The Wardrobe Door :: Narnia Costumes

Doctor Cornelius

in Prince Caspian

"I saw at least two costumes for Doctor Cornelius. In the first image I saw, he was wearing glasses and a big, thick, dark-blue robe that reminded me of a monk a little bit. Kimberly [Adams, associate costume designer] said that Cornelius' costume is a subtle blend of Narnian and Telmarine designs. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to look closer. The other costume I saw was his coronation outfit. If I remember correctly, the main colors were bright orange and green, with a coat that went down to his knees."

~glumPuddle's Costumes Set Report

"Dr. Cornelius is half man (Telmarine no less) and half dwarf (Narnian). He is also a scholar and teacher. Through textile design, Sarah Shepard and I worked to incorporate celestial images, Telmarine Moorish motifs and some of the more traditional motifs we had created for the dwarfs in the first movie. You can see this best represented in the design of his dark blue cloak."

~Narnia.com's November 15 Costume Design blog #11

"He had a long silver, pointed beard which came down to his waist, and his face, which was brown and covered with wrinkles, looked very wise, very ugly, and very kind."

~Prince Caspian

First Scene

This salmon-colored tunic/robe is worn early in the film, when he first sends Caspian off on his night journey. It has a wide knotted sash and belt across the ample waist. He wears his deep blue hooded cloak, the sleeves and body baglined in a bright red material.

This is the cloak into which was incorporated "celestial images, Telmarine Moorish motifs and traditional dwarf motifs." From a movie storybook, these seem to be in gold leaf around knee-length to hem of the velvet robe, though it's very hard to discern details. He wears this robe later in the film as well, and probably in the deleted video game scene.

Promotion

Video Game Deleted Scene

Red Coat

We don't know when this outfit is worn, but it's probably between Caspian's night escape and Cornelius' arrest.

He's wearing the blue shirt and woven belt as the night raid escape, with a maroon red coat (looks like a woven wool) with sleeve caps, edged in the embroidered band of the same fabric at the edge of the large sleeves and up and down the front opening of the coat. The embroidery is in a metallic gold thread: we can make out some crescent moons and stars in the patterns.

Movie Surfers Clip

Imprisoned/Night Raid Escape

It's rumored that Cornelius is rescued from the Telmarine castle or leaves with the Pevensies and Caspian during the night raid, instead of joining Caspian at the Dancing Lawn.

The first image here indicates that this costume is worn during and after this night raid, but before the battle (from Caspian's costume: we see the cut/wound at the sleeve shoulder that we only see during and after the Sorcery scene and at the night raid, but he's not wearing the vambraces that he wears on the night raid).

The action figure image of Cornelius that corresponds to both the first image here and the blurry night raid image: the wide-leg trousers (looks like they're cropped mid-calf, Telmarine-style), the long sleeve light gray blue shirt and the wide woven belt, and then over all his red-lined blue cloak.