Aslan is the fictional lion who represents the central Christ figure in C.S. Lewis's Narnia stories. He is the creator and rightful ruler of Narnia, and his presence links many of the books.
Aslan appears first in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where he confronts the White Witch and sacrifices himself to save Edmund. His resurrection after the deeper magic is one of the clearest Christian parallels in the series, though Lewis described the books as imaginative fiction rather than direct allegory.
The character's name comes from the Turkish word for “lion.” Aslan is not merely a symbolic character: within the stories, he is a powerful speaking being who guides, judges, comforts, and sometimes challenges the human protagonists.
Readers sometimes mistake other Narnian animals for Aslan because many animals speak and have important roles. Mr. Tumnus is a faun, Maugrim is a wolf, and Rabadash is a human prince. None is the lion who rules Narnia.