Lord Drinian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Lord Drinian is introduced as the dark-haired young captain of the Dawn Treader, loyally serving Caspian on his voyage to the end of the world. His skills and friendly humor aid Caspian and the crew in searching for the seven lost lords. Despite his experience, Drinian is occasionally surprised, such as when the crew encounters a dragon on what becomes Dragon Island. Skeptical, Drinian asserts that dragons cannot be trusted and only relaxes after learning the dragon is Eustace.

Later, he spots a sea serpent and survives its attack. When Caspian overrules his choice of anchorage in a harbor, Drinian obeys with reluctance. Near the edge of the world, Lucy sees merpeople unlike those in Narnia; Drinian, fearing crewmen might fall in love with them and jump overboard, orders Lucy to ignore them. When Reepicheep falls overboard, Drinian berates him out of worry for his safety and the risk of the crew discovering the merpeople.

After Reepicheep, Lucy, Eustace, and Edmund continue to the edge of the world, Drinian successfully returns Caspian and the crew safely home.

The Silver Chair

Lord Drinian remains a good friend and trusted advisor of King Caspian X, who is now 66 and in declining health. Drinian, at least in his seventies, is still active enough to ride a horse. He has also become a close friend of Caspian's son, Prince Rilian. After the Queen is fatally bitten by a serpent, Rilian repeatedly returns to the woods where she died.

Drinian urges him to stop, but Rilian explains he is not tracking the serpent. When Rilian leads Drinian to the site, they see a beautiful woman, the real reason for Rilian's visits. Drinian questions the attraction but does not object further. Rilian returns alone and never comes back.

Drinian helps search for him but finds no trace. He then tells Caspian what he knows, begging to be condemned as a traitor for allowing his friend's son to disappear. Drinian implores Caspian for death, but Caspian cannot kill him, not wanting to lose another friend after losing his queen and son. The two mourn together.

For the next ten years, Rilian's disappearance remains unsolved. The serpent was actually the Lady of the Green Kirtle, ruler of the underworld, who later lured Rilian there. A decade later, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole, guided by Puddleglum, enter the underworld, save Rilian, and he kills the Lady of the Green Kirtle before returning to Narnia.

Film adaption

In the 1989 BBC miniseries of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Drinian is played by 48-year-old John Hallam. In the 1990 BBC miniseries of The Silver Chair, set some 40 years later, he is played by 52-year-old Roy Boyd, portraying an older man still active enough to ride a horse. In the 2010 Walden/Fox film of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Drinian is played by Gary Sweet.

Conception

C. S. Lewis, who studied classical Greek works including the Odyssey at school, incorporated an iconic scene from that epic into The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Drinian fears for his crew's sanity when Lucy discovers merpeople, though he does not use wax to block their hearing like Odysseus. The Dawn Treader follows the same sea saga pattern as the Odyssey, encountering mythical creatures and mysterious islands. Drinian, however, is not depicted as noble or driven by glory, unlike Odysseus. Lewis also enjoyed Arthurian myths, and he suggested that dreams greatly influenced his characters and situations. Drinian is thus a compilation of Odysseus and the heroes of Arthurian myths.