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Susan Pevensie was born 6 May 1928 in London, England to William Pevensie and Grace (Scrubb) Pevensie, the oldest daughter and the second of four children.

Her life was unremarkable until the summer of 1940, when she, her brothers and her sister were evacuated from London to the country to live with Professor Digory Kirke. While there, her sister Lucy (who was then eight) found a portal in a wardrobe that led to the world of Narnia. Shortly thereafter her ten-year-old brother Edmund found the same portal--though he denied having found it. At last, one rainy day when visitors came to Professor Kirke's house, all four children ducked into the wardrobe to avoid them and in doing so, all entered Narnia at the same time.

Once there, the children learned that there had long been a prophecy about two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve coming to rule Narnia and bring the spring, destroying the winter that the evil ruler of Narnia, Jadis, the White Witch. It was further said that when winter ended, so would the Witch's rule...and her life. After many adventures--including meeting the Great Lion, Aslan, Aslan's sacrifice to save Edmund (who had betrayed the others to the Witch) and a battle at the Fords of Beruna--Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were indeed crowned Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel. All of them gained soubriquets over the years--High King Peter the Magnificent, King Edmund the Just, Queen Lucy the Valiant. Susan became known as Queen Susan the Gentle.

The children remained in Narnia for years and years, growing up there. Susan was eventually courted by the Calormene prince, Rabadash. Although he behaved in a courteous manner toward her while he was in Narnia, he behaved very differently when Susan visited the capital of Calormen, Tashbaan, with her brother, Edmund, and Archenland's young Prince Corin. Fearing that Rabadash would keep Susan captive and force her into marriage (or worse), the Narnians employed trickery to sail back home before Rabadash or his father, the Tisroc, knew they were gone.

At last, one day, the children (all adults by now) went out hunting the White Stag, which, if captured, was said to grant wishes. While searching for the Stag, the children found their way back to Lantern Waste--an eternally burning lamp post--which had been the first thing they'd seen in Narnia. Choosing to go on after the Stag, they found themselves, mere minutes later, tumbling out of the wardrobe. No time at all had passed in their world, and they were children once more--in body, if not in mind.

Being flung out of Narnia so abruptly and being forced back into ages that they'd outgrown was difficult for all the children, but it was traumatic for Susan. She didn't understand why it had happened, and could only interpret it as Aslan punishing them for some unknown reason. Although the others adapted, or seemed to adapt, to the mundane world, Susan was plagued by incredibly vivid memories of Narnia that were so clear that the everyday world seemed not only grey and drab by comparison, but slightly unreal. She longed badly to return, and yet she feared to as well--what if it was only a fantasy, but she couldn't tell the difference between Narnia and reality? She was old enough to know the word "delusional." Even worse, what if Narnia was real, and she and her siblings found their way back, only to have to leave it again?

And that was what happened a year later. Fourteen-year-old Peter, thirteen-year-old Susan, eleven-year-old Edmund and nine-year-old Lucy were called back to Narnia by the power of Aslan, through Susan's own hunting horn that had been given to her by Father Christmas. Over a thousand years had passed since their time, and Narnia had changed greatly; the Talking Beasts were in hiding, as were dwarves and other magical creatures, and the land was ruled by Miraz, who was usurping the throne of his young nephew, Caspian, who was by rights Caspian X, King of Narnia.

Susan was less trusting of Aslan on this adventure. When Aslan showed up to guide the children and a dwarf in Caspian's army, only Lucy saw him. Susan, like the others, did not. Though she believed Lucy, she refused to follow in the direction Aslan indicated, and even when it became obvious that they'd have to change direction because they'd gone the wrong way, she was mean and spiteful toward Lucy. She admitted later that she was afraid, and just wanted to get out of the woods they'd been trekking through for so long.

After Miraz died (killed by a treacherous councilor) and Caspian was restored to the throne, Aslan told the children that Peter and Susan could never return to Narnia, as they were growing too old. To Susan, this was the final straw. It was bad enough to lose Narnia and Aslan once, but twice?

Once back on Earth, Susan realised that she simply couldn't bear the memories of Narnia--not if she was to be exiled from it forever. She worked at convincing herself that Narnia didn't exist, that it had never existed. If it was only a dream, then she could manage to live in the everyday world. Because she had always received love and attention for being "the pretty one" both in England and in Narnia, Susan also made beauty and sociability her main goals. Deep down, she felt that if she was pretty, she would be loved by someone, even if it wasn't Aslan.

A year later, Edmund and Lucy went on to have another adventure in Narnia, along with the Pevensies' cousin, Eustace Scrubb. Eustace went on to have an adventure of his own in Narnia a year after that with a friend from school, Jill Pole. And eventually, the Pevensies, Eustace and Jill learned that Professor Kirke and a friend of his named Polly Plummer had seen Narnia created when they were children.

Susan ignored all of this as best she could, loudly proclaiming that Narnia was only a game they had played as children. None of the the others who had been to Narnia understood this; they thought that Susan had forgotten, and that she was being foolish and vain.

Then, in September of 1949, British Railways crashed. Among those killed were Susan's parents, her twenty-two-year-old brother Peter, her nineteen-year-old brother Edmund, her seventeen-year-old sister Lucy, her sixteen-year-old cousin Eustace and his friend Jill Pole, Professor Kirke and Polly Plummer. In one fell swoop, Susan lost everyone she cared about. The only relatives she has left are Uncle Harold and Aunt Alberta, Eustace's parents, and since Uncle Harold has lost a sister and he and his wife have lost a son, the Scrubbs are none too interested in comforting a grief-stricken niece.

Two months passed since the crash. On Guy Fawkes Day, Susan, who was still grieving for her lost family, was in no mood to cope with a holiday that started because one man wanted to kill a great many others in a fiery explosion. She took off for Hampton Court, looking for a place in the maze where she could just sit privately and not have to deal with everyone else's enthusiasm and cheer.

To her surprise, she turned a corner in the maze and found herself walking into the village of Haurvatat.

***

Disclaimer: Susan Pevensie is not mine. She was created by C.S. Lewis, and is owned by his estate and assorted publishers and distributors including but not limited to HarperTrophy Publishers, BBC Productions, and Walt Disney Pictures. Nor am I Mary Tamm or the photographer of these pictures, nor am I affiliated with Doctor Who. No profit is being made, and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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