The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)

C. S. Lewis

Fur-lined, faintly wintry, and glowing very slightly at the edges.

Catch rate: 64 / 255
Base research: 246
Stat total: 352

Base stats

Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.

Stamina88

Contend84

Defend80

Popularity100

Total352

Why these numbers

The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.

Stamina 88

STAMINA — Moderate. It is a children’s book, and it holds up better than most books for grown-ups.

Contend 84

CONTEND — Moderate. It never argues, and it lands anyway.

Defend 80

DEFEND — Moderate. It is a story, and stories do not have arguments to break.

Popularity 100

POPULARITY — Maximum. Nothing else in the game has been read to so many children.

Cited for this book

C. S. Lewis wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1950. A lion named Aslan gives himself up for a traitor, is killed by the Witch, and rises. Lewis said it was not an allegory but a supposal: what would Christ have done if there were a Narnia? Mr. Beaver’s line about him, not safe but good, has been quoted in a hundred sermons.

Moves learned

By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.

Lv	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr	Acc	PP
1	Random Verse	Bible	Argument	10	100%	30
1	Not Safe, But Good	Christology	Argument	92	100%	10
30	Chapter…	Bible	Scripture	—	—	12
48	Affirm	—	Status	—	—	1

The quotes behind its moves

How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.

Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king I tell you.”
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), as quoted by The Gospel Coalition, “Fearful Might, Majestic Love” (2017). Short excerpt from an in-copyright work, used under fair use.in copyright · fair use

Not Safe, But Good

ChristologyArgument · power 92 · 100% accurate

In the gameLucy asks the Beavers whether Aslan is safe. Mr. Beaver is surprised she asks. Of course he is not safe. But he is good, and he is the king. A whole way of thinking about God, said by a beaver in a sentence.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.