Reepicheep

Infobox Narnia character
name=Reepicheep


caption=Reepicheep in the film ""
race=Talking Mouse
nation=Narnia
gender=Male
birthplace=Narnia
major1=Prince Caspian
major2=The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
film1=1989 BBC miniseries: Warwick Davis
film2=: Eddie Izzard

Reepicheep is a fictional character from C. S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" series. He appears in "Prince Caspian", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", and also in "The Last Battle". He is a large, dark, talking mouse who carries a rapier, and wears a red plume tucked in his golden circlet.

Ancestry

In "Prince Caspian", Lewis states that Reepicheep is descended from a group of mice who gnawed through the ropes that bound Aslan to the Stone Table after the White Witch had killed him; as a result of their service, they became talking mice.

"Prince Caspian"

In "Prince Caspian", Reepicheep is the leader of the eleven mice who help to fight against Caspian's Uncle Miraz in the Second Battle of Beruna at Aslan's How. He and his followers run through the battle and plunge their rapiers into unsuspecting enemy's feet, causing them to fall, after which they are quickly dispatched. Reepicheep is badly wounded in the battle, and he loses his tail. He petitions Aslan afterward to have it restored, as the tail is "The honour and glory of a mouse." Aslan expresses concern about whether the mouse thinks too much of his honour. However, Peepiceek (the second in command of the mice) and the other mice prepare to cut off their own tails to avoid bearing an honour denied to their leader. This solidarity convinces Aslan to restore Reepicheep's tail, apparently not "for the sake of his dignity", as Aslan states, but for the love Reepicheep's people bear him.

"Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

In "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", Reepicheep accompanies Caspian on his voyage in the hope of finding Aslan's Country at the end of the world. He believes it is possible to sail to Aslan's Country because when he was a baby mouse, a dryad prophesied:

Where sky and water meet,

Where the waves grow sweet,

Doubt not, Reepicheep,

To find all you seek,

There is the utter East.

During the journey, Reepicheep teaches Eustace Scrubb about honour, courage, and loyalty, even though at the start of their relationship Eustace treats Reepicheep with great disrespect.

Near the Eastern edge of the world, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep set forth from the "Dawn Treader" in a small row boat to the edge of the world. The three children are returned to our world through a door in the sky, while Reepicheep debarks in his own small coracle, paddles off in a different direction, and disappears. C.S. Lewis then implies, but does not explicitly state, that Reepicheep ultimately did reach Aslan's Country. (He appears in the final pages of the "Last Battle" ushering the children into Aslan's Country.)

"The Last Battle"

In "The Last Battle" Reepicheep appears at the very end to greet the last of the Narnians at the Emperor's Garden. He is exactly as the Pevensies remember him, not having aged or died in the hundreds of Narnian years that have passed since their time. Because of this, he is sometimes compared to St. Peter, who, in Catholic Christian tradition, is thought to guard the gates to heaven and welcome the saints in Heaven. His living departure into a symbolic heaven, however, is more reminiscent of the Old Testament figures Enoch and Elijah. Since Lewis was not a strict allegorist, it is of course quite possible that all three associations (or none) were intended.

Reepicheep's fate is also reminiscent of that of the main character from C.S. Lewis' "Space Trilogy". In "That Hideous Strength," Dr. Elwin Ransom also ascends to heaven without dying.

Portrayals

In the 1980s BBC television miniseries "Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader", Reepicheep is played by Warwick Davis.

In the 2008 movie "", Reepicheep is voiced by Eddie Izzard.

External links

* [http://home.clara.net/rogerpattenden/html/dawntreader.html "Dawn Treader"] model photographs
* [http://www.narniafans.com/books/bk_vdt.php "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" at Narnia Fans]
* [http://www.narniaweb.com NarniaWeb]