The search for Prince Rilian

The search for Prince Rilian is the northward quest undertaken by Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb to find the missing heir of Narnia. Its decisive beginning is a commitment made in the face of uncertainty: the children know Rilian is alive somewhere, and resolve to find him by following the direction and destination they have been given. Under Puddleglum’s guidance, the search becomes a difficult journey across Ettinsmoor and toward the stark, mountainous country beyond it.

The Quest Takes Shape

When asked whether they have a clue, Eustace answers that they must go north and reach the ruins of a giant city. The pair’s objective is therefore more specific than a general search: they have a direction and a destination, but no further detail about what awaits them there. Their resolve follows the owls’ explanation that Rilian’s continued survival suggests his captor has a use for him and a scheme against Narnia. The danger is thus not simply that a prince has vanished; his disappearance may be part of a threat to the kingdom.

The owls cannot accompany the children. They explain that the children would travel by day while owls need to travel by night, and the prospect of the journey to the ruined giant city dampens the parliament’s spirits. Glimfeather offers a practical alternative: the travelers should be taken to a Marsh-wiggle, since the Marsh-wiggles are the people most able to help them. The quest begins not with an assembled force but with a small company dependent on local guidance.

Crossing Ettinsmoor

The next morning, three figures cross the Shribble at shoals and stepping-stones. The stream is shallow enough that Jill is not wet above the knees, but the northern bank rises steeply toward the moor, sometimes in cliffs. Eustace points toward a gorge as a possible route; Puddleglum corrects him, explaining that giants mainly live beside it, as if the gorge were their street. The party instead heads straight ahead, accepting a steep climb to avoid the more obvious route through giant territory.

The crossing and change of route show how the search proceeds by negotiation with the landscape. The travelers cannot simply follow the most apparent path: knowledge of where the giants live changes their course. Puddleglum’s advice is practical, but it does not make the terrain easy. The steep ascent leads into exposed country, and the quest’s progress depends on choosing a less direct route through a region where the party is outnumbered by its dangers.

Hardship and Supplies

The company travels across Ettinsmoor for many days. They save their bacon and live chiefly on moor-fowl shot by Eustace and Puddleglum; the fowl are ordinary birds, not talking ones. Streams are numerous, so they do not lack water. Yet the account refuses to make life off the land seem effortless: Jill notices the long, smelly, messy work of plucking and cleaning the birds, and how cold it makes her fingers. The details of food and discomfort give the quest an unromantic physical texture, distinct from the clean adventure of people living by what they shoot in books.

Eustace’s skill with a gun has a history: he learned to shoot on his voyage with King Caspian. The journey therefore carries an earlier adventure into this one in practical form. It also puts Jill in the position of observing a capacity she envies, while the party’s survival depends on that capacity and on Puddleglum’s contribution. Their supplies are limited enough that they conserve bacon and rely on hunting, but the abundance of streams provides a dependable source of water.

The moor is not entirely free of giants, but encounters are rare. One giant spots the travelers, laughs at them, and stumps away on his own business. The brief encounter does not become a fight; instead, it underscores the disparity in scale and the party’s vulnerability. Their safety rests partly on not attracting sustained attention, rather than on being able to overcome the giants they are seeking to avoid.

The Northern Threshold

About the tenth day, the character of the country changes. From the northern edge of the moor, the travelers look down a long, steep slope into a grimmer region. Cliffs give way to high mountains, dark precipices, stony valleys, and ravines so narrow and deep that their bottoms cannot be seen. Rivers plunge from echoing gorges into black depths. Puddleglum points out snow on distant slopes and expects more on their northern sides, extending the journey’s exposure to cold into the terrain ahead.

After the descent, the travelers reach the top of cliffs overlooking a river running from west to east. Precipices enclose it on both sides; its green, sunless waters are broken by rapids and waterfalls, and its roar shakes the earth where they stand. This landscape marks a sharp contrast with the moor they have crossed: the relatively open crossing has led to a confined, shadowed country of cliffs and deep ravines. The search is not complete at this threshold, but its direction has carried the party into an increasingly severe landscape, where the pursuit of Rilian and the danger facing Narnia converge in the journey ahead.