The Last Battle: Taking a Stand When it Counts

In this episode, Ashley and Caitlin discuss C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle, the final book of The Chronicles of Narnia, and what can be drawn from it as it applies to governance, faith, goodness and hope. 

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Transcript

Hi, and welcome to the Literary Lamppost podcast, where we analyze books and see what we can learn from them.

 I'm Caitlin, I'm a mathematician, but I love English and analyzing literature. 

And I'm Ashley, an assistant editor for a magazine and writer. Today we are going to be talking about The Last Battle, which is a book written by C. S. Lewis. 

Before we discuss the book though, we're going to give some background on C. S. Lewis. So,   C. S. Lewis was born in 1898 in England. He was a writer, literary scholar and lay-theologian, and the author of many books explaining and defending the Christian faith. He’s best known for his series The Chronicles of Narnia, but he actually wrote more than 30 books, including The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy, Mere Christianity, and The Problem of Pain.

 And one thing we think is really cool is that he was a close friend of J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of the well known Lord of the Rings series. And they were part of a writing club, along with some other people, called the Inklings. 

That's really cute.

 It is. So, the most famous of CS Lewis’s work would probably be the Chronicles of Narnia, It is fairly well known, especially the first book, which is The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. And While they may seem like kids books, because the main characters are often children, and they are following the fairy tale, kind of fantasy genre, that doesn’t mean that as adults we can’t take some really important lessons from them. C. S. Lewis actually said once, writing to his God-daughter for whom he wrote the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again”. 

He had a really strong sense that fairy tales could be used to teach deeper truths. 

Exactly, and in the first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, there is a lamp post.

And that is actually what we named this podcast after. So, we thought it was fitting that we should do one of the Narnia series on this podcast.

 And that lamp post in the first book symbolized finding your way home, and direction and giving light and hope to everyone around it. And that's what we wanted to do with this podcast, providing light through important things in literature. Hence, the literary lamppost. 

Anway, The Chronicles of Narnia is a seven-book fantasy series by C.S. Lewis, published between 1950 and 1956, which was soon after world war II. It follows children from our world who are transported to the magical land of Narnia, (often through some portal like a wardrobe) and in this magical land they encounter talking animals, mythical creatures, and the great and powerful lion Aslan, the true ruler of Narnia and the son of the great emperor over the sea. He's also the ultimate source of good in these books, and he is analogous to Jesus in the Christian faith, as he takes the blame for somebody else's betrayal and pays the price for it in the first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 

But Aslan is a very important figure all the way through the books. He shows up in some way throughout the entire series. Aslan doesn't usually stay in Narnia though. He comes in and out of Narnia. He usually appears at really key moments but hundreds of years can go by between his comings in Narnia. The inhabitants long for him to come back and they're excited when he appears in Narnia. 

Now before we get too much into the actual book, we just wanted to mention that we are going to be talking from a Christian perspective, but regardless of your beliefs, we encourage you to listen in, because you may be surprised how the Christianity found in the Narnia series, especially the last battle, and Christianity as known in popular culture and the current world scene, differ.

And actually, when this book came out in the 50s, a reviewer in the New York Times wrote, This is one of the best. This is one of the best...  The Christian symbolism is clear enough, but the book can stand on its own feet as a deeply moving and hauntingly lovely story...Ok, so Caitlin, why don't you give us a summary of the last battle before we dive into some of the topics we're talking about today.

Okay, so I’m going to give a pretty thorough summary because it’s important to the discussion to know the details. 

The last battle is very much what the title would imply, it is the last battle that occurs in Narnia. The story begins in Narnia during the reign of King King Tirian, the last king of Narnia. In the western forests near Caldron Pool, an intelligent but wicked ape named Shift discovers a lion’s skin floating in the water. He convinces his simple-minded donkey friend, Puzzle, to wear the skin and impersonate Aslan. Shift claims that Aslan has returned, and he begins manipulating the Narnians by issuing false commands in Aslan’s name. he keeps Puzzle locked up in a small stable, and every night, when the light is low, he brings Puzzle, dressed as Aslan and puts him on display as proof that he has the authority of Aslan. He aligns himself with the Calormenes, a foreign human people who worship the god Tash, and together they impose cruel labor and injustice upon the Narnians.

