Reepicheep

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Reepicheep is a character from C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. He appears in Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and also in The Last Battle. He is a large talking mouse who carries a rapier and has a large plume stuck behind his ear.

Reepicheep is descended from a group of mice who gnawed through the ropes that bound Aslan to the Stone Table after the White Witch had killed him; as a result of their service, they became talking mice.

In Prince Caspian, Reepicheep is the leader of the twelve mice who help to fight against Caspian's Uncle Miraz in the Second Battle of Beruna at Aslan's How. He and his followers run through the battle and plunge their rapiers into an unsuspecting enemy's foot, causing him to fall, after which he is quickly dispatched. Reepicheep is badly wounded in the battle, and he loses his tail. He petitions Aslan afterward to have it restored, as the tail is his honour. Aslan expresses concern on whether the mouse thinks too much of his honor. However, Peepiceek (the second in command of the mice) and the other mice prepare to cut off their own tails to avoid bearing an honour denied to their leader. This solidarity convinces Aslan to restore Reepicheep's tail.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep accompanies Caspian on his voyage in the hope of finding Aslan's Country at the end of the world. He believes it is possible to sail to Aslan's Country because when he was a baby mouse, a dryad prophesied that he would find all he sought "...Where the waves grow sweet...There is utter east."

During the journey, Reepicheep teaches Eustace Scrubb about honor, courage, and loyalty, even though at the start of their relationship Eustace treats Reepicheep with great disrespect.

Near the Eastern edge of the world, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep set forth from Dawn Treader in a small row boat to the edge of the world. The three children are returned to our world through a door in the sky, while Reepicheep debarks in his own miniature boat, paddles off in a different direction, and disappears. The author then implies, but does not explicitly state, that Reepicheep ultimately did reach Aslan's Country.

In The Last Battle Reepicheep appears at the very end to greet the last of the Narnians at the Emperor's Garden. He is exactly as the Pevensies remember him, not having aged or died in the hundreds of Narnian years that have passed since their time. Because of this, he is sometimes compared to St. Peter, who, in Christian mythology, is thought to guard the gates to heaven and welcome those who accepted Christ in their lifetimes. His living departure into a symbolic heaven, however, is more reminiscent of the Old Testament figures Enoch and Elijah. Since Lewis was not a strict allegorist, it is of course quite possible that both associations were intended.