Deplorable Word

The Deplorable Word, as used in The Magician's Nephew, by author C. S. Lewis, is a magical curse which ends all life in the fictional world of Charn except that of the one who speaks it. Lewis does not explicitly link the Deplorable Word to nuclear weapons, but he certainly makes allusions to the power of humanity to destroy itself. Writing in 1955 in the midst of the Cold War, Lewis has the lion Aslan say to the central characters, who are children:

“

It is not certain that some wicked one of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations of your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis. Let your world beware. That is the warning.

”

The children, Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, come to a lifeless world called Charn. In an ancient, ruined building they awaken a queen, Jadis. She tells them of a worldwide civil war she fought with her sister. All of Jadis' armies were defeated, having been made to fight to the death of the last soldier, and her sister claimed victory. Then Jadis spoke the horrible curse which her sister knew she had discovered but did not think she would use. In speaking the Deplorable Word, Jadis killed every living thing in her world, except herself, to force her sister from the throne. She describes this as "a matter of state".

The children are shocked by this account, but Jadis has no remorse or pity for all the ordinary people whom she killed; in her eyes, they only existed for her to use. The past rulers of her race, who evidently had not always been evil, knew of the Deplorable Word's existence but not the word itself, and had vowed that none of them, nor their descendants, would seek to discover it. Jadis said she had "learned it in a secret place and paid a terrible price to learn it". The book does not say what that price was, or give more specifics on the Deplorable Word.

In the world of "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", the "Ritual of Desecration" plays a similar role to the Deplorable Word, destroying almost all life in The Land when it was used. It differs notably from the Deplorable Word, however, in how it was used. While the Deplorable Word was used without remorse by Jadis to obliterate her enemies in an act of pure evil, the Ritual of Desecration enacted out of utter desperation in hopes of ridding The Land of evil once and for all so that future generations could live out their lives in peace; a purpose which ultimately failed.

See also

• Armageddon

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