Thread: His Dark Materials Trilogy

I just finished reading the trilogy again (all three in four days), and I noticed some strange things.

1) You never learn the name of Mrs. Coulter's daemon.
It's true. Think about it. You even know the name of Lord Asriel's, but not hers. Weird, no?

2) Mrs. Coulter's daemon never speaks
Actually, he says one word in The Amber Spyglass: 'Shh!'

3) The narrator never refers to Mrs. Coulter as anything but 'Mrs. Coulter'
This isn't entirely strange, because it maintains narrative continuity, but even when she turns into a strange kind of anti-hero she is still, to the narrator 'Mrs. Coulter', never 'Marisa'.

4) You never know Lord Asriel's first name

I wonder why Pullman did these things?

Yeah, that is weird. My theories:

1) Maybe because Mrs. Coulter was the villain and Pullman wanted the reader to have an inpersonal view of her, sort of like from Lyra's point of view. An evil lady that we want to keep away from.

2) Also because Mrs. Coulter is a villain. If the daemon speaks it shows the reader that Mrs. Coulter's daemon is a person too. Er, I mean a daemon. You know what I mean, I think. Again, he probably didn't want the reader to sympathize very much.

3) From Lyra's point of view, Mrs. Coulter is Mrs. Coulter. Not Marisa. So this is the impression we're supposed to get as well. If the narrator referred to her as Marisa, it would be like the narrator and us talking over Lyra's head. Instead, it's brought to Lyra's level. Which makes sense.

4) Again, maybe because it's supposed to be from Lyra's point of view. She is the one you're supposed to sympathize with the most. Also, Lord Asriel was sort of enigmatic. Maybe it helps with this image ..?

I don't know. Just thoughts.

Ah, but in the third book Mrs. Coulter became a decidedly less evil character, despite being...well, evil.

True .. but still. That was the third book. You're supposed to be shocked that she's got a good spot.

I've seen the play. It is beyond amazingly good.

The daemons they do using puppets - the puppets are handled by actors wearing only black who manipulate them, and the puppets have lanterns inside, so they glow. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Love it.

I loved this series. I also liked how the more you read it the more references to religion you find. Very crafty.

I think one of my teachers read most of the first book to my class a long time ago. I remember liking it, but that's about it.
I don't think I ever finished the Golden Compass, but I know I read The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, I know I liked them, a lot, but aside from a few random moments in all of the books, nothing really stuck.
I know where I was, geographically, when I finished the last one.
Now I want to go back and read them again.

I absolutely loved the Dark Materials, although I read them years ago. I've read a few other books by Phillip Pullman and they were good too. I think one was called The Tiger in the Well.

Grace

I suppose I can't really comment, as I've only read the first book in this series. But I've scanned through the others. I liked the ideas Pullman put across, but I really disliked the character of Will, and after his introduction I lost all interest and enthusiasm in the books.

I've also heard what happens at the end, which makes me even more reluctant to read the rest of the series. I find it contrived and unneccesary when writers feel they have to include some sort of romance - especially when the characters are only - what, fourteen? Fifteen?

Just my two cents.

The romance was not a very large aspect of the third book, but it held symbolic importance - the Fall from Eden, again. In other words, he included it to satisfy the religious prophecy about Lyra, and not just for some crazy unnescessary whim of his...

But I agree, I never did like Will either.

I liked Lyra less.

Hate Will. Love the books though.

The movie version of the trilogy is in trouble. Seems that studio execs want to get rid of the "anti-religious" elements, for fear of radical right-wing Christian backlash. The director has left and not much has been released yet, as to possible helmers.

how would they do that?

*slight spoilers*
its a strongly anti-religous book, there would be no plot, no motivation for lord asriel to open the portal in the sky, no battle at the planes, no people chasing lyra, there would be no substance.
*end spoilers*

I loved the books, was kind of sad at the end though.

I found I had to wade through The Amber Spyglass, but Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife were good. I loved Will, Lyra and Roger, all good characters. I also liked Lord Asriel. Pantalaimon I especially liked though.