Races and creatures in His Dark Materials

Did You Know?

• Angels were originally the result of condensing Dust, though other conscious beings can also become angels.
• Arctic foxes are partially sapient and mischievous creatures that can only understand the present tense.
• Spectres of Indifference feed upon the Dust that makes up a person's soul, leaving the person in an immobile, zombie-like state.

Armoured bears (panserbjørne)

The panserbjørne are large polar bear-like creatures with opposable thumbs on their front paws, giving them dexterity and immense strength that makes them gifted metalsmiths. They can create and repair metal items beyond human capabilities. While they mainly speak English, they are also able to speak other languages. Bears are very difficult to deceive, though Iofur Raknison, the bear-king, is an exception; he emulates humans by drinking spirits, wearing expensive clothes, and wanting a dæmon, and his gullibility is attributed to his failure to act like a bear.

Polar bears' livers are poisonous due to a very high concentration of retinol (Vitamin A), a trait shared with other polar mammals. The word "panserbjørne" means "armour-bears" in Danish. Panserbjørne are generally solitary but have a loose society centred on Svalbard, governed by a king; Iofur Raknison and Iorek Byrnison are the two kings who appear in the books. Some bears occasionally hire themselves out as mercenaries or labourers in Arctic regions, though it is implied that doing so may bring shame.

Becoming an outcast is the worst shame to a bear; an outcast must leave his home and, if he approaches Svalbard again, will be shot down from afar with fire hurlers, a death considered dishonourable. An outcast may not participate in a legal duel, and any other bear may kill him without punishment.

Witches

In Lyra's world, witches are exclusively female and live in the far north. They worship their own gods and goddesses of nature and the earth, and also understand the Judeo-Christian concept of "Mother Eve." Every witch is described as very beautiful, staying young for their entire lives but attaining a look of wisdom; some live to be over 1,000 years old. They dress in ragged black silk and are always barefoot.

Witch queens usually wear a crown they have created for themselves; Serafina Pekkala wears a band of everlasting red Arctic flowers, and Ruta Skadi wears a tiara of Siberian tiger teeth. Their crowns, like their dæmons (which are always birds), reflect the witch queen's personality. Witches are renowned for excellent marksmanship and carry bows wherever they go, lowering them to the ground as a symbol of friendship. They occasionally choose exceptional human men as lovers; all of a witch's sons will be human and all of her daughters will be witches.

To a witch, the lives of sons or lovers are mere instants, and although some regret losing those they love, they accept that they cannot change who they are. They are wholly unable to forgive anyone they love who does not reciprocate those feelings. Witches can feel cold but are not affected by it, enduring the lowest temperatures comfortably and feeling the beams of the Aurora on their bare skin. There is a wasteland far north where no dæmon can go, the result of an unknown catastrophe; if a girl manages to get through it, she becomes a witch, and her dæmon can then go great distances from her without dying.

Because all witch dæmons are birds, they can fly away to carry messages, spy, or do other tasks. If a witch has a branch of a special cloud-pine tree, she can use it to fly; a human cannot fly this way, though a witch can carry another person up on her cloud-pine, usually lifting no one bigger than a child. In large numbers, witches and their cloud-pines can tow an airship with no directional engine and have some control over the winds.

Gyptians

In Lyra Belacqua’s world, the Gyptians are a fictional ethnic group with clear parallels to the Romani people. Their name, like the term “gypsy,” comes from the word “Egyptian” and is an exonym. These water-travellers spend most of their lives on boats, moving along the canals and rivers of Brytain. They make a living mainly through trade, and Lyra notes that they “come and go with the spring and autumn fairs.” The Gyptians take great pride in their skill at card games. John Faa leads a group that calls Eastern Anglia home—the counterpart to our world’s East Anglia—and this region serves as their base.

Gyptian society is built around large families. The heads of these families form the Gyptians’ Council, which is ruled by John Faa, the King of the Western Gyptians, with Farder Coram also serving on the council. When needed, they gather for a “byanroping,” also called a roping, which is a summons or muster of families. Though they are spread out across the land, their community is close-knit. Gyptian children are deeply cherished, and if one strays, other members will look after them. The group is small enough that every Gyptian knows each other by name, yet large enough to muster 170 men for a rescue mission north.

Gyptians have a distinct look, which Lyra tries to copy, and they speak with a unique accent and vocabulary that includes Fens-Dutch words. Their Dutch heritage shows in their taste for “jenniver” (Dutch jenever), their Dutch names like Dirk Vries and Raymond van Gerrit, and their use of terms such as “landloper.” This old Dutch word means “land-walker” and is also a derogatory term for “tramp,” which Gyptians use to insult non-Gyptians. Pullman may have also drawn inspiration from the 18th-century subculture of cargo narrowboat operators in the British Isles, who were constantly on the move and often viewed with suspicion by those on land.

Mulefa

The Mulefa are a sapient species from a parallel Earth in The Amber Spyglass. The word "Mulefa" is plural; a single individual is called a "zalif," with the pronunciation differing slightly based on whether the creature is male or female. Their anatomy is unusual: they have a diamond-shaped skeleton with no spine, four legs, short horns, and a prehensile trunk that serves as their primary manipulator, much like human hands. Trunk-signing is a key part of their language. Because they lack hands, many tasks—such as tying knots—require the coordinated effort of two or more trunks, which may help explain their tight-knit communities.

A notable aspect of Mulefa life is their use of large, disc-shaped seed pods from the enormous seed-pod trees of their world. Once a zalif is old enough, these pods fit onto a spur on its front and rear legs. The creature propels itself with its other two legs, similar to a cyclist without pedals. Their world features ancient lava flows that have hardened into smooth, river-like rock formations, which serve as roads. The Mulefa have a symbiotic relationship with the seed-pod trees: rolling the pods along these roads cracks their extremely hard shells, releasing seeds that the Mulefa then germinate, allowing the trees to reproduce. The book notes that the seed-pod, the spur, and the rock formation are all essential to the Mulefa's continued existence.

In terms of technology, the Mulefa are comparable to Stone Age humans. They live in wattle-and-daub villages and use simple tools, with no sign of any machinery. Metal is only used for decoration. They domesticate herds of grazers, use trees to make lacquer without harming them, and distill acid from rocks. Their main natural enemies are huge white birds called tualapi, which attack settlements with brutal ferocity; the Mulefa can only retreat inland for safety. They appear to have no organized government, living in isolated village groups with little interaction between them. Their limited trunks may have hindered technological progress compared to humans, and their environment provides everything they need, possibly reducing the drive for further development.