The Witch’s Hundred-Mile Exclusion from the Tree

The Witch’s Hundred-Mile Exclusion from the Tree is the protective rule Aslan announces after the Tree of Protection appears in Narnia. Its life-giving presence keeps Jadis away: while the Tree flourishes, she cannot come down into Narnia and will not come within a hundred miles of it.

The Tree as a Shield

Aslan tells Digory that he has sown well, then gives the Narnians responsibility for the Tree, naming it their Shield. Its protection is therefore both a supernatural effect and a charge to the community: the Tree must be guarded if its safeguard is to endure.

The Witch’s Distance

Jadis has fled far away into the North, where Aslan says she will continue growing stronger in dark Magic. Yet that growing power does not undo the Tree’s boundary. While it flourishes, she will never come down into Narnia and dares not approach within a hundred miles of it.

Opposed Effects

The Tree’s fragrance makes the contrast between its protection and Jadis’s nature explicit. For the Narnians it is joy, life, and health; for the Witch it is death, horror, and despair. The same presence that sustains the land repels its enemy, making the Tree’s protection a continuing condition rather than a victory that destroys Jadis.