Why does the Emperor-Over-the-Sea play such a small role in the Chronicles of Narnia?

Question

The Emperor-Over-the-Sea is referenced at several points during the series. The Stone Table, Deep Magic and the Deeper Magic were all set in motion by him, and he is the father of Aslan.

At the same time, he does not directly enter the series; he does not appear to be present in Aslan's Country during The Silver Chair or the events of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and doesn't appear to directly intervene. He doesn't even seem to be present at the creation of Narnia during The Magician's Nephew or the Final Judgment in The Last Battle - the entire country was sang into existence by Aslan.

Given that C. S. Lewis was not a deist, why is this? Why was the Emperor-Over-the-Sea such a remote figure?

Answer 1

He is a hero of another story.

In works of fiction, it often seems like the world revolves around the Main Characters, that nothing interesting happens unless one of them is in the middle of it. And sometimes that’s true; sometimes the main cast are so important that nothing big can happen without their involvement. But other times, it’s not that the Main Characters are the only ones that stories happen to; it’s that we only see the stories that happen to the Main Characters. It turns out the supporting characters have their own adventures going on off-screen, where they’re the stars and the Main Characters only make cameo appearances. These characters are the Heroes of Another Story: we may not see much of their adventures, but it adds something to the fictional world if we know these people continue to lead interesting lives even when the Main Characters aren’t around.

Answer 2

The emperor-over-the-sea is the Narnian equivalent of the Father of the holy Christian trinity and Aslan is of course the son. The emperor acts indirectly through Aslan and is in that sense extremely active. Aslan is always doing something even if it doesn't look like it and by extension, the emperor is always doing something.

Answer 3

As your question implies, Narnia is a Christian allegory, where Aslan is a stand-in for Christ, and his father, the Emperor, represents God the Father.

With that in mind it's fairly common and orthodox in the Christian church to view Christ as the human face of God, the aspect of the divine that we can understand and interact with. God the Father may seem remote and unknowable, but is considered to be real and present through Christ, and the same can be said of the Emperor through Aslan.

Compare this passage from the Gospel of John ("Chapter 14"):

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?..."

With appropriate substitutions, this could easily be dialog from the Narnia series.

With reference to the specific question of why Aslan is the one who sings Narnia into existence, it's a clear reference to John 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ... 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

The Word is identified with Christ, and therefore with Aslan (the fact that Aslan is singing is likely a conceptual pun on the idea of the Divine "Word").