King King Tirian, receives word that Aslan has returned. At first, he rejoices, but he soon hears reports of atrocities being committed in Aslan’s name. Narnians are being forced into slavery, and the sacred talking trees are being cut down. Horrified, King Tirian and his loyal unicorn companion, Jewel, set out to investigate. When they witness the abuse firsthand, Sacred dryad trees being cut down and taken to be sold in Calormen, talking horses being whipped and beaten and used for labour, and dwarves and other animals being sold into slavery, King Tirian and Jewel challenge Shift Shift, the ape and his Calormene cronies, they are captured and King Tirian is tied to a tree. Realizing the depth of the deception and his own helplessness, King Tirian begs Aslan for help.

Back in England, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole—two children who have visited Narnia before—receive a vision of King Tirian in distress. They are soon transported to Narnia, where they find and free King Tirian. Together, they begin gathering allies, including a small band of loyal Narnians, in an effort to expose the fraud and restore justice. They capture Puzzle, the donkey in the lion’s skin, and intend to reveal the deception to the Narnians. However, by this point, many Narnians are disillusioned, and Shift is able to make the lie even bigger. The lies have been so deeply ingrained that they no longer know what to believe. Some, like the dwarves, refuse to take a side and insist on believing their own untrue version of events, while others choose to follow the Calormenes out of fear. Shift convinces the Narnians that Aslan, and Tash (the god of the neighbouring Calormens, who’s very evil,) are one and the same .Shift, the ape and his cronies  threaten the narnians  with being thrown into the stable, claiming it is the dwelling place of Tashlan. 

What he doesn’t realize is that Tash has actually come, and is inside the stable, devouring those that are thrown inside. 

A climactic battle breaks out between King Tirian’s small group and the Calormenes. Though the Narnians fight bravely, they are vastly outnumbered. One by one, King Tirian’s allies fall, and he himself is eventually captured and thrown into the stable. 

Expecting darkness and doom, King Tirian instead finds himself in a vast, beautiful land. He is reunited with Eustace, Jill, Jewel, and the talking beasts who remained loyal to Aslan. It becomes clear that this place is not a prison, but rather Aslan’s Country—a realm beyond Narnia. They also find the dwarves, who, given they have chosen to believe their own version of events, are convinced they’re still in the stable. Shift and Rishda meet their end when Tash himself appears and takes him away. Aslan appears in his true form and separates the faithful from the unbelievers. The faithful Narnians enter Aslan’s Country, while others vanish into darkness. 

Aslan then brings about the end of Narnia. The stars fall from the sky, the sun is extinguished, and the land is consumed. Father Time, a great sleeping giant, awakens and blows his horn, signaling the final moments of Narnia. The door to Aslan’s Country closes, and the old Narnia ceases to exist.

Aslan leads the faithful Narnians deeper into Aslan’s Country, revealing a stunning truth: this place is the true Narnia, the perfect and eternal version of the world they once knew. The old Narnia was merely a shadow of this greater reality.

Its quite the story, hey!

Yeah it is. It’s actually quite a complex story, considering it’s a children’s book, which is why I think as adults we can really enjoy analyzing it. There are some pretty interesting character dynamics in it, which I think we can learn from.

So let's start off by talking about Shift Shift, the ape.  He has this really interesting relationship with Puzzle, the donkey. The book says “They both said they were friends, but from the way things went on, you might have thought Puzzle was more like Shift’s Servant than his friend” because he did all the work. Shift presents himself as being a lot more intelligent than Puzzle, and lets Puzzle know it constantly. Even telling him things like, “You know, thinking isn't your strong suit.” And “Puzzle, why don't you let me do your thinking for you?” He also guilts Puzzle into doing all the work, for example, the lion's skin is in the waterfall, and Shift manipulates Puzzle into going and getting it, even though Puzzle is quite scared to do so, because Shift claims he has a weak chest, and it's unkind of Puzzle to make him go do it. He preys on Puzzle’s desire to be a kind and good person. 

So Shift makes the lion skin into a coat that can fit Puzzle, and then suggests that Puzzle pretend to be Aslan. Puzzle, of course, is outraged. He's like, “We can't do this! I can't impersonate Aslan!”

Yeah, and when Puzzle provides logical arguments as to why he shouldn't dress up as Aslan, he gets beaten down by Shift and called stupid. So Puzzle goes along with Shift, because Shift says that by impersonating Aslan, they can “Set things Right in Narnia” and “Make Narnia a country worth Living in”, where there’ll be bananas and oranges for all (which are things that really only Shift wants). Shift even goes so far as to say that Aslan must have sent them the coat because he wanted them to do this. It’s actually that last argument, where Shift claims that this is what Aslan wants, that makes Puzzle agree. And that’s actually a recurring theme that pops up throughout the book.

