Great Winter

The Great Winter is the prolonged cold that the White Witch brought upon Narnia long before the events surrounding Prince Rilian’s rescue. Recalled during the explanation of the Witch’s scheme, it links her earlier rule to a new attempt at conquest: different plans, but the same purpose of dominating Narnia.

Identity and Background

The narrative identifies the Great Winter as the consequence of the White Witch’s power over Narnia. It is invoked not as a new event unfolding in the present, but as remembered history that helps the Beasts and Dwarfs understand the danger facing the kingdom.

Recollection During the Rescue

After Prince Rilian has been freed, he discusses the adventure with the older Beasts and Dwarfs while Jill and Eustace sleep. Together they piece together how the Witch killed Rilian’s mother, enchanted the prince, and dug beneath Narnia in preparation for breaking out and ruling the country through him. Their understanding of the Great Winter informs their suspicion that this Witch was of the same kind as the White Witch responsible for Narnia’s earlier long winter.

Political and Narrative Significance

The Great Winter serves as a historical comparison that makes the new threat legible. The Witch’s intended kingdom would have been Narnia, though Rilian did not know that the country she promised him was his own; he would have been king in name and her slave in reality. The oldest Dwarf draws the lesson that Northern Witches pursue the same end in every age, while changing their methods. The remembered winter thus connects past and present threats and frames the rescue as the defeat of a renewed attempt to subjugate Narnia.