Susan Pevensie

Lore & Background

Susan was born in 1928 and is 12 years old when she appears in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. By The Last Battle, she is 21 years old, as the final novel takes place in 1949. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Susan and her brother Peter only discover Narnia after their younger siblings have already been there. Father Christmas gives Susan a bow with arrows that never miss their target, and a magical horn that brings aid when blown.

Susan is advised to stay out of the battle. After the battle, she is crowned as Queen of Narnia by Aslan, and becomes known as Queen Susan the Gentle. In Prince Caspian, Susan and the other Pevensies are magically transferred to Narnia from a railway station in England. She is described as being gentle and tender-hearted and she immerses herself in their adventures as deeply as in the first book.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Susan accompanies her parents on a trip to America, while Peter is being tutored by Professor Digory Kirke. In The Horse and His Boy, set during the Pevensie siblings' reign in Narnia, Susan is asked, and almost forced, to make a diplomatic marriage to the Calormene Prince Rabadash. Though much of the plot revolves around her rescue from this situation and Rabadash's militant response, she herself appears in only one scene.

In The Last Battle, Susan is conspicuous by her absence. Peter says that she is 'no longer a friend of Narnia', and (in Jill Pole's words) 'she's interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations'. Thus, Susan does not enter the real Narnia with the others at the end of the series. It is left ambiguous whether Susan's absence is permanent.

Reader's Guide

Susan embodies gentleness and practicality within the Pevensie quartet, distinguishing her from Peter’s leadership or Edmund’s redemption. She wields a bow with peerless accuracy and holds the Horn of Plenty, summoned by Father Christmas to call for aid. Preoccupied with what C.S. Lewis termed 'silly things' like parties and makeup, she denies the existence of magic, resulting in her absence from the final reunion at the train station. Her story remains a central point of discussion regarding themes of adulthood, loss of innocence, and spiritual drift.

Did You Know?

• C. S. Lewis stated in a 1960 letter that he could not write Susan's story himself, but had hope she might get to Aslan's country in her own way.
• Authors J. K. Rowling and Philip Pullman have both criticized Lewis's treatment of Susan, with Pullman calling it 'terrible' that she is shut out for being interested in boys.