Yeah, he really abuses the name of Aslan to get what he wants. For example, once he’s taken power, he says to the squirrels, who’ve been supplying him with nuts, “I want, I mean, Aslan wants, more nuts.” And then of course the poor squirrels have to go and find more nuts because Aslan wants them and they can’t say no to Aslan. 

It really seems like using Puzzle as Aslan is the key to Shift and the Calormenes being able to take over a lot of Narnia, because he's able to get away with things by attaching Aslan's name to them. And the animals, wanting to do what Aslan wants them to do, go along with it. When the sacred trees are being cut down, the river rat, who is steering them down the river, says “It’s Aslan’s orders.” Same when the talking horse is dragging the trees and being whipped for not going fast enough; when King Tirian frees him, the horse just says, “It was Aslan’s orders.” The animals love Aslan, they’ve grown up hearing stories about him, and they’re eager to do what he wants. 

Yeah, without this, I don’t think Shift could have cemented control over them in the way that he did. When Tiran is taken away and tied up, the animals who know and love him as their king come to him and bring him food and water and say “If it was only Shift, the ape and the Calormenes who were against you, We would have fought till we were cut into pieces, Before we'd have let them tie you up. We would, we would indeed, but we can't go against Aslan.” So, because it's being done in the name of Aslan, Whom they have believed in for all their whole lives, for generations, they feel like they must go along, because they can't defy Aslan. 

I do think it's quite remarkable that, without that religious aspect, Shift, who’s in power, would likely have less control over the Narnians. By using the Narnians belief system, Shift becomes an almost unstoppable force.

The lesson here is that, just because people claim to be doing something in the name of something or someone good, like for example Jesus, that does not automatically make what they’re doing good. 

I think that this has actually been a challenge of religion in general, for as long as religion has been around. It's very easy for people with selfish motivations to come in and abuse people's faith for their own gain. And as people of faith, we have to be really careful – just because someone is using the name of Jesus to promote an agenda does not mean it is good. We need to remember to compare whatever is happening with the character of Jesus, to be sure we’re not being deceived.

Yeah, whenever religion and politics are used like that, it seems like bad things happen. 

A good example is when christianity became a part of the government in the middle ages, the christian church sent the military to the middle east to try to recapture Jerusalem from muslim rule, and that led to the death of millions of people in the name of christianity. We can also think about all the forced conversions to christianity of many indigenous peoples around the world by colonizers who came in the name of christianity. And throughout the ages so much evil has been done in the name of God. and today if we look around, we can see a lot of hatred and cruelty being perpetrated in the name of christianity. It’s interesting how leaders throughout history have weaponized religion in the same way Shift, the ape is doing here in the last battle. 

Yeah.  Shift Shift, the ape monopolizes access to Aslan; he calls himself “the Mouthpiece of Aslan” and paints himself as the only way to get to him. He tells these outrageous lies about himself, about how he’s actually a man, but he’s so old he looks like an ape, and it’s  because he’s so old that he’s so wise, and that’s why Aslan can only talk to him. The Narnians actually notice that this is very different to all the earlier times that Aslan has shown up in Narnia in the past. Usually, they see him face to face, he talks with them, he's kind to them. And they begin to question and say, what's wrong with this picture? Why is Aslan being kept in the stable, only to come out for a couple minutes at night? But Shift calls them stupid every time they ask questions, and manipulates them into thinking that it's their fault because they’ve done something wrong. Some of the Narnians actually say to King Tirian, “Aslan seems to have come back very angry this time. We must all have done something dreadfully wrong without knowing it. He must be punishing us for something.”   

Yeah. When Narnians object to Shift, the ape and say they want to be free rather than being slaves just so there can be oranges and bananas, Shift Shift, the ape tells them “what do you know about freedom? True freedom is doing what I tell you.”  So, he basically gaslights and emotionally abuses the Narnians into accepting everything that he has to say about Aslan.  

