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The Lady of the Green Kirtle, also known as the Green Lady, Queen of Underland, Queen of the Deep Realm, and The Emerald Witch, is the main villain in The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis. She has enslaved Prince Rilian of Narnia and a horde of gnomes by her witchcraft, and plans to use them to take over Narnia. She is foiled by three friends of Aslan: Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, and Puddleglum.

Overview

The Green Lady has kidnapped Prince Rillian, son of King Caspian X. She plans to attack Narnia from underground, using the enslaved prince as her general, and then to rule Narnia, perhaps through him as a puppet king.

She understands that Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum have been sent to rescue Rillian, and meets them as they head north from Narnia. She slyly directs them to the giants' castle for the Autumn Feast, and bids them explain that she salutes the giants by them; for she knows that "man-pies" are a traditional dish for this feast and that this is an easy way to get rid of her adversaries.

When the three unexpectedly turn up instead in her own domain, she attempts to lull their senses and critical thinking through hypnotic magic. She very nearly convinces them that neither Narnia nor the Earth truly exist, but Puddleglum successfully avoids the illusion.

She finally uses her shapeshifting skill to transform into a gigantic green serpent. But the Prince recognizes her serpent form as the same one that killed his mother ten years earlier, and after a brief struggle, he strikes off her head.

The Green Lady and the White Witch

The Lady of the Green Kirtle, as portrayed by Barbara Kellerman in the 1990 BBC miniseries

The story never makes clear who the Green Lady really is or where she comes from. Some readers believe that the White Witch (Jadis) and the Lady of The Green Kirtle are the same person; Jadis, however, is slain by Aslan several hundred years earlier in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The source of the speculation is probably the set of character sketches included in later editions of the books: the sketch for Jadis describes her as "completely evil, even in The Silver Chair." Since it is the Lady of the Green Kirtle who appears in The Silver Chair, some conclude that this must refer to the Green Lady. The character sketches, however, are recent additions to the books; they were not written by Lewis, and, in this regard, are not supported by Lewis's text.

The BBC cast the same actress for both roles in their TV adaptations. This choice was due at least in part to the limited budget of the TV productions; several other actors were also cast in multiple roles to save money.

The mechanics of how Jadis could return are never made clear, since she is killed at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, her last appearance in the books except for the prequel The Magician's Nephew. In Prince Caspian, Nikabrik and his companions suggest that the White Witch could be resurrected — "who ever heard of a witch that really died?" In Lewis's text this plan is never put to the test, though the Walden Media film adaptation introduces a ritual that begins to pull Jadis back to life before the spell is broken.

References

Narnia portal

• Lewis, C.S. (1953), written at London, The Silver Chair, Geoffrey Bles
• Sammons, Martha (1979), written at Wheaton, Illinois, A Guide Through Narnia, Harold Shaw, ISBN 0-87788-325-4
• Lovell, Steven (2005), "Breaking the Spell of Skepticism: Puddleglum versus the Green Witch", written at Chicago, in Gregory Bassham and Jerry L. Walls, The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview, Open Court, ISBN 0-8126-9588-7