NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Deplorable Word

The Deplorable Word, as used in The Magician's Nephew, by author C. S. Lewis, is a magical curse which ends all life in the world except that of the one who speaks it. Lewis does not explicitly link the Deplorable Word to nuclear weapons, but he certainly makes allusions to the power of humanity to destroy itself. Writing in 1955 at the height of the Cold War, Lewis has the lion Aslan say to the central characters, who are children from the Interwar period: The Magicians Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 â€“ 22 November 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an Irish author and scholar. ... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical or paranormal means. ... Look up Curse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Antarctica Australia Africa Asia Europe North America South America Middle East Caribbean Central Asia East Asia North Asia South Asia Southeast Asia SW. Asia China Australasia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia Central America Latin America Northern America Americas C. Africa E. Africa N. Africa Southern Africa W. Africa C. Europe E. Europe... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cold War was the period of protracted conflict and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies from the late 1940s until the late 1980s. ... Aslan, the Great Lion, is the central character in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... The Interwar period was the time between World War I and World War II, ergo the 1920s and 1930s. ...

The children, Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, come to a lifeless world called Charn. In an ancient, ruined building they awaken a queen, Jadis. She tells them of a world-wide civil war she fought with her sister. All of her armies were defeated, having been made to fight to the death of the last soldier, and her sister claimed victory. Then Jadis spoke the horrible curse which her sister knew she had discovered but did not think she would use. Jadis killed every living thing in the world, except herself, to keep her sister from the throne. It is mentioned that Jadis had learned the word in a "secret place" and had paid a "terrible price" to learn it; this may indicate a somewhat Faustian bargain may have been made to achieve that power. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ... Digory Kirke is a human character from C. S. Lewiss fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. ... Polly Plummer is a human fictional character from C. S. Lewiss fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. ... Charn is a fictional world in C. S. Lewiss book The Magicians Nephew, one of the Chronicles of Narnia. ... A queen regnant is a female monarch who possesses all the monarchal powers that a king would have without regard to gender. ... Jadis the White Witch is the chief villain of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published book in C. S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia, (the sixth published book was a prequel, and in some modern editions is called the first book of the series). ... A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight against each other for the control of political power. ... The thrones for The Queen of Canada, and the Duke of Edinburgh in the Canadian Senate, Ottawa is usually occupied by the Governor General and her spouse at the annual State Opening of Parliament. ...

The children are shocked by this account, but Jadis has no remorse or pity for all the ordinary people whom she killed; in her eyes, they only existed for her to use. The past rulers of her race, who evidently had not always been evil, had vowed none of them, nor their descendants, would seek the secret of the Deplorable Word. Jadis said she had paid a terrible price to learn it, though she did not say what the price was. Nor does the book say what the word is, or how it was learned, or what the "proper ceremonies" were that must accompany it. Jadis tried a spell when she came to London, but it did not work there. Apparently, the rules of magic are different in different worlds, and the human world has its own perils. The spell is a magical act intended to cause an effect on reality using supernatural means of liturgical or ritual nature. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and the largest city of England (strangely, England has no constitutional existence within the United Kingdom, and therefore cannot be said to have a capital). ...

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The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Books:	The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe • Prince Caspian • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader • The Silver Chair • The Horse and His Boy • The Magician's Nephew • The Last Battle The cover to an audio book edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, with artwork by Leo and Diane Dillon The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 â€“ 22 November 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an Irish author and scholar. ... The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. ... Prince Caspian is a novel for children by C. S. Lewis, first published in 1951. ... Book Cover The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantasy novel by C. S. Lewis. ... The Silver Chair is part of The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C.S. Lewis. ... The Horse and His Boy is a novel by C.S. Lewis. ... The Magicians Nephew is a fantasy novel for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... The Last Battle is the final novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. ...
Inhabitants:	Peter • Susan • Edmund • Lucy • Eustace • Jill • Digory • Polly • Caspian • Aslan • Shasta • Aravis • White Witch • Puddleglum • All characters • All creatures Peter Pevensie is a fictional character in the childrens fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. ... Susan Pevensie is one of the major characters in C. S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia series. ... Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Edmund Pevensie is a major character in C. S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia. ... Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the 2005 film Lucy Pevensie is one of the major characters from C. S. Lewiss The Chronicles of Narnia. ... Eustace Clarence Scrubb is a character in C. S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia. ... Jill Pole is a major character from C.S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia series. ... Digory Kirke is a human character from C. S. Lewiss fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. ... Polly Plummer is a human fictional character from C. S. Lewiss fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. ... Caspian X, King of Narnia, Lord of Cair Paravel, and Emperor of the Lone Islands, also called Caspian the Seafarer and Caspian the Navigator (born 2290â€“died 2356, Narnian Time) is a fictional character in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. ... Aslan, the Great Lion, is the central character in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... Shasta is a fictional character in C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia. ... Aravis is a main character in C.S. Lewis The Horse and his Boy. ... Jadis the White Witch is the chief villain of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published book in C. S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia, (the sixth published book was a prequel, and in some modern editions is called the first book of the series). ... Puddleglum is a Marshwiggle in C. S. Lewiss novel The Silver Chair, part of The Chronicles of Narnia. ... This is a list of characters in the series of fantasy novels by C. S. Lewis called The Chronicles of Narnia. ... Narnian creatures: Narnia is a fantasy world created by C. S. Lewis as a location for his Chronicles of Narnia. ...
Places:	Narnia • Archenland • Cair Paravel • Calormen • Charn • Lone Islands • Telmar • Wood between the Worlds • All places The Land of Narnia, artwork from the 2005 movie For other uses of Narnia, see Narnia (disambiguation). ... In C. S. Lewiss fantasy novels the Chronicles of Narnia, Archenland is a nation to the south of Narnia. ... Cair Paravel is the capital of Narnia in The Chronicles of Narnia. ... In C. S. Lewiss Chronicles of Narnia series of novels, Calormen (pron. ... Charn is a fictional world in C. S. Lewiss book The Magicians Nephew, one of the Chronicles of Narnia. ... In the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lone Islands are a set of three islands - Felimath, Doorn, and Avra - that are part of the Narnian empire. ... Telmar is a country in the world of Narnia created by the British author C.S. Lewis. ... The Wood between the Worlds is a location in The Magicians Nephew, part of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. ... This is a list of fictional places in the series of novels by C. S. Lewis collectively known as The Chronicles of Narnia. ...
Other:	BBC miniseries • Disney films • Battle of Beruna Ford • Dawn Treader • Deplorable Word • Popular culture • Narnian timeline The BBC produced a television adaptation of four books of C. S. Lewiss The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1988), Prince Caspian (1989), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989) and The Silver Chair (1990). ... The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe poster. ... Combatants Aslans Army White Witchs Army Commanders Aslan, Peter Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie Jadis the White Witch Strength At least one giant named Rumblebuffin, and an unspecified number of Beavers, Birds, Boars, Cattle, Centaurs, Deer, Dogs, Dryads, Eagles,Fauns, Foxes, Giants, Hamadryads, Hedgehogs, Horses, Leopards, Lions, Mice, Naiads, Pelicans... The Dawn Treader was a ship of Narnia built by Caspian X, in the Chronicles of Narnia. ... This is a list of popular culture and external references to C.S. Lewis most popular work The Chronicles of Narnia. ... C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, provided a timeline to map out the events that occur or are mentioned in his books. ...