The four Pevensie siblings — Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy — are the heart of The Chronicles of Narnia, but not all of them are given the same due when it comes to effective individual narratives. Greta Gerwig may be adapting The Magician’s Nephew first, which follows Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer long before the Pevensies discover Narnia. Later on, the Pevensies’ cousin Eustace Scrubb and his friend Jill Pole take up the mantle of going to Narnia the country is in need. Yet there is no denying that the Pevensies are the most remembered faces in the Narnia series.

This actually creates a challenge for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movies, when starting the reboot with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe would be a mistake, because the rest of the series would never be able to live up to it. However, Netflix probably plans to bring the Pevenvies to the big screen once again at some point, and the team will need to understand what works and what doesn’t about each of their arcs. As they exist in the books, a couple of the siblings stand out as having the best stories about redemption, faith, and courage.

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Peter Pevensie

Appears In: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Last Battle

Peter’s arc is fairly basic and has been done many times before. As the oldest sibling, he tries to act as a parental figure when the group is sent away from London in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and clashes with Edmund especially because of this. However, Peter is destined to become the High King of Narnia, a great leader and warrior, and is on a very direct and uncomplicated trajectory towards that from the beginning. The way the books are written doesn’t allow for that much of Peter expressing self-doubt.

What could be a more interesting journey about the role Peter accepts within his family and in Narnia sometimes seems like figures such as Aslan and Father Christmas are simply handing it to him, with little objection. In Prince Caspian, Peter also accepts that he cannot return to Narnia again fairly quickly and starts ᴀssuredly working towards a career in the real world in the sequels. C. S. Lewis set out to tell a story of children fighting off evil, therefore empowering the children reading the books. Peter’s arc accomplishes this, but upon reevaluation, there isn’t much else to analyze.

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Susan Pevensie

Appears In: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe; The Horse And His Boy; Prince Caspian

Susan’s arc is infamous in reader circles, as she is the sole former child hero of Narnia who never returns as an adult, while the others reach Aslan’s Country in The Last Battle. Lewis’ novel doesn’t offer the opportunity to delve into Susan’s psyche and what led to this, with the others offering a quick summarization that she became a shallow young woman and no longer believes Narnia ever existed. However, actually exploring this event from her perspective could provide a strong conclusion to what is already an interesting character journey.

Namely, Susan never quite shakes the idea of magic being impossible and has more trouble blindly accepting the workings of Narnia and Aslan’s plans than her siblings. She also bears some responsibility for the group, alongside Peter, as the second oldest. However, her understandable misgivings about being yanked back and forth between Narnia and the real world and all that is jarring about this exist alongside her being a beloved queen. There is still an important story to tell concerning Susan about doubt and fear and how that relates to her becoming a queen.

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Lucy Pevensie

Appears In: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe; The Horse And His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader; The Last Battle

Lucy is a bigger symbol in the Narnia mythos, as the youngest, sweetest child who first finds Narnia and steps awestruck into the world of magic, bringing her family along with her. She immediately befriends the Narnians and tries to bring out the best in her siblings. She is also the direct foil to Susan, as she has always been able to wholeheartedly believe. Lucy’s appearances in her first two books are largely characterized by this childhood innocence, but her storylines as she grows older show her maturing and having to remind herself of the ideals she previously espoused.

Namely, in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy is the faithful Lucy she has always been, but she is still headed into her teen years and dealing with the insecurities that come with that. The Horse and His Boy shows Lucy as an adult when she rules Narnia with the others, where she is still compᴀssionate but has also become a warrior (as Susan notably never does in the books). Lucy’s broader arc is somewhat fractured throughout the books but exhibits a lot of nuances in how maintaining her best qualities is a challenge in the face of hard but realistic changes.

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Edmund Pevensie

Appears In: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe; The Horse And His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader; The Last Battle

Edmund’s arc is drastic, powerful, and stands out among the others when he does not immediately go on to become such a typical hero as Peter or even Lucy. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe does a pretty good job of making Edmund downright unlikable, while still acknowledging that he is a child who is capable of learning from his mistakes. He does this and becomes renowned in Narnia specifically for strategy and counsel, rather than Peter’s reputation, more focused on battlefield heroism. Edmund still has bad moments in the later books, clashing with Eustace and Caspian especially.

However, this shows how, even though he has completed his major redemption arc, he can still be a flawed person. Throughout The Chronicles of Narnia, Edmund says things that are almost shockingly wise, like how he looked like a fool for not believing Lucy once and that a malevolent prince might redeem himself yet. Edmund has the best of his siblings’ stories in how he directly applies his worst mistake to being a better king than he ever could have been without it, becoming a perfect hero and a fiercely loyal Narnian.