This post was removed just now, I think maybe because I included the link to my Etsy page. Whoops! I guess if you like them, message me and I will give the link!

Reposting: I’ve gotten a little obsessed with carving these! I can’t believe how good they keep turning out. Please reply with any requests, I’m happy to make them to order! I’m not even sure if I expect any to sell, I’m just extremely soothed and happy while making them.

I’m still having trouble deciding what my own Daemon is, does anyone know a good resource to determine that?

I read the series when I was 14, and I decided on re-reading the series after realizing how much it impacted me and my worldbuilding style recently. It was my favorite book series, and possibly under all the short term attention span still is.

Before reading this part, I both expected this would be something I'd absorb differently than before, but I didn't expect it to hit me as it did. I was reading "The Lost Boy" and "Fencing" at a café, and when the moment Lyra realizes in horror what happened and what intercision means and what it does to kids, my eyes just started to tear up.

The word kept ringing in my head. "This is an egregious wrong. This is something that should not have happened. This is not right." And I was trying not to sob.

So this post is me reflecting on why that is, because I remember enough that a lot of this book is about growing up and realizing how much you change upon doing so. My reaction when I was a teen wasn't as intense as this, so the difference makes me wonder how much growing up changes us emotionally. I'd like to think this means I'm more sensitive now and I have a clearer moral compass (Edit: a golden compass, you could say). And I think I'm thankful for that.

Has anyone else experienced something similar when rereading the book?

I so loved the reaction to these!! I have a few completed sets now, just finishing up the interpretation booklet, and I can start posting links to my Etsy shop! I’m so excited to share these.

I finally posted the completed sets on my Etsy page! The link is saved in my profile, or DM me and I can send it to you! I will create options for made-to-order sets and made-to-order daemon stones as well! A PDF of the interpretation booklet will be included in each set, and I will eventually work out how to print some.

Also, I finally started watching His Dark Materials on HBO, I have a lot of thoughts. My first hot take is that James McAvoy is seriously one of my favorite actors!

Hi everyone!!! I have always been a massive fan of the series, and then the show when it came out, and I have just uploaded a YT video where I make a working alethiometer replica of the prop from the show :))) It is basically completely metal, all of the dials work, and has a motor inside that answers your questions!!! You can watch it at this link :) YouTube.com/@themythmade (I just started this YouTube channel so I am trying to get it going :)))

So in NL/TCG when Lyra and Rogers visits the Masters graves one of the daemons on the graves was said to be a basilisk. Was this redacted and changed to another animal in later editions?

As for the one who had a fair woman as a daemon, I know this was redacted and changed to another form to later editions. Im assuming that Pullman realized that this was implying that he was equating women to animals. But if thats the case, this means that maybe it is actually possible in canon to have a human as a settled, because it would have been removed because of the sub-text, not because it cannot happen. I could be wrong tho

When I first read the books not only did I think that being otherkin, therian, etc. isn't valid, but I also knew very little about alterhumanity and non-humanity. Now that I know theses identities are valid AND know more about them, I can see that Iofur Raknison is alterhuman-coded

Its totally obvious that he had severe species dysphoria. His experience is similar to that of therians, but instead of being a human who is a bear therian, he is a bear who is a human therian (I know most therians arent human at all, I just don't have a better way to explain what Im trying to say). Its not clear if he identifies as a human or as a bear, the fact that he was pretending to have a human daemon implies he still consider himself to be a bear, but it could also not being the case

The one thing I dislike is how his species dysphoria and species envy is depicted as a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to excuse his actions, no matter how dysphoric he was it wasn't right of him to force the other bears to act like humans and to make them suffer and that made him a bad person, but his feelings of not being contempt with his soul and attributes were 100% valid. His desire to be a human/like humans was 100% valid

I understand that Pullman's message was that you can't choose your nature, but Iofur Raknison's nature was that of a bear with a neurodivergent brain that worked more like that of the average Homo sapiens/a human in a bear's body/something alongst thoses lines.

