NarniaWeb Community Forums

Has anyone else noticed a few anachronisms in the Narnia Series, Either books or Movies? I dont think that the Telmarines would have had machine trebouches during the Era Narnia seems to be in, maybe regular catapults, but not super fast, self sustaining machines.
I also kind of doubt that they would have developed spectacles by this time, especially ones that worked, considering the Telmarines were pirates and most likely did not have any glass manufacturers among them.

True, however the Telmarines were there for a few hundred years at that point, which would have been enough time to be able to perfect their glassware skills.

As for the trebuches and crossbows and such, I'd complain if it were electrical, or explosive, but I think it'd be possible to figure out a system that could reload using pulleys, and levers and such. However I still think they might be a bit slower than in the movies, and personally I can't imagine it's easy to aim any type of catapult at a door

Just so this thread doesn't get buried (because I think it is a neat topic idea!) I think somebody had better define what an Anachronism is (as I wasn't familliar with the term until I was a Freshmen in College)

An anachronism is an element of a text that is out of standing with the time era in which the text is set. Therefore, an ATM machine in a fiction book or play about ancient Egypt would be an anachronism.

That would be a good Idea!

An Anachronism is something that is set in a wrong time-frame in a book or movie, such as Clock chimes in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Really, it would be hard to define a specific anachronism in Narnia because it doesn't have a real history. We can tell if something it out of the time period in movies about our world because there are records and artifacts and such where we know what goes into what time period. But only Lewis would be able to say if something would be out of place. Obviously, certain things would be out of place, like an ipod, but a catapult isn't a far stretch.

Drinian had a spyglass, as I recall. Coriakin seems to have had quite a well equipped "laboratory", although I think he was something of a transplant.

If they launched fireworks when Miraz' wife gave birth, then why couldn't they have had gunpowder and firearms? (ugh!) And we know they had rum so somebody must have been messing with sugar cane (Lewis- you should have substituted Cognac).

And didn't they have canned sardines even back in the days of the White Witch? Oh, and butcher paper as well.

Funny you mention it, Lilygloves, because the iPod and the crystal ball both work on the same principle *(when they work at all that is).

Fireworks were around long, long, long before the invention of firearms.

Drinian's spyglass also made sense, as the Telmarines were Pirates before they were dropped into Narnia

Like most fantasy worlds from literature i'd define Narnia as being quasi-medieval in its time period - obviously it doesn't have to strictly conform to the standards of the real medieval period of this world as Narnia is its own distinct universe, but things should really be more or less around that sort of time period for me. The one anachronistic example from the book which therefore springs to mind is Mrs Beavers sewing machine, being an invention of the industrial revolution.

With many other things in Narnia you will often find that the real-world equivalents were invented much earlier than you might of thought (such as Glasses and Fireworks) or their presence can be argued due to the influences of our world on Narnia at key points in its history (such as Frank and Helen coming from Victorian London, or the Telmarines coming from an undefined period of seafaring in the past) but the Sewing Machine is still one that sticks out and seems inconsistent with everything else they have going on in Narnia during that time.

Did they have plumbing in Narnia? And if so, to what extent? Did the cities and palaces have it, but not the more isolated places? Was it only the humans who used plumbing?

Also, was steam used at all? I know there was no electricity- but was steam power ever present?

They had indoor plumbing back in medieval times. They merely used special canals or channels built into the castle's architecture, and then would dump some water down the chute in order to get the waste washed out of the castle.

So indoor plumbing (of that kind) would probably not have been too far fetched in Narnia.

To me it just seems weird that the characters in Narnia were regular humans. I mean, its weird to think that they went to the restroom. I think that they had and outhouse not indoor plumbing. Thats just my opinion!