Ship Manifesto
It took me ages to write this thing. Well actually... I started ages ago (read: last summer) and then kind of abandoned it, only to pick it back up for the sake of the new website. I've been devoting loads of time to it yesterday and today, in order to make sure I had all my facts straight. It was great to write some Casue stuff again. :D My fingers are itching to continue...
I figured you guys would like to read it too, so I'm posting it here also:
Susan and Caspian?
The Casue (or Suspian) ship is a semi-AU relationship between Susan Pevensie and Caspian X (the Tenth) that developed during Prince Caspian. And I say semi-AU for a reason; this pairing is more than merely wishful thinking: it is a subplot during the Prince Caspian movie, even if this ship does not exist in the books. Suggestions of a relationship between Susan and Caspian leaked before the movie hit the theatres, and caused quite a stir among fans of the books and critics alike. The fact that many of them afterwards changed their opinion is a testimony to the subtle and tasteful way that Andrew Adamson-the director of Prince Caspian-handled the situation. Also, the fact that a grandson of C. S. Lewis himself was closely involved in the production of the second Narnia movie, convinced many that the movie did not deviate from Lewis original intentions.
The relationship between Susan and Caspian is a bittersweet one; it was over before it began, and there is no possibility of it being revived.
In this manifesto I will take you through the characters of Susan and Caspian, the manner in which their relationship developed, and the effect that the relationship has on both their lives.
Caspian the Tenth
The movie Prince Caspian gives us little to no insight in the childhood of Caspian. For this, we will turn to his story in the books.
Caspian is the only child of the King of Telmar, Caspian the Ninth, and his wife (Name unknown). Caspian lost both parents at an early age; King Caspian the Ninth is revealed to be murdered in his sleep by his brother Miraz. The cause of his wife’s, Caspian’s mother’s, passing is unknown. Caspian the Tenth did not care for his uncle Miraz, nor his aunt Prunaprismia. In fact, the only person he did care for was his Nurse, who was the only person to take care of the little boy, and who told him stories of Old Narnia.
Lord Miraz, who had taken his deceased brother’s throne, send away the Nurse upon finding out about these stories; and forbade Caspian to talk or think of ‘those silly stories’ again. In the Nurse’s stead, Miraz sent for Doctor Cornelius to tutor his nephew. Despite himself, Caspian was fond of Doctor Cornelius, whom he described as ‘very wise, very ugly and very kind’ . Doctor Cornelius educated Caspian on many different subjects, the favourite of which was History. The Doctor, Caspian soon found out, was forbidden to discuss the ancient history of Narnia, but he knew more about this than the Nurse had. On a deserted castle tower, far out of earshot of Miraz or any other members of the household, Doctor Cornelius secretly told Caspian of the Kings and Queens of Narnia, who had ruled in the age of magic and Talking Beasts and who had brought upon the Golden Age. Doctor Cornelius revealed himself to be part Dwarf-part Narnian-and intended to help Caspian become the ‘most noble contradiction in history; the Telmarine that saved Narnia’.
After several years under Doctor Cornelius’ tutelage, Queen Prunaprismia gave birth to a son, and the Doctor realised in time which threat this posed to Caspian. King Miraz and Queen Prunaprismia, who never liked their nephew, were all too keen to get rid of him, now that they had a heir of their own. The Doctor hands Caspian a horn, which can only be used in case of an emergency and it said to be magical, and Caspian flees from the castle in the middle of the night and happens upon the residence of two Narnians. At this point, the movie strays slightly from the book. In the movie Caspian blows the horn in distress after he is being pursued by his uncle’s soldiers, whereas the book tells how Caspian blows the horn after he has lived with the Narnians for a while, and it becomes apparent that Miraz is intent on killing every last one of them. The sound of the magical horn summons the Kings and Queens of Old to Narnia.
Where the movie is vague on the finer points of Caspian’s childhood, the books tell us little about Caspian’s character. For this we have to turn to the movie. The description of Caspian’s character is my personal interpretation of Caspian’s actions, and therefore they are subject of discussion.
Caspian has grown up in a cold, political environment and was raised to be a King. Between being an orphan, receiving little to no affection from his remaining family members, and having no peers in or around the castle, Caspian saw little love, warmth or friendship in his young life.
