on Edmund, sea serpents, and silence
so for a while now Iโve been meaning to do a little meta piece about the Dark Island and Edmundโs trauma, because Lewis has an interesting pattern of silence on difficult emotion and this is something that changes a lot in adaptation
the dark island is the place where your dreams come true, in the most literal sense - if you have dreamed it, the island will make it real (sort of) - it has a line to your subconscious, to your worst fears. to this extent, the film was pretty much in line with the book
except in the book, itโs so much worse. Rhoop, the lord who was trapped there, is absolutely demented. the whole crew is terrified and row like mad to get out of there. Caspian orders them to flee because, he says, there areย โsome things no man can faceโ, and after itโs over he sends the crew to bed to recover
but what I really noticed last time I read it is that, once the Dark Island takes hold, we hear scraps from every major character about what theyโre feeling/seeing - except one. you know whoโs totally silent the whole time, and at no point says anything or is described?
literally not a word about him apart from Lucy wanting to be near him, after the Island starts to work on them. we donโt get anything at all about what heโs doing or saying or looks like, and we certainly donโt hear what it is that he sees - which is odd, given that heโs one of the most major characters.
In the film, they gave him a fear of sea serpents, which is fine I guess for an action sequence, but doesnโt feel right for Edmund to me - heโs known so much darker and more human horrorsย
the film briefly references his trauma with the Witch by having her appear, but itโs both short and a bit weird. the book - as covered - doesnโt mention him at all, and thatโs what I think is super interesting, because Lewis has a bit of a pattern of leaving gaps of silence on characters whose emotions are too difficult/dark/adult for a childrenโs book in a some particular moments
the most major instance of this is Peter, Edmund and Lucy in TLB, when they tell Tirian that Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia. Edmund and Lucy are absolutely silent on the matter and Peter only gives a short statement of what has happened and doesnโt elaborate - all the other stuff comes from Eustace, Jill and Polly. And I always thought that into that silence you can read so much grief, and so much complex emotion that doesnโt really have a place in a childrenโs book
like when Lewis said in a letter that he thought of writing the story of what happened to Susan after TLB but it would beย โtoo much like a grown-up novelโ, so we know that he conceived of his characters as capable of havingย โgrown upโ, adult emotional depth, but itโs not something he would put in his childrenโs books. and when thereโs a moment in which it makes sense for one of the characters to be in an emotional situation that is too adult for a childrenโs book, he goes very quiet on them
hence why the complete lack of description of Edmund once the Dark Island begins to bring to life the crewโs worst nightmares sort of troubles me, because, in the context of Lewisโs writing, it hints at darker and more complex things for him there than Lewis would really go into, because, after all, thatโs what makes sense for his character, having the past experiences that he does.