What sweet does Edmund Pevensie crave in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

Edmund Pevensie craves Turkish Delight in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The White Witch tempts Edmund with enchanted Turkish Delight after he enters Narnia. The promise of more sweets helps her manipulate him into revealing information about his siblings and cooperating with her. The episode is one of the book’s most memorable examples of temptation through an ordinary pleasure made magically irresistible.

Turkish delight is a real confection, traditionally made from starch and sugar and often flavored with rosewater, citrus, or nuts. Lewis used the familiar name for lokum, although readers’ experiences of the sweet vary widely by country and recipe.

The scene is sometimes remembered simply as a snack in a fantasy adventure, but it also drives the plot. Edmund’s betrayal separates him morally and physically from Peter, Susan, and Lucy before he begins his eventual reconciliation with them.