Caspian is young, and ill prepared to lead a large group of people and is therefore insecure about his role as King. He is more comfortable following the lead of others, and is grateful for the arrival of the Kings and Queens, for it takes some responsibility of his shoulder. In the movie we see that, despite his insecurity, Caspian is not afraid to give his opinion; this indicates courage. And despite his awe for High King Peter, Caspian is not afraid to point out where the former has flawed.
Caspian is a very honest character; he does not hide his emotions, or pretend them to be any different than they are. He is also rather impulsive, and does not always think before he acts. This got him into trouble twice in the Prince Caspian movie and he was partly responsible for the failed midnight raid on Miraz’ castle, and the close brush with the White Witch Jadis. From this last scene, the brush with Jadis, we can also gather that Caspian allows fear to get the better of him; this is a clear show of weakness. Then again, Caspian works to improve himself and remembers the mistakes he’s made. Given his young age, and the fact that he is inexperienced when it comes down to leading a kingdom, it is reasonable to assume that he will learn from his mistakes and prove to be the good King he was in the books.
Susan Pevensie
Susan Pevensie is the second child and eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Pevensie. She is approximately 14 years old when she and her three siblings (Peter, Edmund and Lucy) are forced to flee to the countryside due to the Blitz during the second World War. In the manor of Professor Diggory Kirke, their temporary stay until the end of the Blitz, they stumble upon the entrance to Narnia.
Susan initial response to Narnia is scepticism; she has a very practical and logical mindset and has difficulty to embrace a world of magic, fauns and talking animals. She suggests multiple times that they go back, especially when they discovers the dangers of Narnia. It is because of her brother Edmund, who is captured by the White Witch, that the Pevensie siblings remain in Narnia and eventually accept their destiny as the prophesied Kings and Queens.
For a description of Susan’s character we must once again turn to the movies; for the books tell us little about her. Susan is intelligent and well educated and therefore is often the voice of reason among her siblings. In the absence of their parents, Susan sometimes acts as a surrogate mother for the younger siblings. She is also very kind-hearted; a feature which later on earns her the title of ‘Gentle Queen’. Susan is very skilled with the bow, and said the be the finest archer Narnia has ever seen. The movies show that Susan actively takes part in the battles that she and her siblings are involved in, though, in the books, she is said to be more of an ‘indoor type girl’.
After approximately two decades of peaceful reign, Susan and her siblings find themselves accidentally returning to England where-they notice-they haven’t aged a day.
During her second visit to Narnia, which was prompted by Caspian’s call-Susan has difficulty to accept that she is again in Narnia; she had just gotten used to being back in London. Though she enjoys being in Narnia, she is constantly very aware of the fact that this, once again, is a temporary visit, and that England is where she will truly live her life. She is proved to be right when, after Caspian is crowned King, she is told by Aslan that she can not come back to Narnia a third time.
The relationship-events and development
For a description of the relationship between Caspian and Susan we must completely let go of the books-for there was no such relationship mentioned in its pages-and rely solely to the movie.
Caspian and Susan meet halfway the movie after Caspian and Peter mistake each other for the enemy, and Susan runs over to stop her brother. When the Pevensies introduce themselves to Caspian, the latter remarks that they are ‘not quite what he expected’. His gaze there lingers on Susan, who looks away shyly, giving a slightly different meaning to his words.
For a while there is little that indicates the relationship between Caspian and Susan. Caspian treats Susan with the same respect he treats her siblings with. Susan defends Caspian and his opinion several times when Caspian has a disagreement with Peter-something Caspian seems grateful for. Also, she backs Caspian up when he deviates from the plan of the Castle Raid in order to find his tutor, though she does call on him when he also barges into his uncles bedroom after learning the details of his beloved father’s demise.
After the failed raid Susan-unlike her older brother-neither defends nor accuses Caspian for his part in the failed plan, but she does clearly show her feelings after Caspian’s close call with Jadis-the White Witch. This succession of support and critique shows that Susan is positive and supportive towards Caspian-far more so than her brother-but does not allow any of the feelings that she developed for him at this point stop her from pointing out the mistakes he made.
