C.S. Lewis Publishes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Launching Narnia

On October 16, 1950, British publisher Geoffrey Bles released The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written by Oxford scholar, literary critic, and Christian theologian C.S. Lewis. The story follows four evacuee siblings—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—who are sent to an English country house during World War II to escape the London Blitz. Inside a magical wardrobe in an unused room, Lucy discovers a portal leading to Narnia, a magical secondary world trapped in perpetual winter by the tyrannical White Witch and awaiting deliverance by the noble lion Aslan.

Lewis drew upon a broad spectrum of literary and mythic influences, including Norse mythology, classical Roman fables, medieval astrology, and Christian theology. The narrative was partly inspired by real-life child evacuees whom Lewis hosted at his Oxford residence, The Kilns, in 1939. Encouraged by his close friend and fellow Oxford academic J.R.R. Tolkien—despite Tolkien's personal reservations regarding Lewis's eclectic blending of disparate mythic elements—Lewis crafted a high-fantasy secondary world accessible to readers of all ages.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe became an immediate literary milestone, spawning six sequels that together formed The Chronicles of Narnia. The book established enduring tropes of portal fantasy, demonstrating that children's literature could tackle serious philosophical themes of sacrifice, betrayal, temptation, and moral redemption. Lewis's masterpiece bridges sacred allegory and imaginative adventure, solidifying Narnia as an indelible cornerstone of modern fantasy literature.