His Dark Materials: An Introduction

In order to help explain The Golden Compass and the His Dark Materials trilogy, I will be providing summaries and explanations of the basics to the universe presented in the trilogy. These summaries and explanations are aimed to help explain the complex 400 page novels without having to summarize each novel as I explain the religious elements.

Author and Publication:

The trilogy was written by the English writer Phillip Pullman and consists of The Golden Compass (also known as The Northern Lights in the UK), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, published in 1995, 1997 and 2000, respectively. The titles of the novels (exluding the British "Northern Lights") are all names of tools/objects that are important to each novel. Pullman is known as being an "outspoken atheist" and has commented extensively about the Catholic Church. Pullman is in the process of writing and publishing The Book of Dust which will be a companion novel to the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Characters and Universe

Setting: The world that the first novel is based in is very similar to the world we live in. Most, but not all, of the countries mentioned in the novel are real countries. Things like the bank Wells Fargo are also mentioned. Zeppelins are a common form of transportation in this world.

Lyra: Lyra is the protagonist of the trilogy. Her age is not yet specified although it is clear that she has not yet hit puberty, she is probably around eleven years old at the beginning of the trilogy. She was raised in a theology college within Oxford called Jordan College. She was taught by scholars and raised by a man who she thought was her uncle but later (about halfway into the first novel) finds out that he is her birth father. Lyria's daemon is named Pantalaimon (nicknamed Pan) and has not yet settled into an animal since Lyria is still a child. Lyria is very brave, outspoken as well as spunky and playful. Although Pan has not yet settled he often appears as a mouse, a wildcat, a moth and an ermine. Witches have prophesied that Lyria will be instrumental in keeping the balance of life but is not aware of her destiny. She is unique in being able to read an alethiometer.

Daemons:

In Lyria's universe, each human is born with a daemon which is a manifestation of the soul that exists outside the human's body. Daemons appear in animal form which is fluid before the human reaches puberty but settles to a specific animal after puberty. The animal that one's daemon settles into reflects the person's personality. If a person's daemon is killed, the individual is also killed; the individual can also feel any physical pain that their daemon feels. An individual can only be at most several meters away from their daemon at any given time (unless the individual is a witch). Daemons can talk to humans but often only speak to their own individual.

Alethiometer: An alethiometer, or a "Golden Compass" is a device that can answer any question you ask it, truthfully. Lyra can read the alethiometer, which is a skill that is unique to her. Only a few alethiometers were ever made and it is said that the Church destroyed most of them. The alethiometer is powered by Dust.

Dust: We do not know very much about Dust (yet). However, it is revealed in the first novel that Dust is an elementary particle and has something to do with "Original Sin". It is believed that Dust originates in an alternate universe. The North and the Northern Lights seem to be connected to Dust.

Lord Asriel: Lord Asriel is Lyra's birth father but raised her as his niece. Lyra was told that her parents had died in an accident and was raised in Jordan College where Lord Asriel worked, although he was often not present. Asriel is a scientist and explorer who is interested in Dust. In The Golden Compass he spends most of the novel imprisoned in the North. He is a morally grey character, especially due to his act of betrayal to Lyra at the very end of the novel. Lord Asriel is trying to destroy the source of Dust.

Panserbjørn: These are armored polar bears who live in the North and fight for whoever they are contracted to. Lyra befriends one of these halfway through The Golden Compass, named Iorek Byrnison. He ultimately becomes king of the armored polar bears (at the end of the first novel).

Mrs. Maria Coulter: Mrs. Coulter is Lyra's birth mother although Lyra did not meet her until she was eleven (during the novel). Coulter is in charge of the Gobblers and often kidnaps the children herself. Lyra traveled with Coulter at the beginning of the book (not knowing that she was her mother) and ran away when she found out that Coulter was involved with the kidnapping of children.

Witches: As of the first novel, not a ton is explained about the witches. Although we do know that they are another race, different from humans although they resemble humans. Witches are only females (they can reproduce with human males) and live for hundreds of years. They live in the wild and are able to fly and have few possessions. Witches assist Lyra in her journey in the first novel. Witches have daemons but they are able to be hundreds of miles away from them.

Gypians: The Gypians are a group of humans who live like Gypsies and are traders that travel on boats. A group of Gypians assist Lyra greatly in the novel, saving her life multiple times. The Gypians are poor and their children were the ones that were kidnapped the most by the General Oblation Board, or the Gobblers. The leader of the Gypians is John Faa.

Roger: Roger is Lyra's best friend, he works in the kitchen at Jordan College. Roger was kidnapped by the Gobblers and Lyra set out to rescue him. He is killed by Lord Asriel at the end of the first novel when Asriel betrays Lyra and uses Roger to create a bridge to another universe.

The Master: The Master is the head of Jordan College and gave Lyra the golden compass. He is very concerned with protecting Lyra. He tried to poison Lord Asriel in the very beginning of the book, however, it does seem like that he is a virtuous character in the trilogy.

The Gobblers: The Gobblers or The General Oblation Board is an organization, funded by the Church, that kidnaps children (most often children of poor families) and experiments on them. They are experimenting with a process called intercision that cuts a child's daemon away from their being. It seems as though all of their attempts to do this eventually lead to the child's death. Lyra and others regard the idea of separating a daemon from an individual as a unimaginably horrible thing. Lyra meets a boy (shortly before he dies) that had been surgically separated from his daemon and the boy was incredibly lost and confused, almost like he was a ghost.