It is somewhere around this time that the deleted ‘archery’ scene takes place. I shall briefly describe this scene for the sake of those who are unfamiliar with it;
The archery scene shows how Susan supervises a training group of archers, who are still unable to hit a mark. Caspian makes a rather impressive entrance by hitting the target dead centre, and then offers his assistance to Susan. The latter interprets this little display of skill-perhaps wrongly-as showing off and an attempt to outdo her. She challenges Caspian by asking; “I suppose you could do better?”, who accepts said challenge with; “Pick a target.” They then proceed to aim at a pinecone; Caspian is a little taken aback by the distance, but after another challenge from Susan (“Too far for you?”) he continues determinedly-as to not loose face, or perhaps in an attempt to impress Susan. While a fine shot, he narrowly misses the cone by an inch. Caspian seems proud of his shot, even more so when Susan praises him. He replies boastfully that he was trained by the Telmarine’s finest. Then, Susan declares slightly teasingly that-if Caspian is indeed the best they have-the Narnians still stand a chance. She then proceeds to shoot the pinecone and hit it full centre, showing clearly who the superior archer is. They have no chance to discuss Susan’s shot however; the targeted pinecone lands near a spying Telmarine, giving away his position, and both Caspian and Susan attempt to stop said Telmarine as he leaves.
The movie continues when the camp of the Narnians at Aslan’s How is now discovered by the Telmarines, and the Telmarines send an army to retaliate from the raid on the castle. With their own army now reduced to roughly half it’s original size, the Narnians are beginning to get desperate. In a last attempt, Susan and Lucy leave the How to search for Aslan himself, in the hope that he will aid them. Caspian sees them off, allowing them to ride on his horse, and offering Susan her horn back. Susan declines and says he might need to call her again. Caspian is surprised at her slight flirtations, and Lucy also remarks on it as they drive off, prompting Susan to retort with a short “Oh, shut up!”.
Upon leaving the How, Susan and Lucy find themselves followed. Unable to shake them, Susan decides to stay behind and take out the Telmarine pursuers, in order to give her younger sister a chance to get away. This plan very nearly results in Susan’s death, when she fails to take down the last horsed soldier and is separated from her weapon. She is saved only because Caspian chooses this time to intervene. With a smirk he asks if Susan might not need the horn after all. Grateful for Caspian’s timely arrival, Susan allow herself to be pulled on his horse, and together they make their way back to the How.
As the Narnian and Telmarine armies meet at the How, and the battle breaks out, Caspian and Susan each have their own roles to play. However, it is safe to say they both do keep an eye on the wellbeing of the other. Caspian looks up in worry and fear when the railing that Susan stands on gives way-causing her to fall-and he is visibly relieved when she lands on her feet.
There is no telling how much time passes between the Narnian victory in the battle and the coronation of Caspian, which leaves a lot of room for speculation. What we do know is that the relationship between Caspian and Susan did not evolve much further in this time. Shortly before the ceremony we see Caspian walking around his castle and running into Susan, Aslan and Peter. Susan’s expression is particularly sad as she looks at Caspian, which suggests that this is the moment where Aslan tells her and Peter that neither of them will be returning to Narnia again. Apart from not being able to return to the fantastic world, this is also the point where any hope that Susan might have had for a possible relationship between her and Caspian is completely erased.
During the ceremony, the Pevensie siblings announce that they will be leaving, and that neither Susan nor Peter will ever return. As they say their goodbyes, Susan tells Caspian that ‘it’ never would have worked because she is 1300 years older than he is. She then starts to turn away, reconsiders, and turns back to kiss him briefly. It is generally assumed that Susan decided this was the last time she would ever see him and get the opportunity, and also that the one kiss couldn’t do much damage since they would both continue to lives their own lives separately. The kiss was followed by a hug, before Susan turns away and permanently exits Narnia, leaving Caspian behind.
The influence on the future
Until now, I have tried to stay as close to fact as possible. This paragraph however, will consist partly of speculation. This is because the Narnia canon (the facts, if you will) slightly splits in two after the Prince Caspian movie. Since the relationship between Caspian and Susan exists solely in the movie, and-at the time this is written the third movie is still in production-there is no movie-canon that we can turn to. Therefore we have to stick with the future as it was originally written by C.S. Lewis, and which does not take the romance between Caspian and Susan into consideration.
Warning! Contains spoilers for Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. If you do not wish to be spoiled; please stop reading now.
