My Dear Pela,
Let me assure you that I didn’t want to have to bother you at such a critical time. I mean, as an employee who guards the soul of a Male varmint who grew up in that country that likes me more than the Enemy, I’m sure that your patient is marinating towards rotten perfection.
But, unfortunately, I recently received a memo about him so I decided that I needed to check in.
Of course, I’m sure that it’s nothing more than my Correspondence Department playing a prank to amuse themselves as we all await the moment when I will finally ascend to my rightful place on the Enemy’s throne but all the same, I can’t be too careful.
After all, the Enemy doesn’t take time off so, obviously, I can’t either.
Besides, I’m all too aware of the fact that you’re a complete imbecile who could easily be distracted in this cramped dark little stable so it wouldn’t surprise me if the Enemy slipped inside somehow and cheated His way into stealing another decent meal from me.
I mean really, can you believe that He is still rubbing it in my face about how He stole that one Male punk from me all those centuries ago? Seriously, how many times has He brought that useless Male back to His shabby little chosen country just to flaunt His cheating ways?
And now that I’m on the cusp of total victory, He has also brought back the other Humans from another world who He banished a long time ago to try and distract me with the memory of all the inconveniences they caused me.
Can you believe that? What a jerk. Well, He has another thing coming if He thinks that move will save His throne.
Oh, my me, I’m going to have so much fun taking advantage of His punky Humans agents from another world once I’ve finally taken over His throne. First, I’m going to mention how close they are to His chosen country but still not allowed to enter it because He is angry with them, just like all the other vermin in His chosen country.. I’m telling you what, I bet those punks will be just as devastated as the vermin at the rallies have been once I’ve given them a taste of reality and they have to give up thinking that they’ve arrived somewhere that is so-called wonderful.
And, of course, such a claim will only strengthen my great lie about the Enemy and I being one.
Well, anyways, let me get back to your patient. Can you tell me how many times I’ve had to remind you that his curiosity about me could be a liability? I bet you can’t because you’re really stupid.
I’m telling you what, in all your years at Temptation University, didn’t you at least learn that I prefer it if the vermin chase after more worldly things so that I can surprise them when they get sent down to my dinner table?
So, I ask you? How could you let this happen? How could you be such an idiot? How could you blow such an easy assignment? Tell me, how? How?
The Enemy has absolutely no right to your patient’s soul. I mean really, that Male cursed His name every chance he got. And, what’s more, the country that likes me more than Him is my turf. The Enemy has no right to butt in and pick out souls to fill His own ranks. Those varmints are mine. Do you hear me? They’re mine.
I’m telling you what, I’m so tired of dealing with your incompetence. The Enemy should have never been allowed to steal your patient when he was the cusp of stepping into my dining room. It’s just ridiculous that I have to deal with incompetent employees like yourself when I’m so close to completing my coop. Didn’t you ever learn anything about being in my service?
Oh, my me, if you had any brains you would’ve gotten your punky patient swept up in the culture of that country that likes me more than the Enemy. After all, he grew up at a station in society that had everything a Male varmint could ever want. He had money. He had luxury. He had prestige. He had Females. What more could he want? I’m telling you what, I’ve always made sure that the country that likes me more than the Enemy was a stockpile for every vice imaginable so that their senses would be thoroughly entertained and they won’t think too much about searching for something else, including me.
After all, there’s always plenty of time to get to know me once they’re on my dinner table.
Seriously, if your patient had gotten swept up in the culture of that country that likes me more than the Enemy then he might not have questioned his compatriots when they told him they were supposed to infiltrate the Enemy’s chosen country by dressing up as traders and visitors instead of marching off to war as warriors. He probably wouldn’t have even batted an eyelash at having to work with your colleague Hitler’s patient. After all, the country that likes me more than the Enemy is an unscrupulous conquering country that will never be satisfied until they have the whole world under my thumb.
And, naturally, the method they employ to invade and conquer doesn’t matter as much as the end result.
I mean really, I bet that your patient wouldn’t have even been repulsed by his compatriots’ great lie about me and the Enemy being one in the same. After all, the country that likes me more than the Enemy has a longstanding tradition of lying when it would benefit them to do so.
