INTRODUCTION

The novel “Northern Lights” by is the first book of the trilogy “”, published in 1995. It is a fantasy novel with a story that takes place in our parallel universe. The novel won the Carnegie Medal (a literary award for outstanding books for children and young adults) one year after it was published. It was adopted into a Hollywood feature film in 2007 under the title “Golden Compass” along with an accompanying video game. Both the trilogy and the film were faced with controversy because some critics claim they are sending a negative image of religion.

I have chosen this book for my paperwork because I have already read it in Croatian and really enjoyed the story of a universe where every human has its own “daemon” or animal companion. With that companion you are never alone; you always have someone to talk to and someone that will always help you when you find yourself in difficult situations. In that way this universe, where we are surrounded with hundreds of people every day and yet we feel alone, would seem much more fulfilled.

1 1. PHILIP PULLMAN

Philip Pullman is an English writer born in Norwich, England on 19th of October, 1946. His father, a Royal Airforce Pilot, was killed in a plane crash when he was seven years old. When his mother remarried they moved to Australia where he discovered the art of comic books.

From 1957 he was educated in Wales and spent time with his grandfather in Norfolk. During that time he discovered John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” which became a great influence for his trilogy “His Dark Materials”.

From 1963 he attended Exeter College, Oxford and received a Third class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. He got married in 1970 and started teaching middle school children (ages 9 to 13) at Bishop Kirk Middle School in Summertown in North Oxford. During that time he also wrote school plays.

He taught part – time at Westminster College, Oxford, between 1988 and 1996.

His bibliography includes non – series books: “The Haunted Storm” (1972), “Galatea” (1976), “Count Karlstein” (1982), “” (1987), “Spring Heeled Jack” (1989), “” (1990), “” (1992), “The Wonderful Story of Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp” (1993), “” / ”All Wound Up” (1995), “The Firework – Maker’s Daughter” (1995), “Mossycoat” (1998), “The Butterfly Tattoo” (1998), “I was a Rat!” / ”The Scarlet Slippers” (1999), “Puss in Boots: The Adventures of That Most Enterprising Feline” (2000), “The Scarecrow and his Servant” (2004), “The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ” (2010). His series books are “Sally Lockhart” that consists of “The Ruby in the Smoke” (1985), “” (1986), “” (1991) and “The Tin Princess” (1994); “The New – Cut Gang” that consists of “Thunderbolt’s Waxwork” (1994) and “The Gasfitter’s Ball” (1995); and “His Dark Materials” which consists of “Northern Lights” (1995), “” (1997) and “” (2000). His 2 companion books are “Lyra’s Oxford” (2003), “Once Upon a Time in the North” (2008) and not yet released “”. He also wrote plays, non – fiction books and comics.

3 2. ABOUT THE TITLE

At first the author named the trilogy “The Golden Compasses” referring to a pair of compasses – the circle drawing instruments, not navigational instruments. Pullman settled on “Northern Lights” as the title for the first book of the series, but continued to refer to the trilogy as “The Golden Compasses”. Both the original and the final title (“His Dark Materials”) for the series were taken from Milton’s poem “Paradise Lost”. The part of the poem from which Pullman took the original title is:

“Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand He took the golden compasses, prepared In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe This universe, and all created things: One foot he centred, and the other turned Round through the vast profundity obscure“

In the United States the publishers had been calling it “The Golden Compass” (not compasses) because they believed it referred to Lyra’s alethiometer, a device that superficially resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Philip Pullman had replaced the title of the trilogy “The Golden Compasses” with “His Dark Materials”. In the US, the publishers had become so attached to “The Golden Compass” that they insisted on publishing the first book under that title, rather than “Northern Lights”, the title used in the UK and Australia.

4 3. PLOT SUMMARY

The novel starts with a part of John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost”:

“Into this wild abyss,

The womb of nature and perhaps her grave,

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,

But all these in their pregnant causes mixed

Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,

Unless the almighty maker them ordain

His dark materials to create more worlds,

Into this wild abyss the wary fiend

Stood on the brink of hell and looked a while,

Pondering his voyage…”

The novel is divided into three parts, depending on Lyra’s location: “Oxford”, “Bolvangar” and “Svalbard”. Those parts are then divided into twenty-three paragraphs in total.

