Jill Pole

Infobox Narnia character
name=Jill Pole


race=Human
nation=England
gender=Female
birthplace=England, Earth
major1=The Silver Chair
major2=The Last Battle
film1=1990 BBC miniseries: Camilla Power|

Jill Pole (1933 - 1949?) is a major character from C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series. She appears in "The Silver Chair" and in "The Last Battle."

Biography

Prior story

Jill was born in 1933 and is 9 years old when she appears in "The Silver Chair". By The "Last Battle" she is 16 years old.

Very little is known about Jill's family or her life before she becomes friends with Eustace. The only thing that is made clear is that she was bullied (like many other students) at her school by a group of truly mean children referred to as Them, and that, when she needed to cry, she often took refuge behind the gym, where we (and Eustace) find her at the beginning of "The Silver Chair". It is also shown that she likes horses, and has learned to ride in England.

The Silver Chair

Jill is in the same year as Eustace Scrubb in school. It is implied that Jill had been victimised by a gang of bullies with whom Eustace had curried favor in the previous terms. However, at the start of the story, Eustace and Jill become friends partly because of the change in Eustace's character and behaviour following his experience in "The Voyage of the" Dawn Treader. She and Eustace, following the policy of their "experimental" school, address each other by surname throughout "The Silver Chair", but develop a genuine affection for each other during the course of the story: near the very end, they address each other as "Jill" and "Eustace". With Eustace, she is called by Aslan into Narnia, and given the task of finding the missing Prince Rilian. Jill's experiences in Narnia make her much better able to cope with the adversities that face her in our world, and she and Eustace remain close friends through the period of time that lapses prior to her return to Narnia in "The Last Battle".

The Last Battle

Jill and Eustace are called into Narnia to help King Tirian in his struggle against the false appearance of Aslan, and a Calormene invasion. They first free the king from where he is tied to a tree. Then the three of them steal away to a Narnian supply garrison where they put on Calormene disguises and return to Stable Hill. When they arrive they free Jewel the Unicorn. Then Jill disobeys the king's orders by entering the Stable, but in doing so, she discovers Puzzle the Donkey, the fake Aslan. Jill becomes Puzzle's friend and saves him from execution by Tirian.

During the battle, Jill fights with her bow and arrow and kills several Calormene soldiers. She later goes through the stable door and comes into Aslan's Country along with the others.

It is not for sure whether Jill and Eustace got to Narnia because they were killed in the train crash that took the lives of everyone else or if Aslan simply brought them there by magic, though the former is more likely.

kills

It is notable that Jill developed distinctive skill with bow and arrow, learning much during her first experience in Narnia and progressing further after returning home. She was also skilled in "woodcraft" (tracking and moving quietly through forested areas), as noted by King Tirian in "The Last Battle"; Eustace credits this to her time as a Girl Guide, but no doubt this was supplemented by her travels and experiences in "The Silver Chair". Jill knows how to ride and handle horses.

Jill is comparable to the character Eustace: a non-believer who is miserable in the "modern" world but can conceive of nothing else, until she is jolted into a quest for spiritual knowledge. Jill's progression in faith, however, is incremental, as contrasted to the singular event which transforms Eustace.

Portrayal

In the BBC production, Jill Pole was portrayed by Camilla Power.

References

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