History YMMV / TheMagiciansNephew

* EvilIsSexy: Both Digory and Uncle Andrew are impressed with Jadis' beauty; Polly on the other hand is quite immune.

* OneSceneWonder: Aunt Letty only features in the sequence when Jadis shows up in London. But she's unimpressed by Jadis's theatrics and assumes she's a drunk circus performer. She doesn't even bat an eyelid when Jadis throws her across the room.

** The very idea of Charn -- a world where every living thing (except Jadis) is dead. It's completely empty and devoid of life. Polly and Digory can literally only hear their own heartbeats. Oh, and the sun is dying, too. Doesn't help that this was written in 1955, at the height of the nuclear arms race.

** The very idea of Charn -- a world where every living thing (except Jadis) is dead. It's completely empty and devoid of life. Polly and Digory can literally only hear their own heartbeats. Oh, and the sun is dying, too.

** The very idea of Charn - a world where every living thing (except Jadis) is dead. It's completely empty and devoid of life. Polly and Digory can literally only hear their own heartbeats. Oh, and the sun is dying, too.

* SalvagedStory: Polly is more heavily involved in the plot and has just as many adventures as Digory, which is a response to the StayInTheKitchen attitude Lewis demonstrated in earlier books. This is believed to be influenced by his marriage to ardent feminist Joy Gresham. Notably Aravis of ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' is a strong female character, and Lucy Pevensie [[TookALevelInBadass fights in the battle]] towards the end - as does Jill Pole in ''Literature/TheLastBattle''. The only reason Polly isn't involved in the mayhem when Jadis acts up in London is because she's being punished by her parents.

** Jadis's description of her sister as someone even worse than herself. Apparently the sister broke the pact that neither side should use magic in the civil war and would have been a worse ruler than Jadis herself. Jadis explicitly describes her sister [[AxeCrazy massacring her soldiers down to the last man with glee.]] Was Jadis once more [[ALighterShadeOfGrey moral]] than her sister and had to [[HeWhoFightsMonsters become the tyrant she is]] to match the sister's forces? Or is Jadis [[UnreliableNarrator exaggerating her sister's evil]] in order to justify herself to the children? Jadis also says that her sister refused to surrender despite knowing she had access to the deplorable Word, implying she threatened her with the Deplorable Word; did the sister know Jadis was going to use it or [[OutGambitted did she think Jadis wouldn't go through with her threat]]? Or maybe they were [[EvilversusEvil both evil to begin with]] - their ancestors are implied to have been pretty consistently bad for many generations.

* CompleteMonster: Jadis.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Polly is more heavily involved in the plot and has just as many adventures as Digory, which is a response to the StayInTheKitchen attitude Lewis demonstrated in earlier books. This is believed to be influenced by his marriage to ardent feminist Joy Gresham. Notably Aravis of ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' is a strong female character, and Lucy Pevensie [[TookALevelInBadass fights in the battle]] towards the end - as does Jill Pole in ''Literature/TheLastBattle''. The only reason Polly isn't involved in the mayhem when Jadis acts up in London is because she's being punished by her parents.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

** The very idea of Charn - a world where every living thing (except Jadis) is dead. It's completely empty and devoid of life. Polly and Digory can literally only hear their own heartbeats. Oh and the sun is dying too.

* UncannyValley: Jadis, when she is first encountered. She's very beautiful, but when you actually look at her there's something just ''wrong'' about her face. This makes sense, since she is not (strictly speaking) human.

** Jadis's description of her sister as someone even worse than herself. Apparently the sister broke the pact that neither side should use magic in the civil war and would have been a worse ruler than Jadis herself. Jadis explicitly describes her sister [[AxeCrazy massacring her soldiers down to the last man with glee.]] Was Jadis once more [[ALighterShadeOfGrey moral]] than her sister and had to [[HeWhoFightsMonsters become the tyrant she is]] to match the sister's forces? Or is Jadis [[UnreliableNarrator exaggerating her sister's evil]] in order to justify herself to the children? Jadis also says that her sister refused to surrender despite knowing she had access to the deplorable Word, implying she threatened her with the Deplorable Word; did the sister know Jadis was going to use it or [[OutGambitted did she think Jadis wouldn't go through with her threat]]? Or maybe they were [[EvilversusEvil both evil to begin with.]]

* {{Anvilicous}}: Aslan relentlessly hammers home the {{Aesop}} about the FantasticNuke, making it so obvious to Lewis' UsefulNotes/ColdWar audience that the idea of [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction humanity nuking itself into extinction]] was a very distinct possibility.

** Jadis's description of her sister as someone even worse than herself. Apparently the sister broke the pact that neither side should use magic in the civil war and would have been a worse ruler than Jadis herself. Jadis explicitly describes her sister [[AxeCrazy massacring her soldiers down to the last man with glee.]] Was Jadis once more [[ALighterShadeOfGrey moral]] than her sister and had to [[HeWhoFightsMonsters become the tyrant she is]] to match the sister's forces? Or is Jadis exaggerating her sister's evil in order to justify herself to the children? Jadis also says that her sister refused to surrender despite knowing she had access to the deplorable Word, implying she threatened her with the Deplorable Word; did the sister know Jadis was going to use it or [[OutGambitted did she think Jadis wouldn't go through with her threat]]? Or maybe they were [[EvilversusEvil both evil to begin with.]]

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Aslan hammering home the {{Aesop}} about the FantasticNuke makes a lot of sense when you consider that Lewis was writing shortly after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when the UsefulNotes/ColdWar was beginning to escalate and the idea of [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction humanity nuking itself into extinction]] was a very distinct possibility.

* NightmareFuel: The very idea of Charn - a world where every living thing (except Jadis) is dead. It's completely empty and devoid of life. Polly and Digory can literally only hear their own heartbeats. Oh and the sun is dying too.

* CompleteMonster: Jadis. See [[YMMV/TheChroniclesOfNarnia here]].