How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Page)
Quote #1
"But about a month after the Queen's death, some said they could see a change in [Rilian]. There was a look in his eyes as of a man who has seen visions, and though he would be out all day, his horse did not bear signs of hard riding." (4.58)
Rilian is already having encounters with the Lady of the Green Kirtle and his mind is being overtaken—but no one understands until it's too late. Lewis makes it clear that a person's state of mind can affect his actual physical appearance.
Quote #2
Drinian thought it strange that the Prince should choose that place of all places, to linger in. And there they rested till it came to high noon; and at noon Drinian looked up and saw the most beautiful lady he had ever seen; and she stood at the north side of the fountain and said no word but beckoned to the Prince with her hand as she bade him come to her. And she was tall and great, shining, and wrapped in a thin garment as green as poison. (4.50)
Right now, the alarm bells should be ringing in everyone's head at this description. Lewis is doing his best to give the hint that the Lady in Green is very closely related to the green serpent that killed Rilian's mother—like really closely related. Are you seeing it?
Quote #3
"If you were coming along here when it was half dark, you could easily think those piles of rock were giants. Look at that one, now! You could almost imagine that the lump on top was a head […] And the things sticking out on each side are quite like ears. They'd be horribly big, but then I daresay giants would have big ears, like elephants. And—o-o-o-h!" (6.79)
As far as transformations go, this one is pretty dramatic. That exclamation at the end of the passage is Jill's horror and surprise when the rocks begin to morph into the very kind of giants she was just describing. If only Jill had trusted her first observations…
Quote #4
Down below them, spread out like a map, lay the flat hill-top which they had struggled over yesterday afternoon; seen from the castle, it could not be mistaken for anything but the ruins of a gigantic city. (8.118)
The children and Puddleglum don't recognize the forest for the trees, so to speak, when they are struggling over the ruins of the giant's city through the storm on the previous day. The bigger problem here is that they've botched yet another of Aslan's signs and will have an even harder time completing their mission.
Quote #5
"Narnia? What land is that? I have never heard the name. It must be a thousand leagues from those parts of the Overworld that I know. But it was a strange fantasy that brought you seeking this—how do you call him?—Billian? Trillian? in my Lady's realm." (10.153)
This is a double transformation: Rilian has been enchanted and believes that he is the Black Knight (and that the Lady is a good Queen), and he is twisting the idea of Narnia and the lost prince to fit into his understanding of the situation. The Queen of Underland will take this re-shaping of the universe to a whole new level when she arrives on the scene.
Quote #6
"Every night there comes an hour when my mind is most horribly changed, and, after my mind, my body. For first I become furious and wild and would rush upon my dearest friends to kill them, if I were not bound. And soon after that, I turn into the likeness of a great serpent, hungry, fierce, and deadly." (11.156)
Rilian explains the need for the silver chair to the children and Puddleglum, but we're about to see that his understanding of the situation has been highly manipulated by the wicked queen. The transformation into a snake, of course, is reserved for the queen, but there is a change of mind during Rilian's fits: He actually becomes dis-enchanted and knows himself properly.
Quote #7
Jill couldn't remember the names of the things in our world. And this time it didn't come into her head that she was being enchanted, for now the magic was in its full strength; and of course, the more enchanted you get, the more you feel that you are not enchanted at all. (12.175)
The queen offers a special display of magic to her guests (using that term loosely) by throwing a befuddling green powder onto the hearth-fire. The transformation of mind is so complete that the crew can't think its way out of a box. Puddleglum is ultimately the only one who can resist enough to take action.
Quote #8
Her arms appeared to be fastened to her sides. Her legs were intertwined with each other, and her feet had disappeared. The long green train of her skirt thickened and grew solid, and seemed to be all one piece with the writhing green pillar of her interlocked legs. (12.182)
The Queen of Underland shows her true colors—and scales. The big reveal of her other state makes the pieces fall in place and assures Rilian that he's facing the killer of his royal mother.
Quote #9
"When our swords hacked off the Witch's head, that stroke ended all her magic works, and now the Deep Lands are falling to pieces. We are looking at the end of the Underworld." (13.190)
Lewis cleverly links the Queen's body and existence to the shape and health of the Underworld. We also learn that the sunless city has been transformed by the witch from its natural state, and the Earthmen have been victims of the same kind of mind control as Rilian. Ugh.
Quote #10
"Look friends," he said, holding out the shield toward them. "An hour ago it was black and without device; and now, this." The shield had turned bright as silver, and on it, redder than blood or cherries, was the figure of the Lion. (13.191)
Finally, a positive change in Underland. The emblazoning of the plain, black shield with the device of the Lion means that the crew has done well, and is on its way to the successful conclusion of their mission. Yay.
Quote #11
At the same moment the doleful music stopped. And the dead King began to be changed. His white beard turned to gray, and from gray to yellow, and got shorter and vanished altogether; and his sunken cheeks grew round and fresh, and the wrinkles were smoothed, and his eyes opened, and his eyes and lips both laughed, and suddenly he leaped up and stood before them—a very young man, or a boy. (16.238)
It's one thing to turn a lovely young woman into a snake and quite another to raise up a dead king into a young boy. Lewis is very interested in helping us think about spirituality and continual life—and Caspian and Aslan definitely have some explaining to do about this final transformation.