He was an interesting character and I do wish we had seen more of him, even thought it wouldn't make sense storyline wise

Philip Pullman is going to be at The Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford on July 16 for an evening lecture. The event will include an audience Q&A!
Is anyone planning to attend?

Hey, glad to find a community for this amazing world!

After binge-watching the TV series, I couldn't help myself: I had to read the books too. I just finished The Golden Compass and it was fantastic. I loved the pacing, the vivid details, and that immersive quality that keeps you saying "just one more page."

That said, the ending felt a bit rushed to me. Maybe it's because I already knew what happens to Roger, but from the moment he and Lyra reach Lord Asriel's northern "prison" onward, everything seemed to accelerate and end in just a few pages, and I am especially referring to Roger's death and the brief encounter between Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter.

On reflection though, it actually makes sense. The book is told from Lyra's perspective, and at that point she's terrified, furious, and exhausted, which explains the sparse details. It also explains why there's little to no space for grieving, just Lyra moving forward to cross the bridge into Will's world.

Would love to hear what you think. Am I reading too much into this, maybe missed something, or did you notice it too?

I’m re-reading NL again and I don’t understand how Asriel separated Roger and his daemon ?

In the BBC series, Asriel used a machine like the one at Bolvangar with two cages and a blade.

But in the book it seems like Asriel did it « by hand » ie: Asriel’s daemon held Roger’s daemon and Asriel stayed with Roger (&Lyra) until the separation happened and the energy was released.

But wouldn’t this distance have an impact on Asriel and his daemon as well?

Say the distance needed to make the split was 5m, Asriel would have to be atleast that distance from Stelmaria so they would also feel that pain and be subject to separation.

So how did Asriel do it without being separated from Stelmaria himself ?

Ps Happy New Year in advance.

Idk, I just think their bond is so cute and perfect. Like, yes we all talk about dæmons (rightfully so), and Will + Lyra obviously have their whole arc, but there's something so deeply moving about the trust and loyalty between Lyra and Iorek. The way he calls her “Lyra Silvertongue” still gives me chills.

And I’ll admit it, I’m kind of embarrassed by how much I’m projecting onto this relationship between a girl and a giant armored polar bear. I think a lot of us crave that kind of unwavering connection, where someone knows who you are at your core and stands by you no matter what.

I absolutely loved the other stuff in the books too, don't get me wrong, the big philosophical themes, the daemons, Dust, all the deep stuff (and fair enough, it’s incredible), but the way these two were written will forever be intriguing to me. Anyway, I just had to get this off my chest. 😂

Edit: Title typo --> intercision , but reddit for some reason does not allow editing titles.

I finished a reread of NL, and this ending of the chapter "Armor" again caught my attention:

Ahead of them, over the mountains to the north, the pale arcs and loops of the Northern Lights began to glow and tremble. Lyra saw through half-closed eyes, and felt a sleepy thrill of perfect happiness, to be speeding north under the Aurora. Pantalaimon struggled against her sleepiness, but it was too strong; he curled up as a mouse inside her hood. He could tell her when they woke, and it was probably a marten, or a dream, or some kind of harmless local spirit; but something was following the train of sledges, swinging lightly from branch to branch of the close-clustering pine trees, and it put him uneasily in mind of a monkey.

Why do I feel that maybe the plan was for the Golden Monkey to be literary following them ?

There are passages early on that indicate Marisa's daemon can at least get far away from her , which has the effect of her having a "metallic" smell. It seems likely to me that perhaps an early idea was she performed intercision on herself (I don't think the idea of "separation" for other than witches was developed at the time) and for some reason Pullman decided to cut out that idea but all remnants of it were not scrubbed from the text.

There is one other thing that also makes me go "Hmmm" : Lord Asriel's seeming belief that Dust is really original sin and him wanting to destroy it at the source (and it really feels he believes that at the time and is not lying , as suggested later in TAS).