There’s another really interesting dynamic going on here with lying.  When a lie gets exposed, Shift, the ape’s cronies double down, spinning an even wilder tale to explain it. For example, when King Tirian and his companions break into the stable and find Puzzle covered in the lion's skin, they realize there had been no Aslan all along. So then they're like, “Oh wow, how will Shift, the ape explain this? There's no way he can get out of this, he'll be exposed as a fraud.” But Shift, the ape’s cronies tell the Narnians that there’s a donkey wandering around the woods pretending to be Aslan, and that the real Aslan is so angry about this that he’s not going to be coming to see them any more. 

Ugh, that’s so frustrating! They make up this ridiculous story to cover their lies, and the Narnians believe it. There's actually a very insightful quote here from the book. They say, “by mixing a little truth with it, they made their lie far stronger.” 

Yeah and this leads Shift, the ape’s cronies to have even more control over a vast majority of the Narnians, by using a lie mixed with a little truth, and creating fear that Aslan was angry. 

So Shift, the ape is a good example of the type of corrupt leader that we should be on the look out for and be wary of. Like Shift, the ape, this type of leader will 

-make these simplistic statements about how they’re going to fix things in the country, like Shift, the ape says, “Make narnia a country worth living in”

-tell outrageous lies about themselves, like Shift, the ape saying he was actually a man

-attack their enemies by calling them stupid rather than answering legitimate questions, like he did to puzzle

-control the source of information and make you think they’re the only ones that have the truth

-brought in the enemies of the country as his cronies, like Shift, the ape did with the calormenes 

-use lies mixed with the truth to make an even bigger lie

-involve religion in order to get people under their control, like he did with the narnians’ belief in aslan

Those of you listening, wherever you are in the world, do you see leaders like this in your spheres? If so, we encourage you to think about the characteristics we’ve presented and be wary of that kind of person.

You know, I think if we look at their characters, it’s actually pretty easy to tell that they are not followers of Aslan. You know, there’s a bible verse where Jesus says, “by their fruits you shall know them,” and in these guys there’s not a trace of the kindness and compassion, or justice, that Aslan is all about.

But this is exactly where our hero King Tirian actually calls them out. Remember that Shift claimed that the evil Calormen god and the good lion Aslan were the same? Named Tashlan? Well, the book says “But now, as Tirian looked round on the miserable faces of the Narnians, and saw how they would all believe that Aslan and Tash were one and the same, he could bear it no longer. “Ape, he cried with a great voice. You lie damnably. You lie like a Calormen. You lie like an ape. He meant to go on and ask how the terrible god Tash, who fed on the blood of his people, could possibly be the same as the good lion by whose blood all Narnia was saved. If he had been allowed to speak, the rule of Shift, the ape might have ended that day. The beasts might have seen the truth and thrown Shift, the ape down. But before he could say another word, two Calormenes struck him in the mouth with all their force, and a third from behind kicked his feet from under him.”  and they end up taking him away and tying him to a tree so he can't speak anymore.

It's very interesting that this whole belief system that's been constructed by Shift, the ape and the calormenes actually doesn't stand up to criticism. It doesn't stand up to the picture of Aslan that has been presented, that the animals and King Tirian have learned to love their whole life. It doesn't line up. With their picture of Aslan. And because King Tirian is questioning this, he's able to see it. And that’s why they have to silence anyone who questions. That’s why they call the people who try to question them “stupid” and insult their intelligence. 

There’s a moment when a lamb comes up and asks “Please, I can’t understand. What have we to do with the Calormenes?  We belong to Aslan.  They belong to Tash.  They have a god called Tash.  They say he has four arms and the head of a vulture.  They kill Men on his altar.  I don't believe there's any such person as Tash.  But if there was, how could Aslan be friends with him?" and Shift, the ape says  "Silly little bleater!  Go home to your mother and drink milk.  What do you understand of such things?  But you others, listen.  Tash is only another name for Aslan. “

See At the beginning of the book when the news of Aslan is brought to King Tirian, the king rejoices and he's so happy and he's reflecting that it's amazing that Aslan has returned. But then when he sees what’s going on starts to question who would do this? Would this actually be Aslan? 

He sees all of this evil that's being done. The trees are being cut down. The talking horses are being used for labour and being whipped, Shift, the apes taking advantage of the poor squirrels who have given him all the nuts that they had saved for the winter And The dwarves are being sold into slavery, all these unimaginable crimes in Narnia. time and time again when he asks the Narnians why they are not pushing back against this? And They say it's Aslan's orders. But King Tirian compares his understanding of Aslan with the things that are being done in Aslan's name, and he's finding a mismatch then. And when he starts asking questions of the situation with Shift, the ape, he finds problems. A big problem for him is that in the stories Aslan has always appeared directly to people, but here he's hidden away in the stable and there's a monkey in charge, and he's like, what's going on.

