Is This the Most Important Narnian Tree?
Door Jam: Feb. 16, 2025
The Door Jam is a place to squeeze in articles about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, their work, and adaptations of their fantasy worlds. Unless otherwise stated, I’m not endorsing (or criticizing) any of these but merely sharing them with you.
Iconic trees fill the pages of The Magician’s Nephew. It looks like Greta Gerwig found one for the screen adaptation.
According to The Bucks Herald, a local newspaper in Buckinghamshire, the Narnia production team bought and removed this “distinctive dead maple tree that stood at Startop Farm.”
In describing The Magician’s Nephew story and the tree’s role, The Bucks Herald’s Kate Andrew writes:
Known locally for its twisted, lightning-scarred silhouette, the tree was carefully dismantled by contractors, with some branches cut and numbered so it could be reconstructed exactly on set. …
The Wood Between the Worlds is one of the most atmospheric settings in the entire series: still, eerie and full of trees that seem half‑asleep. It’s easy to see why the production team were drawn to Josie’s maple. Its dramatic, sculptural form would sit perfectly in a magical forest or a desolate, otherworldly landscape.
Josie [Kempster, owner of the farm] says the tree will star as one of two apple trees in the wood, appearing as the one on the left on the screen. She adds: “The tree has been here forever; it just died and continued to stand there. It was spotted by a member of the production team at our steam rally in June.”
The tree was dismantled and placed on a flatbed truck by Greens Team Ltd. According to Narnia Web, that company has been linked to The Magician’s Nephew and specializes in plant-based set dressings for film and TV productions.
On their Instagram account, Greens Team Ltd recently posted a video showing how they turn the branches of dead trees into realistic-looking “live” trees, according to Narnia Web.
Given what we know about the novel and what The Bucks Herald reported, there are four likely options for the tree:
A tree in The Wood Between the Worlds
The silver apple tree in the Garden of Youth in the Western Wild
The Tree of Protection planted in Narnia
The apple tree planted by Digory in our world that is eventually downed by a storm and becomes the wardrobe
Of course, the tree could also be something else entirely: a tree behind Digory and Polly’s row house, another tree in London, a dead and mangled tree in Charn, another tree in the Garden of Youth, or another tree in Narnia.
Sources:
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