Lord Bar

Lord Bar is a former Lord Chancellor of Archenland whose betrayal and attempted abduction of the infant Cor set in motion the prince’s disappearance. His actions connect the threat posed by the Tisroc to the prophecy that Cor would one day save Archenland, while the pursuit launched by King Lune ultimately fails to recover the child.

Position and Betrayal

Bar had served as King Lune’s Lord Chancellor, but the king dismissed him after he had committed an unspecified wrongdoing. Although Bar was allowed to remain in Archenland, he was secretly in the pay of the Tisroc and sent information to Tashbaan. His political position had given him access to the kingdom’s affairs; his clandestine allegiance turned that access into a danger to Archenland.

The Prophecy and Abduction

When the infant Cor and his twin brother Corin were taken to a wise Centaur in Narnia for a blessing, the Centaur prophesied that Cor would one day save Archenland from its deadliest danger. Bar was present and learned of the prophecy. According to Cor’s later account, Bar concluded that the child had to be removed from the way and succeeded in kidnapping him, though Cor did not know exactly how the abduction was carried out.

Bar rode down the Winding Arrow to the coast, where a ship manned by his own followers was ready. He put to sea with Cor aboard before King Lune could reach the shore. The king nevertheless followed quickly, embarking on one of his warships within twenty minutes of arriving at the coast.

Pursuit and Cor’s Disappearance

King Lune’s ship pursued Bar’s galleon for six days and brought it to battle on the seventh. The sea-fight lasted from ten in the morning until sunset, when the king’s people finally captured Bar’s ship. Bar himself had been killed in the battle, but Cor was not aboard when the ship was taken.

One of Bar’s men reported that, early that morning, when Bar realized his ship would be overtaken, he had sent Cor away in the ship’s boat with one of his knights. The boat was never seen again by those involved in the pursuit. Cor later understood it to be the same boat that Aslan brought ashore at the place where Arsheesh found him. He did not know the knight’s name, but believed the knight had kept him alive at personal cost.

Narrative Significance

Bar’s attempt to thwart the prophecy instead becomes part of the chain of events that brings Cor to Arsheesh and leaves him separated from his royal family. His betrayal is exposed retrospectively through Cor’s account after the battle; the pursuit captures Bar’s ship, but not the child, so the apparent rescue of the kingdom’s heir remains incomplete for years. The episode also places Bar within a larger pattern of events that Cor attributes to Aslan’s guidance, while leaving the identity of the knight who protected him unknown.