Caspian
Caspian’s future is not particularly bright after the Pevensies leave Narnia. Three years after his coronation, Caspian leaves Narnia to look for old friends of his father’s, who were chased from Narnia by Miraz. While travelling by boat-the Dawn Treader-Lucy and Edmund, together with their nephew Eustace, return to Narnia to help him with this quest. It is during his travels with the Dawn Treader that Caspian’s crew meets the daughter of the star Ramandu-by the fans this woman is often referred to as RD; Ramandu’s Daughter, and here I shall do the same-a woman of exceptional beauty. When saying their goodbyes from her, Caspian expresses his wish to see her again at a later time. And, indeed, after their adventures, Caspian went back to island where RD lived, and brought her back to Narnia with him. Eventually he married her, and together they had one son; Rilian. However, disaster stroke when RD was attacked by a Witch, disguised as a giant snake and died from her injuries. After hunting for the serpent that had taken his mother’s life; Rilian was taken captive by the same which; this time in the shape of a beautiful woman. For many years Caspian attempted to search for his son, but all the people he sent died on their mission, and eventually, Caspian was forced to cease the searches. Caspian did not re-marry, and lived the majority of his life alone. When Caspian reached old age and was near death, he decided to go look for his son personally one more time. Even though he did not succeed, Eustace and Jill-two visitors from England-did manage to free the Prince of Narnia from the clutches of the Witch. Caspian returned to the main land just in time to embrace his only son briefly, before he passed away.
Supporters of the Caspian/Susan pairing are generally accepting of the fact that, eventually, Caspian marries someone who is not Susan. Considering the circumstances, there is no way that this could have happened otherwise, and the majority of the fans tolerate RD, though ‘liking’ her would probably be stretching it.
It took Caspian a relatively long time to find, and then to marry RD, which is taken by many C/S fans as an excellent opportunity to show that Caspian needed some time to process that Susan was gone. Also, the marriage between Caspian and RD seemed-partially due to a general lack of romance in the Narnia chronicles-as a rather affection-less marriage. This view is re-enforced when Caspian seems to lament the loss of his son far more than the loss of his wife. This loveless-marriage theory is also used by C/S supporters to show that Caspian never truly fell in love with somebody else, but eventually married RD because, as a monarch, he needed an heir.
Susan
Like Caspian, Susan’s future after departing Narnia has not been very bright either. She is the only one of her siblings who ‘lost fate’ in Narnia, and stopped believing in it’s existence. When discussing their adventures amongst themselves, Susan would refer to their visits as ‘funny games that we used to play when we were little’. According to Jill and the remaining Pevensie siblings, whom we see for the last time in the final chronicle, Susan wanted to grow up too fast and became interested only in ‘lipstick and invitations’, leading most people to believe that Susan grew into quite a shallow character. Disaster also strikes in England in the shape of a tragic railway accident that claims the lives of the believing Pevensie siblings and their parents, leaving Susan behind quite alone. After their death, Peter, Edmund and Lucy go to Real Narnia-the book’s equivalent of heaven-where they meet Caspian and all of their former acquaintances who trusted Aslan. It is made clear that those who do not believe in Aslan (and by that, in Narnia) cannot come into Real Narnia.
Fans of the Caspian/Susan pairing, as well as fans of the character Susan, are generally unhappy with Susan’s ill fate, and it is a much discussed subject on various forums. It is generally assumed that C.S. Lewis tried to make a statement about faith and the desire to grow up, and used Susan to achieve this goal. Susan’s character does seem suitable for this; her rational and practical mind would have a harder time believing in something she could never see or touch or feel anymore, and she would eventually pass them off as imaginative games. Another possible explanation, one that is gratefully seized by C/S shippers, is that Susan needed closure from her adventures in Narnia in order to pick up her life in England again. Perhaps because everything in England seemed dull compared to Narnia, and Susan couldn’t fully live a life in England when she was longing all the time to be in a different world; banning all memories from her magical experience would be an effective method to move on.
Whether or not Susan would ever manage to join Caspian and her siblings and Narnia is also unsure. Many Narnia-fans like to believe that the cataclysmic events that took the lives of her family served as a mayor wake-up call for Susan, or that she would turn to her faith in Aslan in order to process the tragedy. Others hope that Susan grows old and eventually starts pondering her adventures at an older age, or perhaps that she would dream of Narnia on her death bed. C/S supporters hope for a reunion between Caspian and Susan in Real Narnia, perhaps to continue their short romance there; without any kind of time limit to restrict them.
Final Conclusion
The pairing Caspian/Susan is a semi-AU relationship, which exists solely in the ‘movie-verse’ and is therefore heavily criticized by book fans and critics. Fans of the pairing appreciate the ship for it’s subtle romance and bittersweet nature. Despite the obvious mutual attraction, Caspian and Susan never truly had the chance to start something. For them; time is both the curse that restricted them, and the blessing that offers a tiny fragment of hope for the future. For that reason, the title of the ship manifesto, as well as the name of this website, is Surpassing Time.
