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Stone Table

Stone Table with The Deep Magic law etched onto it.
StoopsklanAdded by Stoopsklan
The Stone Table was a great slab of rock supported on four smaller rock pillars located in the central Narnian mainland. The table was created by Aslan's father at the begining of the world, shortly after Aslan had returned Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer to Earth. Time after time during the Age of Conquest, Aslan would appear at the Stone Table whenever Narnia was threatened by an evil who where not affiliated with Jadis, as Jadis and her army where repelled by the Tree of Protection. The stone structure with numerous symbols and characters carved into it, was used by the White Witch during the Long Winter as an altar on which to sacrifice important victims. She claimed the characters on it described the rules of the Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time.

During the Winter Revolution, Aslan was bound to the Stone Table and executed by the White Witch using her Stone Knife. It seems that she also intended to sacrifice Edmund there.

Susan and Lucy Pevensie spent that night keeping a vigil at the Table over Aslan's body. At dawn when they witnessed Aslan's resurrection, the Table split in two right down the middle. This may have been because the Deep Magic, inscribed in the Stone Table, was reversed by Aslan's sacrifice, according to the rules of The Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time.

In later centuries, the remains of the cracked Stone Table were protected by a mound of earth with tunnels in it, known as Aslan's How.

Symbolic meaningEdit

In viewing the story as a Christian allegory, the Stone Table can be regarded as symbolizing the Mosaic law of the Old Testament. Just as Mosaic law, written on stone tablets, promised inflexible punishment for sin; so The Deep Magic written on the Stone Table said that for every treachery the Witch had the right to a kill. Just as in Christian theology Jesus transcended the rule of Mosaic law by dying on the Cross, allowing forgiveness of sins; so Aslan transcended the rule of the Deep Magic by dying on the Stone Table, allowing the forgiveness of Edmund's treachery. This is symbolized by the stone table cracking.

The cracking of the Stone Table into two pieces also is symbolic of tearing of the Veil of the Temple of Jerusalem. According to the Bible, shortly after the death of Jesus, an earthquake occured. The Temple's Veil, which itself symbolized the separation of God and humans, was torn in two. The Veil would have been around 60 feet tall and 4 inches thick. This symbolized that Jesus successfully atoned for the sins of Mankind and that God and Man would no longer be separate, in the same way that Edmund Pevensie no longer was separated from Aslan, His friendship, and those in communion with Aslan.

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