History YMMV / TheMagiciansNephew

** 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 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.]]

** 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. 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.]]

* CompleteMonster: Jadis. See [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Sandbox/CompleteMonsterDrafts here]] for more juicy details.

** 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, "poured out the blood of her armies like water" and would have been a worse ruler than Jadis herself. 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.]]
*** Actually (in relation to the above), it was Jadis who stated that she poured out the lives of her troops like water, though this was undoubtedly necessary due to her sister continuing and/or escalating the conflict.

* FandomBerserkButton: Don't call this the first Narnia book. While the earliest in the series' chronology, it was written second-to-last and the multitudes of {{Call Forward}}s are lost on anyone who starts with it. And it really doesn't help that some editions label it as number one.

* {{Fanon}}: A couple of audio adaptations have given the story a FramingDevice as Diggory telling the events of the story at the Friends of Narnia meeting in ''Literature/TheLastBattle''. Some fans like this as a way of justifying its chronology coming right before the end of the series.

* 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 Diggory can literally only hear their own heartbeats. Oh and the sun is dying too.
* OneSceneWonder: Aunt Lettie 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.

* CounterpartComparison: Uncle Andrew and [[Series/LostInSpace Dr. Smith]]. Both are mean, uptight old men who suffer massive VillainDecay until they're little more than pathetic bullies.

* 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.

** 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, "poured out the blood of her armies like water" and would have been a worse ruler than Jadis herself. 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.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: Queen Helen is said to look beautiful in her simple attire, and would have looked tacky if she'd put on her best outfit. [[spoiler: Years later Queen Susan becomes no longer a friend of Narnia because she becomes interested in "nylons and lipstick and invitations"]].

** 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, "poured out the blood of her armies like water" and would have been a worse ruler than Jadis herself. Was Jadis once more [[ALighterShadeOfGrey moral]] than her sister and had to 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 says that her sister refused to surrender, 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]]?

* MoralEventHorizon: Jadis speaks the Deplorable Word, and kills her sister and the rest of Charn. She's proud that she did so. She also claims that it's the sister's fault for refusing to surrender.

* HilariousInHindsight: Jadis. Iconic British children's character? [[LastOfHisKind Last surviving member]] of an ancient, decadent species of {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} HumanAliens? Committed GenocideFromTheInside to prevent a war from ending unfavorably? Visits London and causes a commotion due to her unfamiliarity with Earth? [[Series/DoctorWho Um, hello?]] It gets even better when you read ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' and see the Witch using the Fourth Doctor's ''modus operandi'' of charming people with sugary jelly candies.

* MoralEventHorizon: Jadis speaks the Deplorable Word, and kills her sister and the rest of Charn. She's proud that she did so.

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

* CounterpartComparison: Uncle Andrew and [[Series/LostinSpace Dr. Smith]]. Both are mean, uptight old men who suffer massive VillainDecay until they're little more than pathetic bullies.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Jadis. Iconic British children's character? [[LastOfHisKind Last surviving member]] of an ancient, decadent species of {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} HumanAliens? Committed GenocideFromTheInside to prevent a war from ending unfavorably? Visits London and causes a commotion due to her unfamiliarity with Earth? [[Series/DoctorWho Um, hello?]] It gets even better when you read ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' and see the Witch using the Fourth Doctor's ''modus operandi'' of charming people with sugary jelly candies.

** Jadis. Iconic British children's character? [[LastOfHisKind Last surviving member]] of an ancient, decadent species of {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} HumanAliens? Committed GenocideFromTheInside to prevent a war from ending unfavorably? Visits London and causes a commotion due to her unfamiliarity with Earth? [[Series/DoctorWho Um, hello?]]
** It gets even better when you read ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' and see the Witch using the Fourth Doctor's ''modus operandi'' of charming people with sugary jelly candies.

* MagnumOpus: Considered by some to be the best book in the series. With a [[WorldBuilding vastly expanded multiverse]], creative origin of Narnia and its characters without relying too much on information from the prier books, alluding to alchemy and less traditional tropes in the series, and being a rather great fantasy novel in its own right, it isn't hard to see why.

* HilariousInHindsight / JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarCharacters: Jadis. Iconic British children's character? [[LastOfHisKind Last surviving member]] of an ancient, decadent species of {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} HumanAliens? Committed GenocideFromTheInside to prevent a war from ending unfavorably? Visits London and causes a commotion due to her unfamiliarity with Earth? [[Series/DoctorWho Um, hello?]]

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: When Narnia has first been made, Aslan tells Frank the cabbie that he'll be the king. While Frank is flattered, one of the reasons he refuses the position is because [[HappilyMarried he doesn't want to leave his wife]], who's still in England. Cue Aslan magicking her there, to be Narnia's first queen. Aw!
** [[spoiler: After all those events Uncle Andrew gave up sorcery and became nicer, though he liked to tell the occasional visitor about Jadis.]]

* FridgeBrilliance:
** Why haven't the clothes on the waxworks in the room where Jadis is sleeping rotted away? [[spoiler:Because the Deplorable Word killed all the bacteria to do the rotting!]]
** The entire series is a biblical metaphor for children. Why does Aslan name the Cabbie king? "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth."

** [[spoiler: After all those events Uncle Andrew gave up sorcery and became nicer, though he liked to tell occasional visitor about Jadis.]]