have gone by," says peter, slouched in a most unkingly fashion in his desk chair. "yet here you are, so they must have."

"a little less," susan corrects from where she is curled up on his bed. "i had a long life, but not that long."

it is an old habit, watching him from the refuge of his bed as goes about his business in his room. in england, watching him write letters and assignments, watching him chew his pencil as he reads intimidating leather-bound volumes, as he paces, practicing french with her and completely glazing over when she explains for the hundredth time how to conjugate the subjunctive. in narnia, not so different, except it was high calormene he practiced and glottal stops that he seemed to adamantly refuse to understand.

"there is nothing here to divide time, you see, except sunrise and sunset, and even then they barely mean anything more than a lights show. the nights are as gentle as the days, the days as cool as the nights. a day blurs into a week until such words lose all meaning. have you noticed there are no clocks or calendars here?"

she hums a noise that means yes, burrows deeper into his sheets.

i'll come back to this, i've got to hunt a TA down.

i have to admit, the idea of aslan's country kind of scares me. i don't know why; it's just the concept of it not being real, of nothing mattering. nothing's played for keeps. i don't know.

although i have to admit, i do kind of want to write the peter/now-in-human-form!narnia reunion in aslan's country. my narnia is basically scarlett johansson, like peta.

lewis was a messy and lazy storyteller. he was too caught up with the precision of his analogies and getting the message across to tell a good story. so, aslan's country is just like... ARGH. i don't even. i know i know, lewis is a product of his generation and his circumstance, whatev, SO AM I, and this is what i say. i've written 2 fics set in aslan's country and the thesis in both of them was "THIS IS A FUCKING CREEPY PLACE"

yes. yes yes yes.

on a vaguely related note, i have an original fic that is basically narnia set in modern times, from the pov of the four kids' older brother who's just come back from iraq. er, that part's not important. i was going to either write fic or channel everything into that novel. the fic won out.

the fic won out.
CURRENT LIFE MOTTO

i am a little terrified to do a wordcount on all my narnia fic and see if i actually wrote more for narnia than i did for the 100K novel i did for my senior project.

Personally? For them to have died old and happy in the Golden Age.

Next best thing? Staying in Narnia after any of their adventures, and making a new life there.

Ooh, and their parents some day knowing the truth. It's always made me sad how the parents are forgotten - I would like them to know, understand, maybe have a story or two of their own (it's horribly anachronistic, but their mother is Wendy, from Peter Pan in my personal world).

Oh, that's sweet. I read a fic once where Susan ended up being Lily and Petunia Evans' mother, from HP. Lily saw lions and Peter's middle name was Edmund, for her uncle.

I read that one too. I liked it, but there were a few too many differences for me to reconcile.

Sarah, (from Labyrinth) is totally Susan's grandaughter. Because Jareth totally lives three countries away from Narnia. :D

The Eucatastrophe. In the Narniaverse (book canon), that *is* the happy ending. Very Platonic--the material world, even if it's Narnia, which by definition is nicer than our world, is still a shadow of heavenly reality. So if we're playing by Lewis' rules, any other ending would not truly be a happy one.

My personal rider--Eucastrophic ending WITH SUSAN, and no snark about her thinking only about nylons and lipstick and invitations, but acknowledgement that she's as much a whole person as the rest of the ~~Seven~~ Eight Friends of Narnia.

And Lasaraleen visits Aravis in Anvard and ends up in a polyamorous Archenlander/Calormene relationship, but that's another thread. Would make ME happy, anyway.

What's the... erm... Eucastrophe?

I'm probably not using the word right. It's supposed to be the opposite of a catastrophe--instead of a horrible event, a wonderful event where everything goes right.

I'm using it as a shorthand word for what happens at the end of The Last Battle when everyone goes to Aslan's country.

Lewis's belief system isn't necessarily mine, and I'm pretty sure it's not

bedlamsbard, but since I'm thinking about the book canon version of the Narniaverse, I feel it's important to me to keep my thoughts Lewisian. If that makes sense. I don't necessarily think he's right.

another survey, hopefully less controversial. or, well. more of a question, really.

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