Wood between the Worlds

The Wood between the Worlds is a linking room location in "The Magician's Nephew", part of "The Chronicles of Narnia" series by C. S. Lewis. The name and nature of the wood is likely inspired by William Morris's 1894 novel "The Wood Beyond the World".Fact|date=May 2008

The Magician's Nephew

It is first so named by Polly Plummer, who arrives there when Digory Kirke's Uncle Andrew tricks her into putting on a magic ring, which instantaneously transports her into the wood. She falls asleep, and when Digory arrives later the children are both disoriented and at first they aren’t sure how long they have been there or even who they are. This state of lassitude that both children fall into is explained as the result of the Wood being a place where nothing ever happens, unlike the different worlds it connects (where events do occur). Later, Empress Jadis of Charn is brought to the wood and appears to fall ill because of it, weakening so that the children are stronger than she. After leaving the wood between the worlds, Jadis soon recovers and never brings it up. Digory speculates that her mind is unable to hold memories of the wood.

Geography

The wood is described as having a warm temperature and containing a large number of leafy trees, with canopy foliage so thick that the sky (assuming there is one) cannot be seen from the ground. Despite the thick foliage, a strong light does penetrate to the woodland floor, clearly illuminating objects. The salient feature of the wood, other than the trees, is the presence of many pools of water. Initially, the pools appear to be just shallow puddles. However, when someone jumps into one of the pools while wearing another magic ring, the pool of water transports the wearer to a different world. When a world is destroyed, i.e. all life is removed, as Charn is in "The Magician's Nephew", the pool dries up. In Paul F. Ford's "Pocket Companion to Narnia", a diagram shows the Wood Between the Worlds to be housed in Aslan's Country, sitting on top of all the worlds.

Nature of the wood

The wood is thus implied to be a place linking all worlds, including Narnia, Charn, and our own Earth. A sense of slothfulness grips all visitors, including the witch Jadis from Charn. It could be considered a multiverse of sorts, existing outside the normal physical realities.

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