starlady: King Edmund the Just of Narnia, called the King of Evening & the King of Shadows (it's king actually)
Electra ([personal profile] starlady) wrote 2011-01-25 07:34 am (UTC)

That makes sense, yeah. Hmmm, do you think they emphasis that basic social morality more than Narnia does?

…I don't know. I think the most ethical of all children's/YA fantasy is far and away Diane Duane's Young Wizards books, which are and always will be my gold standard in that department. I think the answer depends on what values one sees in Narnia--I know that Lewis intended them to be Christian, but I didn't read them that way as a kid, and I'm still not emotionally convinced by that allegorical edge (though I'm surprised now just how much I must have ignored without even realizing it). So I'd rate Narnia and Redwall about equal in terms of morality and problematic elements, but obviously other people more attached to the Christianity of Narnia would think differently. I think the one thing Narnia does show unequivocally, excepting TLB, is forgiveness and repentance (see icon)--which some people I think would say are Christian ideas, but which undoubtedly have a wider social currency. Redwall definitely doesn't have that; Jacques' stories aren't that morally complex, I think. His protagonists struggle at best with self-doubt and external betrayals.

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