When he's tied up to the tree, in the distance he sees Puzzle being trotted out as Aslan to the Animals, and he sees them all crying out to Aslan, asking him to speak to them and comfort them and not be angry anymore. 

the book says, “ King Tirian had never seen the great lion. He had never seen a common lion. He couldn't be sure that what he saw was not the real Aslan. He had not expected Aslan to look like that stiff thing which stood and said nothing. But how could he be sure? For a moment, horrible thoughts went through his mind. And then he remembered the nonsense about Tash and Aslan being the same and he knew that the whole thing must be a cheat.”

So King Tirian weighs the evidence. And he looks at the picture of Aslan that he has grown up with and compares it to what's being presented and he's able to say This is a lie, this is not the true Aslan, and he then takes a stand for that, and he decides that he's going to stand firm for the true Aslan, the true Aslan who he loves and who he has sought his whole life, even if it costs him his life.

So we can take from that that critical thinking, in any situation, is extremely, extremely important. This is ultimately what gets puzzle. At the very beginning, he’s fooled right under his nose because he's told that he shouldn't think, that thinking is not his strong suit. He ended up falling prey to a deception, because he didn’t trust himself to be able to know the truth and decided it was best to do what he was told. 

You know, Puzzle is in a bubble where Shift is the only person who has any kind of control over him, he doesn’t have anyone else meaningful in his life, so shift is able to have so much influence over him. And I think that it's important that we be aware of our own bubbles. With social media these days, it's inevitable that we are going to fall into bubbles where we tend to hear voices that reinforce what we already believe. And I know that I can fall victim to this, so I think it’s important to acknowledge that, and we need to be thinking, well, where are we getting our information from? Is it just one source? If it's only one source, that gives that source an really big amount of control over us. So, I think it's important to engage in different sources of information so you can test your own beliefs and see if they stand up to critical thinking, otherwise you can really get stuck in a bubble. And if Puzzle had done this, he may not have fallen victim to Shift's game. 

I don’t think Puzzle was genuinely evil

No

And in the end, he repents of this and apologizes to aslan and aslan forgives him. 

Yeah. King Tirian, on the other hand, is an example of somebody who uses critical thinking from the very beginning and as a result doesn't actually fall into the trap set by Shift. 

And then finally we have the dwarves. When Jill and Eustace join with King Tirian and set him free from the tree, the three of them then rescue a bunch of dwarves that are sent off to the mines. But as soon as the dwarves are set free from the Calormenes, they actually reject King Tirian as well, and reject any kind of belief in the real Aslan they start proclaiming that the dwarves are for the dwarves.

The dwarves believe that all sides are corrupt and that trusting anyone is foolish and they decide that they’re going to choose themselves over everyone. So here we see the complete opposite to the talking animals who had what I'm going to call blind faith. And the dwarves here have what I'm going to call blind skepticism. Because one, because the false Aslan was proved to be false, they stop believing in aslan altogether

 King Tirian actually says that he never imagined that the setting up of a false Aslan would result in the loss of belief in the true Aslan. The dwarves are actually falling victim to a fallacy, and that fallacy is to say just because a false version of a belief is untrue, then all versions of the belief are untrue, and it's kind of akin to saying that math is wrong because one equation can be proved false (thank you adventures in odyssey for that one).

So, yeah, so when King Tirian rescues them, they say, No thanks, they don't recognize the truth, they’re not going to be taken in again, they end up making a story to explain why King Tirian rescued them, and they are determined to seek the untrue story they've made up. They're determined to stick with their version of what they have decided is happening, despite the evidence that's being presented to them. So, critical thinking goes both ways. On one way, you can't just blindly believe in something, like the animals did. But on the other way, you can't just blindly not believe in something. 

Exactly!

So, at the climax of the book, the last battle for Narnia begins. On once side we have Tirian and his allies, the children from our world and the Narnians who have not been taken in by Shift’s lies. On the other side, we have Shift, the Calormens, and the Narnians who have chosen that side. Tirian sends some mice and squirrles to chew through the ropes that are holding the talking horses to set them free in hopes that they will join his side. And they do, they begin charging to their beloved king’s aid, when the dwarves, who are standing by and watching all of this happen, do something horrible. They are expert archers, and with their deadly aim, they kill the horses one by one.

