[This essay contains massive spoilers from Red, middle novel of Ted Dekker’s Circle Trilogy. DO NOT read if you haven’t read the book.]

When I first read Red, I thought it was really good, but found the character Justin confusing. His teachings of peace with the Scabs seemed heretical, while I sensed hypocrisy in the Great Romance.

But one scene changed that. It was the closest I’ve ever come to unity with a fictional character. My eyes sprang ahead…

Justin was the boy, and the boy was Elyon. Elyon had just touched her. Kissed her forehead! If she had known---

She groaned past a terrible ache that filled her throat. “Elyonnn!”

Red, page 285

In that one moment, I saw the rest of the story laid out like a map—betrayal, sacrificial death, resurrection. Rachel’s longing welled in my heart. I had misjudged Justin as a foe, and now I saw the price he’d pay.

I’ve seen aspects of Jesus in other fantasy characters—Aslan, Gandalf—but Justin exploded like fireworks. His strange teachings, confusing ways—that’s what we forget about Jesus. The gospels are so familiar we forget how radical his words were. Turning the other cheek, salvation to all who ask—those were as strange to the Jews as welcoming the Horde was to the Forest Guard.

In a letter about Narnia, C.S. Lewis explained that Narnia was an attempt to answer the question ‘how would God save another world like our own from sin?’ Red answers another question, one we don’t even know to ask, ‘how would Jesus’ actions and words appear to the ‘righteous’?’