3.1. PART ONE: OXFORD

The story of the first part begins with Lyra Belacqua, an 11-year-old girl, and her dæmon Pantalaimon, an animal-formed, shape-shifting manifestation of her soul, sneaking through dark halls of the Jordan College in Oxford. They were on their way to the forbidden Retiring Room of the college, trying their best not to be seen. Lyra’s dæmon Pan was in the shape of a dark brown moth so he wouldn’t easily be seen in the dark, was not pleased with her decision to go into the forbidden room and was trying to 5 persuade her to change her mind. She seemed to take the situation too lightly, touching everything and looking around curiously, even though she could get in a lot of trouble if the Steward found her there. Suddenly, they heard voices outside the doors and hid behind one of the armchairs. The doors opened and Lyra realised it was one of the servants talking to the Master. In the conversation they mentioned , Lyra’s uncle, a man whom she admired and feared greatly, was coming to the college. When the Master said everything he needed to the servant, he was left alone – or so he thought. Lyra could see his feet moving across the floor from her not-much-of-a-hiding place. A decanter of rich golden wine, Tokay, was sitting on the table. Lyra saw the Master pouring a thing stream of white powder into the decanter and stirring it with a pencil until it had dissolved.

He left the room but the Steward’s bell rang soon after, meaning that she cannot get out without anyone noticing. When she heard the Steward’s heavy footsteps she hid in an oak wardrobe. After a while the Butler came in the room to trim the lights and helped himself to a handful of leaf from the smoking-mill when he got surprised by Lord Asriel walking in. A shiver of cold surprise ran down Lyra’s back. After the Butler left, Lyra heard Lord Asriel talking to his dæmon, Stelmaria, a snow leopard, about showing projections and specimens in the Retiring Room. Lyra had no idea what was going on. When she saw her uncle pouring himself a glass of Tokay she cried a quiet: “No!”, before she could stop herself. Lord Asriel heard her so she ran out of the closet to snatch the glass from his hand. He yelled and threatened to break her arm but she said she saved his life. She explained that she saw the Master pouring poison into the Tokay, but had stop before she could finish and hide in the wardrobe again because the Porter was coming. Lord Asriel tripped the bottle of Tokay and made it look like the Porter had broken it. As he left to get something to clean the mess up, Lord Asriel spoke into the wardrobe: “Since you’re in there, you can make yourself useful. Watch the Master closely when he comes in. If you tell me something interesting about him, I’ll keep you from getting further into trouble you’re already in. Understand?”.

The Master was the first to come in through the door. Lyra watched him as he glanced across the table to the place the Tokay had been. Lord Asriel explained the Porter knocked it of the table but that it was his fault. The rest of the Scholars entered 6 after the Master. After a buzz of conversation Lord Asriel was to show his slides. The Master was seated near the wardrobe so Lyra could hear him tell the Librarian: “The devil! He knew about the wine, I’m sure of it!”.

Lord Asriel showed slides of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and the mysterious elementary particles called Dust. Lyra still didn’t know what her uncle was talking about but the Scholar’s gasps of disbelief assured her it was something really incredible. On the slide showing Aurora Borealis taken with a special emulsion they saw an outline of a city just in the middle of the lights. It was voted that Lord Asriel is to be given funds to go back North and continue his expedition.

Lyra fell asleep in the wardrobe. Her uncle shook her shoulder and she woke up. She asked if she could come with him to the North but he wouldn’t let her. Instead, he sent her to her room and told her to be a good girl.

Meanwhile, the Master and the Librarian settled in the Master’s study to discuss what had just happened. Both of them were never happy with the idea of murdering Lord Asriel, but the alethiometer warned them that his research would put the child, Lyra, in danger.

Lyra, young servants and the children of servants were at war with their peers from other colleges but that fact would be forgotten when the town children attacked a college child. And even that would be forgotten when other enemies threatened.