I figured you guys would like to read it too, so I'm posting it here also:
Susan and Caspian?
The Casue (or Suspian) ship is a semi-AU relationship between Susan Pevensie and Caspian X (the Tenth) that developed during Prince Caspian. And I say semi-AU for a reason; this pairing is more than merely wishful thinking: it is a subplot during the Prince Caspian movie, even if this ship does not exist in the books. Suggestions of a relationship between Susan and Caspian leaked before the movie hit the theatres, and caused quite a stir among fans of the books and critics alike. The fact that many of them afterwards changed their opinion is a testimony to the subtle and tasteful way that Andrew Adamson-the director of Prince Caspian-handled the situation. Also, the fact that a grandson of C. S. Lewis himself was closely involved in the production of the second Narnia movie, convinced many that the movie did not deviate from Lewis original intentions.
The relationship between Susan and Caspian is a bittersweet one; it was over before it began, and there is no possibility of it being revived.
In this manifesto I will take you through the characters of Susan and Caspian, the manner in which their relationship developed, and the effect that the relationship has on both their lives.
Caspian the Tenth
The movie Prince Caspian gives us little to no insight in the childhood of Caspian. For this, we will turn to his story in the books.
Caspian is the only child of the King of Telmar, Caspian the Ninth, and his wife (Name unknown). Caspian lost both parents at an early age; King Caspian the Ninth is revealed to be murdered in his sleep by his brother Miraz. The cause of his wife’s, Caspian’s mother’s, passing is unknown. Caspian the Tenth did not care for his uncle Miraz, nor his aunt Prunaprismia. In fact, the only person he did care for was his Nurse, who was the only person to take care of the little boy, and who told him stories of Old Narnia.
Lord Miraz, who had taken his deceased brother’s throne, send away the Nurse upon finding out about these stories; and forbade Caspian to talk or think of ‘those silly stories’ again. In the Nurse’s stead, Miraz sent for Doctor Cornelius to tutor his nephew. Despite himself, Caspian was fond of Doctor Cornelius, whom he described as ‘very wise, very ugly and very kind’ . Doctor Cornelius educated Caspian on many different subjects, the favourite of which was History. The Doctor, Caspian soon found out, was forbidden to discuss the ancient history of Narnia, but he knew more about this than the Nurse had. On a deserted castle tower, far out of earshot of Miraz or any other members of the household, Doctor Cornelius secretly told Caspian of the Kings and Queens of Narnia, who had ruled in the age of magic and Talking Beasts and who had brought upon the Golden Age. Doctor Cornelius revealed himself to be part Dwarf-part Narnian-and intended to help Caspian become the ‘most noble contradiction in history; the Telmarine that saved Narnia’.
After several years under Doctor Cornelius’ tutelage, Queen Prunaprismia gave birth to a son, and the Doctor realised in time which threat this posed to Caspian. King Miraz and Queen Prunaprismia, who never liked their nephew, were all too keen to get rid of him, now that they had a heir of their own. The Doctor hands Caspian a horn, which can only be used in case of an emergency and it said to be magical, and Caspian flees from the castle in the middle of the night and happens upon the residence of two Narnians. At this point, the movie strays slightly from the book. In the movie Caspian blows the horn in distress after he is being pursued by his uncle’s soldiers, whereas the book tells how Caspian blows the horn after he has lived with the Narnians for a while, and it becomes apparent that Miraz is intent on killing every last one of them. The sound of the magical horn summons the Kings and Queens of Old to Narnia.
Where the movie is vague on the finer points of Caspian’s childhood, the books tell us little about Caspian’s character. For this we have to turn to the movie. The description of Caspian’s character is my personal interpretation of Caspian’s actions, and therefore they are subject of discussion.
Caspian has grown up in a cold, political environment and was raised to be a King. Between being an orphan, receiving little to no affection from his remaining family members, and having no peers in or around the castle, Caspian saw little love, warmth or friendship in his young life.
Caspian is young, and ill prepared to lead a large group of people and is therefore insecure about his role as King. He is more comfortable following the lead of others, and is grateful for the arrival of the Kings and Queens, for it takes some responsibility of his shoulder. In the movie we see that, despite his insecurity, Caspian is not afraid to give his opinion; this indicates courage. And despite his awe for High King Peter, Caspian is not afraid to point out where the former has flawed.
