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Chapter Text

I wish I could see Aslan crown the Pevensies on that day,
Could watch the Ring destroyed and Middle-earth battle in the fray,

Could see Halt's rangers shoot, or with Eärendil sail the seas,
Or read the Scriptures and, in reading, live their histories.

Amid the world's destruction watch and cheer Avengers on,
Amid her English life with Elinor Dashwood get along.

I'd with Odysseus sail, in France would watch Sir Percy's back,
With Hector Horse-tamer mourn ruin of Troy and city's sack. 

I'd Fabius Maximus join in plotting Roman victory, 
With Armstrong walk the moon, move West with Ingalls family, 

See arrow split by Robin, Ivanhoe's great trial fight,
With Peter Parker crawl the walls of New York City's night.

Sir Percivale I’d join to fight temptation’s thoughts impure,
With Luke I’d blast the Death Star and resist the Dark Side’s lure,

Be one who learns at Euclid’s feet or Hogwarts School attends,
In Houston solve the problems that Apollo Thirteen sends.

On Captain Sully’s plane the icy Hudson I’d survive,
I’d watch Valjean’s redemption as he leaves Javert alive,

Fight Nazis with Von Trapps, Rick Blaine, or Indiana Jones,
I’d spell “Anne” with an “e;” I’d recognize the marlin’s bones.

I'd hear great Chiron's wisdom and to Finrod's measure it,
I'd face the Alamo's fall, investigate with Wimsey's wit.

With Aravis I’d flee, help Reynie Muldoon problem-solve,
Praise Obi-Wan’s Soresu as he fights with calm resolve.

For Balder’s death I’d weep, with Spartans hold Thermopylae,
Mulan I’d help disguise to fight and save her family.

I’d Alfred’s Saxons join to drive the Northmen from the land;
On Gotham City’s peak with Batman sentinel I’d stand. 

At Roonwit's side I'd kneel, with Lewis and Clark explore the West,
With Colonel Joshua Chamberlain fight yet mourn the day's unrest.

St. George see kill his dragon, Perseus commence his fights,
I'd cheer the strength and justice of King Arthur and his knights.

But though I cannot live within these stories that I know,
I'll love them for their goodness, beauty, and the truth they show.

Chapter Text

Aslan crowning the Pevensies: C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; after the defeat of the Witch and the end of the Winter, Aslan, the Great Lion, crowns Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie as Kings and Queens under Him in Narnia.

Middle-earth’s battle and the Ring’s destruction: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings; the One Ring is destroyed, the Dark Lord thrown down, and the Free Peoples of Middle-earth hold the field.

Halt’s rangers: John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series (technically it should be “Crowley’s rangers” or even “Duncan’s rangers,” but I thought Halt was more recognizable and distinctive). They protect and serve the kingdom.

Eärendil: Tolkien’s Silmarillion; Eärendil saves Middle-earth by sailing to the Blessed Realm to beg the Powers to lift their doom and help the Elves and Men against the Dark Lord; now he sails the sky as the Evening Star.

Scriptures: All of them. Except perhaps Judah and Tamar. And Lot and his daughters. And Jehu (right, Miss Natasha Rostova?).

Avengers saving the world: Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, specifically, since I haven’t read the comics. (Side note: how many times now has the world almost been destroyed? I’ve lost count…)

Elinor Dashwood’s English life: Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility; Elinor vies with Anne Elliot of Persuasion as the Austen Novel Heroine to whom I can most relate.

Odysseus: Homer’s Odyssey. The poor guy just couldn’t get home.

Sir Percy in France: Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel, or even more so the 1982 Anthony Andrews movie. He rescues French aristocrats from the guillotine during the Reign of Terror.

Hector and the ruin of Troy: Homer’s Iliad, etc. Technically he was dead before the city fell, but he would’ve mourned it, at any rate. And I’m pretty sure he knew it was doomed from the start.

Fabius Maximus plotting Roman victory: Recorded in Livy, Quintus Fabius Maximus was a Roman general during the Second Punic War fighting against Hannibal. His defensive maneuvers and tactical retreats were brilliant but underappreciated in his own time.

Armstrong walking the moon: Neil Armstrong was the first man to step onto the moon on July 20, 1969.

Ingalls family: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series. They move west.

Robin splitting an arrow: Robin Hood legends, and the 1938 Errol Flynn movie.

Ivanhoe’s fight: Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, and the 1982 Anthony Andrews movie. Calling the fight “great” might be laughable, since Ivanhoe was barely recovered from a wound to even participate, but he saved Rebecca’s life despite that.

Peter Parker: aka Spider Man, specifically in the Tobey Maguire movies, or, more recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Sir Percivale fighting temptation: King Arthur legends, specifically from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Artur. He has to resist the advances of a sorceress while on the Quest of the Holy Grail.

