Humans in Narnia

One thing that I have always wondered about the Chronicles of Narnia is why do humans play such a huge role in a world where humans don't seem to belong? When Aslan creates Narnia in The Magician's Nephew he doesn't create humans. Every creature in Narnia, from the talking Animals and the trees to Centaurs and Fauns, is created through Aslan's song and yet, the group that seems to be of the most importance to Narnia is brought in from somewhere else. There is no human who is truly a native Narnian, even those who are born in Narnia have ancestors that come from our world.

There are many places throughout the Chronicles that tell us just how important having humans is to Narnia, most specifically the prophecy in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sits at Cair Paravel in throne, the evil time will be over and done (LWW 147). It is the humans who can restore peace to Narnia. In Prince Caspian, Aslan tells Caspian that: "you could be no true King of Narnia unless...you were a son of Aam and came from the world of Adam's sons." (PC 416). It is the fact that he isn't a true Narnian that makes it possible for Caspian to be a true Narnian King. This is what I don't understand. Why is it that to truly be a King or Queen in Narnia you have to be a human from another world?

Yes, it is true that Caspian and many other Kings of Narnia were born in Narnia and had never seen the world that the human children come from. At the same time, going back into history shows that Caspian's ancestors were pirates that somehow found a door from this world into Narnia. Going further back shows that all Kings and Queens prior to the four children in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe were descendants of King Frank and Queen Anne, the humans tha Aslan brought in to rule Narnia at the beginning of the world.

So my question is this: Is there some sort of meaning behind humans ruling Narnia? Was it just so the children could learn things that helped them deal with situations in their own world? Did Aslan have some sort of plan that needed to involve another world? or did he just forget to create a ruling class when he created Narnia? Does this have any effect on what we believe as Christians?

Another question that I had was this: Do other stories have similar themes? Thinking about Tolkien I first wondered if there was any way to compare this Narnian situation with anything that I had read by Tolkien. And then it hit me. What about Frodo? Frodo is a Hobbit. Why is it that Frodo, a Hobbit, is the one who has to destroy the ring and save Middle Earth? It isn't just because he is the one that has the ring, he doesn't really want to be the one to do it and tries to get someone else to do it for him but that isn't allowed. I think it has something to do with the fact that he is a Hobbit. Iknow that I don't have exact numbers for this but, when the rings were made there were rings given to the humans, the elves and the dwarves, but none for the hobbits. Frodo has help from people from each of these different groups, but they are not allowed to do the task for him. It has to be Frodo that destroys the ring.

Thinking this through I came up with this thought: Maybe Lewis and Tolkien are just trying to tell us that sometimes you need help from someone outside of the conflict. Maybe Frodo has to destroy the ring because he was a hobbit and was therefore not of a race that was involved in the original power struggle. And maybe the children need to come and save Narnia because the Narnians need the perspective of someone who is looking on the conflict from the ouotside. They all get drawn into the conflict eventually, but maybe that initial look with fresh eyes is all that is truly needed. Is this what these fantasy stories are telling us? or is there a more specific thing that we are supposed to get out of them? To be honest, I still don't know.