Uggghhh this was one of the most upsetting scenes. The dwarves say that they do this because they don't want Narnia to win any more than they want the Calormans to win, because “the dwarfs are for the dwarfs” and “we won’t be taken in again”

Yeah. 

So The battle is happening around the stable, and as King Tirian's side start losing, one by one, the Calormans grab them and throw them into the stable. King Tirian is the last one to go through, and when he does, he’s shocked to find that instead of a dark stable with enemies inside, he sees a beautiful country, and he’s reuinited with Jill and Eustace and all the other people who he thought he had lost to the battle. He finds out that this is in fact aslan’s country, and those who were faithful to him are now here in his land. But something strange is going on with the dwarves, who were also thrown in. 

Yeah, they’re all sitting huddled in a corner, convinced that they’re in the actual stable. Aslan's side showing them wonderful food and rich wine, but They can't see it, they can't taste it, they complain that they're stuck in a stable eating wilted cabbage leaves and drinking trough water, and no amount of evidence can convince them because they are determined to maintain the story they have come up with. This is what I mean by blind skepticism, where they’ve actually blinded themselves to the truth because they’re so determined not to be taken in by anything false. 

And Aslan, the real Aslan actually shows up and he says something very important. He says they are so afraid of being taken in that they can't be taken out. So they are so afraid of believing in something that isn’t true that they refuse to believe anything, and in so doing, miss the truth. 

Yeah. Completely unlike King Tirian, the last king of Narnia, who took a stand for what he believed in. He, along with Jewel, Eustace, Jill and a few others, determined not to give up even when it started to look like they were going to die. He remained certain of who Aslan really was. he says at one time We are between the paws of the real Aslan, and here I stand in Aslan's name.

And Jewel, the unicorn, says, If Aslan gave me my choice, I would choose no other life than the life I have had, and no other death than the one we go to. And he says this in terms of fighting for the soul of Narnia, and fighting this evil corruption of Aslan that is being sold to Narnia.  What they believed in was more important than their own lives.

It’s important to remember that Lewis was writing this after Nazi Germany. And during that time, there were many many people who didn't just, go along with what was happening. actually did what was right, took people into their homes, risked their own lives to save other people's lives.

Yeah.  sometimes you have to fight, not because you're going to win, but because you need to know that you did fight. And that's what I see these characters doing, that they side with what's right, even when everything seems against them.

And even though they knew they were going to lose, because of their trust in the true Aslan, they had hope and a reason to keep fighting. We’ve talked about fighting what was right and being willing to stand up for what is right, no matter what. But I think it's also important to recognize the importance of having hope and realizing that Joy, in the end, is possible. Because, all these characters who chose to fight for what was good, in the end, found a place of joy. And fighting to the end was their way of saying that they were not going to give up hope. 

And I think that is important for our lives when we see things happen that make us lose hope, when we feel like things are falling apart and there is no way out, if we continue to fight for what we believe is right, we continue to fight for those who are downtrodden and don’t have a voice, to fight for justice and love and mercy and empathy. If we continue to fight for the true Aslan, for truth, then we can have hope for the future, that things will be better, if not for us, than maybe for our children. And I know that Christians have this whole idea that the world has to get worse to usher in the apocalypse for the world to end, but humans cannot predict the end, and should not themselves try to usher in this “apocalypse” if you will. I don’t want my children to suffer because of the world my generation has created. 

Yeah, sometimes we need to actually create a vision for a better world, in order to have something to fight for and work towards. And that’s why it’s important to create that hope for ourselves and then act to make it a reality. We can’t work towards a better future if we don’t believe that it is possible.

There's a quote from the musical Hamilton that I really like. Hamilton himself says, “Legacy. What is legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you never grow.” So King Tirian, Jill, and Eustace fight for what is right without the knowledge That it's going to be okay, because it is the right thing to do.

And that’s something that we can take into our own lives. Don’t lose hope, we need that hope to work towards a better future. 

And on that note, thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Literary Lamppost. 

We hope that you will join us next time as we discuss Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson.Make sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok @theliterarylamppost, as well as subscribing on Spotify or apple podcasts or your preferred podcast platform, to make sure that you don't miss any of our new episodes. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

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