Honestly, it’s the ending that usually breaks people. You spend seven books following the Pevensies, you watch them grow from scared London evacuees into literal kings and queens, and then C.S. Lewis just... drops the hammer.
In The Last Battle, every main character we’ve ever loved dies in a train crash and goes to Aslan’s Country (Narnia’s version of heaven). Except for one. Susan Pevensie.
Why Susan is No Longer a Friend of Narnia
If you grew up reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you probably remember Susan as the sensible one. She was the one who worried about whether the coats they borrowed from the wardrobe belonged to the Professor. She was the one who got the ivory horn and the bow. She was "Queen Susan the Gentle."
But by the final book, when the other "Friends of Narnia" gather, Susan is missing. Her brother Peter says it shortly: "My sister Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia."
Then comes the line that launched a thousand literary feuds. Jill Pole explains that Susan is interested in nothing nowadays except "nylons and lipstick and invitations."
Basically, she’s "grown up" in the worst way possible. She’s decided that Narnia was just a silly game they played as kids. She’s effectively gaslit herself into believing her own reign at Cair Paravel never happened.
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The "Lipstick and Nylons" Controversy
A lot of modern readers—and some very famous authors like J.K. Rowling and Philip Pullman—absolutely hate this. They argue that Lewis was punishing Susan for becoming a woman, for discovering her sexuality, or for just liking makeup.
Rowling once famously said that Susan was lost to Narnia because she found sex, and Pullman went as far as to say Lewis was "sending a girl to hell" for being interested in boys.
But if you look at the text, that’s not really what’s happening. Or at least, it’s not the whole story.
The problem isn't the lipstick. It’s what the lipstick represents: a desperate, shallow rush toward a specific type of "adulthood" that rejects wonder and truth. Lady Polly (from The Magician's Nephew) puts it best, saying Susan "wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she'll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age."
The Reality of the Pevensie Tragedy
People often forget that while the others "died" and went to paradise, Susan stayed behind.
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Think about that for a second.
Susan Pevensie is the only survivor of her entire family. Her parents, her brothers Peter and Edmund, and her sister Lucy all died in that train accident. She is left in 1940s/50s England, completely alone, having to bury her entire world.
That’s not a "punishment" in the way we usually think of it. It’s a chance.
Did Susan ever get to Narnia?
Lewis actually answered this in his letters to fans. He was pretty clear that the story doesn't end for Susan at the end of The Last Battle.
"The books don't tell us what happened to Susan... She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there's plenty of time for her to mend and perhaps she will get to Aslan's country in the end... in her own way."
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It’s kinda weirdly hopeful if you think about it. The others are "finished"—their journey is over. Susan’s journey is just starting. She has to find her way back to the truth through grief and real life, not through a magic wardrobe.
Breaking Down the "Problem of Susan"
To really get why this matters, you have to look at how Susan acted even in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
- She was always the skeptic. Even when she saw the magic, she tried to find a "logical" reason to leave.
- She was cautious to a fault. While Lucy was all about the heart and Peter was all about the duty, Susan was about safety.
- Her "Gentleness" was also a weight. Being the second oldest, she often had to act as a surrogate mother, which probably made her want to grow up even faster.
Neil Gaiman even wrote a short story called "The Problem of Susan" that deals with the trauma of her being the one left behind. It’s dark. It’s heavy. But it highlights the fact that Susan’s "exclusion" makes her the most human character in the whole series. Most of us aren't like Lucy, who believes unconditionally. Most of us are like Susan—we get distracted, we get cynical, and we try to fit in.
How to Re-read Susan’s Journey Today
If you’re revisiting the series, don't look at Susan as the "villain" or the "failure." Look at her as the character who represents the struggle of keeping faith and imagination alive in a world that demands you "grow up" and be sensible.
What you can do next:
- Read the letters of C.S. Lewis. Specifically the ones where he discusses Susan's fate. It changes the way you view the ending of The Last Battle.
- Compare Susan and Lucy. Notice how Lucy’s "childlike" nature is rewarded, while Susan’s "adult" nature is depicted as a cage. It’s a deliberate choice by Lewis to flip the script on what it means to be mature.
- Check out "The Problem of Susan" by Neil Gaiman. If you want a more modern, albeit much darker, take on her psychological state after the books end.
The real takeaway? Susan isn't "in hell." She’s just still on the road. Her story is the only one that didn't get a "The End," which in a way, makes her the most important character Lewis ever wrote.