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"My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world into some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise."
Reepicheep

The third installment of The Chronicles of Narnia and the fifth book chronologically, which takes place a year later in Earth-time (and 3 years later in Narnia Time) since the previous installment, Prince Caspian. Along with an unpleasant cousin named Eustace Scrubb, Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia and travel with now-King Caspian to the edge of the world, where he is searching for exiled Telmarine lords who were loyal to his father. On the journey, their cousin is turned into a dragon, and they encounter many wonders on an adventurous voyage, at the end of which, Lucy and Edmund, like Peter and Susan in the last book, are told they will never return to Narnia.

Much of the book is inspired by The Odyssey, with analogous scenes and plot elements.

Like the two previous Pevensie stories before it, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was adapted into a film of the same name in 2010; it featured Will Poulter as Eustace Scrubb alongside the returning cast. Note that unmarked spoilers follow for viewers of the film who have not read the book, which is one of the series' most popular installments.


This book provides examples of:

  • Aerith and Bob: At one point, Narnian people named Nancy and Tom are mentioned.
  • Anger Born of Worry: Reepicheep, heroic Talking Mouse Knight of Narnia, goes overboard, and Lord Drinian, the usually stoic and reserved captain of the eponymous ship, bursts into exclamations that Reepicheep's more trouble than the rest of the crew put together, and ought to be thrown into irons. The narrator lampshades this by pointing out that the captain is so angry because he likes Reepicheep very much — just like your mother will be much angrier with you for running into the street than a stranger would be.
  • Apparently Human Merfolk: Lucy observes some through the crystal-clear water while crossing the Last Sea. They do pretty much what Narnians do, but underwater.
  • Appeal to Familial Wisdom: The old sailor who asserts (correctly) that one must only sail far enough east to reach Aslan's country, "when questioned ... could only say that he had heard it from his father."
  • Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Reepicheep. Inverted with Ramandu and his daughter, who used to be on a higher plane but came down to their island.
  • Backup Bluff: King Caspian decides to bluff the corrupt governor of the Lone Islands (because he hasn't got enough men to depose him by force). To trick him, he orders his crew to send signals "to all the other ships we haven't got but which it might be well that Gumpas thinks we have", commanding them to assemble at Bernstead, which the governor cannot see from his current position.
  • Barefoot Sage: Both Coriakin and Ramandu are old, somewhat eccentric, and very wise, and they don't wear any shoes. They're also retired stars.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The quest is completed, but those who are not from Narnia have to leave it, perhaps forever.
  • Bizarre Alien Locomotion: The hopping, monopedal Dufflepuds. They can also use their huge feet as canoes.
  • Blessed with Suck: There's a lake on Deathwater Island which has the Midas curse upon it. Turning everything into gold sounds awesome in theory, but in practice it gives everyone a violent case of Gold Fever, or worse, causes your death if you ignorantly jump in for a swim, like Lord Restimar did.
  • Calling Parents by Their Name: Eustace calls his parents by their first names. During the Author Filibuster about how Eustace's upbringing made him an obnoxious brat, one of the points Lewis brings is that Eustace calls his parents Harold and Alberta.
  • Captain Obvious: The entire race of Dufflepuds are prone to such astute observations as that water is powerfully wet.
  • Captain's Log: Eustace keeps a diary while aboard the Dawn Treader, and a couple of episodes from the story are told using his journal entries, and completely from his point of view.
  • Captive Push: After arriving at the Lone Islands, Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace and Reepicheep are captured by slavers, after which they are bound (except Reepicheep, who squirms too much) and marched off to the slave market in town.
  • Comedic Spanking: When Eustace swings Reepicheep by the tail, Reepicheep swings at Eustace's leg with the flat of his rapier. According to the narrative, this has the suppleness of a birch rod, and as Eustace attends a school without corporal punishment, the sensation is new to him.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: Coriakin gives one to the Duffers (a race of foolish dwarves he was assigned to govern) by transforming them into funny one-legged creatures called Monopods. Everyone else agrees that they look better in their new form, and it gives them advantages (such as being able to jump high and to use their one giant foot as a boat), but they are horrified by the change at first because they are extremely conceited about their appearance and believe that the transformation has made them "ugly".
  • The Coup: Heroic example on the Lone Islands. Caspian is the legitimate Narnian king, but the corrupt Governor refuses to acknowledge his rule, and he does not have enough men to enforce it openly in a straight-up manner. So he and Lord Bern quickly march a small detachment of troops into the palace before anyone can react, intimidate the guards into surrendering and depose the Governor and his cabinet. The sequence reads like a rather surprisingly realistically (and effectively) executed Military Coup, especially considering that it takes place in a children's book.
