The Courage of Lucy Pevensie

I’ve had an astonishing uptick in followers lately, all coming from the wonderful

Love of Literature

. So, to thank all of you, here is a piece that first appeared in the Advent/Christmas 2024 issue of Inland Catholic Magazine.

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Photo by Jacob Diehl on Unsplash

When we think of courage, or as the Romans called it, fortitude, the great deeds of the men and women of our history come to mind: Joan of Arc, St. George, the soldiers on the shores of Normandy. According to Aristotle, and the Church’s adoption of his understanding, fortitude is not just a virtue for the big and brave, but for the small. Even the examples listed above are simply small figures forced into gigantic circumstances. Joan was a peasant girl in rural France; George was just a soldier meant to fight men, not dragons; and the men at Normandy were ordinary men with ordinary lives, like you and I. Yet, fortitude can show itself not only in normal figures, but in smaller stakes as well. When I think of fortitude in this way, I am led to little Lucy Pevensie.

Lucy, one of the four Pevensie children who travel to and from Narnia, is one of the most courageous characters in the whole series. She never uses her dagger in a fight, she does not fight the White Witch like her brother Edmund. She does not battle Miraz, putting Caspian on the throne like her brother Peter. She does not even shoot arrows at oncoming forces as Jill Pole did in The Last Battle. And yet Lucy Pevensie is an excellent model for the virtue of courage. 

We can see this in the first published Chronicle of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where she is the first to discover Narnia, a heroic act in itself. Further, she does not run from it, fleeing in terror at a strange, snowy land beyond the doors of an armoire. She startles a creature who may (and in fact does) intend her harm, and then later comforts him when he confesses to his intended wrongdoing, consoling and encouraging him to be better. Buried within the word “encouragement” is the synonym for fortitude, courage. The word comes to us also from Latin, but via Old French, and at its core, it means heart. Lucy is the heart of the stories; even when she’s not there, we know she will be or has been a driving force for Aslan.

In Prince Caspian, Lucy embodies courage once again. As the Pevensie children and Trumpkin the dwarf attempt to return to Aslan’s Howe (the dome built over the place of Aslan’s sacrifice), she is the first to see Aslan. This, and Lucy’s many other actions, show her to be strongly possessed of the theological virtue of faith, yet it also shows us her courage. Early on, she sees the Lion and tells the others that she thinks he wants them to follow him. Since no one else can see him, they decide to follow a different path despite Edmund siding with Lucy. Then, Aslan appears to her at night after their disastrous attempt at following their own path. After speaking with him, Lucy learns that she must either get the others to follow her as she follows Aslan or else abandon them and follow him on her own. She is the youngest of the five, including Trumpkin; this should not be her job. Peter, the High King, or even Trumpkin, a native-born Narnian, should be the ones to see Aslan and follow his lead, but they don’t. It is little Lucy who once again must lead the way. And she does. Knots in her stomach, she works to wake the others and tell them what Aslan has said. She then gives them the ultimatum. Finally, the others give in and so follow Lucy as she follows Aslan and it is this that allows them to reach Caspian and the other true Narnians, making it possible for Caspian to put on his throne. Lucy’s courage carries the day.

In the last book, where Lucy is on of the main characters, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, she must again show her fortitude. Now, she has to enter a magician’s home, steal her way into his library, and read a spell from his book. While there are no others to accomplish this task, Lucy still takes it on full willingly. The others, attempt to keep her from it (except for Reepicheep who often is a better example of the excess of fortitude, foolhardiness). Still, she goes, believing, as she must, the tale of the invisible bouncing people that the magician is evil and has cursed them. As she walks those halls, she shows she is afraid but does not let fear keep her from her duty. She must continue on. If she doesn’t, then their quest will be at an end.

Lucy’s acts of courage are a lesson for us all. Sometimes, the simple things are the hardest to do: to step into a new world, to follow the truth even when others can’t see it, and to face unknown obstacles that may prove either friends or enemies. What is equally fascinating, however, is how each of Lucy’s actions bring about a far greater end. Edmund is already beginning to “go bad” before the children even enter Narnia. By bringing him there, Lucy gives Edmund the opportunity to either persist in his wickedness or to repent and change. Blessedly, he chooses the latter.

In Prince Caspian, had the others not followed Lucy they would have found themselves too late. Miraz’s forces would certainly have overcome the ragtag band of Narnians led by a boy, killed Caspian, and plunged Narnia into a deeper darkness. Similarly, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, her actions allow the ship and its crew to continue its voyage, for the Duffers would have killed them had they refused, and this ensured Caspian found a wife, the four lost lords of Narnia were saved, and that Eustace would have a chance to go on other adventures in Narnia. Truly–perhaps only second to Digory Kirke and Polly–without Lucy, Narnia’s end would not have seen so many come further up and further into the true Narnia at the heart of Aslan’s Country.

We can never know what our small acts of courage may do or how they may ripple out and inspire others. But we know that we are called to have the courage to follow Christ, whether doing so may lead to our death, to the breaking of relationships, or even to minor inconveniences. All we can do is pray for the strength of heart to do the right thing at the right time in the right way–that is to be courageous.