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- "But that's crazy. No one has ever taken that castle."
"There's always a first time." - ―Caspian and Peter [src]
The Battle of Miraz's Castle, or the Telmarine Castle Night Raid, was a surprise attack of the Old Narnians on the Telmarine-Narnian royal castle, during the Narnian Revolution.
Because the main Telmarine army was preparing for war on Aslan's How, and not guarding their castle, High King Peter decided to attack it. Although Caspian X was against it at first, claiming that no one had ever taken the castle before, he was eventually pressured into agreeing.
Weapon Raid[]
The attack was strategically preceded by a raid against the main Telmarine force, led by Reepicheep the mouse, in order to attain sufficient weaponry for the preparation of the oncoming war.
During the night, Reepicheep and his mice stole weapons from four wagons in a Telmarine camp, near to where the bridge across the Fords of Beruna was being built. The Centaur Glenstorm and the Minotaurs seemed to have taken part in the raid as well, as when the Pevensies first met Caspian and the Old Narnians, they were seen carrying several weapons on their backs.
Miraz and Glozelle finding Caspian's message.
Apparently, when the mice stole the weapons, they also left a taunting message from Caspian X, carved onto one of the wagons, stating: -
"You were right to fear the woods - X".
Later on, when Miraz confronted Glozelle about the raid, Glozelle originally said he had lost no men in the raid and that they never saw them.
However, Miraz then struck him across the face, asking him yet again how many had died in the "bloody Narnian attack", of which he had been "a fortunate survivor". He then handed Glozelle his sword, asking him again how many men he had lost, and then indicated three of Glozelle's soldiers who were behind him at the time. Glozelle seemed to take the hint and lied, saying that three had died in the attack.
After Miraz left, those three men behind Glozelle were then presumably slain by him, most likely as a ruse to say that they had been killed by the Narnians.
The Battle[]
A Gryphon carries Edmund to the castle.
The raid on the castle occurred before dawn, with a Gryphon lowering Edmund onto one of the castles' towers, exchanging him for an unsuspecting Telmarine tower-guard, who was dispatched silently. Then, using his electric torch from Earth, Edmund signaled to Susan, Peter and Prince Caspian that it was clear for them to be flown in.
The three of them landed on the Telmarine castle wall, and slew the guards on watch before they could raise the alarm.
Reepicheep and his mice break into the castle.
While this was going on, Asterius was almost caught by a guard, but Nikabrik snuck up behind the guard and knocked him out.
Meanwhile, Reepicheep and two of his mice had sneaked into the castle, just outside the gate, by climbing in through the drains. They easily passed through the gates due to their small size, and then climbed up the chains and ropes of the drawbridge into the gatehouse. Once they sneaked in, they came upon a lone cat that was sleeping, and, with a look of mischief, Reepicheep had his mice bide and gag it. When the guard on duty returned to the gatehouse, and found the cat, Reepicheep revealed himself and dispatched him.
With the help of Trumpkin, they also killed the few other Telmarine guards, and secured the gatehouse so that they could lower the drawbridge for the Narnian raiders.
At about this time, Caspian learned that his tutor, Professor Cornelius, had been imprisoned in the dungeon, and promptly left to rescue him, leaving Susan and Peter to find Miraz. Upon finding him, Caspian was told the truth about his father's death (that his father had been murdered by Miraz).
In an outburst of anger, Caspian diverged from the original plan, ran to his uncle's bedroom to confront him, and attempted to force him to confess to the murder of Caspian IX. He found Miraz and his wife, Prunaprismia, asleep in bed, and threatingly put the blade of his sword at his uncle's throat, awakening the two.
While Miraz distracted Caspian with scornful talk, Prunaprismia drew a crossbow from behind the bed's headboard, aiming it at Caspian. Peter and Susan then abruptly burst into the room, creating a deadly standoff. Caspian makes Miraz admit that he murdered his father, a fact that he had lied to his wife about.
After some more heated discussion, Miraz guilt tripped Prunaprismia into shooting Caspian, by stating that if Caspian killed him, their child would be fatherless like Caspian. The arrow hit Caspian in the arm, and, in the brief confusion, Miraz escaped through a hidden door,
The Narnian troops, led by Glenstorm and Asterius, were waiting outside the castle for Edmund to signal with his flashlight when it was time for them to attack. However, in his boredom, Edmund had been lazily tossing his torch in one hand, and accidentally dropped it over the parapet, where a Telmarine sentry picked it up.
Prunaprismia aims her crossbow at Caspian.
In trying to figure out what the torch was, the sentry accidentally turned it on, consequentially sending confusing signals to the Narnians outside. Since the torch was essential to the assault, Edmund had no choice but to leap down and try to get it back from the guard without awakening the entire castle; However, Miraz had managed to reach the alarm and aroused the castle guard, blowing the Old Narnians' cover.
Peter, Susan and Caspian X were able to escape Miraz's chambers, and started running to the gate, with Peter taking out two Telmarine guards. Edmund meanwhile, fought the guard for his torch, and managed to knock him out with it, but found that in the struggle it had been damaged. It eventually started working again, and he signaled the army waiting outside to start charging toward the castle.
The Narnians charge into battle.
Despite losing the element of surprise, Peter was still intent on carrying out the plan, and proceeded to open the gate, even though Caspian and Susan were both against it.
The Narnians, meanwhile, were close to the castle, and Asterius got ahead and killed one of two Telmarine soldiers guarding the drawbridge, charging into him and knocking him aside with his horns, while Glenstorm took out the second soldier. Luckily, the gate was opened in time, and the Narnians began the fight with the Telmarines, with them initially winning.
