The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe secretly offers to sacrifice himself instead. That night, as Lucy and Susan covertly watch, the White Witch fatally stabs Aslan. In the morning, he is resurrected, citing magic beyond the Witch's understanding. Aslan takes Susan and Lucy to the Witch's castle, where he frees the prisoners she turned to stone. Edmund persuades Peter to lead Aslan's army. While saving Peter from the Witch by destroying her wand, Edmund is mortally wounded. As the Witch fights Peter, Aslan arrives with reinforcements and kills her. After Edmund is revived by Lucy's cordial, the Pevensies are crowned King Peter the Magnificent, Queen Susan
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Witch and the Wardrobe" was complete by the end of March 1949. Lucy Barfield received it by the end of May. When on 16 October 1950 Geoffrey Bles in London published the first edition, three new "chronicles", "Prince Caspian", "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and "The Horse and His Boy", had also been completed. Lewis's publisher, Geoffrey Bles, allowed him to choose the illustrator for the novel and the "Narnia" series. Lewis chose Pauline Baynes, possibly based on J. R. R. Tolkien's recommendation. Baynes had greatly impressed Tolkien with her illustrations for his "Farmer Giles of Ham" (1949). However,