The Lion, the Witch, & Charlie Kirk

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Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

When I read — and saw — that people were literally singing and dancing because Charlie Kirk was murdered, my mind leapt instantly to C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In that story, the great and pure Lion Aslan gives himself up to die in place of a guilty boy. The White Witch ties him down on a stone table, shaves away his mane, mocks him, and finally kills him while her goblins and hags dance, shriek, and celebrate. They reveled in cruelty, mistaking the death of the innocent and good for triumph.

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The Witch as Totalitarian Cruelty

Lewis knew exactly what he was showing. The Witch is not just a fairy-tale villain; she is the embodiment of tyranny itself. She represents the kind of power that justifies cruelty with claims of righteousness, that dresses malice up as justice. Her followers delight in the humiliation of others, believing their mockery to be strength. It is the spirit of every regime or ideology that exults when its enemies are silenced. When we see people celebrating Charlie Kirk’s death, we are seeing the Witch’s camp in our own world — faces twisted with glee at what they think is victory, blind to the corruption they reveal.

Aslan’s Sacrifice and Kirk’s Martyrdom

Charlie Kirk’s death carries a painful echo of that scene. Aslan was hated not because he had done great wrong, but because his very presence threatened the Witch’s rule. His goodness exposed her corruption, his authority undermined her lies, and his love for the weak freed them from her grip. 

In the same way, Kirk was despised not for crimes, but because he spoke truth in a world built on falsehoods. The worst he ever did was hurt some feelings, defeat bad arguments, or bruise an ego in debate. He never exulted in victory, never sought the humiliation of his opponents. His “crime” was living and speaking in a way that revealed the hollowness of his enemies’ power; his authority was in his superior arguments that destroyed the lies of the left.

There is one big difference. Aslan deliberately laid himself down at the Stone Table; Kirk did not choose death. Yet he lived with awareness of the risk. He knew that speaking truth in an age of lies was dangerous, and he accepted that danger in order to help others. His martyrdom was not sought, but it bears the same witness: that truth is worth the cost.

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And as in Narnia, the rejoicing of evil will not last. Lewis wrote that there was a “deeper magic from before the dawn of time” that the Witch could not comprehend. Her triumph was hollow, her shrieking laughter already the prelude to defeat. So it is now. The songs and dances of those who gloat over the death of the good are not signs of victory, but evidence that they have allied themselves with corruption. The deeper truth remains: evil always overreaches, and truth — like the deeper magic — outlasts death.

What Comes Next

We are already seeing the deeper magic at work. In the wake of his death, Turning Point USA has been flooded with applications from colleges and high schools eager to start new chapters. Around the world, people are mourning Charlie Kirk but also celebrating his life as a champion of free speech and gentle courage. His wife, with remarkable strength, has vowed to continue his work — her words stirring millions with hope and resolve. And many are saying openly that with Kirk’s death, ten million Charlie Kirks will rise in his place.

Unlike previous similar situations, as the masks slip and employees revel in Kirk’s murder, employers are recoiling — either in horror or from fear of the damage their businesses could suffer. Everywhere, teachers and nurses and professors who have exposed their goblin hearts are being fired. Professional organizations are stripping away licenses. And the former revelers, confused, are returning to the Internet to bemoan their fates. Evil revealed itself, and the world is answering — not with despair, but with resolve.

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The Allegory Made Flesh

Narnia was written as a supposal — as Lewis put it — his way of asking what it would look like if Christ entered another world to show His love for the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve. That is why the echoes ring so strongly today. What Lewis cast in myth we are now seeing in flesh and blood: truth hated, goodness mocked, evil celebrating what it thinks is victory. The deeper magic still holds. And as long as we remember it, we know that evil’s triumphs are only temporary, and that love, truth, and courage will rise again.

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Jamie K. Wilson is the executive editor at Conservatarian Press. She has been involved in the conservative/libertarian fiction world since 2008. She has written extensively on the topic at her website, conservativefiction.com, and was integral in the creation of the CLFA and Liberty Island Media.

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Before a live audience in southern California, TONY PERKINS offers a heartfelt tribute to assassinated Salem Radio Network host CHARLIE KIRK, who was shot on a college campus in Utah this week. U.S. House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON—who presided over a moment of silence in Kirk’s behalf following the murder—says it was a “very difficult week for America and for Congress.”  JACK HIBBS, pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in southern California, lauded the Turning Point USA founder for “exercising the true spirit of the Constitution” by debating campus opponents…and he discusses Kirk’s impact on a younger generation of  Americans. U.S. Ambassador to Israel MIKE HUCKEBEE joins the conversation with his own personal recollections of Charlie’s life. And Tony returns with a commentary on the need to break the cycle of hate in America which led to Charlie Kirk’s senseless death. All that ahead on Salem’s THIS WEEK ON CAPITOL HILL, sponsored by AARP, releasing at 10AM Eastern Saturday on the Salem News Channel.

Special Edition: A Tribute to Charlie Kirk - This Week on Capitol Hill - 9-13-2025