Charn

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (October 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Charn" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Charn is a fictional city appearing in the 1955 book The Magician's Nephew, the sixth book published in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, written as a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Charn, and the world of which it is the capital city, are the birthplace of Jadis, also known as the White Witch, who later seizes control of Narnia.

When visited briefly by Digory and Polly, the protagonists of the novel, the city is totally deserted, lifeless, and crumbling under a dying sun in a dark blue sky. However, according to Jadis, the sun had been that way for eons, but the sky was likely light blue. Rivers have dried up, and neither weeds nor insects live. All life in the world of Charn had been destroyed by Jadis through an evil magic spell known as the Deplorable Word. In the novel, the city stands as an example of the dead end that can result if a civilization succumbs to evil.

During their visit, Digory accidentally wakes Jadis from suspended animation, and she is able to leave the world with them.