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Narnia character
Aravis
Race/Nation	Human / calormen
Gender	female
Title	Queen of Archenland
Birthplace	Calormen
Family
Spouse	Prince Cor
Parents	Kidrash Tarkaan (father)
Other	Rishti Tarkaan (grandfather); Kidrash Tarkan (great-grandfather); Illsombreh Tisroc (great-great-grandfather); Ardeeb Tisroc (great-great-great-grandfather); Tash (claimed ancestor)
Major character in
The Horse and His Boy

For the mountain range in France see Aravis Range.

Aravis is a fictional character in the children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Aravis appears in one of the seven books, in The Horse and His Boy.

Aravis is a young Tarkheena, a female member of the ruling class of the fictional empire of Calormen, located far to the south of Narnia.

Contents 1 Biographical summary 2 Commentary 2.1 Christian interpretation 2.2 Race

Aravis says of her family: "... I am the only daughter of Kidrash Tarkaan, the son of Rishti Tarkaan, the son of Kidrash Tarkaan, the son of Illsombreh Tisroc, the son of Ardeeb Tisroc who was decended in a right line from the god Tash." (from the Horse and his Boy)

Aravis has spent her youth in the heart of Calormen. Her mother and older brother have both died and her father has recently married an unkind woman, who makes no attempt to disguise her dislike for Aravis. Aravis's already difficult home life is rendered impossible when her father announces her engagement to Ahoshta Tarkaan, a wealthy but unpleasant courtier whom she despises. In response she decides to commit suicide. However, her mare, Hwin, reveals herself as a Talking Horse from Narnia and persuades her to flee to Narnia instead.

As the two ride through Calormen, they meet Bree and Shasta, the eponymous horse and boy, who are also escaping to Narnia. The four try to traverse Tashbaan undetected, but they get separated and Aravis meets her best friend Lasaraleen. Aravis and Lasaraleen explore the Tisroc's palace, and accidentally overhear a plan by the Tisroc and Prince Rabadash to invade Archenland. When she meets Shasta and the horses again, they agree they must urgently warn Narnia and Archenland.

As they near the border of Archenland, they are chased by a lion - Aslan - who claws Aravis' back in admonition for her past cruelty to her slave. Her wounds force her to remain with the Hermit of the Southern March while Shasta goes alone to complete the mission. She watches the battle through the Hermit's magic pool, appalled at the danger that Shasta faces.

Marrying Shasta (or rather, Prince Cor), she becomes a princess of Archenland (later queen) and the mother of King Ram the Great. She is last seen in The Last Battle and is present at The Great Reunion in Aslan's Country.

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Aravis is brave and intensely loyal. However, she is also very arrogant (a possible side effect of her upbringing) and at times, very manipulative. Throughout the story we see her grow and change to become less like a ruthless Calormene, and more like Narnian (or Archenlandish) nobility, which, in the end, is what she becomes.

It is likely that C. S. Lewis meant to metaphorically represent the Christian notion that though one is born to royalty, we are all as commoners before God in the contrast between this character and Shasta; and though one be a commoner (as the character Shasta is before discovering his true identity) we are also royalty in God's eyes.

Some critics consider the use of Calormene characters as villains to be evidence of racism. Aravis is often presented as a counterexample to this (along with Emeth), since she is a sympathetically portrayed, and largely virtuous, Calormene hero.