Tash is a fictional character found in the third book of the Chronicles of Narnia, The Horse and His Boy, and in the final book The Last Battle. He is the deity of the land of Calormen, south of Narnia and is represented as a many armed creature with the head of a bird of prey. It is suggested in the book that he is opposed to Aslan; by implication, he is Satan to Aslan's Christ in the allegory. This is illustrated by the reactions of the main characters to his presence: they talk of smelling a foul smell and of the air growing cold when he passes near to them. In their Arabic style costumes there is some suggestion by Lewis that he is comparing sincere followers of Tash with devout Muslims. Other commentators find more commonality between Tash and the various "pagan" deities which were worshipped in the ancient Middle East, such as Baal, Molech, Nisroch etc.
It should be noted that those Calormen who honored Tash as 'good,' upon their death, are counted as having honored Aslan; illustrating Lewis' belief that the idea being worshipped, and the honesty with which it is worshipped is more important than the name by which it is referred to. This is made clear in The Last Battle, where an honest Calormene soldier is found in 'Aslan's World.'
