Ramandu's daughter, also known as Lilliandil in the
2010 film version of ''
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, Play (theatre), play, Radio series, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or b ...
from ''
The Chronicles of Narnia'' by
C. S. Lewis. Introduced in the 1952 book ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', she aids
Caspian X and the crew of ''
Dawn Treader'' to break an enchantment on
three of the Seven Great Lords of
Narnia. Eventually she becomes Queen of Narnia, after marrying Caspian X, and bears his son,
Rilian
In C. S. Lewis' '' Chronicles of Narnia'' fictional series, Rilian ( 2325-?) is the son of King Caspian and the grandson of Ramandu the star. Rilian appears in two of the seven books, '' The Silver Chair'' and briefly in '' The Last Battle''. ...
. In the 1953 novel ''
The Silver Chair'', the
Lady of the Green Kirtle, in the form of a snake, kills her though she later reappears in the 1956 book ''
The Last Battle''. The character appears in multiple adaptations of the book series; the television serial
''The Chronicles of Narnia'', where she is portrayed by
Gabrielle Anwar, and
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' film series, where
Laura Brent plays the role.
According to Lewis scholar Paul F. Ford, Lewis created the character of Ramandu's daughter having been inspired by
J. R. R. Tolkien's
Middle Earth elves, specifically
Lúthien and
Arwen. Ramandu's daughter has also been compared to the angelic entities known as
Maiar, also featured in Tolkien's novels.
Douglas Gresham, Lewis' step-son, created the name Lilliandil for the 2010 film version of ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''. Ramandu's daughter was the subject of
literary analysis by various scholars, with her goodness and her marriage with Caspian X receiving attention. The character has been associated with various
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
virtue
Virtue ( la, virtus) is morality, moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is Value (ethics), valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that sh ...
s and
women in the Bible.
Role
Literature
Ramandu's daughter is introduced in
C. S. Lewis's 1952 book ''
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''.
[ Ford (2005): pp. 96–97] In the novel, siblings
Edmund
Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings and ...
and
Lucy Pevensie and their cousin
Eustace Scrubb are transported to the
fantasy world Narnia through a painting of a boat;
they help
Caspian X, the king of Narnia, sail to the edge of the world on the ship ''
Dawn Treader'' in order to find the
Seven Great Lords of Narnia.
As part of their journey, they travel to Ramandu's Island, which is home to the "star at rest"
Ramandu,
[ Ford (2005): p. 258] and are greeted by his daughter.
Lewis only references the character through titles, never by her name.
Portrayed as a young and beautiful immortal woman with long blonde hair,
she is first shown wearing a blue gown and holding a lit candle.
The character provides hope to Caspian X and his companions, who had discovered that the Lords Mavramorn, Revilian and Argoz were cursed by a sleeping enchantment.
Caspian X talks about the
fairy tale "
Sleeping Beauty" with Ramandu's daughter and suggests kissing her to reverse the curse on the lords.
[ Ford (2005): p. 134] She tells him that she will only kiss him once the enchantment is broken,
[ Karkainen (2007)] and proposes to him.
Caspian X makes a promise to her before departing that he will break the curse.
He returns to Ramandu's Island three years after the end of his voyage, and marries Ramandu's daughter;
[ Sammons (2000): p. 23][ Brown (2013)] the couple serves as the rulers of Narnia.
Fifteen years into their rule, Ramandu's daughter and Caspian X have a son named
Rilian
In C. S. Lewis' '' Chronicles of Narnia'' fictional series, Rilian ( 2325-?) is the son of King Caspian and the grandson of Ramandu the star. Rilian appears in two of the seven books, '' The Silver Chair'' and briefly in '' The Last Battle''. ...
.
In the 1953 novel ''
The Silver Chair'', the
Lady of the Green Kirtle, in the form of a snake, kills Ramandu's daughter while she is sleeping in a glade during a May ride with a twenty-year old Rilian. Her body is taken back to the city, and she is remembered as "a gracious and wise lady in whose veins flowed the blood of stars".
[ Ford (2005): p. 97] While attempting to seek revenge for his mother's death, Rilian is seduced by the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
In the 1956 book ''
The Last Battle'', Ramandu's daughter is present, alongside her husband and son, as one of the "faithful" during the Great Reunion, in which all the series' good characters, except Susan, are brought back together.
[ Ford (2005): p. 166]
Television and film
Ramandu's daughter appears in the
sections of the television serial
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' focusing on ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''. In the miniseries, the character is portrayed in the same way as in the books, with her relationship and eventual marriage to Caspian X being the focus of her story arc.
For the
2010 film version of ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', Ramandu's daughter is called Lilliandil. After Caspian X and his companions feast at
Aslan
Aslan () is a major character in C. S. Lewis's '' The Chronicles of Narnia'' series. Unlike any other character, he appears in all seven chronicles of the series. Aslan is depicted as a talking lion, and is described as the King of Beasts, the ...
's table a star falls from the sky and transforms into Lilliandil. She guides Caspian X and his crew to the Dark Island to find and save one of the Seven Great Lords of Narnia from a curse. Lilliandil tells Caspian X that the Lords were placed under a sleeping enchantment as they had physically threatened one another in Aslan's presence, which is strictly forbidden. After guiding the company to the island, she returns to the heavens; Caspian X says that he hopes to meet her again in the future, and she responds with a smile.
Development and casting
According to Lewis scholar Paul F. Ford, Lewis decided to not name Ramandu's daughter as "an indication of the awe in which
ewanted to surround her".
