History Literature / TheSilverChair

* HappyEndingOverride: Poor Caspian. His queen whom he brought back from far across the sea in ''Dawn Treader'' was murdered and their son kidnapped, never to be seen again [[spoiler:until the day of Caspian's own death]].

* {{Allegory}}: The Lady of the Green Kirtle, ruler of Underland, uses genuine atheist arguments. Combined with her magic, she persuades the heroes that there is no Aslan (God). They have conceived of the great lion Aslan merely because they have seen a cat and imagined something greater. Likewise, they have conceived of the Sun merely because they have seen a lamp and imagined something greater. The fact they can only describe them by reference to other things is proof enough they do not actually ''exist'', and in fact never existed. Best to put aside such childish fantasies and comforting delusions and live in the ''real'' world. Considering her [[AnimalMotifs association with snakes]], WordOfGod connection to [[SatanicArchetype Jadis]], and the fact that she ''knows'' those things do exist, having been to the upper world herself, she could be considered a SatanicArchetype or similar representation of demon-suggested doubts. This is likely intentional, as Creator/CSLewis was himself a former atheist who converted to Anglicanism as an adult and his known for is Christian apologetics pieces (the Narnia series are his only childrens' books).

* {{Allegory}}: The Lady of the Green Kirtle, ruler of Underland, uses genuine atheist arguments. Combined with her magic, she persuades the heroes that there is no Aslan (God). They have conceived of the great lion Aslan merely because they have seen a cat and imagined something greater. Likewise, they have conceived of the Sun merely because they have seen a lamp and imagined something greater. The fact they can only describe them by reference to other things is proof enough they do not actually ''exist'', and in fact never existed. Best to put aside such childish fantasies and comforting delusions and live in the ''real'' world. Considering her [[AnimalMotifs association with snakes]], WordOfGod connection to [[SatanicArchetype Jadis]], and the fact that she ''knows'' those things do exist, having been to the upper world herself, she could be considered a SatanicArchetype or similar representation of demon-suggested doubts. This is likely intentional, as Creator/CSLewis was himself a former atheist who converted to Anglicanism as an adult and his known for his Christian apologetics pieces (the Narnia series are his only childrens' books).

* BeneathTheEarth: Underland.
* BigBad: The Lady of the Green Kirtle.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: The marsh-wiggles don't use footwear, as they have frog-like feet and live in watery terrains. Also, similarly to Lucy in other books, Jill enjoys all the chances to be barefoot on comfortable floors.

** At the end of the book, where the Lady of the Green Kirtle is set up as a HollywoodAtheist of the "completely evil" variety and Lewis puts into her mouth some dubious philosophical arguments against the existence of Aslan--although given her own supernatural nature, she could be read as more like a demon than an atheist (even if she is certainly tempting the ''protagonists'' to atheism). Specifically, the Lady's arguments are all based on the [[UsefulNotes/LogicalFallacies Genetic Fallacy]], to dismiss an idea on the basis of its origin. All the more egregious for the fact that the Lady knows full well that both Aslan and the outside world exist. Of course, the magic of her mandolin and the "sweet, drowsy smell" of the green powder she throws on the fire make the arguments more convincing to the protagonists than they otherwise would be.

** At the end of the book, where the Lady of the Green Kirtle is set up as a HollywoodAtheist of the "completely evil" variety and Lewis puts into her mouth some dubious philosophical arguments against the existence of Aslan--although given her own supernatural nature, she could be read as more like a demon than an atheist (even if she is certainly tempting the ''protagonists'' to atheism). Specifically, the Lady's arguments are all based on the [[UsefulNotes/LogicalFallacies Genetic Fallacy]], to dismiss an idea on the basis of its origin. All the more egregious for the fact that the Lady knows full well that both Aslan and the outside world exist. Of course, the magic of her mandolin makes the arguments more convincing to the protagonists than they otherwise would be.

** Inverted with the powder the Lady of the Green Kirtle throws on the fire to enchant Eustace, Jill, Puddleglum, and Rillian. It gives off "a very sweet and drowsy smell" that makes it hard to think.

* EvilSmellsBad: [[spoiler: When Eustace and Puddleglum free Rilian from the silver chair, Rilian grabs his sword from the table and destroys the chair with one blow, causing, just for a moment, "a loathsome smell".]]

* EatDirtCheap: [[spoiler:The gnomes reveal that they do this in Bism, with gems that they describe as juicy and alive--apparently, what we mine out are the "dead" ones no good for eating.]]