  • Crucial Cross: The heroes are led through darkness to safety by Aslan in the form of an albatross which "looks like a cross."
  • Cumbersome Claws: Eustace struggles with a severe loss of dexterity when he is transformed into a dragon. He is barely able to write a message in the sand to try to explain what happened.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Eustace gets magically transformed into a dragon, but treats the whole situation as something rather dreary and depressing. Then again, this is probably expected, as Eustace is the kind of person who considers going on a magical sea voyage in a fantasy land a thoroughly unpleasant affair.
    • Plus there's that golden bracelet stuck on his arm. Now that he's grown bigger, the bracelet is way too small and it causes Eustace a lot of pain until he's changed back into a human via Aslan's help.
    • He does consider the good side of being a dragon, but quickly realizes that he doesn't want it. It's an essential part of his Character Development.
    • He also realizes (no matter how hard they try to hide it from him) that his huge size would cause a lot of trouble for the crew, making it nearly impossible to bring him along, but he also knows that they wouldn't leave him. In short, he feels guilty that he is causing his friends so much trouble.
    • The Dufflepuds also come to see their new one-legged form as this, especially after Reepicheep teaches them to use their giant feet as boats for swimming.
  • Damned by Faint Praise: Governor Gumpas's official honorific is not "His Excellency" but "His Sufficiency."
  • Dirty Coward: The Dufflepuds, who freely admit that they want Lucy to break their spell because they're too chicken to ask any of their own people to do it. The spell requires a little girl to break it, which is why they want her specifically.
  • The Ditz: An entire race of them with the Dufflepuds.
    "Aye, you're right! No one could be righter than you!"
  • Divine Punishment: Coriakin turning the Duffers into Monopods as a Prank Punishment for disobedience (and them eventually finding advantages in their new form) is a metaphor for the relationship between God and humanity. It may also be Lewis' Self-Deprecation, as he probably would have never become the great writer he was if he wasn't "cursed by God" and born with only one functional joint in his thumbs.
  • The Drag-Along: Eustace, and he gladly makes his opinions about this known.
  • Dragon Hoard: Eustace stumbles upon one while the dragon is absent. He accidentally transforms himself into a dragon with the ambient magic by sleeping on top of it while thinking "dragonish" thoughts. It takes nothing less than an intervention by Aslan himself to undo this self-inflicted curse.
  • Dwindling Party: The previous expedition by the seven lost Telmarine Lords appears to have played out this way, with one after another either abandoning their quest or succumbing to its various perils.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Coriakin, who is implied to have a quirky sense of humor: he has a bearded mirror in his mansion (which could be used to prank his visitors), and he turned the Duffers into Monopods (probably for amusement, except other reasons). His penchant for going barefoot all the time may be another of his eccentricities or have to do with the fact that he's a star.
  • Eerily Out-of-Place Object: On one of the islands, the group discovers some abandoned armour, not far from a pool of water. In the pool is a human sized golden statue, with arms stretched above its head. At first, they only notice its beauty; then they discover that the water turns everything that enters it into gold, and horrified realisation dawns.
  • Eldritch Location: Pretty much every island after the Lone Islands is a sliding scale of Eldritch, even by Narnia standards, particularly The Utter East and Aslan's Country.
  • Empty Piles of Clothing: On Deathwater Island, the characters find some discarded armour, next to a pool containing a golden statue. When they discover that the pool turns things to gold, they realise that the statue was in fact a person who dived in, and that the armour belonged to that person, the clothes having rotted away long ago.
  • Exact Words: The Island Where Dreams Come True.
  • Failed a Spot Check: The sea serpent mistakenly believes it destroyed the Dawn Treader and keeps searching the same patch of ocean for its wreckage, instead of noticing it sailing away.
  • Fictional Constellations: A brief scene has the Pevensies looking at the Narnian night sky and identifying constellations they'd seen on their previous trips. They're completely different from Earth's.
  • Final First Hug: Lucy thinks Reepicheep (a talking mouse) looks very cuddly, but she knows it would be a dreadful insult for her to treat him like a cute little pet. She finally gives him a hug at the end when he sails off to Aslan's country.
  • Flipping the Table: Drinian and Bern do this to Gumpas' table, to get his attention.
