Northern Lights (Pullman novel)

Did You Know?

• The setting is a world dominated by the Magisterium, an international theocracy that suppresses heresy.
• Humans' souls exist outside their bodies as sentient dæmons in animal form.
• The alethiometer is a truth-telling symbol reader; a skilled practitioner sets its hands to symbols and poses questions.

Plot

Twelve-year-old Lyra Belacqua lives at Jordan College, Oxford, with her dæmon Pantalaimon. She witnesses the Master poison wine meant for Lord Asriel, whom she believes is her uncle, and warns him. Lyra spies on Asriel's lecture about Dust, a mysterious substance attracted more to adults than children, and sees images of a parallel universe in the Northern Lights. The college funds Asriel's controversial research.

Before leaving, the Master gives Lyra an alethiometer, a truth-telling device she learns to use intuitively. Lyra discovers Coulter leads the Gobblers, a Church-funded project, and flees. The Gyptians, canal-faring nomads whose children have also been taken, reveal that Asriel and Coulter are Lyra's parents. They journey to the Arctic with Lyra.

In Trollesund, Lyra helps Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear, recover his armour; he and aeronaut Lee Scoresby join the expedition. Lyra learns Asriel is exiled on Svalbard, guarded by bears, and that a prophecy about her exists.

Characters

In this world, every human and witch has a dæmon, the physical manifestation of their soul, usually of the opposite sex. Children's dæmons can change form; adults' dæmons settle into a permanent shape reflecting their personality. Armoured bears and cliff ghasts lack dæmons; a bear's armour is its soul. Lyra Belacqua, with blue eyes and blond hair, is short, thin, brave, curious, and crafty.

Her dæmon Pantalaimon (Pan) can still change shape, often appearing as a moth, wildcat, ermine, or mouse. Roger Parslow is Lyra's friend, an orphan at Jordan College whose kidnapping drives the plot. Lord Asriel, Lyra's father, has a snow leopard dæmon named Stelmaria. Marisa Coulter, Lyra's mother, is an intelligent, beautiful, ruthless agent of the Magisterium; her dæmon is an unnamed golden monkey.

Iorek Byrnison, rightful king of the panserbjørne (armoured bears), is tricked out of his armour and enslaved, but becomes Lyra's protector after she helps him. Iofur Raknison is the usurper bear king. Serafina Pekkala, a witch, follows Lyra and knows her destiny; her dæmon Kaisa is a snow goose that can travel far from her. Lee Scoresby, a Texan aeronaut, befriends Iorek and sees Lyra as a surrogate daughter; his dæmon Hester is an arctic snow hare.

Title

The US publisher Knopf mistakenly called the first book The Golden Compass, thinking it referred to Lyra's alethiometer, which resembles a navigational compass. By the time Pullman changed the trilogy's name to His Dark Materials, Knopf was attached to the title and insisted on publishing the book as The Golden Compass in the US, while it remained Northern Lights in Britain and Australia.

Adaptations

New Line Cinema released a feature film titled The Golden Compass in December 2007, adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, with Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra and a cast including Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott, Derek Jacobi, and Christopher Lee. An audiobook narrated by Natasha Richardson was released in 1996. BBC Worldwide produced an abridged dramatisation in 2003, and BBC Audiobooks released an unabridged version narrated by Philip Pullman with a full cast, including Joanna Wyatt as Lyra.

The National Theatre in London staged a two-part adaptation of the trilogy in 2003–2004. A video game of the film, The Golden Compass, developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Sega, was released on 4 December 2007, featuring Lyra, an armoured bear, and Pantalaimon. BBC One began broadcasting a TV adaptation of His Dark Materials on 3 November 2019, covering events from Northern Lights; it premiered on HBO in the US the next day. The series was produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema, directed by Tom Hooper, and starred Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ian Gelder, and Ruta Gedmintas.