Lol so true.

Interview with Steven C. Meyer

I excluded Burnt Island because the island itself does not present any danger. I do think it serves a purpose in the message but in a different way which I will briefly sketch out below. I didn't include the sea serpent because I think it is a different thing altogether. While it was a threat to the crew of the Dawn Treader, I don't believe that it's intended to be included as one of the dangers that the Lost Lords would have faced. Mostly because there's no indication the lost Lords also faced the serpent. Its doubtful they would have survived unscathed and Coriakin does not mention that their ship needed any repairs like the Dawn Treader did. I think this is a threat presented uniquely to the Dawn Treader crew as opposed to the other dangers. Here are some initial and undeveloped thoughts: I suspect that the burnt Island and subsequent encounter with the sea serpent serve a couple of different purposes: First it provides a good contrast of Eustace's two potential fates: the island was burned possibly by the previous dragon of Dragon island. Instead of meeting the same fate, Eustace was given a new perspective and a newfound bravery for the journey ahead. During the battle with the serpent he "did the first brave thing he had ever done" by hacking the serpant with a sword. For Reepicheep, Burnt Island provided him with the coracle he would later need to get to Aslans country. It seems as if he was receiving a reward for his kindness to Eustace on Dragon island. However, I think he most important lesson comes during the battle with the serpent, when Reep discovers the key to battle with the great beast: "Don't fight! Push!". Perhaps the lesson is that the key to facing some of life's most difficult challenges is not to fight them directly if you are ill-equipped, but instead to push them away so that you may live to face another day. Just some initial thoughts but want to do to understand why don't think these two moments are intended to be group together with the trials that I laid out.

@@IntotheWardrobe I can't find anyone talking about it. The most people do is summarize it's basic description. If you know where I can find good info about it, please let me know.

I just updated my comments. Maybe some of what I post here will be helpful. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts as well.

@@IntotheWardrobe I get the narrative significance of the sea serpent, but the coracle could have come from a hundred different places, and burnt island IS the most eastern non-magical settlement in Narnia, and we know nothing about who the inhabitants were or how they got there. Can you think of anything that ties to it? I don't know a lot about Narnia lore from outside the books, so if you have any clue I'd really like to hear about it. (Thank you for replying to me, btw)