The Wardrobe

[caleon]

I've been reading through the books, and I am trying to find out what happened to the wardrobe after Digory moves into the one-room cottage. Does anyone recall? I'm sure if he took it with him Lewis would have mentioned so.

[ChristProclamer]

I don't think that the book ever says. Some readers say his house got bombed and the wardrobe was destroyed; however, I find that highly unlikely considering that the estate was out in the middle of nowhere. I'm guessing he took it with him.

[narnian_at_heart]

Interesting question.

I wonder if the wardrobe can be destroyed since it's magical. However, Professor Kirke does say that they won't get into Narnia again that way so maybe the magic left the wardrobe after the Pevensies got back.

[TheGeneral]

Wow I actually never thought about that. I like to think he kept it, but it probably would be too big in a cottage.

[ChristProclamer]

Perhaps he gave it to Polly, then?

[daughter of the King]

Some readers say his house got bombed and the wardrobe was destroyed; however, I find that highly unlikely considering that the estate was out in the middle of nowhere.

The reason some readers say that is because in LB Edmund says that his house was destroyed. A bombing makes the most sense even if the estate was far out. Unless the building was imploded. I always thought the wardrobe was destroyed, or it could have been put in the spare bedroom that Peter stayed in when he stayed at the Professor's cottage in VDT.

[ChristProclamer]

*checks book*
VoDT Chapter 1 says:
...If he had still been in that house he would have had them all to stay. But he had somehow become poor since the old days and was living in a small cottage with only one room to spare.
LB Chapter 16 says:
"I thought that house had been destroyed." Said Edmund.
"So it was," Said the Faun.
So since it isn't mentioned in VoDT, perhaps it wasn't destroyed until later? BTW, thanks Daughter of the King for pointing that out--I'd forgotten about that part in LB.

[NaiadWaker]

I think that The Professor only left the house in VDT, and maybe between SC and LB the house was destroyed. Anyways, by LB the magic probably left it, since Narnia was no more.

[Watziznehm]

I would like to point out that the house that was destroyed was not the big house in the country but the house in the City that was Digory's residence when he was a child. In other words the MN house if that makes sense.

I really don't think the wardrobe was destroyed. I think that it stayed in the big house in the country when Digory left it or perhaps he took it with him to the cottage in the country. The wardrobe wasn't of much use Narnian concerned after the pevensies came back out of it because the portal closed. After that it was just a memento but a very valuable one!

[daughter of the King]

I would like to point out that the house that was destroyed was not the big house in the country but the house in the City that was Digory's residence when he was a child. In other words the MN house if that makes sense.

(insert coughing smilie here)
The Last Battle Chapter 16. Farewell to Shadowlands

" 'Why!' exclaimed Peter. 'It's England. And that's the house itself--Professor Kirk's old home in the country where all our adventures began!'
'I though that house had been destroyed,' said Edmund."
(bold added by me)

[Watziznehm]

Oh, ha ha, oops, my mistake. I forgot about that part but I had to check the book myself just to make sure. It was there sure enough.

[Hermitess of Narnia]

However, Professor Kirke does say that they won't get into Narnia again that way so maybe the magic left the wardrobe after the Pevensies got back.

After the hundred year winter the wardrobe's connection to the Tree of Protection was destroyed. Remember, Jadis hates the Tree of Protection because she has taken of the fruit the tree came from, wrongfully. She only takes over Narnia after the Tree dies, (I would assume this happened on the Narnia timeline at the same time the tree in England is knocked down.) When the witch is killed, the wardrobe's purpose has already been fulfilled and that is why it will not take them back to Narnia.

Okay, this might be a crazy theory.

I always assumed that the house had run down after the Professor lost it, and had to be torn down.

[Liberty Hoffman]

I have always wondered what happened to the Wardrobe after the Proffessor had to move to a smaller house.....

^^ hermitess of narnia: awesome theory! I wish C.S. Lewis had written that!

[DiGoRyKiRkE]

I assumed the exact same thing, Hermitess of Narnia (about the house that is). I believe that the professor had grown a good deal poorer (as it says in VODT) and couldn't afford to keep his house. It is my theory that he sold it to some sort of development firm, who knocked down the big house in order to make way for several smaller houses, or for businesses. Either way, the wardrobe would have meant too much to the professor not to take it with him. Even though cottages are small, they're not completely without space. Even the smallest of cottages would have had room for one wardrobe.