Rilian

Biographical summary

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

Eustace and Jill, accompanied by the marsh-wiggle Puddleglum, traveled north into the land of giants seeking Rilian. 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. He explained that he suffered nightly psychotic episodes and had to be bound to a silver chair each night; if released, he would kill everyone and become a deadly green serpent.

Once tied to the enchanted chair, the knight regained his 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 freed him, and he destroyed the chair with his sword, revealing himself as Prince Rilian. He explained that the Lady kept him enchanted by day, sane only at night.

In The Last Battle

When the Lady returned and failed to bewitch them, she transformed into a green serpent, and Rilian realized she had murdered his mother. They killed the serpent, and Rilian returned to Narnia to meet his father just before the old king died, then ascended the throne. In The Last Battle, set more than 200 years later, Rilian had been dead for that time, but appeared briefly with his father and mother at the great reunion at the book's end.

Portrayals

In the 1990 BBC television serial The Silver Chair, Richard Henders played Prince Rilian. The character appears in a flashback early in the story and later wears a silver mask underground to conceal his identity from the viewer. The Green Lady told him he was enchanted to look hideous and must hide his face with a mask. After regaining his sanity, he removes the mask.