Caspian is a very honest character; he does not hide his emotions, or pretend them to be any different than they are. He is also rather impulsive, and does not always think before he acts. This got him into trouble twice in the Prince Caspian movie and he was partly responsible for the failed midnight raid on Miraz’ castle, and the close brush with the White Witch Jadis. From this last scene, the brush with Jadis, we can also gather that Caspian allows fear to get the better of him; this is a clear show of weakness. Then again, Caspian works to improve himself and remembers the mistakes he’s made. Given his young age, and the fact that he is inexperienced when it comes down to leading a kingdom, it is reasonable to assume that he will learn from his mistakes and prove to be the good King he was in the books.
Susan Pevensie
Susan Pevensie is the second child and eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Pevensie. She is approximately 14 years old when she and her three siblings (Peter, Edmund and Lucy) are forced to flee to the countryside due to the Blitz during the second World War. In the manor of Professor Diggory Kirke, their temporary stay until the end of the Blitz, they stumble upon the entrance to Narnia.
Susan initial response to Narnia is scepticism; she has a very practical and logical mindset and has difficulty to embrace a world of magic, fauns and talking animals. She suggests multiple times that they go back, especially when they discovers the dangers of Narnia. It is because of her brother Edmund, who is captured by the White Witch, that the Pevensie siblings remain in Narnia and eventually accept their destiny as the prophesied Kings and Queens.
For a description of Susan’s character we must once again turn to the movies; for the books tell us little about her. Susan is intelligent and well educated and therefore is often the voice of reason among her siblings. In the absence of their parents, Susan sometimes acts as a surrogate mother for the younger siblings. She is also very kind-hearted; a feature which later on earns her the title of ‘Gentle Queen’. Susan is very skilled with the bow, and said the be the finest archer Narnia has ever seen. The movies show that Susan actively takes part in the battles that she and her siblings are involved in, though, in the books, she is said to be more of an ‘indoor type girl’.
After approximately two decades of peaceful reign, Susan and her siblings find themselves accidentally returning to England where-they notice-they haven’t aged a day.
During her second visit to Narnia, which was prompted by Caspian’s call-Susan has difficulty to accept that she is again in Narnia; she had just gotten used to being back in London. Though she enjoys being in Narnia, she is constantly very aware of the fact that this, once again, is a temporary visit, and that England is where she will truly live her life. She is proved to be right when, after Caspian is crowned King, she is told by Aslan that she can not come back to Narnia a third time.
The relationship-events and development
For a description of the relationship between Caspian and Susan we must completely let go of the books-for there was no such relationship mentioned in its pages-and rely solely to the movie.
Caspian and Susan meet halfway the movie after Caspian and Peter mistake each other for the enemy, and Susan runs over to stop her brother. When the Pevensies introduce themselves to Caspian, the latter remarks that they are ‘not quite what he expected’. His gaze there lingers on Susan, who looks away shyly, giving a slightly different meaning to his words.
For a while there is little that indicates the relationship between Caspian and Susan. Caspian treats Susan with the same respect he treats her siblings with. Susan defends Caspian and his opinion several times when Caspian has a disagreement with Peter-something Caspian seems grateful for. Also, she backs Caspian up when he deviates from the plan of the Castle Raid in order to find his tutor, though she does call on him when he also barges into his uncles bedroom after learning the details of his beloved father’s demise.
After the failed raid Susan-unlike her older brother-neither defends nor accuses Caspian for his part in the failed plan, but she does clearly show her feelings after Caspian’s close call with Jadis-the White Witch. This succession of support and critique shows that Susan is positive and supportive towards Caspian-far more so than her brother-but does not allow any of the feelings that she developed for him at this point stop her from pointing out the mistakes he made.