Luke’s death-star-blasting and dark-side-resisting: Luke Skywalker, Star Wars the Original Trilogy.

Euclid: Ancient Greek mathematician and the Father of Geometry.

Hogwarts School: of Witchcraft and Wizardry, from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, as I expect you already knew.

Houston and Apollo 13: Often referred to as NASA’s “successful failure,” the mission was unable to land on the moon but the combined skills of the astronauts themselves and the engineers back at Mission Control in Houston brought them home safely. I’m especially thinking of the 1995 Tom Hanks movie. (Origin of the phrase “Houston, we have a problem.”)

Captain Sully and the Hudson: On January 15, 2009 Captain Chesley Sullenberger successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after a double-engine loss due to bird strike. The story was most recently brought to my attention by the 2016 Clint Eastwood-directed Tom Hanks film Sully.

Valjean and Javert: From Les Miserables, particularly the Broadway musical or 2012 musical drama film. (I haven’t read Hugo’s original novel, but my sister Miss Natasha did and assured me that everything in the movie happened in the book—there’s just more in the book.) In any case, Valjean is redeemed through mercy, and, in the spirit of this mercy, spares the life of Javert, his pursuer.

Von Trapps: Family from the Sound of Music that flees Austria rather than submit to Nazi rule.

Rick Blaine: Protagonist from 1942 film Casablanca who at first seems a cold-hearted capitalist but actually smuggles people away from the Nazis.

Indiana Jones: Titular character of four movies starring Harrison Ford who hunts down artifacts from all over the world and usually ends up fighting oppression and Nazis, while he’s at it.

Chiron: He was a (the only…) good Centaur of Greek mythology. Known for his wisdom, he taught such illustrious figures as Achilles, Theseus, and Perseus.

Finrod: Tolkien’s Silmarillion; King Finrod Felagund of Nargothrond was the wisest, fairest, and most beloved of the High Elves in Middle-earth (incidentally, also Galadriel’s brother).

The Alamo’s fall: It fell in 1836, defended by James Bowie and Davy Crockett fighting for Texas independence.

Wimsey’s wit: Lord Peter Wimsey of Dorothy Sayers’s detective novels.

Aravis fleeing: Lewis’s The Horse and His Boy; she flees wicked Calormen, comes to Narnia, and learns of Aslan.

Reynie Muldoon’s problem-solving: Trenton Lee Stewart’s The Mysterious Benedict Society; Reynie is the unofficial leader of the society and very good at solving riddles and coming up with plans.

Obi-Wan’s Soresu: Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy; according to Extraneous Material That I Have Not Read And Thus Only Know Second-Hand, Soresu is the all-defensive form of lightsaber combat that Obi-Wan takes up (and becomes the master of) after his master Qui-Gon Jinn’s death.

Balder’s death: In Norse mythology Balder, the god of forgiveness, light, and justice, is killed by Loki’s treachery. Hel, the goddess of death, agrees to return him to life only if everything in all the realms weeps for his death. Loki doesn’t and so denies Balder his resurrection.

Spartans at Thermopylae: The Spartans (and some oft-forgotten Thespians and Thebans) held off the Persian forces long enough for the rest of Greece to organize its defense.

Mulan saving her family: Any of the legends, or the Disney movie. She goes to war so her elderly father won’t die on the battlefields.

Alfred’s Saxons and the Northmen: Alfred the Great was the king of Wessex in the 800s who defended what would later become England from the invading Norse Vikings. I first fell in love with his story in G. A. Henty’s The Dragon and the Raven.

Batman as Gotham City’s sentinel: Comic book figure of legend, Bruce Wayne as Gotham City’s protector and Dark Knight from either the comics themselves, various cartoon interpretations, or Christopher Nolan’s great live-action film trilogy.

Roonwit: Lewis’s The Last Battle; Roonwit is a centaur who dies for king and country. (Final quote: “All worlds draw to an end, and a noble death is a treasure that no one is too poor to buy.”)

Lewis and Clark: The great expedition through the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean. I came to appreciate it fully through Steven Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage.

Colonel Joshua Chamberlain: Held the far left of the Union line in the Battle of Gettysburg and secured that victory. He always led from the front and was several times wounded, was Grant’s first ever field promotion (to General) and saluted the defeated Confederate forces when he received their arms and colors after the surrender.

St. George’s dragon: He killed it, freed the city, and rescued the princess.

Perseus’ fights: He had a lot of them, including killing Medusa and rescuing Andromeda.

King Arthur and his knights: Specifically as described in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King.

Truth, goodness, and beauty: The three “absolutes” in the world, and gifts of God.