Jadis is the main antagonist of The Magician's Nephew and of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in C.S. Lewis's series, The Chronicles of Narnia. She is commonly referred to as the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in the series, as she is the Witch who froze Narnia in the Hundred Years Winter.
Some recent editions of the books include brief notes, added by later editors, that describe the cast of characters. As Lewis scholar Peter Schakel points out, the description there of Jadis and the Queen of Underland (the main antagonist of The Silver Chair) "states incorrectly that the Queen of Underland is an embodiment of Jadis". Beyond characterising the two as "Northern Witches", Lewis's text does not connect them.
In her own dominion, Charn, Jadis is formidable; but she finds her magic largely useless in other worlds. She eventually strengthens her powers and usurps the throne of Narnia, using her magic to cast the land into perpetual winter. Her most feared weapon is her wand, whose magic is capable of turning people into stone. The petrified remains of her enemies decorate the halls of her castle.
An extraordinarily beautiful, tall and imposing woman, Jadis enchants Digory Kirke, Andrew Ketterley and Edmund Pevensie on first encounters. She is also physically powerful and amazonian, capable of breaking iron with her bare hands and lifting human beings off their feet. She retains her superhuman strength in other worlds (except in the Wood between the Worlds). She is seven feet tall, as were all members of the Royal Family of Charn, and once she has eaten the Fruit of Everlasting Life, her skin becomes as white as paper. A natural-born sorceress and a cunning strategist, Jadis is arrogant and cruel, considering herself above all rules and viewing others as tools to be used or obstacles to be demolished. Her callousness is most clearly demonstrated when she uses the Deplorable Word in Charn to vanquish her sister, even though the Word would eradicate all life in that world but her own. She prefers to destroy that entire world than submit to her sister's authority, and shows afterward a remorseless pride in her actions. However, Jadis has shown loyalty (perhaps even love), when she states that she offered to spare her sister's life if she would end the war between them and yield Jadis the throne. Yet this may have been a simple ruse, given the ease Jadis felt when it came to eradicating all life in her world. Though her magic disappears when she leaves Charn, she manages to build it up again in Narnia's world, to become again a sorceress of formidable power.
Lewis almost certainly based Jadis on H. Rider Haggard's She: in a review of that novel Lewis simultaneously expresses his fascination with the story and his dislike of the character.[3] Like Jadis, "She" is compellingly beautiful, is initiated in occult knowledge, seeks immortal life through unlawful means and claims absolute superiority to the demands of morality. Haggard's later book She and Allan sometimes calls her "the white witch"[citation needed].
Another possible source is "The Snow Queen", the malignant ruler of the frozen north in the fairy tale of Hans Christian Andersen. The corruption of Edmund can be a parallel to Kay's perversion in that same tale. The first apparition of the two characters in which they seduce both the boys have a striking resemblance, both of them were traveling in a sledge in the snow and using fur coats[citation needed].
For the name Jadis, Lewis may have taken the French word jadis (pronounced [ʒaˈdis]), which means "of old" or "once upon a time" — a customary opening in French fairy tales. The word would have been familiar to him, occurring in the title of Francois Villon's best known work "Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis" - Lewis wrote a spoof of this poem entitled "Ballade of Dead Gentlemen".
It has also been suggested that the source may have been the Turkish word cadı [dʒaˈdɯ][dubious – discuss] which means "witch". (Compare also Persian جادو jâdu 'witchcraft', جادوگر jâdugar 'witch'.) Though not closely resembling "Jadis" in pronunciation, this word might be another of Lewis's Turkish imports, like aslan (lion) and tash (stone).
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