The Wood Between the Worlds

Robert High

In the Chronicles of Narnia all seven books were written in a sequence which completed a full storyline. After completeing the entire series one of the things that stuck out to me was how well each and every book tied into one another. I really liked how in the Magician's Nephiew, Lewis introduces Dirgory and Polly who form the groundings for the rest of the major characters in the series. All throughout the rest of the books new characters are introduced at different places and times throughout the world of Narnia and beyond.

Most readers know that these books were not written in the sequence of the story line. And, if someone has read all of the books, they know that not all of the characters are necisarily related to one another. Even though the books were written at different times Lewis doesn't falter in bringing the story together very smoothly. This is seen best in the end part of the last book where just about every single character from the entire Chronicle's series is re-united.

There is one thing however that I wish Lewis would have touched on a little deeper throughout the series. In the book, The Magician's Nephiew when Digory and Polly are about to discover the world of Narnia for the first time, they find themselves in a kind of inbetween world. This world is desribed as woods, where the characters are surrounded by trees and every problem and worry that comes with all of the other worlds, seems to vanish away. The characters arrive at the trees when they are transported out of their world using the rings that Digroy's uncle made. In the woods their are puddles of water which supposadely represent portals to other worlds. Digory and Polly discover Narnia because they jump into one of the puddles. The book mentions that their are many puddles that they could have chosen but it never talks about them further than that.

The reason I bring this Wood Between the Worlds subject up is because all throughout the series when the other characters are being transported from their world to Narnia, the woods aren't mentioned. I don't know why Lewis would create such a great setting and piece of the story without going into more detail about it later in the series. Even in the end of the series when Narnia is coming to an end, they Wood Between the Worlds is never mentioned at all.

I have come to the conclusion that Lewis probably had his own reasoning for creating this place and not putting a lot of further emphasis upon it in the other books. One reason could have been that he was leaving more room to create new stories through other puddles or "worlds" later on in his life. Maybe Lewis allowed their to be many ways to transport from one world to another without the woods. There is evidence in the other books of this happening, like in Prince Caspian when the kids are transported to Narnia from the train station, or in Dawn Treader where the kids are transported through the painting.

If it were up to me to include the woods in the books, I would allow them to appear as often as possible. I think that the woods opened up a brand new idea of creation and new beginnings that the other books left behind. Ultimately, the woods could ahve been an endless plethera of new worlds that lead into new and exciting stories far beyond Narnia.