His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of novels by the fantasy fiction author Philip Pullman, comprising Northern Lights (released as The Golden Compass in the United States), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The trilogy has also been published as a single-volume omnibus in the UK, titled simply "His Dark Materials".

Plot summary

The trilogy takes place across a multiverse, moving between many alternate worlds. In Northern Lights, the story takes place in a world much like our own, though with a number of subtle differences. In The Subtle Knife, the story passes into our world (what we might define as a break into reality), and in The Amber Spyglass it crosses through an array of diverse worlds.

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Northern Lights

Main article: Northern Lights

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In Northern Lights, the heroine, Lyra Belacqua, a young girl brought up in the cloistered world of Jordan College, Oxford, and her dæmon Pantalaimon—an animal-shaped manifestation of her soul—learn of the existence of Dust—a strange elementary particle believed by the Church to be evidence for Original Sin—that is less attracted to the innocence of children, giving rise to gross experiments being carried out by Church-controlled scientists on kidnapped children in the icy wastelands of the far North. Lyra and her dæmon journey to save their best friend Roger, and other kidnapped children, from this peril. After success, and dealings with Armoured Bears and Witches, Roger is killed by Lyra's own father Lord Asriel in his own successful experiment to create a bridge into another world. He and Lyra journey on through it separately, both in search of the source of Dust.

Related Topics:
Lyra Belacqua - Jordan College, Oxford - Dæmon - Dust - Original Sin - Lord Asriel

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The Subtle Knife

Main article: The Subtle Knife

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In The Subtle Knife, Lyra journeys to an otherworldly city called Cittàgazze that is bereft of adults due to soul-eating creatures called Spectres that target post-adolescents. Here, Lyra meets Will Parry, a twelve-year-old boy from our own world who has stumbled into this one after recently killing a man to protect his ailing mother, also on a quest to find his lost father. Will becomes the bearer of the eponymous Subtle Knife—so called because it can cut through the barriers between the worlds—and, meeting with Witches from Lyra's world, they journey on, only for Will to find his father, his father to be killed, and Lyra to be captured and taken away by her sinister mother Mrs Coulter, who has learnt that Lyra is prophesied to be the next Eve. Will is then instructed by a pair of angels that he must travel with them to give the Subtle Knife to Lyra's father, Lord Asriel.

Related Topics:
Spectre - Will Parry - Mrs Coulter - Eve - Lord Asriel

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The Amber Spyglass

Main article: The Amber Spyglass

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In The Amber Spyglass, Will ignores the angels and rescues Lyra and with the help of Lord Asriel's Gallivespian spies the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, and they journey to the Land of the Dead, there to release the dead souls from their captivity imposed by the oppressive God-figure, The Authority. Mary Malone, a scientist of our world interested in Dust, travels to a land populated by strange sentient creatures called Mulefa, and there learns of the true nature of Dust, existing as panpsychic particles of self-awareness. Lord Asriel and a reformed Mrs Coulter team up to destroy The Authority's Regent, Metatron, but are killed in the process, and The Authority himself dies of his own frailty amongst a massive battle between the rebels and his servants. Post-climactically, Will and Lyra fall in love, marking their loss of innocence, but are irrevocably separated; for greater good, the Subtle Knife is destroyed and the passageways between worlds are sealed forever.

Related Topics:
Lord Asriel - Gallivespian - Chevalier Tialys - Lady Salmakia - Mary Malone - Mulefa - Mrs Coulter - Metatron

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