--> '''Giant Queen:''' Give her lollipops, give her dolls, and possets, and comforts, and lullabies, and lovely cuddly toys. Now, little girl, don't cry, or you won't be good for anything when the Feast comes.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The reaction of the children and Puddleglum when they learn [[spoiler:they are eating a talking stag]], to varying degrees:
--> Jill, who was new to that world, was sorry for [[spoiler:the poor stag]] and thought it rotten of the giants to have killed him. Scrubb, who had been in that world before and had [[spoiler:at least one Talking beast]] as his dear friend, felt horrified; as you might feel about a murder. But Puddleglum, who was Narnian born, was sick and faint, and felt as you would feel if you found you had eaten a baby.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: The man in the Silver Chair ''really'' doesn't do much to dispel their suspicions that he's a raving lunatic. [[spoiler:He's really just, during his brief moments of sanity, very aware of how strongly he's enchanted and he is beyond desperate to escape it, thus coming across as insane and reinforcing the lie that those few moments are of madness rather than clarity.]]

* CarnivoreConfusion: The distinction between eating a regular non-sapient animal and eating a talking animal is a plot point, as [[spoiler:the "gentle giants" of Harfang are discovered to have killed a talking stag, which our heroes unknowingly ate for dinner]]. There's an interesting range of opinions even among the heroes: Jill is sad as she would be when she thinks about any animal suffering; Eustace who has been friends with talking animals is horrified as though hearing of a murder; but Puddleglum who is a native Narnian is appalled almost to the point of suicide and compares it to a [[IAteWhat human discovering they had]] [[EatsBabies eaten a baby]]. Eventually they are all persuaded that Puddleglum's point of view is the correct one. [[spoiler:Of course, the fact that they find out later that the giants intend to eat ''them'' likely influences this decision.]]

* BadassBoast: Aslan does one of these, which is a bit unusual for him: "I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms." The narration does state, "It didn't say this as if it were ''boasting'', nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it."

--> The Head's friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn't much good even at that, [[AcceptablePoliticalTargets they got her into Parliament]] where [[TakeThat she lived happily ever after]].

* DeadpanSnarker: Puddleglum, in the most extreme sense of the word "deadpan": not only is he snarky, he's TheEeyore.

** An in-universe example as well. [[spoiler:Caspian says several times how it is his dream to visit a land on a planet that's round. Aslan allows him to briefly visit Earth.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: The marsh-wiggles don't use footwear, as they have frog-like feet and live in watery terrains. Also, in a reminiscence of Lucy from the other books, Jill enjoys all the chances to be barefoot in comfortable floors.

* LetsMeetTheMeat: {{Subverted}} in that [[spoiler:Puddleglum overhears some giants talking about the stag they were eating and how it had ''told'' them that it was tough and that they would not like it. Cue in-universe FridgeHorror]].

** Not literally, but it's mentioned that, in Narnian culture, eating talking animals is considered equivalent to cannibalism, as they have human-level intelligence. When Puddleglum finds out [[spoiler:[[IAteWhat what the giants served him]], he has a massive attack of FridgeHorror, the way you might feel if you learned you'd been eating a baby.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Since this book was published ''before'' ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' (though written ''afterwards'') the mention of Cor and Aravis (as recited by a Narnian poet) and the ballad of Corin Thunderfist (whistled by Rilian in the Underworld) become this. Chronologically, they're a ''ContinuityNod'', considering that in Narnia, they lived over a thousand years ago. Confused?

* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: Jill's and Eustace's school, which is a mix of the author's personal experience and educational theories he spoke against in ''The Abolition of Man''. Unusually for the trope (and interestingly considering Creator/CSLewis's own childhood experience under a SadistTeacher), the school's abuses stem not from draconian discipline but from an indulgent ''lack'' of discipline that allows [[GangOfBullies gangs of bullies]] to run wild, terrorizing ordinary students like Jill and Eustace. The children's school seems to be more inspired by the "Wyvern" period of Lewis's life, as detailed in ''Surprised by Joy''.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The chapter ‘A Parliment of Owls’ appears to be named in accordance with the owls’ name for their secret meeting. But guess what a group of owls is actually called in real life as well?

* DeadHatShot: An episode of the BBC adaptation has a CliffhangerEnding of a shot of Puddleglum's hat under a rock thrown by the giants.

* AnimalNemesis: Rillan names the snake that killed his mother as his and vows to seek it to the ends of the world.

* {{Brainwashed}}: The BigBad has brainwashing powers that she uses on a ''lot'' of people, most notably [[spoiler:all the earth-men, Prince Rillian, and very nearly all our heroes at once]].