Search for Roger Parslow
A child's desperate quest to save a friend spirals into a world-shattering rebellion against soul-stealing tyranny.
The search for Roger Parslow drives the plot of Northern Lights, which follows Lyra Belacqua's journey to the Arctic in search of her missing friend. Roger, a kitchen boy at Jordan College and Lyra's best friend, goes missing, presumed kidnapped by child abductors known as the 'Gobblers'. Lyra later discovers that Mrs Coulter is the head of the Gobblers, or General Oblation Board, a secret Church-funded project.
Quick Facts
- Primary protagonist
- Lyra Belacqua
- Missing person
- Roger Parslow
- Antagonistic force
- The General Oblation Board; The Magisterium
- Major allies
- Iorek Byrnison
- Lee Scoresby
- Farder Coram
- Narrative function
- Inciting Incident for the Northern Journey
Lore & Background
The Gobblers experiment on children by severing the bond between human and dæmon, a soul-splitting process called intercision. Lyra flees from Mrs Coulter and is found by the Gyptians, canal-faring nomads, many of whose children have also been abducted. The Gyptians form an expedition to the Arctic with Lyra, where they believe the Gobblers are holding their children. On the way she is joined by the armoured bear Iorek Byrnison and his human aeronaut friend, Lee Scoresby.
Reader's Guide
Lyra is captured and taken to Bolvangar, the Gobbler research station, where she is briefly reunited with Roger. She sets the station on fire and evacuates the children, and she, Roger and Iorek flee in Scoresby's hot air balloon. Lyra, Iorek and Roger continue to Svalbard, where Lord Asriel has continued his Dust research in exile. There Asriel severs Roger from his dæmon, killing him and releasing enough energy to create an opening to a parallel universe. In The Amber Spyglass, Lyra dreams of meeting Roger in the land of the dead and promises to help.
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