Second Battle of Beruna
| Second Battle of Beruna | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Aslan
 Reepicheep the mouse |
.svg.png){kind=small} Lord Scythley | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown (3,000 in the 2008 film)[1] | Unknown (16,000 in the 2008 film)[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown (heavy) | ||||||
The Second Battle of Beruna is a fictional battle in C.S. Lewis's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia between the "Old Narnians" and the Telmarines of Narnian. It is one of several battles in the Chronicles of Narnia.
History
Following High King Peter's victorious conquest of Narnia from the White Witch, he and his siblings reigned as rulers for several years until year 1015. In Year 1998 Narnia was invaded by a race of men from the country of Telmar, under the command of Caspian I, and fell to them shortly after. The Telmarines brutally killed off most of the Narnians, forcing them into hiding.
Several centuries later (year 2303), a young Telmarine Prince, later Caspian X, was chased from his father's castle by his murderous uncle, Miraz. He was eventually rescued by a trio of Narnians, a badger named Trufflehunter, a Black Dwarf named Nikabrik, and a Red Dwarf named Trumpkin. These three aided Caspian in gathering a small army of Narnian survivors together, and they began to wage war on the Telmarines and Miraz.
However, the war's fortune quickly turned against the young prince and his army where they lost the First Battle of Aslan's How after the Giant Wimbleweather misheard the signal. Then came the Second Battle of Aslan's How where nearly a third of the army was lost in a battle led by Caspian. Following this failed battle, Caspian blew the Horn of Queen Susan, calling her and her siblings from their world.[2] They were soon found by Trumpkin, who led them back to Caspian's command center at Aslan's How.
High King Peter and Prince Caspian knew their army was weak and losing morale. However Susan and Lucy realized that the great Lion, Aslan, had once again returned to Narnia and was preparing to awaken the trees and rivers of Narnia to fight alongside them. The two commanders realized that all of their plans now depended on time and patience. Edmund was sent to Miraz's camp to give Miraz a challenge by Peter to fight to the death in single combat.[3] Two disgruntled lords, Glozelle and Sopespian, manage to goad Miraz into accepting Edmund's offer. Miraz names Glozelle, Sopespian, and an unnamed Telmarine baron as his marshals, while Peter names Glenstorm the Centaur, Wimbleweather, and the eldest Bulgy Bear as his. The fight goes well for Peter until Miraz slips on a tussock. Sopespian declares treachery stating that Peter slashed Miraz in the back while he was on the ground, thus beginning the Battle.
The Battle
After the supposed "illegal move" from Peter during the duel, Lord Sopespian and an unnamed Telmarine Baron led the Telmarine charge at the Old Narnians. During the stampede and the confusion, Lord Glozelle stabbed Miraz in the back killing him stating "that's for your insult, this morning."[4] This murder was unnoticed by any others. During the battle, Reepicheep runs off and is seriously wounded. As the Telmarines appear to take the upper hand, Aslan and an army of awakened Dryads return and help turn the table, causing the Telmarine army to quickly breaks ranks and flee to Beruna. However, the remaining Telmarines were unable to escape as Bacchus had destroyed the bridge that "trapped" the River God.
Aftermath
Following this victory, the Telmarine Throne was now Caspian's for the claiming. Aslan offers the Telmarines who do not wish to stay in Narnia a chance to travel to a new land in the world of High King Peter. Peter and his siblings, along with General Glozelle, Miraz's widow Prunaprismia, her newborn son, and many other Telmarines, travel through a door summoned by Aslan and return to their world. Caspian stayed in Narnia, building a new nation of Narnians and Telmarines, and ruling well until his death.
Depictions
BBC serial
During Miraz's duel with Peter, he is tripped by Peter's sword. When Glozelle rushes to Miraz and asks if he's okay, he secretly pulls out his dagger whispering to Miraz "and this is for that insult this morning" and stabs him. Sopespian announces Miraz' death and the fight begins. Peter manages to slay Glozelle and the unnamed Telmarine baron. Reepicheep's tail is cut off by a Telmarine who is then killed by Caspian. Aslan arrives and roars enough to disperse the battle.
Disney film
In the movie, The Second Battle of Beruna was fought between the Telmarines and the Narnians. The Telmarines number several thousand infantry, approximately five hundred cavalry, and many trebuchets while the Narnians number a few hundred archers and a small army of dwarfs, fauns, satyrs, and talking beasts in front of the How, as well as a giant and a small force of minotaurs, centaurs, and talking beasts inside it. Queen Susan had returned, and assumed command of the archers after being rescued from Telmarines by Caspian.
When Peter defeated Miraz and Caspian spared his life, Sopespian helped Miraz to his feet as Miraz tells Sopespian that he will deal with him when it is over. Sopespian quotes "It is over" and secretly stabs Miraz with one of Susan's arrows. Sopespian then declares treachery stating that the archers murdered Miraz and rode off with Glozelle to have the Telmarine soldiers prepare for battle. Gergiore then charges toward Peter.
After Peter took out Gergiore, the Telmarines sent out their cavalry against the Old Narnians and activated their Trebuchets. The Narnians, who were expecting the Telmarines to dishonor the terms of the duel, are immediately ready for battle. After ten seconds however, Narnians who had been charging through recently dug caverns beneath the battle field destroyed the pillars which supported the ground the Telmarine cavalry was charging across, causing the cavalry to fall into a giant sink-hole. While Peter and Edmund led the above-ground army at the fallen cavalry, Caspian and his forces climb from the cistern via two ramps and encircle the Telmarine Cavalry, shortly after a volley of arrows from Susan and her archers. Sopespian and his army begin to advance in response, Caspian signals out many gryphons with dwarf archers in their claws to fly towards the Telmarine army, so that the dwarves can shoot the soldiers that are operating the Trebuchets. However, Sopespian had a backup plan for the soldiers on the ground to use crossbows equipped with arrows which shoots down over half of the gryphons, and the surviving ones fall back. At the sight of this, Peter, Caspian, and the vastly-outnumbered Narnians are forced to retreat towards the How. However, the subsequent trebuchet attack scatters the Narnian archers and collapses the entrance to the How, trapping the Narnians aboveground. The Narnians are now trapped, outnumbered, and encircled by the Telmarines, thus leaving them with no hope, and so they charge the Telmarines in a last, desperate attempt.
However, Lucy finds Aslan who saves her from a Telmarine. Aslan reawakens the trees which rally to the Narnians and defeat the Telmarines, incapacitating Glozelle in the process.
The Telmarines attempt to reach the Bridge of Beruna, but arrive to find Aslan awakening the River God who destroys the Bridge and engulfs Sopespian. Leaderless and trapped, the Telmarines surrender to the Narnians.
The creatures that fought for Aslan are Bears, Wolves, Foxes, Dogs, Jackals, Leopards, Panthers, Boars, Stags, Tigers, Satyrs, Fauns, Minotaurs, Centaurs, a Giant, Gryphons, Dwarves, Cheetahs, Mice, Badgers, Squirrels, Rabbits, and the trees that Aslan had awakened.
See also
References
- 1 2 V. Thomas, Movie Blog
- ↑ Lewis, Clive Staples (1970) [1951]. Prince Caspian. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. pp. 87–95. ISBN 0020442408.
- ↑ Lewis, Clive Staples (1970) [1951]. Prince Caspian. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. pp. 171–174. ISBN 0020442408.
- ↑ Lewis, Clive Staples (1970) [1951]. Prince Caspian. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 189. ISBN 0020442408.
