Rilian

Biographical summary

In The Silver Chair, Prince Rilian, the only son of the elderly King Caspian, had been missing for ten years. His mother was bitten and killed by a green serpent, and Rilian revisited the area of her death many times seeking to track down and kill the serpent, but eventually vanished without trace. Many others who searched for him also went missing. When Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole arrived in Narnia, they learned that Caspian had embarked on a voyage, with many believing he had gone to ask Aslan who should be the next king, fearing he would never see his son again.

Eustace and Jill, accompanied by Puddleglum the marsh-wiggle, sought Rilian to the north in the land of giants. They encountered the Lady of the Green Kirtle and a knight in black armour. Underground in the Shallow Lands ruled by the Lady, they met the black knight again, who said he suffered nightly psychotic episodes and must be bound to a silver chair; if released, he warned, he would kill everyone and become a deadly green serpent. Once tied to the enchanted chair, he regained memory and sanity, ordering the companions to untie him with increasingly violent threats.

He eventually begged them to release him in Aslan's name, which the children recognized as the sign they had promised to obey. They reluctantly released him, and he destroyed the chair with his sword, revealing himself as Prince Rilian. He explained that the Lady kept him prisoner underground, enchanted by day and sane only at night. When the Lady returned and attempted to bewitch them, she transformed into a green serpent, and Rilian realized she was his mother's murderer.

They killed the serpent and returned to Narnia, where Rilian met his father just before the old king died, then ascended to the throne. In The Last Battle, Rilian had been dead for more than 200 years, and appears briefly alongside his father and mother at the great reunion at the end of the book.