Peter and Tyrus, one of the Narnian Satyrs, spotted Miraz, who heard the commotion and looked down on his balcony, and climbed up, while taking down several Telmarine soldiers on the way. In an attempt to kill him, Tyrus jumped onto the balcony and was about to throw his sword at Miraz, only for General Glozelle to shoot him with an arrow. Miraz saw the chance, and pushed the wounded Satyr off the balcony to his death. He then ordered his men to close the castle' gate.
Telmarine Archers take aim at the Narnians.
Meanwhile, the Telmarine archers, armed with their crossbows, assembled quietly on the balconies surrounding the courtyard, to shoot as many Narnians as possible (even though some of the Telmarine soldiers were down there at the time). Edmund (who was watching the battle from above) noticed an archer aiming at Peter, and jumped down to kick the archer off the balcony, killing him.
Unluckily for Edmund, the other archers then saw him, and immediately took aim, and began shooting at him. He managed to escape, but was followed by them. He used his torch to jam a door shut behind him, so the archers would be unable to open it, but his plan was foiled when he noticed that he was standing on top of a high tower, and the only escape was by leaping from it to his death.
As the archers broke down the door, and faced him with drawn rapiers, Edmund dove off the tower in order to avoid capture, but managed to safely land on the back of a Gryphon, and flew away unharmed.
At the same time, some Telmarine soldiers had fought and successfully knocked Trumpkin (who managed to shoot one of them) out of the gatehouse, and then cut one of the chains holding the portcullis. The portcullis started to fall, which would trap the Narnians inside the main courtyard, but Asterius noticed the closing gate and rushed beneath it, and mightily held it up with his great strength.
Narnians retreat.
Peter, after seeing that defeat was imminent, called for his forces to retreat, allowing most Narnians to escape. Glenstorm grabbed Susan, and threw her onto his back, as he raced out of the castle. Caspian emerged from the stables with Cornelius and three horses, one of which Peter mounted, as he continued to sound the retreat.
When Miraz commanded Glozelle to order the archers to shoot, Glozelle objected, stating that his men were still down there. Ignoring him, Miraz grabbed his crossbow, and gave the order by shooting Asterius, while the other archers shot some of the fleeing Narnians, as well as some of the Telmarine soldiers.
Rainstone, Glenstorm's son, sacrifices himself so that the other Narnians may escape.
When Asterius finally succumbed to his injuries and died, the portcullis fell down with a mighty clang trapping half of the Narnian troops in the courtyard, held up a little with Asterius's dead body beneath it just enough for Reepicheep and his mice to get through, while the rest of the trapped Narnians were brutally slaughtered by crossbowmen.
Edmund and his Gryphon fly over the massacre.
Caspian, Peter, Susan, Cornelius and half of the Narnian troops escaped the castle, but the other half were trapped inside the castle courtyard (including Rainstone, one of Glenstorm's three sons). Those trapped in the courtyard encouraged those who had escaped to keep running and save themselves.
Those who remained trapped inside made their last stand until they were slaughtered (or at the very least mortally wounded) by the archers, which Edmund saw as he flew above on a Gryphon over the courtyard, before they went on to Aslan's How.
Known Casualties[]
About half of the Narnian attack force, including:
- Apes
- Baboons
- Boars
- Centaurs
- Cheetahs
- Dogs
- Eagles
- Fauns
- Gorillas
- Gryphons
- Hyenas
- Leopards
- Minotaurs
- Otters
- Panthers
- Rhinos
- Satyrs
- Tigers
- Vultures
- Wolves
Over 200 Telmarines wounded or killed including:
- Fourteen guards
- One archer
- More than a hundred killed soldiers killed
- Several wounded soldiers
Video Game Adaption[]
In the Prince Caspian video game, the Infiltration and Battle of Miraz's Castle was featured as a level. When the battle part begins, Tyrus and Asterius fight the Telmarines until Glenstorm comes to their aide. Asterius ran off to get reinforcements, while Tyrus and Glenstorm continued to fight the Telmarines. Wimbleweather arrived, and was piloted by Tyrus when partnered with Glenstorm. Then Tyrus helps Peter into getting to Miraz, which leads to the cutscene where Tyrus is killed. After the cutscene, where Miraz tells his men to get the gate closed, Caspian and Glenstorm pursue the Telmarines that grabbed Doctor Cornelius and dragged him into the stables. After Glenstorm leaves, following Doctor Cornelius' rescue, Caspian and Doctor Cornelius secure some horses and escape with the fleeing Narnians, as shown in the cutscene.
Trivia[]
- This battle was created alone for the Disney and Walden Media film: Prince Caspian (2008).
- Miraz was officially crowned the Telmarine king following this battle. (In the book, Miraz had already been crowned king and had been ruling for a number of years.)
- In the NDS version of the game, Ironhoof was killed instead of Rainstorm.
- The Raid of Miraz's Castle was based on the first battle of Aslan's How, when Caspian and a small force of dwarfs, centaurs, some fierce Talking Beasts, and the Giant Wimbleweather, attacked Miraz's camp at daybreak.
- It was unknown exactly how many Telmarine soldiers were killed. The number of Telmarine casualties were probably as many as two hundred dead or wounded, but the film does not show how many Telmarine lives were lost in the battle.
- Tyrus' failed attempt to kill Miraz is uncannily similar to Coleman Trebor's attempt to attack Count Dooku in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Both Tyrus and Trebor leap up to a viewing balcony where the leader of the enemy forces is waiting, only to be dispatched by Miraz/Dooku's second-in-command, Glozelle/Jango Fett. In both cases, if they had been successful, it could have changed the course of the movie greatly.