Cair Paravel - Overview

Overview

Cair Paravel is first mentioned in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It already exists at that time. When the four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy) become Kings and Queens of the country after the defeat of the White Witch, Jadis, Cair Paravel becomes the seat of the court of High King Peter and the capital of Narnia.

The Narnia books say nothing about when Cair Paravel was built or by whom. The first King and Queen were Frank and Helen (both came from the world of men), but we are not told where they lived in Narnia. Their coronation took place at Lantern Waste, far from Cair Paravel. Their children became the first kings and queens of Narnia and Archenland. See The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy.

In the book Prince Caspian, which takes place many centuries of Narnian time after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (but only a year in our time), Cair Paravel is a ruin on an island at the point where the Great River of Narnia flows into the Eastern Ocean. It is here that the four Pevensies return to Narnia, although it takes them a while to realize where they are. In The Silver Chair it is told that Caspian X the Seafarer had rebuilt the castle by the end of his reign.

In The Last Battle Cair Paravel is surrounded by a city and is eventually sacked by the Tisroc of Calormen.