As the powerful symbol of goodness and justice at the heart of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, the mighty Aslan is described in awe-inspiring terms evoking his overwhelming majesty.
But when an artist tried to portray fiction’s most noble lion for a Royal Mint coin, he was left looking more like a humble ‘poodle’.
The failure to capture the magnificence of C.S. Lewis’s creation meant his likeness was dropped from the 50-pence piece released in 2023 to commemorate the classic novel in favour of schoolgirl Lucy and the faun Mr Tumnus.
A model of the planned Aslan design was presented to the Mint’s advisory committee in September 2022.
Minutes of that meeting obtained by The Mail on Sunday under freedom of information laws, record that ‘Aslan seemed to the chair [Baroness Stuart] to have assumed the proportions of a poodle rather than a roaring lion’.
Before Aslan’s transformation into a pampered pooch, the Royal Mint had hoped to give the King of Narnia a starring role.
At a meeting in May 2022, members were strongly supportive of a design featuring Aslan after Lady Stuart revealed she ‘did not care for the designs featuring the wardrobe’.
Aslan was cut from the Narnia coins because the artist made him look too much like a poodle
Despite being the creator and king of Narnia, Aslan did not get minted in the special coins
One committee member was pleased that the lion ‘had been given a central place, rather than hidden in the undergrowth’.
A spokesperson for the Royal Mint said: ‘Several designs were considered during development, including a depiction of Aslan.
‘However, the fine detail of the historic illustration could not be clearly reproduced and alternative designs were progressed.’
The estate of C.S. Lewis – a theologian who intended his 1950 book to be an allegory for Christianity with Aslan representing Jesus – was unavailable for comment last night.