Rumours about Gobblers started circling through the country. Many children have already been kidnapped, but no one really knew who the Gobblers were. When Roger, a kitchen boy from the college and Lyra’s friend, gets kidnapped she vows to rescue him. After a hard wash, the Housekeeper dressed Lyra in her best dress and told her to be polite, to speak when she’s spoken to and a ton more advice for the formal dinner with the Master and his guests. There, she is introduced with all of them, Mrs. Marisa Coulter being the last one. Mrs. Coulter asked Lyra to sit next to her during dinner. After dinner, the ladies withdrew for coffee. Mrs. Coulter spoke of her trips to the North and everything she saw there, leaving Lyra in awe. When all the guests left, the Master told Lyra that she needs female guidance and that her stay at the Jordan College is coming to an end. Lyra didn’t like that idea at first, but when she heard the Master say 7 that Mrs. Coulter would be the best choice for a female companion, she instantly changed her mind. Mrs. Coulter agrees to take her as her apprentice and lets her know that they could be going to the North. She went to bed after the conversation, and is woken up by Mrs. Lonsdale, the Housekeeper, while it was still dark. She told her that the Master wants to see her before she joins Mrs. Coulter for breakfast. She was to go to the Master’s house and tap on the French window of the study. Once she got there and tapped on the window, it opened almost instantly. He told her he has something to give her, and swore her to secrecy. He gave her an alethiometer and told her to keep it from Mrs. Coulter. The object resembles a golden pocket-watch and can answer any questions asked by a skilled user – its value is priceless. Lyra took it with her to Mrs. Coulter’s flat, and tried to figure it out before going to sleep, but couldn’t yet understand its complexity. During her stay with Mrs. Coulter, Lyra met a lot of different people – politicians, scholars, artists, women of high class, etc. In the intervals between all other activities, Mrs. Coulter would teach her about everything. Lyra already knew something, but her knowledge wasn’t complete. When Mrs. Coulter started talking about electrons, Lyra said they were negatively charged particles, kinda like Dust, except that Dust isn’t charged. As soon as she said that, Mrs. Coulter’s dæmon snapped his head in surprise, and his fur stood up as it were charged itself. Mrs. Coulter asked her where she heard about Dust, and there was obvious tension in the room. After Lyra’s nervous explanation, Mrs. Coulter changed the topic back to neutrons as quickly as she could. When Lyra had been living there for six weeks or so, Mrs. Coulter decided to hold a cocktail party. Pantalaimon started doubting they would ever go to the North and said that Lyra’s becoming Mrs. Coulter’s pet. Lyra said nothing, but she knew Pantalaimon was right. In the morning, Mrs. Coulter told Lyra to take off her shoulder bag (in which she kept the alethiometer). When Lyra asked her to let her keep it on, Mrs. Coulter’s daemon pinned Pantalaimon to the floor. Lyra begged to stop hurting them, and had to promise to take the bag off. At the cocktail party, she had to pretend that nothing happened and had to be a sweet, charming, delightful girl. Overhearing a conversation of some Scolars, she discovered that the woman she was staying with is the head of the Gobblers who had been kidnapping children throughout the country. A young woman journalist wanted to speak with her, but was interrupted by Mrs. Coulter

8 quickly and kicked out of the house because she wasn’t invited to the party. Lyra noticed her gold monkey dæmon wasn’t with her. The dæmon appeared soon after, but Pantalaimon said he was coming out of their room and that he knows about the alethiometer. She learned that Lord Asriel is being kept in the fortress of Svalbard, guarded by panserbjørne. She became horrified and escaped from the flat during the party.

They didn’t know where they’ll sleep so they went to the canal, but some men captured them in a net. She was rescued by the Gyptians, a nomadic, canal-boat- dwelling people that killed the men and took her with them on their boat. Lyra knew some of them, Tony Costa, because she used to play with his brother before the Gobblers got him, and their mother. She met John Faa, the king of the Gyptians who said that there was a reward out for Lyra but that they won’t give her up. The Gyptians planned an expedition to the north to rescue the many children that were taken from them, just like Roger was taken from Jordan College. Lord Faa told Lyra her life’s story. Amongst everything, she found out that Ma Costa nursed her when she was a baby and that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are her parents. She showed Lord Faa and his friend, Farder Coram, her alethiometer. The friend said it was a truth-measure and explained how to use it.

During her stay with the Gyptians, Lyra asked Ma Costa a lot of questions about the time she took care of her and tried to work the alethiometer remembering what Farder Coram told her. One day, the heads of six Gyptian families gave their offerings in gold and men to Lord Faa, and he thanked them gratefully. Lord Faa told them his plan to go to the North and rescue all the taken children. They said that Lyra isn’t coming with them, but her mind was already set on going.

She told Farder Coram that she is trying to work the alethiometer, asking it questions about Benjamin de Ruyter, a Gyptian spy. The answer pointed to an hourglass with a skull on top of it. She thought it could mean death. A few moments after, they found out that Mr. de Ruyter is, in fact, dead. Lord Faa sent for her and told her that she’s coming with them because she can now read the alethiometer.

