The Imaginary World of C.S. Lewis: On Leather Wings

Pictured above is a still image from the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The image is copyright 20th Century Fox.

In The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis the world of dragons is quite another mystery. Lewis makes them one of the most powerful and strong animals as well, yet he adds them the tint of humanity which Tolkien deprived them of. In Lewis’ opinion, the beasts are a true force of nature, just as incontrollable as the four elements. Narnia makes a world where dragons can ride free, without any cavaliers in the saddle, and that makes them more impressive and majestic.

It is peculiar that the image of a dragon, as well as the rest of the images depicted in the book was started literally from scratch;

All my Narnia books … began with seeing pictures in my head. At first they were not a story, just pictures. The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture has been in my mind since I was sixteen. Then one day when I was about forty, I said to myself: let’s try to make a story about it, (Anderson 53).

As well as the rest of the images, the picture of a dragon was drawn out of the depth of the author’s imagination just as unexpectedly. Despite seeing the simplicity of the image, it was developing over a long period of time until it became the image of a dragon which all children know now. Lewis comes very close to the point made by Tolkien, depicting dragons like live creatures with an immortal soul. However, in contrast to Tolkien, Lewis makes his image of a dragon kinder and closer to what children expect the beasts to be. Dusted with the fairy-tale magic powder, the dragon of Lewis’ world is the creature which is wild and free, yet which can become a man’s friend. In contrast to Tolkien, Lewis describes the beast as an animal merging between the real world and the world of fantasy, the creature which can feel and be happy or suffer. In other words, the difference between the dragon and a man in Lewis’s understanding is very little. The contrast set between a dragon’s strong and almost invulnerable body and the tender soul of a living creature is striking. However, Lewis makes the dragon’s spirit as strong as the shell which covers its back. Thus, the author creates a vision of a fairy-tale beast which does not frighten children but, nevertheless, is doubtlessly a real and obvious dragon.

Dragons live in all tales of the ancient times, making the stories even closer to the truth and adding a scent of magnificence, making them sound even more unbelievably probable. The world of the unreal crosses realities, making it change in the way children wish it could. The creatures who breathe fire also breathe a tint of trust in the hearts of the little readers who dream of them.