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29-517: The Silver Chair is a 1953 children's novel by C. S. Lewis. The Silver Chair can also refer to: The Silver Chair The Silver Chair is a children's portal fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis , published by Geoffrey Bles in 1953. It was the fourth of seven novels published in The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956), but became volume six in recent editions sequenced in chronological order to Narnian history. Macmillan US published

58-473: A BBC television series of six episodes in 1990. Eustace Scrubb , now a reformed character following the events of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader , encounters his classmate and new friend Jill Pole at their school, Experiment House, where they are miserable. Jill has been tormented by bullies and is hiding from them. Eustace tells Jill about his Narnian adventures, and how his experiences there led to

87-590: A TV series , which aired in late 1990. It was the fourth and last of the Narnia books that the BBC adapted for television. On 1 October 2013, The C.S. Lewis Company announced that it had entered into an agreement with The Mark Gordon Company to jointly develop and produce The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair , following the film series' mirroring of the novel's publication order (in contrast to Walden Media's initial pushing for The Magician's Nephew during planning for

116-572: A boat across the subterranean Sunless Sea to the city ruled by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. She herself is away, but her protégé, a young man, greets the travellers pleasantly. He explains that he suffers from nightly psychotic episodes, and during these episodes he must, by the Lady's orders, be bound to a silver chair; for if he is released, he will turn into a deadly green serpent and kill everyone in sight. The three travellers determine to witness

145-434: A brief time, where they drive off the bullies before Caspian returns to Aslan's Country. Experiment House becomes a well-managed school, and Eustace and Jill remain good friends. Back in Narnia, Rilian buries his father and mourns him. The kingdom goes on to have many happy years, but Puddleglum "often pointed out that bright mornings brought on wet afternoons and that you couldn't expect good times to last." The BBC produced

174-523: A decade earlier while searching for a large green serpent that had killed his mother. Jill and Eustace are flown to the marshes on the northern edge of Narnia where they meet their guide, Puddleglum , a gloomy but stalwart Marsh-wiggle. They journey toward the giant -lands north of Narnia. Hungry and suffering from exposure, they meet the Lady of the Green Kirtle accompanied by a silent knight in black armour. She encourages them to proceed northward to Harfang,

203-460: A fourth film). Mark Gordon and Douglas Gresham along with Vincent Sieber, the Los Angeles–based director of The C.S. Lewis Company, will serve as producers and work with The Mark Gordon Company on developing the script. On 5 December 2013, it was announced that David Magee would write the screenplay. In January 2016, Gordon said the film will serve as a 'reboot' of the film franchise. It

232-471: A green serpent, and Rilian kills her with the help of Eustace and Puddleglum, realizing that the Green Lady was herself the serpent who killed his mother. Rilian leads the travellers to escape from Underland. The gnomes, who had also been magically enslaved by the Lady, are now freed by her death and joyfully return to their home even deeper in the earth: a land called Bism. One of them shows Rilian's party

261-420: A magical wind stream to Narnia. He charges Jill with helping Eustace find King Caspian X 's son, Prince Rilian of Narnia, who disappeared some years earlier. He gives Jill four Signs to guide them on their quest and then blows Jill into Narnia, where Eustace is already waiting by a great castle. They watch as an elderly and frail man takes ship and sails from the harbour. To Eustace's dismay, they then learn that

290-466: A revised American edition within the calendar year. Like the others, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and her work has been retained in many later editions. The novel is set primarily in the world of Narnia, decades after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader there but less than a year later in England. King Caspian X is now an old man, but his son and only heir, Prince Rilian, is missing. Aslan

319-519: A river of fire where Salamanders swim, alongside groves and fields of many colors, not unlike a stained glass window. Lewis describes Bism as a place of beauty for the Gnomes, who desire to reach it as much as Rilian and his companions want to reach the Overland. Golg describes the living riches of Bism as far outstripping the "dead" gold and jewels that Overlanders find in their shallow mines. Rilian

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348-410: A route to the surface, and Rilian returns to Cair Paravel as King Caspian is returning home. Caspian is reunited with his long-lost son but dies just afterwards. Rilian is then declared King of Narnia amid the weeping crowd. Aslan appears and congratulates Eustace and Jill on achieving their goal, then returns them to the stream in his country where Jill first met him. The body of King Caspian appears in

377-538: A ship, which is rowed across the vast underground Sunless Sea to the city where the Dark Castle lies. Many travellers from the Overworld have taken ship here, they are told, and few returns to sunlit lands. The recurring theme is that many unlucky inhabitants of Overland fall somehow into Underland, where they become trapped, and remain sleeping until the end of the world. Underland is pervaded by silence; amongst

406-513: Is torn with the desire to see this land, but the rift between Underland and Bism is about to close, and the Gnomes hurry to be on the correct side. Rilian and his companions escape to the surface through the tunnel dug by the Earthmen. After Caspian X's death, Rilian has been crowned the new king of Narnia, and the Narnians use their magic to lower the water to its original level, which becomes

435-463: The Giants' house far north. On the way the three cross a hill with a maze of strange trenches. From the high vantage of the Giants' house, they see that the trenches are in fact letters, and recognize the phrase "Under Me" as one of the signs given by Aslan to guide their quest for Rilian . They determine to follow the directions and find a passage leading under the ground. Underground they encounter