Fantasy writer
Colin Duriez
Colin Duriez (born 19 July 1947) is a writer on fantasy, especially that of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Life and works
Duriez was born in Derbyshire and spent his early life in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, in a couple of new council estates near Portsmout ...
said that Lewis was inspired by
J. R. R. Tolkien's
Middle Earth elves, specifically
Lúthien and
Arwen, who are both married to humans, to create the character. Duriez also connected Ramandu's daughter's parentage from the heavens to Tolkien's descriptions of angelic entities known as
Maiar in his novels.
[ Duriez (2004): p. 204]
For the television serial, English actress
Gabrielle Anwar portrays Ramandu's daughter in one of her earliest roles;
[ Simpson (2013)] she is credited as Princess.
Australian actress
Laura Brent plays the character in the film version of ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'';
it was her first role in a feature film.
Lewis' step-son
Douglas Gresham created the name Lilliandil for the movie,
[ McColman (2010)] and he said that it was intended to mimic the "imagery of the sea of lilies in the book as well as a very feminine and ethereal feel".
Character analysis
According to academics, Lewis characterizes Ramandu's daughter through her goodness. Elizabeth Baird Hardy, a scholar of
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
, cited the character as "one of the few positive individuals who first appears as a full-grown adult".
Fantasy literature
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fan ...
scholar Monika B. Hilder interpreted Ramandu's daughter and Caspian X as "wise rulers willing to suffer for what is right for as long as they both shall live".
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
professor Devin Brown wrote that the character's respect for Aslan defines her goodness, in comparison to the evilness of the
White Witch and her anger toward the lion.
Analyzing Ramandu's daughter as a "saintly mother", author Cathy McSporran contrasted her with the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
[ McSporran (2005): pp. 197–198] She identified the latter, and all witches in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series, as embodying what Lewis characterizes as an "infernal Venus"; he coined this term in his 1942 book ''
The Screwtape Letters'' to reference a female character who seduces a man to his death.
[ McSporran (2005): p. 195] McSporran defined Ramandu's daughter as the "natural opponent" of witches due to her innate goodness and beauty. According to McSporran, the character's maternal care for Rilian and ability to see through magical disguises are signs of her opposition to the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
Critics commented on the relationship between Ramandu’s daughter and Caspian X. The pair's relationship is one of the few romantic story arcs in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series.
Devin Brown positively compared their courtship to that of Arwen and
Aragorn from J. R. R. Tolkien's novel ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 c ...
.'' Brown also wrote that Lewis foreshadows to the relationship through Caspian X's failed courtship with the Duke of Galma prior to ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''.
While Lewis scholar
Michael Ward cited the couple as an example of how the author was not "averse to his characters growing up and having romances",
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
scholar Jennifer L. Miller felt that Lewis does not elaborate on their marriage in the novels.
Miller wrote that the characters' interactions as husband and wife were restricted to the space between ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' and ''The Silver Chair'', only occurring in a place separate from Narnia. She argued that the portrayal of the pair’s relationship represented how "romantic love and desire can exist in exotic, strange locations far from Narnia", while Lewis reserved the fictional world as "the land of innocence and wonder" where such ideas would be inadmissible.
[ Miller (2009): pp. 114–15]
Religious analysis
Some critics argued that Lewis portrays Ramandu's daughter through
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
virtue
Virtue ( la, virtus) is morality, moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is Value (ethics), valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that sh ...
s. Connecting Ramandu's daughter with the women in the House of Holiness from
Edmund Spenser's 1590
epic poem ''
The Faerie Queene
''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 st ...
'', Elizabeth Baird Hardy interpreted her titles as "idealized identifications of the virtues they represent", with Lewis' character corresponding to
charity and
hope.
Monika B. Hilder argued that it is Ramandu's daughter's beauty that is used to signal her virtue, specifically through her positive effect on Caspian X.
[ Hilder (2016): p. 94] While describing the character's identity and agency, Hilder referred to her as "a mature, virtuous woman who is neither enchanted nor requires marriage to be whole"; Hilder wrote that Ramandu's daughter has an "active moral agency
hichunderscores powerful
humility" as well as "'feminine' obedience" and spirituality.
[ Hilder (2016): p. 95]
Ramandu's daughter was compared to
women in the Bible. Hardy wrote that Ramandu's daughter was similar to
Eve before the
fall of man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* The doctrine of the ...
, describing them as "free from pretension and keenly aware of their roles in the universe". Hardy paralleled the death of Ramandu's daughter with the fall of Eve, comparing Rilian's addiction to sorcery and sexuality to the
original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 ( ...
.
[ Hardy (2016): p. 94] Aside from Eve, Ramandu's daughter was also likened to the
Grail Maiden
Elaine (''Helaine'', ''Oisine'') or Elizabeth (''Eliabel'', ''Elizabel'', ''Elizabet'', ''Heliabel'', ''Helizabel''), also known as Amite (''Amide'', ''Amides'', ''Anite'', ''Aude'', ''Enite''), and identified as the "Grail Maiden" or the "Grail ...
. Cathy McSporran likened the character's possession of the Knife of Stone, an instrument used to martyr Aslan, to the maiden's connection with the
Holy Grail and the spear used in the
crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and conside ...
.
Notes
References
Citations
Book sources
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{{Narnia
The Chronicles of Narnia characters
Female characters in literature
Fictional queens
Fictional characters without a name
Kings and Queens of Narnia
Literary characters introduced in 1952