  • Fountain of Youth: Ramandu, a retired star, is brought a fire berry every day that takes a little of his age. This will happen until he is a newborn baby and he can rise again.
  • Fridge Horror:
  • Genius Bruiser: Reepicheep is a good chess player—as long as he doesn't project his own character onto the pieces.
  • Genre Blindness: Lampshaded by the Lemony Narrator:
    Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon's lair, but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books.
  • Gold Fever:
    • Eustace catches a case when he discovers how much gold is in the Dragon Hoard. Unluckily for him, incubating there on his greed enables him to change into a dragon himself by accident—but not back. He's stuck being a dragon until Aslan helps him out.
    • Goldwater Island has a pool that turns whatever it touches into gold. When the landing party discovers it, the resulting gold fever becomes an Apple of Discord that nearly brings them to violence against each other. Fortunately Aslan shows up and brings everyone to their senses, but Reepicheep suggests renaming it to "Deathwater Island" as a warning to others.
  • Gunboat Diplomacy: How Caspian takes back control of the Lone Islands. Subverted, as he merely bluffed about the size of his force by having his visible (and only) ship signal to other (non-existent) ships to give the illusion of a larger fleet.
  • Hands Looking Wrong: Subverted when Eustace puts on a bracelet he found in a Dragon Hoard. He undergoes a Forced Transformation into a dragon, but doesn't initially realize and mistakes his own scaled hands for the dragon's nonexistent mate about to attack him. It's not until he tries to flee the hoard and sees his reflection in a pool of water that he realizes what's happened.
  • Healing Spring: The well in the hidden orchard where Eustace is taken to be "un-dragoned".
  • Heel–Face Turn: After being turned into a dragon, Eustace begins changing for the better.
    "It would be nice, and fairly nearly true, to say that "from that time forth Eustace was a different boy". To be strictly accurate, he began to be a different boy. He had relapses. There were still many days when he could be very tiresome. But most of those I shall not notice. The cure had begun."
  • Heroic Vow: Caspian made one at his coronation to search for the seven missing lords of Telmar.
  • Honor Before Reason:
    • Lord Bern tries to persuade Caspian to stay in the Lone Islands to deal with the diplomatic repercussions and possible war that will follow from him deposing Gumpas and ending the slave trade with Calormen, but Caspian demurs on the grounds that he made a Heroic Vow. Never mind that governing your territories and preventing war is kind of an important part of the job for a king? (Then again, in a Medieval Stasis world like Narnia, keeping your vows is also very Serious Business.)
    • Later, however, when Caspian tries to abdicate so he can stay to see the world's end, Aslan shows up in person to tell him to stay and do his job.
  • I Just Want to Be Beautiful: It is revealed that Lucy envies Susan's beauty when the magic book tempts her with "an infallible spell to make beautiful her that uttereth it beyond the lot of mortals".
  • Impossibly Delicious Food: The water from the sea at the End of the World isn't just sweet and drinkable, it's all the crew needs for sustenance.
  • Insane Troll Logic: The Dufflepuds go about everything they do in this manner, causing Coriakin endless headaches. There is no instruction, argument or even opinion, no matter how clear, that they will not interpret as meaning either exactly its opposite, some random nonsense or nothing at all.
  • Irony: Caspian says that in Narnia they have fairy tales about places where the world is round. Narnia, being a fantasy land that runs on magic, seems not to be.
  • Island of Mystery: Several of them, since the bulk of the plot is exploring an archipelago. One of them has invisible inhabitants and a sorcerer, one has a dragon's lair, another has water that turns anything that falls in to gold, and the last has three old men in an eternal sleep and is inhabited by a star.
  • Karmic Transformation: Eustace sees a dragon moving toward him, which dies shortly thereafter. He walks past the fallen beast into its lair, and, finding a hoard of treasure, steals a ring and promptly falls asleep, dreaming of plunder and thinking "dragonish" thoughts. He awakens to find that he has become a dragon, and spends a short while in this state. When he re-establishes contact with the group, he exiles himself during meals, so that nobody has to watch the gory spectacle of him dining.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Eustace argues that the men should use less water while working because their perspiration would cool them down, so they would need less water. Ignoring the fact that the whole reason you need more water when warm is that you lose more in sweat... oh, and that perspiration would, at best, keep temperature at normal, rather than cooling down beyond normal. Despite reading a lot of non-fiction, Eustace actually doesn't have that much raw intellectual firepower.
    • In the same argument, he fails to grasp that continuing east after the storm in search of land is the only viable option for restocking the ship, because they cannot cover the distance back without a similar tempest before the water runs out. He instead decries it as "wishful thinking."