9 During the next two weeks she had to hide, because there was a reward for her discovery and severe punishment for anyone concealing her, and she spent her time reading the alethiometer’s complex symbols by herself or with Farder Coram. Soon they began their journey to the North.

3.2. PART TWO: BOLVANGAR

John Faa and the other leaders had decided that they would make for Trollesund, the main port of Lapland. He knew that he needed the witches’ help and that they had a consulate in town. Farder Coram could ask them for a favour because he saved one witch’s life. He told them that witches can separate from their dæmon much farther then they can.

When they stopped at Trollesund, she went with Farder Coram to the Witch-Consul. Farder Coram told him he needed two things – to get in touch with a witch named Serafina Pekkala and to know if they’ve heard anything about the Gobblers. The Consul told them what he knew and that they should hire an armoured bear (panserbjørn - a race of conscious polar bear-like creatures that have opposable thumbs on their front paws) called Iorek Byrnison. Lord Faa also found an aëronaut, Lee Scoresby from Texas. In the evening, Lyra and Farder Coram went to find the armoured bear behind Einarsson’s Bar. He was an exiled bear prince who was paid for working in meat and alcohol, to do a dishonourable job for a panserbjørn. The villagers took away his armour that, for him, equals a dæmon, and bound him to do his work. He said he would join them if they got his armour back. In the night, Serafina Pekkala’s dæmon came to the ship and Lyra went to get Farder Coram and John Faa. The dæmon, a goose named Kaisa, told them about Dust-hunters, what they believed were the Gobblers, and their location in Bolvangar, the fields of evil. They are defended by the Tartars armed with rifles. He gave them directions to Bolvangar. Lord Faa heard bad stories about the armoured bear and wasn’t sure how to help hi. In the morning, Lee Scoresby’s dæmon told Pan, Lyra’s dæmon, to go straight to the bear and tell him directly where his armour is (Lyra knew where it was because she used her alethiometer). She told him it 10 was in the cellar of the priest’s house and he took it by force, but did not kill anybody because Lyra asked him not to. He listened to her and was grateful, thereby promising his aid.

They travelled for several hours and then stopped to eat. Lord Faa told Lyra to read the alethiometer for clues on how Bolvangar was defended. She told him that it was defended with Tartars with wolf-dæmons, and a lot of guns. They instantly knew they were the Sibirsk regiment, fierce warriors. Lyra also mentioned that the alethiometer is saying something about a ghost troubling a village nearby and that she thinks it’s a ghost of one of the kids. Lord Faa said that he doesn’t think there’s anything anybody can do about it so she went to speak with Iorek. He took her to the village on his back with permission from Lord Faa. On their way to the village they saw hundreds of witches flying somewhere. Iorek told Lyra that they should all be afraid if the witches are going to help their enemy. When they got to the village, a frightened villager told them that what they’re looking for is in the fish-house. Coming closer to the door of the house, Pan got so frightened that he couldn’t even speak. When she entered the house she saw what the Gobblers were doing to the children. They saw a boy, not a ghost, clutching a piece of fish because that was all he had – he had no dæmon. The Gobblers had cut it away. That was intercision, and this was a severed child.

The boy’s name was Tony Makarios and they took him with them back to the Gyptians. Lyra told them what the Gobblers did. Unfortunately, Tony died while Lyra was sleeping because he couldn’t find peace without his dæmon, Ratter.

Lyra talked to Iorek about Svalbard bears, and he told her that he was exiled because he killed another bear in anger. He told her that Iofur Rakinson was the King of Svalbard – she remembered she had already heard that name somewhere. She told him that her father is held in Svalbard and found out that she could get there by balloon so she went to speak with Lee Scoresby. She asked him a lot of questions about the balloon and planned everything in her head.

Not long after, when they were resting their dogs, arrows started flying around through the fog. Three Gyptian men died instantly. Iorek went into the fog and all the others could hear were cries of terror and the bear’s roars. Lyra got captured by the