It is somewhere around this time that the deleted ‘archery’ scene takes place. I shall briefly describe this scene for the sake of those who are unfamiliar with it;
The archery scene shows how Susan supervises a training group of archers, who are still unable to hit a mark. Caspian makes a rather impressive entrance by hitting the target dead centre, and then offers his assistance to Susan. The latter interprets this little display of skill-perhaps wrongly-as showing off and an attempt to outdo her. She challenges Caspian by asking; “I suppose you could do better?”, who accepts said challenge with; “Pick a target.” They then proceed to aim at a pinecone; Caspian is a little taken aback by the distance, but after another challenge from Susan (“Too far for you?”) he continues determinedly-as to not loose face, or perhaps in an attempt to impress Susan. While a fine shot, he narrowly misses the cone by an inch. Caspian seems proud of his shot, even more so when Susan praises him. He replies boastfully that he was trained by the Telmarine’s finest. Then, Susan declares slightly teasingly that-if Caspian is indeed the best they have-the Narnians still stand a chance. She then proceeds to shoot the pinecone and hit it full centre, showing clearly who the superior archer is. They have no chance to discuss Susan’s shot however; the targeted pinecone lands near a spying Telmarine, giving away his position, and both Caspian and Susan attempt to stop said Telmarine as he leaves.
The movie continues when the camp of the Narnians at Aslan’s How is now discovered by the Telmarines, and the Telmarines send an army to retaliate from the raid on the castle. With their own army now reduced to roughly half it’s original size, the Narnians are beginning to get desperate. In a last attempt, Susan and Lucy leave the How to search for Aslan himself, in the hope that he will aid them. Caspian sees them off, allowing them to ride on his horse, and offering Susan her horn back. Susan declines and says he might need to call her again. Caspian is surprised at her slight flirtations, and Lucy also remarks on it as they drive off, prompting Susan to retort with a short “Oh, shut up!”.
Upon leaving the How, Susan and Lucy find themselves followed. Unable to shake them, Susan decides to stay behind and take out the Telmarine pursuers, in order to give her younger sister a chance to get away. This plan very nearly results in Susan’s death, when she fails to take down the last horsed soldier and is separated from her weapon. She is saved only because Caspian chooses this time to intervene. With a smirk he asks if Susan might not need the horn after all. Grateful for Caspian’s timely arrival, Susan allow herself to be pulled on his horse, and together they make their way back to the How.
As the Narnian and Telmarine armies meet at the How, and the battle breaks out, Caspian and Susan each have their own roles to play. However, it is safe to say they both do keep an eye on the wellbeing of the other. Caspian looks up in worry and fear when the railing that Susan stands on gives way-causing her to fall-and he is visibly relieved when she lands on her feet.
There is no telling how much time passes between the Narnian victory in the battle and the coronation of Caspian, which leaves a lot of room for speculation. What we do know is that the relationship between Caspian and Susan did not evolve much further in this time. Shortly before the ceremony we see Caspian walking around his castle and running into Susan, Aslan and Peter. Susan’s expression is particularly sad as she looks at Caspian, which suggests that this is the moment where Aslan tells her and Peter that neither of them will be returning to Narnia again. Apart from not being able to return to the fantastic world, this is also the point where any hope that Susan might have had for a possible relationship between her and Caspian is completely erased.
During the ceremony, the Pevensie siblings announce that they will be leaving, and that neither Susan nor Peter will ever return. As they say their goodbyes, Susan tells Caspian that ‘it’ never would have worked because she is 1300 years older than he is. She then starts to turn away, reconsiders, and turns back to kiss him briefly. It is generally assumed that Susan decided this was the last time she would ever see him and get the opportunity, and also that the one kiss couldn’t do much damage since they would both continue to lives their own lives separately. The kiss was followed by a hug, before Susan turns away and permanently exits Narnia, leaving Caspian behind.
The influence on the future
Until now, I have tried to stay as close to fact as possible. This paragraph however, will consist partly of speculation. This is because the Narnia canon (the facts, if you will) slightly splits in two after the Prince Caspian movie. Since the relationship between Caspian and Susan exists solely in the movie, and-at the time this is written the third movie is still in production-there is no movie-canon that we can turn to. Therefore we have to stick with the future as it was originally written by C.S. Lewis, and which does not take the romance between Caspian and Susan into consideration.
Warning! Contains spoilers for Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. If you do not wish to be spoiled; please stop reading now.
