Plot Synopsis

His Dark Materials is based on Philip Pullman’s trilogy of the same name. Lyra Belacqua (11) and Will Parry (12), the two central characters, come from different worlds. Lyra lives in a ‘universe like ours but different in many ways’, while Will’s world is recognizably ours.

In Lyra’s world humans have daemons, physical manifestations of the soul, which take on the shape of animals. In adults the daemons’ are fixed or ‘settled’, but in children they can transfigure into many shapes. Lyra’s daemon, Pantalaimon, mostly takes the form of a pine marten. In Lyra’s Oxford the feared GOBBLERS are abroad, kidnapping children who disappear and are never heard of again. It emerges that Lyra’s mother, the beautiful, ambitious Mrs. Coulter and her cruel Golden Monkey daemon are involved with the GOBBLERS. When Lyra’s friend Roger disappears, she is determined to find him and bring him home. Her quest takes her from Jordan College in Oxford to the far North where she is befriended by armoured bears, witches, and Lee Scoresby a Texan aeronaut. Lyra carries with her an alethiometer, a truth-telling compass which she intuitively learns to read, although it takes scholars many years to acquire the skill. Meanwhile, Lyra’s uncle, Lord Asriel (whom she later learns is her father) is preparing an expedition to the Arctic to investigate the mysterious phenomenon, Dust. He has secured funding for his trip by demonstrating to the Oxford scholars the existence of an alternative world visible through the Dust.

Will Parry is an ordinary boy from our world, though he has committed an extraordinary act – murder. On the run after his terrible crime, he stumbles through a window into another world, Cittàgazze, where children seem to rule and dreaded spectres prey on the souls of adults. In this world Will meets and befriends Lyra. The two soon find themselves in search of a small but extremely powerful weapon – the Subtle Knife – capable of cutting a window between the worlds. Will’s search for his lost father, and Lyra’s for Roger and the truth about Dust, drive the story forward.

As their quest advances, there are rumours of an impending war between the Kingdom of Heaven, ruled by the Authority, and the newly formed Republic of Heaven, under the command of Lord Asriel. Lyra and Will, armed with the Alethiometer and the Subtle Knife, embark on a quest that will change the course of history. They travel to the Land of the Dead and encounter the ancient and dying Authority. As Will and Lyra move into young adulthood, innocence turns to experience. They develop a new awareness of each other and are forced to make a painful sacrifice, putting the collective good before individual need.