The Amber Spyglass

An update on characters and concepts introduced in the final book of the His Dark Materials trilogy:

Barauch and Balthamos: These two characters are lesser angels that assist Will in finding Lyra. Barauch dies early on in the book. These characters help make it known that there are different ranks/degrees of angels and that some angels were once humans. They are running from the archangel Metatron.

Mulefa: These are the creatures that Dr. Malone meets in an alternate world. They are elephant like but use seedpods that attach to their feet as wheels. The creatures have a complex language and culture and can speak to Malone. The Mulefa have some sort of religious system and a story very similar to the story of Adam and Eve, where a Mulefa without the knowledge of wheels meets a snake who teaches her how to use wheels which in turn created a wise Mulefas.

Dr. Mary Malone (an update): At the end of The Subtle Knife the Dust tells Malone that she must be "the serpent" and she goes on an adventure to try to find Will and Lyra. She meets up with the Mulefa and is accepted into their community. She creates a tool from the sap of the seedpods (that the Mulefa use as their wheels) that allows her to see Dust, this is called the amber spyglass. Malone has also been named the temptress, who will tempt an Eve character (Lyra). Malone does this by telling Lyra the story of why she decided not to become a nun (she fell in love) which "plants a seed in Lyra's mind" and plays the role of the serpent.

The Authority: The Authority was the first Angel to exist and formed Dust. He led other angels and creatures to believe that he was the creator of the multiverse, which led him to claim power in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is said that The Authority goes by many names including "God, the Creator, the Lord, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty." (pg 31) He is the God of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions and the Bible is his word. The Authority appointed Metatron, the archangel who eventually grows more powerful than the Authority. The Authority ends up trapped in a magical box (essentially) during the final battle. He is released from the box by Lyra and Will and he drifts from the box and dies.

Obviously, there is a lot of religion going on here, to the degree that I thought it would be too difficult to separate the religion from the summary of the book. One thing that I found especially interesting about the religious elements of this book was that God was not the creator and instead was sort of a false God figure. This also reminded me of how Aslan (who was the creator) was impersonated in The Last Battle. Although these events are similar, it is obvious how pro-Christianity Lewis is and how opposite Pullman's views are. When I first started His Dark Materials, I thought that the books were going to much more anti-Catholic (and anti-religious hierarchy) more than anything else, however by killing God and stating that The Authority was the God for all of the Abrahamic religions it was clearly more anti-theistic than I originally thought. Pullman did make it clear that the Authority (God) was not the creator of the multiverse and did not include any information, or even speculation, about how or by whom, the multiverse was created. This is something that I hope he addresses in his next book in the series because it will be really interesting to see if he decides to make a divine creator or a scientific one (or a combination of the two).

Another really interesting religious element in this novel was Lyra's role of Eve. This is also similar to the temptation that was given to Digory in The Magician's Nephew. In Lewis' novel, Digory resists the temptation (which is in the form of a magical fruit) and it would obviously be a sin if he hadn't. However, in The Amber Spyglass, Lyra did give into temptation (love) and it wasn't seen really seen as a bad thing. I interpreted it more as an inevitable, human, thing that happens and not something to be condemned. I speculate that this is also what Pullman is trying to say about Eve being tempted to eat the forbidden fruit; I think he is trying to explain this as a natural progression that Eve was naturally set up to do.