DVD Review: The Narnia Code

In April 2009, the BBC broadcast a documentary, The Narnia Code based on Michael Ward's book Planet Narnia and his theory that C.S. Lewis hid a "code" within his The Chronicles of Narnia series. The documentary is now available on DVD.

Michael Ward is an ordained minister and long-time scholar of Lewis' works. While studying at The University of Oxford in the late 1990's, he lived at The Kilns, Lewis's long-time home.

The documentary contains a superb reenactment of Lewis' early life, explaining his upbringing, his interests, and the road that led Lewis to his Christian beliefs.

The Narnia Code then delves into Ward's theory that the seven books of The Chronicles of Narnia correspond to each of the seven planets in the medieval cosmos and how Ward came to this revelation.

Ward's theory is primarily based on two known facts: Lewis was a scholar of medieval cosmology, and he wrote a long poem entitled "The Planets" that distinctly examined each of the seven planets of the medieval cosmos.

Reading "The Planets", Ward connected Lewis' planetary imagery to the imagery embedded in each of the Chronicles of Narnia books. According to medieval cosmology, the moon, the sun, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury were the then-known heavenly bodies. Ward linked the sun and dragon imagery of Voyage of the Dawn Treader with the sun. He saw the Roman god of war, Mars, reflected in the imagery of Prince Caspian. The Boy and the Silver Chair related to the silver of the moon, according to Ward. Jupiter is represented in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as Jupiter is the "King, the best planet," as Ward tells it in the documentary.

Although no opposing views are relayed in the documentary and significant support for Ward's views from other Narnia/Lewis scholars is provided, not everyone agrees with Ward's theory.

I watched the documentary with my daughter, Esther. She studied at Oxford this past summer. In the course of her Oxford Fantasist class, Dr. Michael Ward was one of the guest speakers. He lectured on the theories presented in Planet Narnia and in The Narnia Code.

In The Narnia Code, Ward explains that he watches students' jaws drop as he reveals his theory. Esther's class did engage in a lively discussion on the pros and cons of Ward's thesis. However, even after hearing Ward present his arguments in person, the students in Esther's class were not unanimously convinced that he was correct. Many hung to the notion that the Christian allegory of The Chronicles of Narnia was too strong to be relegated to a secondary standing.

In The Narnia Code, Ward suggests Psalm 19 as additional support for why Lewis would hide a secret code to the planets in with his obvious Christian allegory:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge."

Whether you agree or disagree with Ward's findings as presented in The Narnia Code and Planet Narnia, one thing is certain.

C.S. Lewis held a strong conviction that everything, including the cosmos, was the creation of God Almighty. As a result, Lewis would have believed that the heavens, as well as those things created on earth, would provide evidence of His existence.