Caspian
Caspian’s future is not particularly bright after the Pevensies leave Narnia. Three years after his coronation, Caspian leaves Narnia to look for old friends of his father’s, who were chased from Narnia by Miraz. While travelling by boat-the Dawn Treader-Lucy and Edmund, together with their nephew Eustace, return to Narnia to help him with this quest. It is during his travels with the Dawn Treader that Caspian’s crew meets the daughter of the star Ramandu-by the fans this woman is often referred to as RD; Ramandu’s Daughter, and here I shall do the same-a woman of exceptional beauty. When saying their goodbyes from her, Caspian expresses his wish to see her again at a later time. And, indeed, after their adventures, Caspian went back to island where RD lived, and brought her back to Narnia with him. Eventually he married her, and together they had one son; Rilian. However, disaster stroke when RD was attacked by a Witch, disguised as a giant snake and died from her injuries. After hunting for the serpent that had taken his mother’s life; Rilian was taken captive by the same which; this time in the shape of a beautiful woman. For many years Caspian attempted to search for his son, but all the people he sent died on their mission, and eventually, Caspian was forced to cease the searches. Caspian did not re-marry, and lived the majority of his life alone. When Caspian reached old age and was near death, he decided to go look for his son personally one more time. Even though he did not succeed, Eustace and Jill-two visitors from England-did manage to free the Prince of Narnia from the clutches of the Witch. Caspian returned to the main land just in time to embrace his only son briefly, before he passed away.
Supporters of the Caspian/Susan pairing are generally accepting of the fact that, eventually, Caspian marries someone who is not Susan. Considering the circumstances, there is no way that this could have happened otherwise, and the majority of the fans tolerate RD, though ‘liking’ her would probably be stretching it.
It took Caspian a relatively long time to find, and then to marry RD, which is taken by many C/S fans as an excellent opportunity to show that Caspian needed some time to process that Susan was gone. Also, the marriage between Caspian and RD seemed-partially due to a general lack of romance in the Narnia chronicles-as a rather affection-less marriage. This view is re-enforced when Caspian seems to lament the loss of his son far more than the loss of his wife. This loveless-marriage theory is also used by C/S supporters to show that Caspian never truly fell in love with somebody else, but eventually married RD because, as a monarch, he needed an heir.
Susan
Like Caspian, Susan’s future after departing Narnia has not been very bright either. She is the only one of her siblings who ‘lost fate’ in Narnia, and stopped believing in it’s existence. When discussing their adventures amongst themselves, Susan would refer to their visits as ‘funny games that we used to play when we were little’. According to Jill and the remaining Pevensie siblings, whom we see for the last time in the final chronicle, Susan wanted to grow up too fast and became interested only in ‘lipstick and invitations’, leading most people to believe that Susan grew into quite a shallow character. Disaster also strikes in England in the shape of a tragic railway accident that claims the lives of the believing Pevensie siblings and their parents, leaving Susan behind quite alone. After their death, Peter, Edmund and Lucy go to Real Narnia-the book’s equivalent of heaven-where they meet Caspian and all of their former acquaintances who trusted Aslan. It is made clear that those who do not believe in Aslan (and by that, in Narnia) cannot come into Real Narnia.
Fans of the Caspian/Susan pairing, as well as fans of the character Susan, are generally unhappy with Susan’s ill fate, and it is a much discussed subject on various forums. It is generally assumed that C.S. Lewis tried to make a statement about faith and the desire to grow up, and used Susan to achieve this goal. Susan’s character does seem suitable for this; her rational and practical mind would have a harder time believing in something she could never see or touch or feel anymore, and she would eventually pass them off as imaginative games. Another possible explanation, one that is gratefully seized by C/S shippers, is that Susan needed closure from her adventures in Narnia in order to pick up her life in England again. Perhaps because everything in England seemed dull compared to Narnia, and Susan couldn’t fully live a life in England when she was longing all the time to be in a different world; banning all memories from her magical experience would be an effective method to move on.
Whether or not Susan would ever manage to join Caspian and her siblings and Narnia is also unsure. Many Narnia-fans like to believe that the cataclysmic events that took the lives of her family served as a mayor wake-up call for Susan, or that she would turn to her faith in Aslan in order to process the tragedy. Others hope that Susan grows old and eventually starts pondering her adventures at an older age, or perhaps that she would dream of Narnia on her death bed. C/S supporters hope for a reunion between Caspian and Susan in Real Narnia, perhaps to continue their short romance there; without any kind of time limit to restrict them.
Final Conclusion
The pairing Caspian/Susan is a semi-AU relationship, which exists solely in the ‘movie-verse’ and is therefore heavily criticized by book fans and critics. Fans of the pairing appreciate the ship for it’s subtle romance and bittersweet nature. Despite the obvious mutual attraction, Caspian and Susan never truly had the chance to start something. For them; time is both the curse that restricted them, and the blessing that offers a tiny fragment of hope for the future. For that reason, the title of the ship manifesto, as well as the name of this website, is Surpassing Time.