  • Literal Transformative Experience: Eustace starts out as a bigoted, selfish Spoiled Brat. He manages to self-transform into a dragon; and while transformed he comes to realize that he's The Load to his traveling companions and to regret his bad behaviour. When Aslan restores him to human form, he begins to take a level in kindness.
  • Made a Slave: The main characters after being kidnapped in the Lone Islands.
  • Magic Map: Coriakin creates a map for King Caspian (despite the fact that Drinian helped him make it), depicting the voyage to date with supernatural accuracy, including photo-realistic details (in a setting where photography doesn't exist!) on the cities, when viewed under a magnifying glass.
  • Magic Pants: Not literally with pants, but the idea behind this trope is still averted when the bracelet Eustace is wearing doesn't transform to the size of a dragon limb when Eustace transforms into a dragon. His other clothes, along with a bunch of jewels in his pockets, have disappeared when he reverts to being a human - fortunately, Aslan provides him with a new set of clothes when he changes Eustace back.
  • Mass "Oh, Crap!": The sailors' reaction upon realizing what "dreams come true" really means is to run back to ship as fast as their legs can carry them.
    The stranger started horribly at the voice of the Mouse, which he had not noticed before. 'Nevertheless you will fly from here,' he gasped. "This is the Island where Dreams come true".
    "That's the island I've been looking for this long time", said one of the sailors. "I reckoned I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here".
    "And I'd find Tom alive again", said another.
    "Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams — dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: Dreams!"
    There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armor, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before...
  • Midas Touch: The heroes' voyage takes them to a volcanic isle where they discover a magic pool that transforms ordinary things to gold — including one of the Telmar lords who ignorantly tried to go for a swim in it. Evil forces spark an argument between the main characters over potential uses for it, but Aslan snaps everyone out of it before they can come to harm.
  • More Hero than Thou: When the characters are threatened to make Lucy to do something, Lucy argues for doing it, and the boys that they should fight to defend her.
  • Muggle in Mage Custody: A borderline case between this and Benevolent Mage Ruler. The eccentric magician Coriakin governs an island inhabited by dwarves known as the Duffers, but the Duffer community is small, Coriakin has no formal title, and his role is more akin to that of a caregiver than a ruler. His relationship with them is also more personal than that of a Benevolent Mage Ruler, and he sometimes resorts to Prank Punishments like transforming them into funny one-legged creatures called Monopods for disobedience.
  • Mundane Utility: When Eustace is transformed into a dragon, it has occasional benefits: one puff of his fiery breath would light the most obstinate fire.
  • Nerdy Bully: Eustace Scrubb is introduced as an effete Know-Nothing Know-It-All whose bland modernist upbringing taught him to wield intellectualism as a form of petty dominance over others. Much of the story focuses on him cultivating courage, humility, faith, and genuine wisdom through his adventures, and he returns in The Silver Chair and The Last Battle as a far more agreeable and heroic sort.
  • Nightmare Sequence: "The Island Where Dreams Come True." Sounds great, until you remember that nightmares are dreams.
  • Noiseless Walker: The Duffers warn Lucy that the magician who turned them into Monopods walks about noiselessly in his bare feet, making no more sound than a cat.
  • No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: On "the island of the voices", the Narnians suddenly find themselves surrounded by invisible "Dufflepuds", claiming to be holding weapons, who demand that Lucy goes into a magician's room to remove the enchantment making them invisible. When the Narnians agree to this, the Dufflepuds warmly invite them into their house to dinner and to stay the night, before Lucy fulfils their demand the following morning.
  • Noodle Implements: Several of the magical tools in Coriakin's house have no explicable purpose, most notably the "Bearded Glass," which is a mirror with attached hair to make your reflection appear to have a beard and mustache. The Lemony Narrator admits, "I don't know what the bearded glass was for because I am not a magician."
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Remembering his behaviour on his first visit to Narnia, Edmund realises he can't be too judgemental of Eustace:
    You were only an ass, but I was a traitor.
  • Oblivious Transformation: Eustace sleeps on a dragon hoard, and by thinking "dragonish" thoughts manages to self-transform into a dragon with the ambient magic. They don't notice they wake up as a dragon until they see their reflection in a pool, though.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: His Sufficiency, Governor Gumpas. His methods for governing the Lone Islands include lots of paperwork, commissions of inquiry, and no interviews without appointments except between nine and ten p.m. on second Saturdays every month.
