High-Resolution New Narnia Cover Art Reveals Hidden Easter Eggs
Ever since the new cover art by Owen Richardson for The Chronicles of Narnia books was unveiled, fans have been zooming in and squinting at every detail.
Yesterday, NarniaWeb obtained high-resolution full versions (below) from HarperCollins and shared them with our Discord group, which sparked some surprising revelations.
NarniaWebber and Patreon supporter ElykRindon was the first to notice the symbol for Jupiter in the back cover art of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:
ElykRindon’s initial post references Planet Narnia by Dr. Michael Ward, which is a theory that C.S. Lewis patterned the seven Chronicles of Narnia on the characteristics of the seven heavenly bodies of medieval cosmology.
In Ward’s theory, the seven books and the seven heavens are paired thus:
- Jupiter — The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Mars — Prince Caspian
- Sun — The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- Moon — The Silver Chair
- Mercury — The Horse and His Boy
- Venus — The Magician’s Nephew
- Saturn — The Last Battle
The symbol of Jupiter sparked an investigation into the rest of the book covers, leading to the discovery of either a planetary symbol or planet on each of the covers — each corresponding with Michael Ward’s Planet Narnia theory.
See if you can find them yourself — or scroll down to the bottom of the article for the answer key and images.
If you’d like to hear more fan perspectives about Planet Narnia, check out our podcast episode where we discuss Michael Ward’s theory.
Do you think Owen Richardson used these symbols as a deliberate reference to Planet Narnia, or could it be an artistic coincidence? Let us know in the comments below or join the discussion on our Discord group.
PC: The emblem on the Telmarine’s flag and surcoat.
VDT: The sun on the side of the ship.
SC: The crescent moon on the top of the silver chair.
HHB: The symbols on the tombs.
MN: The pendant on Jadis’s necklace.
LB: The ringed planet, which corresponds with Saturn.
That’s such a fun little hidden detail to include!
Though much like Dr Ward’s theory itself, it’s still no more than a minor superficial curiosity amongst much more interesting things going on, and is ultimately completely irrelevant in the context of the big picture – figuratively in the case of the Narnia stories, and quite literally in the case of these spectacular artworks!
I know incorporating Dr. Ward’s works into this will make certain fans uncomfortable, but I think it’s a cool Easter Egg. It’s subtle enough to where most will never notice but definitely intentional.
My question is does HarperCollins know?
Easter Eggs? On book covers? I’m used to seeing lots of details on Terry Pratchett’s book covers, but those are his actual characters.
This, however, apparently means that the publishers approve and endorse a highly questionable theory about the meaning of the books. If this is the deliberate intention of the publishers then I won’t be buying any copies of this edition. My 50-year-old paperback set is fine.
As Impending Doom asked, does Harper Collins know? If not, they need to be informed immediately! Avoid this dangerous error. Aslan, we need you now!
I’m actually reading PLANET NARNIA right now ironically. This is soooo not coincidence. SUPER COOL.
This just got interesting. I, like most (most, right?), do not subscribe to the Planet Narnia theory. What is the point of trying to ratify it with these new covers? Scandal! Intrigue!
@ coracle LOL how is including these symbols “dangerous”? Even if you disagree with the Planet Narnia’s theory, I mean, it’s just not that serious.
Planet Narnia is the most inconsequential theory to how anyone reads the Narnia books. And I’m saying that as someone who thinks it’s plausible that Lewis incorporated planetary imagery. Michael Ward clearly knows the books intimately but to claim he’s “cracked the code” is just extra.
I like the covers though!
Michael Ward is absolutely right and it’s obvious when you see it. Lewis was known to be obsessed with the Seven Classical Heavens, their corresponding symbolism and codified wisdom. He wrote a long detailed poem about that exact subject in the 1930’s. It’s no accident that there are seven Narnia books and I wish the artist went further than mere Easter eggs. Anyone who scoffs at Ward’s scholarship is choosing to stay at the shallow end of a vast, vast vast, deep, deep pool; and they if don’t feel like going deep, that’s fine. Lewis wrote for both punters and esoteric Platonists.
Having seven of something doesn’t mean it matches with seven things in another set. Rowling didn’t match her seven books to the Narnia books, although it was widely thought she had borrowed the idea. Why aren’t the seven Chronicles related to the seven days of the week?
Check out the podcast link above.
Also consider carefully that the seven connections Ward makes are not the only connections possible. Other choices of planet are just as well matched.
Ward has no right to have influenced the minds of people who don’t know much about Lewis and the intellectual environment of his day.
Opponents to his theory included the one person who knew Jack Lewis well (his stepson Doug Gresham).
Regardless of the validity of the Ward theory, this is honestly so cool! At the very least, it hints at some of the depth under these covers…
I don’t think it’s cool at all. Michael Ward’s theory is a load of celestial tripe, to put it as politely as I can on a family-friendly website. Anyone who is familiar with how Lewis himself genuinely thought and wrote — and who has read the statements he made on people looking for “hidden” meanings in his and others’ writings — will recognise at once that “Planet Narnia” is totally bogus. It irritates me hugely that so many younger Narnia fans swallow it whole, just because it sounds exciting. And obviously Richardson is one of the said swallowers. He’s just plummeted even further in my estimation.
