The Beginnings of Narnia Trivia Quiz

Answer: A fawn, carrying Christmas packages and an umbrella.

Lewis said after imagining the picture of the fawn, he wanted to write a story to go with it. He said this was the start of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

The book itself is sometimes described as a series of pictures, with words that guide the reader from one image to the next.

Answer: His friends hated it.

From a letter to an acquaintance: "I have tried [a children's story] myself, but it was, by the unanimous verdict of my friends, so bad that I destroyed it." ("The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II") It's unknown how much, if anything, it was like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

Lewis routinely got feedback from a group of friends who called themselves the "Inklings", of which he and J.R.R. Tolkien were the most famous members. The group gathered weekly to talk, enjoy each other's company, and read to the group what they had been working on.

Actually, it's sort of amazing that a man who had no children (at the time), and according to one acquaintance, did not like or understand them, would even attempt such a book!

Answer: 1950

The book was set during World War II - remember, the children were boarding with the Professor to get away from the air raids in London, so it was not 1937 or 1930. And Lewis died in 1963, so it was not 1965.

Lewis took on boarders himself during the war, which was probably part of his inspiration for the book.

Answer: Lucy Barfield

Hopefully the name was a dead giveaway. He dedicated the book to his friend Owen Barfield's daughter, Lucy. She got to read the book first.

Barfield was a student of Lewis's, and later a friend and fellow "Inkling". Though the two often did not see eye-to-eye, Lewis still valued Barfield's friendship.

Lewis dedicated "The Horse and His Boy" to the Gresham children, and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" to Geoffrey Barfield. "The Last Battle" was not dedicated.

Answer: None of them

Actually, the book got a tepid response from the critics initially. But the critics warmed up to Narnia. The final book in the series, "The Last Battle", won the Carnegie Medal. Lewis characteristically shared the credit with the illustrator for that book (and all the Narnia books), Pauline Baynes - calling it "our medal".

It's also interesting to mention that Lewis's publisher had misgivings about publishing the book. There weren't a lot of children's fantasy books on the market at the time, and the publisher feared they had gone out of style. Also, Lewis was famous for more serious works, and the publisher feared a children's book would cause his other books to lose sales.

Answer: Maugrim, the Wolf, renamed Fenris Ulf.

According to Wikipedia, Fenrir was a "monster wolf" from Norse mythology.

When the publisher, HarperCollins, renumbered the books in the 1990s, they reverted the wolf's name back to Maugrim in the American version. Personally, I liked Fenris Ulf.

Answer: Not given

They didn't have one! They were just Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. They were given a last name, Pevensie, in the third book "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader". I did say it was a trick question!

Answer: The Magician's Nephew

HarperCollins renumbered the books to a chronological order at the recommendation of the Lewis estate, stating this is what Lewis would have wanted. In the new order, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the second book.

The renumbering was based on a letter exchange between Lewis and a young American reader. The boy had written to Lewis, asking him to settle a dispute between him and his mother about the order of the books. The young reader thought the books should be read chronologically; the mother, in the publication order. Lewis wrote back saying that he had not planned the books out in advance, and no longer remembered which books were written in which order, but agreed with the child. The sixth book, "The Magician's Nephew", a prequel to Narnia, became the first book.

The renumbering is somewhat controversial among Narnia fans, however, who believe the books are better enjoyed as written, and that Lewis was probably just humoring his young correspondent, since he did not actually renumber the books before he died in 1963.

Answer: Aslan

Hard to believe, but Aslan was not initially in the story.

From Lewis's essay "On Stories" (quoted from Alan Jacobs's "The Narnian"): "At first I had very little idea how the story would go. But then suddenly Aslan came bounding into it. I think I had been having a good many dreams of lions about that time. Apart from that, I don't know where the Lion came from or why He came. But once He was there he pulled the whole story together, and soon He pulled the six other Narnian stories in after Him."

Answer: Liam Neeson

Neeson - the only Irish actor on the list!

Liam Neeson was not initially cast for the role of Aslan, but sought it out and received it after the studio dropped their first choice.