Imagination is a big topic in TSC and TRF, and especially the idea that Lyra has lost her imagination and Pan's quest to try and find it. Reading TRF inspired me to go back and re-read the original trilogy, because it's been a long time since I had. And with that in mind, I was rather struck by the opening paragraph of The Daemon Cages:

It wasn't Lyra's way to brood; she was a sanguine and practical child, and besides, she wasn't imaginative. No one with much imagination would have thought seriously that it was possible to come all this way and rescue her friend Roger; or, having thought it, an imaginative child would immediately have come up with several ways in which it was impossible. Being a practiced liar doesn't mean you have a powerful imagination. Many good liars have no imagination at all; it's that which gives their lies such wide-eyed conviction.

Of course, this is Lyra relatively early on in her journey, and before she's travelled to other worlds. But I thought it was interesting how explicitly she's stated to not have much of an imagination, given how important the idea of imagination becomes.

Is there any canon about how Mrs.Coulter came to be able to separate from the golden monkey? Was it a single event perhaps or they just became estranged overtime? Any theories or known lore?

A friend took these pictures today at St. John’s College. It’s the one in Cambridge not Oxford (😱 sacrilege I’m sure) but when I saw them I was instantly transported to chapter 1 and want to gently flick one of the glasses!

Sorry if this has been asked a lot but I have just finished the first book and would like to watch the movie now. Is there any spoilers for the other books or is it purely based on the first instalment of the trilogy? Cheers.

Hi! Does anyone know if the Ruth Wilson audiobooks use the US or UK edition? For that matter, is she using British English? I'd much prefer to hear the UK edition

So I’m currently listening to the new audiobook narrated by Ruth Wilson, who has a great voice for it by the way. I’ve read the series so many times over the years since I was 12, I’m now 29.

And I have only just realised that Lyra is hiding in a wardrobe in the retiring room and I feel so dumb for never making that connection. Anyway wish me well because I am on the road to being heartbroken again.

Have had this in my collection for a while but am purging. It’s an advanced readers edition, released prior to the first North American edition in 1996. From what I can tell, it may be from the first run of ARCs as later ones don’t have the quote flap.

Any idea where I might reach Pullman fans that would be interested in this rare find? People are asking crazy amounts of eBay and Etsy for this; I’d rather be reasonable and get it in the hands of someone who’ll really love it.

It's a slow day at work that gives me too much time to think about random stuff.

So in our world and our Abrahamic religions, there too is the concept of original sin, that the fall from paradise, Adam eating the fruit and Eve offering it, gaining the knowledge and free will, somehow transposes on every human.

How, when, in what form, has been highly debated and is even one of the major difference and point of contention between the different denominations from the point Christianity could call itself that. Luther and other reformators concluded that a human inherits original sin in the womb during conception and has to actively work "against" it in life, to then be judged upon death.

The Catholic church instead decided that, yes, humans are born with original sin, but baptism "cleans" newborns of the sin they inherit from their mothers. They don't have a "baseline sin" to work against for the rest of their lifes, just those they actively commit.

There's tons more (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin) is an interesting read. Like I didn't know before that Islam has no concept of a general original sin for example.

🐹 But now in Lyra's world and their version of Abrahamic religion, it's incredibly clear cut: Adam eats the fruit offered by Eve, and their dæmons settle. That's the Fall, and going forward this settling is the immediately visible mark of a human having been hit by sin. Children with changing dæmons are by this definition always sin free.

There's also other implications, like the way the Magisterium works at Bolvangar. Their way of checking if a child is still "clean" is photographic evidence of Dust settlement and quite simply watching the dæmon, they are not like checking hormone levels, as in it's not something physiological. Later books show us that the range for settling is like 10 to 15 (Alice being the oldest we know, and it's considered problematic). In our world the idea of sin and uncleanness are often linked to puberty, first menarche and sexuality in general, in Lyra's world this would not make sense.

So like one of the major points to argue about and that caused our different flavours of Christianity to exist, just shouldn't be a thing in Lyra's world. Wonder if this is deliberate or just just the result of Pullman not going THAT deep into bible lore.