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Alliance: None
Last Visited: 08 Sep 2010
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 449
Location: Michigan (U.S.A.)
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 3:52 am |
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A Narnian Lighthouse
What would a Narnian lighthouse look like? This is kind of a hypothetical topic. I brought this up on the "Into the Wardrobe" forum and thought it would be interesting to talk about it here as well. I don't remember that lighthouses were mentioned in
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
, but it is a book about the sea. I think the reader can assume that they existed in that world as aids to navigation as they do here in our own world. I have a love for these sea beacons. By the way, I also collect the miniatures (mostly the little ones)-- I have 48 of them by now. 
We have over 100 lighthouses in Michigan, the Great Lake state. Some are actual houses with towers, while others are crib lights or simple beacons at the end of piers. The "castle" architecture seems like something that C. S. Lewis would have liked, but the "schoolhouse" design has something magical in it too. I think Old Mackinac Point would resemble the castle at Cair Paravel. These lighthouses look like something enchanted that you might find in Narnia. Here are some photos taken from the web:
White River Light
Eagle Harbor Lighthouse
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse
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ladygreensleeves
At the Bird and the Baby
Alliance: The Written Word
Last Visited: 20 Aug 2010
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 1372
Location: nose in a book!
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:18 pm |
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And once again Ramandu brings beautiful pictures! I like all of those lighthouses--do you have a favorite, Ramandu?
I also confess a fondness for lighthouses--though I live in a place where there are no large bodies of water and thus no lighthouses, I spent a rather large chunk of my childhood reading books like
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
, about the courageous people who lived in lighthouses and saved sailors from certain death. (Yes, I was a fairly melodramatic child. How did you know?)
I think a Narnian lighthouse would be utterly delightful! Who do you think would be most likely to be in charge of such a thing? I suppose humans are most likely, since they seem to do most of the sailing, but I can't help thinking that a Narnian lighthouse keeper would be a bit...out of the ordinary.
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Alliance: None
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Location: Michigan (U.S.A.)
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 2:55 am |
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Of course they aren't my pictures (as I said in my last message), but they came from a website called
Lighthouses of the Great Lakes
. Old Mackinac Point (shown above) is one of my favorites along with a lighthouse that is only a few miles from where I live, Holland Harbor (near Holland, Michigan), which has architecture that is perhaps more Dutch than Narnian:
I love all of Michigan's lighthouses and have many of them in my collection of miniatures, although those are just imperfect models of the real thing.
Who would tend a Narnian lighthouse? Maybe a relative of the those in the
Dawn Treader
crew. Or how about a talking sea bird like an sandpiper or plover? It might seem a little strange to us, but not so much to a Narnian to have a talking animal tend a lighthouse. A Fresnel lens would probably be too modern so maybe Aslan could invent something else (most likely through magic) for the actual light.
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Archenland_Knight
At the Bird and the Baby
Alliance: The Written Word
Last Visited: 04 Sep 2010
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Posts: 2330
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:04 am |
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Quote - Originally posted by Ramandu:
A Fresnel lens would probably be too modern so maybe Aslan could invent something else (most likely through magic) for the actual light.
Actually, lighthouses date back to ancient times. The most famous, of course, was
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
. But there were others.
Most of the surviving ancient lighthouses are Roman in origin, but they existed before roman times. (Click here for Wikki's
History of Lighthouses
. Admittedly, it could use some fleshing out.)
Narnian lighthouses would probably function along similar lines.
Of course, Narnia seems to have had mirrors. And both the Pevensies, being British, and the early Telmarines, being pirates, would have understood the technology behind the reflectors used in lighthouses well enough to have suggested a similar system to be used in their lighthouses.
It's interesting that the Telmarines, who originated as sea-going pirates, in their rejection of Aslan eventually become afraid of the sea. In essence, by rejecting Aslan, they reject the very core of who they are.
I wonder if there's supposed to be a lesson in that.
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Alliance: None
Last Visited: 08 Sep 2010
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 449
Location: Michigan (U.S.A.)
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 4:23 pm |
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Thanks for the links, Archenland Knight. The Alexandria lighthouse was always interesting-- too bad the original never survived that earthquake so long ago. 
Here is some interesting history and other information about the Fresnel lens:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens
Many of the original glass Fresnel lenses have been removed and replaced with plastic mainly because of the threat of vandalism. They end up in protected displays such those as museums. In the White River light (which is shown in the picture above) its Fresnel lens was removed from the lantern room and put on display on the main floor inside the lighthouse. The curator told me that someone shot bullet holes into it when it was in its original location. A sad fate for a beautiful work of art! At least the preservationists were able to save the lens before it was completely destroyed.
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| The time now is Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:05 pm ... All times are GMT - 8 Hours
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