The Last Battle Study Guide

C. S. Lewis grew up in a comfortable, book-filled home, which resulted in an early love for stories and mythology. Lewis's mother passed away when he was just 10 years old, a loss that deeply affected him and influenced his later writings. As a boy, Lewis went to boarding schools in England, where he excelled academically. Later, as a young man, Lewis served in the British Army during World War I and was wounded in the Battle of Arras in 1917. After the war, Lewis attended Oxford University, where he studied literature and philosophy. It was here that he began his writing career and formed significant friendships, most notably with J. R. R. Tolkien. These relationships were crucial in his conversion back to Christianity in 1931, an event that influenced his later work. Lewis became a distinguished academic, holding positions at Oxford and later at Cambridge University. Lewis is best known for his works of fiction and Christian apologetics. His most famous works include The Chronicles of Narnia, a seven-book series that includes The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Last Battle, to name a few. His other notable works of fiction include The Screwtape Letters  and The Space Trilogy. Lewis passed away on November 22, 1963 from kidney failure.

Because all of The Last Battle takes places in Narnia, there are very few allusions to the real world and historical events. However, there are ways in which the novel is responding to the politics of Lewis’s time. In particular, Lewis was concerned with atheism, which became relatively popular in Europe starting in the late 19th century. Early in his life, Lewis himself was an atheist, thinking that rationality and science were better tools for thinking and living a just life than religious belief. Lewis changed his mind after J. R. R. Tolkien convinced him that all myths come from fundamental spiritual truths. Following his conversations with Tolkien, Lewis became one of the most ardent defenders of Christianity in the 20th century. He argued that morality and spiritual fulfillment cannot exist without God and worried about what would happen to an atheistic society. In The Last Battle, the creatures who do not believe in any deity are depicted as morally dubious, mirroring Lewis’s worry about England’s future under atheist principles.

As the final novel in the series, The Last Battle makes references to all of the previous books in the Narnia series. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—the first published book in the series—is perhaps the most important book to have read before reading The Last Battle, as it introduces the reader to the Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Edmund), who play a pivotal role in the series and in the end of this book. However, to get a full sense of everything that is going on in the novel, readers should experience all of the Narnia books that came before, as it is the final book chronologically and in the published order. Like all of the Narnia books, The Last Battle is full of allusions to the Christian faith. In particular, the Book of Revelations is an important reference for Lewis. In the Bible, the Book of Revelations describes the apocalypse during which God brings those worthy of his grace to Heaven. A similar event occurs at the end of The Last Battle, as Aslan brings those who are worthy to his eternal realm following the end of Narnia.