ajmcrill wrote:With that thought, I believe that the White Witch and LotGK (and perhaps even Tash in the Last Battle) are the same evil presence in Narnia that represent Satan/the devil in the stories.
No, that would be like saying that the Emperor Nero, Genghiz Khan and even Adolf Hitler are manifestations of the same evil presence on Earth. Yes they might have been considered representatives of Satan. The Early Christians certainly thought that way about Emperor Nero, whilst Genghiz Khan merely came to further his conquests. But all three were mortal men, nonetheless, some more evil than others. And they came from different perspectives, although they all got a lot of power into their hands.
So whilst it might be possible to lump Tash in with a couple of witches, the problem I have with this is that I think that Tash as a being is merely the manifestation of his followers' worst nightmares. And the Witches themselves are so separated in time they have very little in common.
aileth wrote:Could LotGK have been squeamish? Oh, surely not. It's all very well to talk about a lady so dainty that she wouldn't set the sole of her foot on the ground, but surely her refinement wasn't more than skin deep. I mean, she was a snake! She moulted her good manners pretty quickly at the end.
Somehow the thought that a wannabe world conqueror would hesitate to off her opponents is quite ludicrous. Although I suppose that everybody has their own modus operandi; it did seem to work for her up till that point. Maybe she just wanted everyone to be nice and cooperate.
No, LOTGK was a backroom girl, not a senior executive, you might say. I agree with you up to a point. And if she convinced everyone that hers was the only world and her purposes the only ones worth striving for, her work is half-done already. The banality of evil, you might say, where the accused murderer has done little more than rubberstamp lists of names of people that someone or other higher up has considered to be undesirables.
Jadis' forte was making stone statues out of people, usually native Narnians. Aslan, though, had the power to unpetrify those statues even before he destroyed her. Human blood deflected some of Jadis' new magic somehow. Was anyone human petrified? Although Jadis regained her strength in London, the deplorable word didn't work on anyone, and it was humans that Aslan put in charge of Narnia. But LOTGK, as a snake, actually did doff someone - Ramandu's daughter, whose father was a star. LOTGK's expertise in mind control might be considered magic by Narnians, but not necessarily by humans, though they seem to be vulnerable to it as well, through their senses. So in one way, LOTGK was an even more dangerous Witch than was Jadis.
DiGoRyKiRkE wrote:Jadis has supernatural abilities in her own world, but as pointed out, they vanish both in our world and in the Narnian world. The vengeful Tarkhaans of Calormen (villains for HAHB and LB) certainly have no supernatural abilities, nor does Miraz...
I think the answer lies in the fact that ALL villains save for the LOTGK are noted to have otherworldly origins. Jadis came from Charn (and had magic there,) and the Calormene villains (Rishda in LB and Rabadash in HAHB) as well as Miraz were all descendents of human beings from our world. All of these villains were transplants to the Narnian world.
Yes, Digs, I can see some of what you are saying. Save for the LOTGK, none of the villains to date in the series are of native origin. All of those of human descent are descended from humans from Earth, even those Calormenes who claim to be descendants of Tash. But the same applies to all the child protagonists who venture into Narnia and whose presence there is revered. They, too, like Jadis, were "transplants".
Jadis feared the coming of the Pevensies because they were the embodiment of what to expect when the four thrones of Cair Paravel were to be filled. Jadis already knew prophecies and was well aware of what happened when she, Polly, Digory and company arrived in Narnia first, though she couldn't have known about what happened in the eternity before that moment. And yes, Jadis, who brought evil into Narnia, was able to corrupt some dwarves and other creatures into darkness. That may or may not have included LOTGK or her antecedents.
But if she even knew about Jadis, LOTGK would also have known about King Frank and Queen Helen being crowned as the first monarchs of Narnia, and the sacred trust that whilst Narnia is not a land for humans it is still a land for humans to be stewards of. She might even have known about the silver apple tree.
Why I think you are onto something with your theory that she could have been a native born Narnia, is her targetting Ramandu's daughter. As a half-human at best, Caspian's Queen, however beautiful, was more vulnerable to LOTGK than Caspian X. Rilian was born to them, but he would have shared some of his mother's heritage, though he was his human father's son. Hence LOTGK targetted him. And saw the chance to overcome Narnia and rule through Rilian, the rightful heir because of his human lineage.
It confirms also that Jadis and LOTGK are two different people. I doubt that Jadis got into Narnia by burrowing underground and working through a human or mostly human intermediary. She was too busy claiming that she really was human, after all, having seen some of them in London. Notice LOTGK never claimed to be human?