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I've got that humans have presumably been in Narnia prior to the reign of Jadis, as per Frank and Helen being there. We know that there were plenty of humans after her reign, as we can see in other books.

What I'd like to know is, where were the humans DURING her reign, and what had happened to them? Obviously, with the Pevensie siblings being crowned, a human dynasty is reinstated following the defeat of Jadis, but what about between The Magician's Nephew and that happening?

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  • Given that the existence of Frank and Helen was a huge retcon, I doubt there is any reasonable explanation.
    – Buzz
    Feb 15, 2018 at 22:27
  • Calormen, presumably? Feb 15, 2018 at 23:46

2 Answers 2

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From later books in the series, most notably The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle, it explained that Narnia is both the name of the fantastical world The Chronicles of Narnia mostly takes place in, as well as the name for the country/empire we're first introduced to.

The other countries that we see the most of are Archenland, a Kingdom to the south of Narnia, and the Calormene Empire, south of the Great Desert, which was also south of Narnia.

From the events of The Horse and His Boy, it's clear that there were Humans still living in both Archenland and Calormene during Jadis's conquest of the country of Narnia. Presumably the humans we meet later in the series were descended from those, since it's made clear that none of the Pevensies had children of their own.

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  • Here's a timeline from the TCON Wikia, but unfortunately it doesn't have any concrete references to the books: narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Age_of_Conquest
    – DqwertyC
    Feb 15, 2018 at 23:56
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    Thanks but what I meant was the time before TLTWATW. Do we know what happened to humans before that? Some people have suggested they had gone to the southern countries. For another matter, do we know how the witch came to power?
    – Rich69
    Feb 16, 2018 at 1:59
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    @Rich69 I believe how she came to power is half-given near the end of The Magicians Nephew; the protective tree was never meant to last forever.
    – Izkata
    Feb 16, 2018 at 3:08
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Not a lot of information is given about the time period following the rule of King Frank and Queen Helen, and leading up to the day that Lucy Pevensie first steps through the magical wardrobe and into the land of Narnia. Approximately 1,000 years passes between these two events, so what happens in-between?

We don't have information about this history, quite simply because C.S. Lewis did not write any books about it. Indeed C.S. Lewis personally stated when he wrote the books, he had no pre-conceived plans that he would write anything beyond "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." He said the same thing after he penned "Prince Caspian," and then again following publication of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." One book led to the next, and he had seven books by the time he was done. He could easily have written more if he had chosen to do so.

I was curious to learn whether additional information had been written by Lewis, in a like way, perhaps, to what J.R.R. Tolkien wrote with his historical book of Middle Earth, called "The Silmarillion" Although Tolkien never developed it beyond an early draft (subsequently rejected by his publisher), Tolkien's son collaborated with another writer of fantasy.

Hoping that Lewis had created a history of his own, I learned that he had created his own timeline covering major historical events of Narnia, and the surrounding countries and kingdoms of Archenland and Calormen. While I do not have my own copy of this text, it does include a number of references that does supply additional information, though it doesn't offer many details regarding the period of their reign.

Here are some of the dates that C.S. Lewis provided, and edited by Walter Hooper [LINK][1] :

  • Year 1 (Creation of Narnia) : The Beasts made able to talk. Digory plants the Tree of Protection. The White Witch Jadis enters Narnia but flies into the far North. Frank I becomes King of Narnia.
  • Year 180 : Prince Col, younger son of King Frank V of Narnia, leads certain followers into Archenland (not then inhabited) and becomes first King of that country.
  • Year 204 : Certain outlaws from Archenland fly across the Southern desert and set up the new kingdom of Calormen.
  • Year 300 : The empire of Calormen spreads mightily. Calormenes colonize the land of Telmar to the West of Narnia.
  • Year 302 : The Calormenes in Telmar behave very wickedly and Aslan turns them into dumb beasts. The country lies waste. King Gale of Narnia delivers the Lone Islands from a dragon and is made Emperor by their grateful inhabitants.
  • Year 407 : Olvin of Archenland kills the Giant Pire.
  • Year 460 : Pirates from our world take possession of Telmar.
  • Year 898 : The White Witch Jadis returns to Narnia out of the far North.
  • Year 900 : The long winter begins.

There may be additional texts and unpublished stories from C.S. Lewis, but I am not aware of any.

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