11 hunters. They ran away with her, and after a while stopped. They asked her name and she replied that her name was Lizzie Brooks. They said they were the Samoyed people and that they will take her to a nice place with nice people. When they started heading towards the “nice place”, Lyra fell asleep from exhaustion and didn’t wake up until the motion of the sledge changed. She saw bright lights and realised that she was in front of an experimentation facility in Bolvangar. A man took her inside the facility – she lied about her name to him too. They bathed her, cleaned her clothes, and gave her pyjamas and sleeping pills in her meal so that she sleeps well. The next morning she saw Roger at breakfast. She acted like she didn’t know him but sent Pantalaimon to talk to Roger’s dæmon, Salcilia. She also found Billy Costa who was happy to hear his brother and other Gyptians were coming to the rescue. During a fire drill they were all sent out. Lyra, Roger and Billy went looking around and found the building where the Gobblers do the intercision. Lyra saw that Serafina Pekkala dæmon was coming and he helped her open the door. There they saw the cut dæmons of the severed children. Kaisa helped her free them so that it would look like someone forgot to lock them. Lyra and the boys had to go back in front of the facility and mingle with the other kids so they wouldn’t be suspicious. They planned to escape at the next fire bell, and agreed to pass the word around the other children. While they were all waiting to go back to the facility, they heard the sounds of a zeppelin – Mrs. Coulter was a few moments away. Lyra spied on Mrs. Coulter and a group of workers at the facility, but was caught soon after Mrs. Coulter left the room. After a fight in which Lyra and Pan fought hard, but lost, they decided to take them to the intercision room and separate them. They put them into a two-part cage of mesh and started the process. They were stopped by Mrs. Coulter who carried Lyra into a bedroom.

Mrs. Coulter talked to Lyra and tried to take her alethiometer away from her but Lyra managed to escape from her once again and lead the other children out of the experimental facility. The Tartars were outside, ready for them but Lyra remembered her clay fights and threw snow into their faces. Other children and their dæmons joined in leaving the guards blind. The children started fleeing and the Tartars shot their guns at them. The witches came to the rescue, shooting the guards with their arrows, and so did Iorek. The children ran away from the facility, following Lyra towards the Gyptians

12 that were not yet close enough to be seen. She had to encourage them all the way. Finally she saw lights and heard howling. The Gyptians took the children into their sledges. Farder Coram heard the zeppelin and, in a flash, Mrs. Coulter’s golden monkey dæmon was attacking Pan who was fighting back. Mrs. Coulter took Lyra into the zeppelin, but Iorek saved her by destroying the zeppelin. A witch took her and Roger to Lee Scoresby’s hydrogen balloon, Iorek joined them. She finally met Serafina Pekkala who, with other witches, started pulling the balloon in the direction of Svalbard.

3.3. PART THREE: SVALBARD

Because she found Roger, Lyra set her mind on rescuing her father and delivering the alethiometer to him, believing that he needs it for his purposes. He was imprisoned at Svalbard, the armoured bears’ fortress, because the church opposed his experiments on Dust. Serafina Pekkala told Lyra about her life, her love towards Farder Coram, about Iorek’s destiny and a lot of other things. As they travelled to Svalbard, bat-like cliff ghasts (restless ghosts – a sort of personification of nightmares) attacked the balloon. Lyra was thrown out but landed safely, only to be captured by the armoured bears.

The bears took her to Svalbard as a prisoner and put in a holding cell. She used the alethiometer to find out where are Roger and Iorek, and what does Iorek plan to do. She talked to a man that was also imprisoned in the cell. He knew the Palmerian Professor from Jordan College. He was driven mad by years of captivity, so Lyra easily tricked him into telling her all he knew about the bears. Lyra remembered the conversation that was going on in the Retiring Room when she was hiding in the wardrobe – Iofur Rakinson, the assumed bear-king, wanted a dæmon more than anything. She tricked him into fighting Iorek Byrnison, by claiming that she was Iorek’s dæmon, and that if he killed him he would get her as his dæmon.

When Iorek was near Svalbard, Lyra went to meet him and told him what she did. Iorek won the fight and reclaimed his throne. She learnt from the alethiometer that Mrs. Coulter is on her way to Svalbard. She needed to get to Lord Asriel before Mrs. Coulter did. Iorek offered to take her there and she didn’t refuse. Roger came with them. 13 The way was long and hard, but they found her father’s prison. Despite being imprisoned, Lord Asriel had become so influential that he had accumulated the necessary equipment to continue his experiments on Dust. He seemed scared at his first sight of Lyra, but seemed to calm down slightly when he saw Roger. He told his manservant, Thorold, to run hot baths for the children and give them clean clothes. After the bath, Lyra talked to her father, telling him everything that had happened since they last saw each other. He didn’t treat her like her daughter so she became aggravated and said that she’ll just leave the alethiometer and go. He said he doesn’t need it. He explained that Dust in an emanation from another world, and that parallel universes existed all around us. He spoke of Dust, the Church, other worlds, and almost everything he knew.