But most of all, if your patient had gotten caught up in the culture of that country that likes me more than the Enemy he probably would have been too distracted to bother about meeting me face to face and thus ruin the Enemy’s opportunity to steal him out from under your worthless little beak.
After all, there are tons of vermin who need to be enslaved in His chosen country so your patient should be very busy.
Well, I’m so livid right now that I’m going to stop writing this letter. In fact, I’m going to stop so I can start writing your invitation to come to my dinner table. Don’t forget to check because I’m going to enclose the invitation in the same envelope as this letter. After all, to celebrate my coming takeover of this terrible little world I’m perfectly willing to look past your foolish ineptitude in favor of having you for dinner.
Your very hungry employer,
Tash
(all honor and glory to me)
Author’s Notes: Now we’ve come to probably the most controversial character in the Chronicles so let me begin by reminding you that I am not a theologian. But even if you don’t agree with Lewis’ doctrine on this character, it’s undeniable that he gets saved in canon The Last Battle.
So, let’s start with the demon name. Pela is named for Pelagius, an early theologian who held that humanity didn’t need God’s grace to make themselves righteous but could obtain righteousness on their own by using free will to choose good over evil. But Emeth’s salvation isn’t based on his good works. Yes, Aslan does accept his good works as having been done in His name, but Emeth has already recognized the Lion as Lord when that discussion happens.
Now let’s look at what we absolutely know about Emeth. He is a young Calormene soldier of noble heritage who happens to be stationed in Narnia when that world comes to an end. He also has vastly different values than his compatriots do.
But we don’t know how he came to have these vastly different values.
We also don’t know much about how his death played out. We know he fought and killed one of his own compatriots inside the stable, but he doesn’t really go into how he himself died. Was he perhaps mortally wounded by the man he killed outright? Did Aslan, in all His glory, come to this Calormene soldier as he was dying and in that eleventh hour of his life Emeth realized that He was Lord? If so, that would make him similar to the thief on the cross who was dying alongside Christ and recognized Him as Lord.
And, of course, the Stable itself is hard to understand. At first, there seems to be a mix of characters who are still alive and able to make an eleventh hour choice for Aslan and others who have already passed into Aslan’s Country. And they all seem to be able to interact with each other.
Take the bad dwarfs, for example. Instead of telling Lucy that they’d already made their final decision, Aslan consents to her request to help them. Of course, they don’t accept His eleventh hour offer but He does give them another chance to choose Him inside the stable. Then there’s Eustace and Jill. We know that they get thrown into the stable during the outside battle but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re dead and we don’t find out about the train wreck in our world for another few chapters. And even the other Friends don’t seem to know for sure that they’ve passed into Aslan’s Country for eternity until the Lion tells them that they will stay with Him forever at the end. And Father Time and the Final Judgement don’t happen until after the Friends and their company have talked to Emeth and heard his story. So who’s to say that Emeth didn’t get saved in the eleventh hour of his life?
So why would the Lion save a guy who claimed to hate Him and loved His enemy? Why would He extend forgiveness and redemption to Rabadash and Aravis in The Horse and His Boy? Heck, why does the Lord extend forgiveness and redemption to all of us who so often choose to do what is wrong in His sight and cling to things that draw us closer to His enemy?
Perhaps, Emeth symbolizes the mystery of salvation. I mean, who of us out there would tell the Lion to His face that He saved this boy wrongly?
Now, just one more thing. I think Emeth is a foil for The Horse and His Boy’s Lasaraleen. She is so disinterested in anything but her own ditzy trivial pursuits that she is the only one in the Chronicles who we can definitively say doesn’t meet the Lion during her book. On the other hand, Emeth actively pursues his god by doing service in his name and wants to meet Tash face to face when the opportunity arises. That interested curiosity about what he believes is the thing that leads him to the Lion.
Bible Verses: Psalm: 121:3-4; Heb. 12:1-2; 1 Pete. 5:8; Matt. 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10; Col. 3:2; Matt. 6:19-21, 8:5-13, 15:24-28, 20:1-16, 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-23, 23:40-43; John 3:16-21; Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 2:1-10; Phil. 2:12-13; 1 John 4:10