I agree with Courtenays comment! Is no one else seeing that what they are truly doing is bringing “Tash” into the purity that is Narnia? All I see is they are making “Tashlan” and saying this is how it’s always been. This is a sad and terrible time for true Narnians.
Amazing the resistance to Ward. Why so hostile? You all sound scared, for reasons I cannot fathom. Whatever. Stay in the shallows.
@coracle, watch out that comment “people who don’t know much about Lewis and the intellectual environment of his day.” … You don’t know who you’re talking to.
Hopefully they still have Griffins in this one
These details are there for anyone who’s really looking for them. Most will not see them. I get that some of us are uncomfortable about this, but since when does this represent some insidious attempt to defile Narnia? It’s an artist taking a very small liberty based on his subjective view of the books. I fail to see how this compromises the books or spoils anything for anyone. The only people who are going to pick up on this or care about it are either Ward’s fans or detractors, both of whom are fully entitled to their opinions – as well as their liberty to buy these books or to leave them on the shelf.
I tend to stay aloof from internet drama these days because of its inherent pointlessness, but I just wanted to say I hope this doesn’t linger. I’d really hate to see Narnia fans bashing each other over something so small.
@Fireberry, here’s what I wrote about Planet Narnia on the Narniaweb Discord recently if you’re interested.
“The reason I’m personally put off by Planet Narnia is I can’t really relate to Michael Ward’s mindset. I mean, I like the idea of writing about things that interested C. S. Lewis but not most people and how they influenced the Narnia books. But the reason I like that idea is because I’m already a Narnia fan. Most of the people I encounter online who are really enthusiastic about Planet Narnia already considered Narnia great. But it feels like Michael Ward’s reason for writing it was that he was annoyed by literary critics who consider the Narnia books unsophisticated compared to, say, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or His Dark Materials and he wanted to change their minds. I’m just so used to loving things that critics don’t love that I can’t relate to Ward’s crusading spirit. 🙂
While I’m not super familiar with the critics Ward is trying to rebut, I’m guessing that a lot of them do like Narnia. They just don’t love it as much as Ward or I or the average person in this chat group.
Also, I just don’t get this (alleged) criticism Ward is trying to counter. Why does it need to be explained why each Narnia books has different imagery? Were people really expecting C. S. Lewis to just rehash The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe six times? LOL. I think the books would need more defending if he did.”
For what it’s worth, the seven days of the week *are* also named after the planets… Saturn-day, Sun-day, Moon-day…
It’s even more obvious when you look at the days of the week in French – Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, etc. (Lunar, Mars, Mercury).
Does that make any substantive difference to our understanding of how days work? Not really. Is it kind of interesting? yeah, a little bit.
Ultimately Ward’s theory is so inoccuous, and almost banal, that it’s hard really to get too upset about it
Let’s not make Narnia too occultistic.
I find Michael Ward’s theory interesting, but when I checked out his book from the library I just did not see each book as conforming specifically to a planet because there is a lot of overlap in themes and imagery between the books.
I am nervous about proclaiming intentions of authors if they themselves did not confirm the intentions, as if what we thought was creativity was merely a reference. Authors, singers, and artists are influenced by the culture, but I see many attempts to pigeonhole something as being the true meaning about a work that I am very nervous about it. Having written his space trilogy, Lewis may have wanted to incorporate planets in Narnia, but I think the story came first over that.
Lewis confirmed the intention of Christian symbolism in Narnia. For most people, the stories are still completely enjoyable without knowing about Christianity because Lewis made Narnia so Aslan fit in the plot and narrative. Was that being less creative? I think since Lewis said that “Aslan came bounding in” to the story when he was writing LWW that it felt natural to him to include Aslan instead of forced. Like Christ had become so much of a part of Lewis’ life that it was no longer just a reference to the Christian tradition. Maybe Lewis did want to include the planets too but could not do it without it feeling forced, so that is why each book does not clearly fit a planet. And also because he had not initially intended to write seven books.
I do think that talking about planetary and alchemical symbolism in context of Christianity is worthwhile as there is a movement to take planets and geometric shapes and say any use of them is satanic. Like stars, for example.
I never heard of the Planet Narnia theory until now. If people want to believe it to be true, that’s on them. I never read it. I don’t really care. But some of this actually kind of makes sense because CS Lewis was part of a group called the inklings which were a bunch of Christian writers of fantasy in C.S. Lewis had later wrote that he only joined Christianity because everyone else was he himself even said, “how could I, I of all people believe in the cock and bull story of the Bible?” People say that there’s Christian allegory in The Chronicles of Narnia but I want to know is if it is Christian allegory why do they mention a pagan got and the stories? and why do they have a lot of pagan ideas and beliefs?