Aslan is the central talking animal figure in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.
Aslan is a great lion and the creator, ruler, and guardian of Narnia. He appears throughout the seven-book series, although his presence and role vary from one story to another. His name comes from the Turkish word for “lion.”
Lewis’s depiction of Aslan combines a powerful literary symbol with explicitly Christian themes. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan gives his life to save Edmund Pevensie and returns to life afterward. Lewis explained that Aslan was not a simple one-to-one allegory for Jesus, but a way of imagining what Christ might be like in another world.
Aslan is sometimes confused with other Narnian animals. Reepicheep is a heroic mouse, Mr. Tumnus is a faun, and Puddleglum is a marsh-wiggle; none occupies Aslan’s overarching role.