  • Ocean of Adventure: The story follows the Dawn Treader sailing on an expedition led by King Caspian out to sea west of Narnia in search of seven lords who traveled that way during his father's reign, making stops at increasingly distant and strange islands before eventually reaching the far edge of the physical world.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the ship is attacked by a giant sea serpent, Reepicheep yells at everyone to push the serpent off the boat rather than fight it. Since Reepicheep usually fights first and asks questions later, this is unusual enough to startle the rest of the ship's crew into helping him.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: While traditional merfolk dwell in the sea coast of Narnia (as mentioned in LWW), the Dawn Treader crew encounter a different kind: They are two-legged, bipedal humanoids with ivory skin and dark purple hair who wear no clothing except for royalty (who wear only capes and circlets). They ride giant seahorses, use hunting fish like land hunters use hawks and falcons, and shepherd other kinds of fish as well.
  • Portal Picture: How the children enter Narnia. In a back room of Eustace's house, the three of them are looking at a picture of what Lucy describes as "a very Narnian ship" with a prow shaped like the head of a dragon. The picture grows (or the children shrink), sucking the three of them into the water. Fortunately, Caspian sees them, then dives in and brings them on board the Dawn Treader.
  • Prank Punishment: The magician Coriakin turned the Duffers (a kind of gnomes he was assigned to govern) into funny one-legged creatures called Monopods as a playful punishment for disobeying him and doing stupid things like planting boiled potatoes (so they wouldn't have to be cooked after) and washing dishes before the meal. One interpretation is that he wanted them to understand how ridiculously they behaved by making them look just as ridiculous.
    • Another interpretation is that it was a kind of Self-Deprecation on the part of C. S. Lewis. He was born with only one functional joint in each of his thumbs, which made him inept at sports and many other things that require physical agility, so he resorted to writing - which led to him becoming a great writer, something that would likely have never happened if he had normal thumbs. This mirrors the way the Dufflepuds eventually learned to make use of their single leg by using it as a boat, etc. Given that the relationship between Coriakin and Dufflepuds is a metaphor for the one between God and humanity, the parallel is quite likely.
  • Prefers Going Barefoot: In the book, Coriakin, Ramandu and, judging from the illustration, his daughter. It was also mentioned that Lucy didn't mind going barefoot on board a ship, or walking on the grassy isle of Doorn barefooted. Her lack of shoes is justified as she kicked them off in the beginning while treading water in the Great Ocean. She does eventually get shoes again.
  • Real Dreams are Weirder: The reason why the island where dreams come true is so horrifying. We're not told exactly what Eustace's worst nightmare is, but apparently it involves a giant pair of scissors.
  • Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: The Island Where Dreams Come True.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Caspian cannot possibly wrest control of the Lone Islands from Gumpas and his slaver allies with the relatively small number of men he has with him on the Dawn Treader. So he makes a huge flashy show of his arrival to keep any of their enemies from realizing that. It works beautifully.
  • Reverse Psychology: How Caspian convinces his crew members to continue their voyage to the end of the world, while also averting the threat of mutiny. See Shaming the Mob, below.
  • Riches to Rags: It's mentioned that Professor Kirke is no longer the rich man he was in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and he now lives in a small cottage with one spare bedroom, occupied by Peter, who's being coached for an exam. There is a throwaway line in the later books saying that his house was bombed during the war, which may be part of the reason for this.
  • Schmuck Banquet: On the Island of the Star—or so the main characters assume. The feast actually is completely benign, and the reason the Telmarine lords were cursed to sleep was a different one—a Divine Punishment for trying to use the White Witch's stone knife set up in the center of the table to fight one another. Since this knife is Narnia's equivalent to the One True Cross (and more importantly their purpose with it was not exactly what He thinks good either), Aslan was less than amused. Outright smiting them would have caused serious problems with the plot, so they are cursed until the main characters can find a way to disenchant them (which is Reepicheep going to Aslan's country).
  • Sea Serpents: On its journey east, the Dawn Treader comes under attack from a sea serpent that almost manages to crush it in its coils.
  • Sentient Stars: Apparently all the stars in Narnia are sapient beings. We meet a few of them, most notably Ramandu, who has been sent to live on an island in human form for unspecified sins. Coriakin is mentioned to be another one, although in his encounter he doesn't appear to be anything other than a human.
  • Shaming the Mob: Once they've gotten as far as Ramandu's island, the crewmen don't want to sail on any farther. Caspian counters this by announcing that being allowed to accompany him farther eastward is an honor that he's not sure any of them deserves.