He left Lyra to go to sleep. She was woken up by Thorold who was frightened. He said that Lord Asriel took a lot of scientific equipment and Roger and left in a hurry. He explained that he needs a child to complete his experiment. The severing of the child- dæmon tie releases an enormous amount of energy, which Lord Asriel. Lyra realises that she did bring him what he needed – but it was not the alethiometer, but a child. She had brought him Roger. She dressed quickly and called for Iorek who agreed to take her to Lord Asriel once again. When they were catching up with him, the Aurora filled the sky, but not only the Aurora. Iorek saw witches, but not the ones they had a pact with – enemy witches who started shooting their arrows towards them. Mrs. Coulter was catching up in her zeppelin, too. Iorek took Lyra and Pan on his back and ran after Lord Asriel’s tracks. He had to stop at one point because he was too heavy for a bridge made of snow that was in front, and they said goodbye. Lyra carried on by herself, frightened to death. She could hear Roger’s cries for her and she hurried. She saw Roger unable to move and Lord Asriel’s dæmon had his dæmon in his mouth. Pantalaimon tried to fight, but they couldn’t stop was about to happen. A streak of light appeared in the sky. Roger died when Lord Asriel separated him from his dæmon, and with the enormous energy released – combined with his specialized equipment – Lord Asriel was able to tear a hole through the sky into a parallel world. Lyra saw her parents embracing passionately. Her father tried to persuade her mother to come with him, but she declined. Lord Asriel walked through into the world alone. Pan heard him saying that he is going to destroy

14 the source of Dust. He said: “If they all think Dust is bad, it must be good.” He convinced Lyra to go after her father to try and beat him to the source. They walked into the sky.

15 4. CHARACTERS

Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon are the principal characters. They are linked together by an invisible bond - Pantalaimon is a manifestation of her soul. She has blue eyes and blonde hair. She is 11-years-old, but looks younger. She is brave, clever, curious, resourceful, and caring for others. She has an important destiny to fulfil, but must remain unaware of that.

Lord Asriel is Lyra’s father, but she doesn’t know that in the beginning and considers him her uncle. He is a tall man with powerful shoulders and a fierce dark face. He is doing experiments with Dust in the North, trying to make his way through to the parallel universe he can see in the Aurora.

Mrs. Coulter is Lyra’s mother, a fact that Lyra also finds out later in the novel. She is intelligent, beautiful, charming – she can manipulate anyone to get what she wants or needs.

Roger Parslow is Lyra’s best friend, a kitchen boy from Jordan College. When he was kidnapped by the Gobblers, Lyra swears to find him and rescue him. At the end of the novel, her father kills him to release energy so that he can tear a portal into the other world.

Iorek Byrnison is a panserbjørne, an armoured bear. He is wise, but gets tricked out of his rightful throne in Svalbard. He helps and protects Lyra during her travels.

John Faa is the Gyptian King. He is clever and devoted to finding the missing children. He believes Lyra is important so he does all he can to keep her safe.

Farder Coram is a Gyptian that takes care of Lyra during her stay with the Gyptians. Together, they learn how to operate the alethiometer. He helps her in any way he can. He is in love with Serafina Pekkala.

Serafina Pekkala is a witch that Farder Coram once saved and is also in love with him. They had a child together but he died of disease. Witches don’t age as quickly as

16 humans do and their dæmons can separate over long distances from them. She knows Lya’s destiny.

CONCLUSION

The novel is very interesting to read in Croatian and in English. It follows Lyra’s path from Jordan College to the North, simultaneously revealing her life before she came to Oxford. Even though it is meant for young adults, I think it can be enjoyed by anyone who likes fiction of any kind. It lets you travel to a world that is similar to our own, but different in so many ways.

I really enjoyed the story and the characters in all their love, respect and arguments, but I must say that I would love to have someone/something like Pantalaimon by my side. He showed great love and courage when he defended Lyra and fought for her wellbeing.

To mention, I also saw the movie named The Golden Compass. It follows the plot almost completely, but changes it where it needs for the sake of the length. Like the novel, it received criticism, but, opposite from the novel, it was judged because it diluted the religious elements from the novel. The movie doesn’t have the “wow factor”, especially after reading the book which is far more interesting, but it’s not half bad and it’s easy to watch.

17 LITERATURE

1. Pullman, P. (2007). His Dark Materials: Northern Lights. London: Scholastic Ltd

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Lights_(novel)

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman

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