Neruval

> "No feet have walked, nor shall, on the ice of Glund; no eye looked up from beneath on the Ring of Lurga; and Ironplain in **Neruval** is chaste and empty. Yet it is not for nothing that the gods walked ceaselessly around the fields of Arbol. Blessed be He!"
>
> The Oyarsa of Malacandra or the Oyarsa of Perelandra in *Perelandra*, pg. 342 of the Pan one-volume edition of "The Cosmic Trilogy"

**Neruval** is a planet in the Field of Arbol or the Solar System. The name only appears once in the Space Trilogy in *Perelandra*, and may refer to either **Uranus**, **Neptune**, or **Pluto**. The context suggests it is one of those two gas giants, but since we know Glundandra is Jupiter and Lurga is Saturn, and we know the names of the four Low Worlds, Neruval must be either Neptune or Uranus by process of elimination. For the possibility that Neruval is Pluto, see below.

Like most of the other planets such as Thulcandra, Malacandra, Glundandra, and Lurga, Neruval has its own moons, but these are not named in the Space Trilogy. Neruval does however have its own Eldila and Oyarsa like all the other planets, but no hnau are mentioned.

In the Space Trilogy, the Low Worlds are newer, so the Great Worlds such as Neruval will be older worlds.

## Background

Uranus and Neptune are both gas giants on the outer fringes of the Solar System, although nowhere bear as big as either Glundandra (Jupiter) or Lurga (Saturn).

They were "new" additions to the Solar System as they are not visible to the naked eye, and were only discovered in the age of telescopes. Uranus is featureless, whereas Neptune has a number of great storms much like Jupiter and Saturn. Uranus does, however, have the unique feature of revolving on its "side" when it faces the Sun, unlike the other planets.

Not too much was known about either of them in Lewis' time. Each of them has a series of moons around them, although these systems are smaller than Jupiter or Saturn's. If any hnau were to be in these systems, they would be more likely to live on these moons, but the extreme cold makes this unlikely.

The "Ironplain" mentioned is unlikely to exist on either of them, and in fact it is debatable whether they have solid surfaces. They are more likely covered in frozen or liquid gas.

C.S. Lewis himself apparently never coined a name for Pluto. Argusandra means land of Argus, in line with Perelandra (Venus), Thulcandra (Earth), Malacandra (Mars), Glundandra (Jupiter) and the non-canon Lurgadandra (Saturn, known as Lurga in the books.) Argus is also used in some non-canon sources.

It is possible that the name **Neruval** may refer to Pluto. The passage concerned says "Ironplain in Neruval is chaste and empty...", and in retrospect this fits Pluto better than either Uranus or Neptune which are gas giants. Whether this was intended is another question.

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. This was well into Lewis' lifetime, and approximately eight years before *Out of the Silent Planet*, the first volume of the Space Trilogy was published so it is remotely possible that Neruval could refer to it. Despite the odds being against this, it does have a solid frozen surface which would fit the "Ironplain" description better. Pluto was considered a planet at the time, and was until well after Lewis' death in 1963. Questions arose about its planetary status in the 1990s, and more recently it has been demoted to the status of a dwarf planet, so it is no longer considered to be the ninth planet. In reality, it is actually smaller than Sulva, the Earth's Moon.

Pluto's orbit intersects that of Neptune, so that it is sometimes nearer to the Sun than it is. It is now considered to be a Kuiper Belt object, one of a number of similar frozen worlds in the Outer Solar System. It is immensely cold and receives very weak sunlight.

Searches for planets beyond Neptune persist. Such a search would find Pluto, and may yet find an actual planet.

### Astrological significance

Somewhat like Gustav Holst's musical suite, *the Planets*, written just before WW1, Lewis' conception of the solar system owes as much to mediaeval astrology as modern astronomy. As such if Neruval was Uranus would relate to mystery and eccentricity, but this is not really spelt out and Neptune is connected to mysticism. Since neither of the planets were known anciently, these are not really traditional astrological significances.

The status of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet by astronomers has not really bothered astrologers much. It does not form part of traditional astrology. As connected with the god, Pluto, it would be representative of death and the underworld.

## Non-canon

As C.S. Lewis did not coin enough names to apply to all three worlds. As such, non-canonical names exist which can apply to the two worlds that are not Neruval.

One non-canonical name for Uranus in Old Solar is **Nevrilbia**, possibly based on the name for Mercury, Viritrilbia. The Oyarsa of Neruval or

> Nevrilbia focuses on teamwork and can join any two beings into a single being with their combined power. Because this adds together knowledge, defense and offense, this always more than doubles their total power.
>
>

.

One non-canonical name for **Pluto** in Old Solar is **Argusandra**, meaning "land of Argus", which is in line with Perelandra (Venus), Thulcandra (Earth), Malacandra (Mars), Glundandra (Jupiter) and the non-canon Lurgadandra (Saturn, known as Lurga in the books). The term Argus is also used in some non-canonical sources despite appearing in *That Hideous Strength*.

According to one non-canon source:

> Argusandra was a self-declared mortal Oyarsa. A powerful mage, he remained ruler of Argusandra for only three days before being defeated by the combined skill of Viritrilbia and Perelandra.
>
>

After his defeat, he returned to his home world.

## See also

* Asteroid Belt
* Malacandrian moons

## References

1. ↑ https://fantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Argusandra
2. ↑ https://fantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Oyarsa
3. ↑ https://fantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Argusandra
4. ↑ https://fantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Oyarsa
5. ↑ https://fantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Argusandra