464-416: The Overworld, who, it is said, "will wake at the end of the world." After many miles of travel underground, they pass a recumbent sleeping giant called Father Time . They are told that he was once a king in Overland, fallen into Underland, now dreaming of the Overworld; and like the animals they passed earlier, he too will waken at the end of the world. The last stage of their journey takes them on board

493-620: The Warden of the Marches of Underland, accompanied by a hundred Earthmen ( Gnomes ) "of all sizes, from little gnomes barely a foot high to stately figures taller than men." The Earthmen escort them through many natural caverns ("each lower than the last") to the Dark Castle of the Lady of the Green Kirtle, the Queen of Underland . They pass many dead or sleeping animals like dragons from

522-439: The castle of the "Gentle Giants", who she says would be glad to have them at their Autumn Feast. Jill and Eustace, overcome at the thought of comfort and warmth, are eager to go; only Puddleglum argues against the journey to Harfang. After a long journey in harsh weather, and braving a mysterious chasm in a driving snowstorm, they are welcomed at Harfang. From the castle the three see that in the snowstorm they had blundered through

551-432: The changes in his behaviour – which Jill warns is likely to see him targeted by the bullies as well. Eustace suggests asking for Aslan 's help, and as the bullies converge on them, the two blunder through a gate that leads them to Aslan's Country . They encounter a cliff, where Jill shows off by approaching the edge, and Eustace, trying to pull her back, falls over the edge. Aslan appears and saves Eustace by blowing him on

580-419: The elderly man is actually King Caspian; by failing to greet him they have missed the first Sign. 50 years have passed since Eustace was last in Narnia, even though less than a year has passed in his world. They also learn that Caspian has sailed off to visit again the lands they had sailed to when he and Eustace were young, although many Narnians believe that he has set off to seek Aslan in order to ask who can be

609-524: The lion sends two children from England to Narnia on a mission to resolve the mystery: Eustace Scrubb, from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader , and his classmate, Jill Pole. In England, Eustace and Jill are students at a horrible boarding school , Experiment House. The Silver Chair is dedicated to Nicholas Hardie, the son of Colin Hardie , a member of the Inklings with Lewis, and was adapted and filmed as

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638-577: The next King of Narnia when he dies. Caspian is obviously deteriorating with old age, and his people fear that he will not live for much longer. Caspian's Lord Regent Trumpkin the dwarf , now very elderly and deaf, provides Jill and Eustace with rooms in Cair Paravel , but on the advice of Glimfeather the Owl , they make no mention of their quest. Glimfeather summons them to a Parliament of his fellow talking owls, who explain that Prince Rilian disappeared

667-626: The ruins of a giant city in the valley below, thereby missing Aslan's second Sign. They also see the words "Under Me" engraved on the road, which is the third Sign. Discovering from a cookbook in the kitchen that they are the main course for the Autumn Feast, they make a narrow escape from Harfang. Following the Sign, they take shelter in a cave under the ruined city, where they fall down a long dark slope into Underland . They are found by an army of underground-dwelling earthmen, who take them aboard

696-539: The silence, and they discover that the Earthmen too have been trapped in Underland by the Queen's magic. Now that she is dead, the Earthmen are freed from their task of preparing her invasion, and they return gleefully to their own home, the land of Bism . Bism, far beneath Underland, glows with volcanic heat. As Golg, their Earthman guide, leads them past the opening to Bism, the travelers look down into it and make out

725-420: The silver chair. Free from enchantment, he thanks them and declares that he is indeed the vanished Prince Rilian, kept underground by the Lady of the Green Kirtle as part of her plot to conquer Narnia. The Green Lady returns and tries to bewitch them all into forgetting who they are, but the barefoot Puddleglum stamps out the enchantress's magical fire and breaks her spell. The enraged Lady transforms herself into

754-472: The sleepers from above, the Earthmen work diligently but quietly. When Rilian is rescued and the Queen killed, Rilian and the others seek to find a way back to the Overworld. Rilian knows of a new passage on this side of the Sunless Sea, that the Earthmen have dug recently in preparation for the Queen's intended invasion of Narnia. They fear being apprehended by the Earthmen, but commotion breaks through

783-404: The stream, and Aslan instructs Eustace to drive a thorn into the lion's paw. Eustace obeys, and Aslan's blood flows over the dead King, who is revived and returned to youth. Aslan promises Eustace and Jill that, while they have to return to their own world for a while, they will one day return to Aslan's Country to stay. He then allows Caspian to accompany Eustace and Jill back to their own world for

812-440: The youth in his torment, as they sense it could be the key to their quest. When the young man is tied to his chair, his "ravings" seem instead to indicate desperation to escape an enchanted captivity. After several threats, the youth finally begs the three to release him in the name of Aslan. Recognizing this as the fourth Sign, they hesitantly do so, believing that he could indeed be Prince Rilian. The young man immediately destroys

841-495: Was announced that Sony Pictures and Entertainment One will finance the fourth film with both Mark Gordon Company and C.S. Lewis Company. In April 2017, it was announced that Joe Johnston would be directing the fourth film. The band Silverchair named themselves after the novel. Underland (Narnia) Jill , Eustace , and Puddleglum meet The Lady of the Green Kirtle at the Giants ' bridge. She tells them to go to

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