  • Slave Liberation: Caspian does this at the Lone Islands, by effectively launching a coup d'état against the corrupt governor and replacing him with an honest man who shuts down the slave trade.
  • Slave Market: The main characters are captured by slave traders. Caspian is rescued/bought by one of the Lords they have been sent to find who recognizes his father in him, but the rest are sent to a slave market. Caspian comes and rescues them before their new owners can take them away. The experience begins the process of breaking Eustace's Jerkass attitude — as the narrative notes, being sold as a slave is bad enough, but it's even worse to be offered for sale as a slave and find that no one wants to buy you.
  • So Beautiful, It's a Curse: In the magician's book, Lucy finds "an infallible spell to make beautiful her that uttereth it beyond the lot of mortals". The pictures on the spell's page show Lucy reciting the incantation and becoming so lovely that Narnia and all the neighboring countries are laid to waste on account of the kings, dukes, and lords fighting for Lucy's favor. A picture of a growling Aslan then appears, giving Lucy such a fright that she turns the page without saying the spell.
  • Spoiled Brat: It's discussed that Eustace is such a pill before his Heel–Face Turn because of vapid "modern" educational and parenting theories that over-indulged his sense of self-importance.
  • Super-Fun Happy Thing of Doom: The "Island Where Dreams Come True." Dreams, as in nightmares.
  • Symbolic Weapon Discarding: In both the book and film, Reepicheep, earlier established as a Proud Warrior Species Mouse, finds himself at the end of the world, on the borders of Aslan's Country. Before parting ways with Caspian and the Pevensies and rowing a little coracle over the wave into there, Reepicheep leaves his Royal Rapier in the sand, stating that he won't need it anymore.
  • Take That!: At the modern educational and childrearing techniques that produce such a brat as Eustace.
  • A Taste of the Lash: "Two dozen" are threatened by Caspian to anyone who steals valuable drinking water while there is a shortage of water after a storm.
  • Tastes Like Purple: The Island of the Star has an attractive scent that Lucy calls "a dim, purple kind of smell".
  • These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: But — we really want to know what kinds of sins a star can commit.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: Coriakin's Great Big Book of Everything. Also a bit of Forbidden Fruit, in regards to some spells.
  • Too Dumb to Live: The Duffers are close to this. Coriakin has to look after them because they are barely clever enough to survive on their own. For example, when a cat gets into their food stores, the entire group relocates all the food to a new location, and it never even occurs to any of them to just get the cat out of there and close the door.
  • Unfortunate Names: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." In the next book, after Eustace's Heel–Face Turn, Lewis introduces him with "but he wasn't a bad sort".
  • Unreliable Narrator: The excerpts from Eustace's Travel Diary present him as tragically put-upon by arrogant prigs who willfully refuse to see him as the voice of reason in every situation. Yeah, we're sure that's exactly how it happened.
  • Vehicle Title: Dawn Treader is the name of the ship.
  • Wacky Wayside Tribe: The Dufflepuds. As the journey mostly consists of random encounters, many others may also qualify. Justified, since one of the expedition's main goals is exploring Narnia's distant island provinces and see what's going on there.
  • Weird Sun: The sun gets larger, casts more light and appears to have tall mountains from Aslan's Country behind it.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Used with an actual mouse, though unlike most examples of this trope, it is certainly NOT due to the author forgetting or simply not caring. It is implied, but not explicitly stated, that Reepicheep made it to Aslan's country. We don't know if he reached it successfully in his boat after going over the giant wave, or died in the attempt and went to Heaven the old-fashioned way; the book simply states that after that moment, no one could claim to have seen him again.
    • It's explicitly shown in the BBC version, where his boat floats up the waterfall to Aslan's Country.
    • In the last book, he is there and greets everyone.
    • We never find out exactly what happened to Lord Octesian; the characters guess that he was either eaten by the dragon or turned into a dragon on Dragon Island, but the only clue they have is his bracelet.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Caspian in his Pride wants to stay at the end of the world; the entire crew and even Aslan calls him out on abandoning his responsibilities and promises.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy:
    • Eustace, it's mentioned several times, has spent all his time reading boring nonfiction books and thus has no idea how to react when he finds himself in a fantasy adventure.
    • When they find the table with the sleepers, they do not eat the feast in case that was what caused them to fall asleep, but this turns out not to be the case and the food is safe to eat.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: The Island Where Dreams Come True. (Unlike most places described by the phrase, emphatically not a nice place to visit.)

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