Portal:His Dark Materials
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His Dark Materials is an epic award winning fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman. The trilogy consists of Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the USA, 1995), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). Set in a richly detailed multiverse, the trilogy follows the coming of age of Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry while exploring themes concerning religion, conciousness, quantum mechanics, philosophy and metaphysics.
An alethiometer is a device that tells the truth by answering any question that is asked of it. The word comes from the Greek words for truth and measure. A scholar who has mastered the art of reading the alethiometer is referred to as an alethiometrist.
In Northern Lights (released in the United States and Canada as The Golden Compass), 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 — journey to save their best friend Roger Parslow and other kidnapped children from this peril, with the aid of the Armoured Bear Iorek Byrnison, John Faa and Farder Coram, leaders of the gyptians, the aeronaut Lee Scoresby, and the witch Serafina Pekkala.
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 on a quest to find his lost father. Will becomes the bearer of the titular Subtle Knife.
In The Amber Spyglass, Will ignores the angels and, with the help of a local girl named Ama and Lord Asriel's Gallivespian spies the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, rescues Lyra from the cave she has been hidden in, 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 particle of self-awareness.
His Dark Materials: Northern Lights also known in the US as The Golden Compass is a forthcoming film based upon the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, slated for release in November 2007 by New Line.[1] by New Line Cinema. The movie title reflects the North American title of the novel The Golden Compass, known elsewhere as Northern Lights. The project was announced in February 2002, following the success of other recent adaptations of fantasy epics, and is expected to be New Line's biggest-budget project since The Lord of the Rings at $150 million.
Lyra's Oxford is a short book by Philip Pullman depicting an episode involving the heroine of His Dark Materials, Pullman's bestselling trilogy. Lyra's Oxford is set when Lyra Silvertongue is sixteen, shortly after the end of the trilogy. It was released to whet the appetite of fans of the trilogy while they wait for the unspecified release of The Book of Dust, and also to expand upon Pullman's themes from the trilogy.
The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman will be a companion novel to His Dark Materials, focusing on the stories of the secondary characters of the trilogy. Philip Pullman has also stated that The Book of Dust will not contain a story with Will and Lyra together. However, the novel is expected to include a continuation of the story about Lyra that was started in Lyra's Oxford.
Lyra Belacqua is the protagonist of Northern Lights and one of the protagonists of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Twelve year old schoolgirl Dakota Blue Richards will be playing Lyra in the upcoming film adaptation of the trilogy.
Will Parry is one of the protagonists of The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Will plays a pivotal role in the war Lord Asriel wages against The Authority and is the bearer of Æsahættr for the duration of the trilogy.
- Characters appearing in His Dark Materials.
- Articles relating to His Dark Materials.
| Part of it was physical. It felt as if an iron hand had gripped his heart and was pulling it out between his ribs, so that he pressed his hands to the place and vainly tried to hold it in. It was far deeper and far worse than the pain of losing his fingers. But it was mental, too: something secret and private was being dragged into the open, where it had no wish to be, and Will was nearly overcome by a mixture of pain and shame and fear and self-reproach, because he himself had caused it. |
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- From The Amber Spyglass
| She turned away. Behind them lay pain and death and fear; ahead of them lay doubt, and danger, and fathomless mysteries. But they weren't alone. So Lyra and her dæmon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky. |
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- From Northern Lights
- Scholastic: His Dark Materials, UK publisher's website.
- Randomhouse: His Dark Materials, U.S. publisher's website.
- Philip Pullman, author's website.
- HisDarkMaterials.org, large fansite.
- Cittàgazze, large public forum.
- His Dark Materials: BridgeToTheStars.Net, large fansite.
- BridgeToTheStars.Net His Dark Materials Wiki
- The BBC's His Dark Materials pages
