Wow, I never thought about this side of the story before... it really is chilling

Interesting story about Archenland, something I don't read about often. I really liked the back story on how Archenland found out about Jadis and what help King Van tried to provide to Narnia.

This was very well-written and you kept me going even though I was fidgeting from an uncomfortable position. :-) I've always wondered how Archenland dealt with Jadis' reign and this was a great example of how that might have gone down. Excellent work.
Ariel_of_Narnia

Wow! What a gripping, gruelling wintry saga! The grim, hard struggle to stand against overwhelming forces. Great reading, songsmith, and more needed!

Wow, that was brilliant. I often forget that Archenland probably suffered with Narnia during the great winter...

*HannaH*

I've never seen a good story about the fall of Narnia, so I really appreciate this.

Gorgeous! A fantastic account of just one of the missing pieces of the story of the Long Winter! I truly enjoyed your vision of Archenland, and my heart broke for poor King Van and the rest of his noble royal family. I liked how you gave us a glimpse into what was happening in Narnia – a firsthand account of the end of the royal line and Jadis’s final snatch at power – but then you left a certain amount of mystery that enabled the reader to understand the King’s frustration and sadness and not really knowing what was going on in the neighboring land of his friends and allies. The addition of the King’s brother Vanin as something of a freedom fighter was a nice touch as well, and your handling of the poor King’s emotional turmoil throughout was wonderfully done.

Beautiful, very beautiful. So rich, and so sad. I've often wondered what went through the minds of the kings of Archenland during the Winter, especially the on who saw it happen. And this just...was much more than I could have imagined. I loved the details. A king bond to the land, Van getting bonded to Narnia by desperation, and then having it fall away as Narnia falls. And poor King Riel, he's only there for a second, yet I totally love him and mourn for him. I loved it, lots.

What to say that hasn't already been said...? I love the character of Van, how he really is a king. And the 'introduction' of Jadis is marvelous.

This is very, very good. Very well written, in a less personal way, more of an analysis of the effects of the Long Winter on Archenland's history. The details, as other reviewers have said, are very well done: Father Christmas, the rumors of Jadis's wand, the final conclusion that Frank's line is dead and Narnia will have to find salvation elsewhere.

I like the idea of Narnia choosing the leader (the little snippet about Narnia sometimes choosing a younger sibling over an older one in the line of succession) and the blood connection between the King and the land (very good way of referencing ancient and medieval beliefs). I also like Archenland's efforts to help as many Narnians as possible while, at the same time, being pragmatic and putting Archenland first. This whole story was well written, thought out, and well done.

I was going to start this with "lovely," but somehow that word doesn't quite fit this tale. It is beautiful, yes, and haunting and tragic and hopeful ... but "lovely" is just too light a word for it.

You give such reality and such a personal touch to these happenings, those tragic years at the beginning, when the witch first took over. I especially like the Archenlandish POV, which allows a bit of distance and perspective, yet still has such close ties to Narnia. And of course Narnia would try to bind herself to a king of her own blood, however diluted, over Jadis - for all her ties, having been there at its creation and having eaten an apple of the same tree as their own Tree of Protection (which you also tied in nicely).

Your prose sings through this - a haunting, rippling melody both sorrowful and hopeful at once. Beautiful, indeed!

This was so completely and utterly brilliant; it's going straight into my offline fanfiction vault.

Where to begin?

1. the attention to the details of canon. Van and Vanin, king and prince, from "HAHB"; the ties between Narnian and Archenlander royalty; Jadis and the Deep Magic; Father Christmas; the hints of Jadis' connection to Narnia, as in "MN"; the Dancing Lawn; Van's noticing the lack of Talking Animals activity; Telmar.

2. the spirit of canon. I LOVED Riel and Van and Vanin, and their dedication to freedom and to each other and to Narnia and to Archenland and, of course, to Aslan. And in particular, I loved how you captured Van's attitude: it's not cheery and happy-slappy. Van won't stop sacrificing of himself for the sake of his family and of his country and of Narnia, even though it wears him down and he can't know when it will get better.

3. How you filled in details. It had always puzzled me why Archenland was never affected by the winter, and you cover that brilliantly. (I hate to say this, but I am wondering if Lewis had even dreamt up Archenland when he first wrote "LWW", since I don't remember it being mentioned until "PC".) I loved how you made "White Witch" the popular term for Jadis - the idea of a commonly used term achieving official status through Archenland's court records.

Tragically beautiful. Thank you for the wonderful read.

This. This. THIS is why I continue to mine the poor trashed Narnia archive. So that I can find the gems.

This has to be one of the best-written Narnia fics I've read. And I've read...most stories on the K to T archive, minus the ones that haven't been updated since before February 2010 and some Suspian.

Bookverse, how I love thee. Legitimate original characters, how I love thee. Non-romance, how I love thee. Respect for Lewis' Narnia, how I love thee.

And stories that could be book canon, how I LOVE thee.

Faved. And community-ed. *bip*

This is simply lovely. Very interesting, and well written.

Fascinating! I like that this story is told from an Archenlander's point of view about how Jadis descends onto Narnia to begin her long rule. Van is an interesting character; for some reason, he seems more real to me than Lune does. I also like how Narnia claims him when her kings and queens are no more - he's a brave man to even step foot into Narnia just to complete the ritual. Too bad there will be many years before the Winter is broken and he will not see how things end.