Edmund Sneaks Away

Edmund Sneaks Away is the decisive act of treachery that splits the four Pevensie children and forces the narrative toward the sacrificial confrontation at the Stone Table. During a dinner at the Beavers' house, where the children have just learned of Aslan's return and the prophecy of the four thrones, Edmund quietly slips out into the snow to deliver his brother and sisters to the White Witch, trading their safety for the promise of Turkish Delight and a crown. The moment transforms Edmund from a sulky, spiteful boy into an active agent of the Witch's designs and compels the remaining three children, along with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, to flee for their lives toward Aslan's camp.

Circumstances and Motivation

Edmund had already met the White Witch on his first visit to Narnia, when she plied him with enchanted Turkish Delight that made him crave more and more, and promised to make him a prince—and later king—if he brought his siblings to her house. Throughout the meal at the Beavers' house, Edmund barely enjoyed the fresh trout and marmalade roll because he was thinking constantly of the Turkish Delight, and he imagined that the others were ignoring him and giving him the cold shoulder. When Mr. Beaver spoke of Aslan, Edmund felt a mysterious horror rather than the hopeful thrill that the others experienced. The mention of Aslan's name, and the plan to meet him at the Stone Table, hardened Edmund's resolve. He told himself that the Witch was probably the rightful queen and that she would not do anything very bad to the others, though deep down he knew she was bad and cruel. His desire for Turkish Delight, for a prince's status, and to pay Peter out for calling him a beast overrode whatever conscience remained.

The Act of Departure

As Mr. Beaver recited the old rhyme about Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sitting at Cair Paravel, Edmund very quietly turned the door handle. Just before Mr. Beaver revealed that the White Witch was not truly human but half a Jinn and half a giantess, Edmund slipped outside into the snow and cautiously closed the door behind him. He left his coat behind in the Beavers' house, with no chance to go back for it. The daylight was almost gone—it had been nearly three o'clock when they sat down to dinner, and the winter days were short. He turned up his collar and shuffled across the top of the dam to the far side of the river, the snow already falling thickly around him.

The Journey Through the Thaw

The journey to the Witch's house was brutal. Edmund kept slipping into deep drifts of snow, skidding on frozen puddles, tripping over fallen tree trunks, sliding down steep banks, and barking his shins against rocks, until he was wet, cold, and bruised all over. The silence and loneliness were dreadful. He might have given up and gone back to make friends with the others, but he began thinking about being king—about the palace he would have, the cars, the private cinema, the railways, and the laws he would make against beavers and dams—and this cheered him. Then the snow stopped, a freezing wind sprang up, the clouds rolled away, and a full moon came out, making everything almost as bright as day. He reached the smaller river that flowed into the great one and followed it up through a steep, rocky valley, getting wet through as loads of snow slid off branches onto his back. Every time this happened, he thought more and more how he hated Peter, as if it were Peter's fault.

Arrival at the Witch's Castle

At last the valley opened out, and on the other side of the river, in the middle of a little plain between two hills, Edmund saw the White Witch's house—a small castle of many towers with long, needle-sharp spires that looked like huge dunce's caps or sorcerer's caps, shining in the moonlight. He crossed the river on the ice and walked up to the house, finding the great iron gates wide open. In the courtyard, he saw an enormous stone lion crouched as if ready to spring, and after a long, terrified wait, he realized it was only a statue. He scribbled a moustache and spectacles on it with a pencil stub, jeering at it as Aslan, but the stone beast's face looked so terrible, sad, and noble that he got no real fun from it. Crossing the courtyard, he passed dozens of stone statues—satyrs, wolves, bears, foxes, cat-a-mountains, tree spirits, a centaur, a winged horse, a dragon, and a huge stone giant with a club. At the far side, a dim light showed from a doorway. He went up the stone steps, and across the threshold lay a great wolf. When Edmund stepped over it, the wolf rose, bristling, and demanded his identity. Edmund gave his name and said he had come to bring the Queen news that his brother and sisters were in Narnia at the Beavers' house. The wolf, Fenris Ulf, the Chief of the Witch's Secret Police, bounded inside and returned to say, "Come in! Come in! Fortunate favourite of the Queen—or else not so fortunate."

Consequences and Narrative Significance

Edmund's betrayal has immediate and far-reaching consequences. He tells the Witch everything he heard at the Beavers' house—about Aslan's return, the plan to meet at the Stone Table, and the location of the Beavers' house. The Witch orders her sledge prepared without bells and sends Fenris Ulf with the swiftest wolves to kill whatever they find at the Beavers' house. The Beavers and the three remaining children are forced to flee into the night, hiding in a secret cave and narrowly escaping the wolves. Edmund's act also sets the stage for the Witch's claim on his life under the Deep Magic, which leads directly to Aslan's voluntary sacrifice. The betrayal is the story's central peripeteia, turning the children's adventure into a desperate flight and a war, and it transforms Edmund from a mere antagonist into a figure whose redemption becomes the moral and emotional core of the climax.