Northern Lights

Northern Lights
First edition cover
Author(s)	Philip Pullman
Cover artist	Philip Pullman and David Scutt
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	His Dark Materials
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Steampunk
Publisher	Scholastic Point
Publication date	1995
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	399 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-590-66054-3
OCLC Number	43633272
Preceded by	Once Upon a Time in the North
Followed by	The Subtle Knife

Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass in North America, is the first novel in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Published in 1995, it is a fantasy set in a universe parallel to our own and tells of Lyra Belacqua's journey north in search of her missing friend, Roger Parslow, and her imprisoned father, Lord Asriel, who has been conducting experiments with a mysterious substance known as "Dust". The Novel won the Carnegie Medal in 1996, and has been adapted into a Hollywood feature film, The Golden Compass (2007) and an accompanying video game.

Title

The original title The Golden Compasses comes from a line in Milton's Paradise Lost,^[1] where they denote God's circle-drawing instrument used to establish and set the bounds of all creation:

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 centered, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure

— Book 7, lines 224–229

For some time during pre-publication, the series was known as The Golden Compasses, a reference to God's poetic delineation of the world, and not to the navigational compass which the main character's "alethiometer" resembles. Pullman eventually settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and The Golden Compasses as the name for the trilogy.

Alfred A. Knopf, the American publisher, had been calling the novel The Golden Compass [sic.], which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because of the device's superficial resemblance to a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials as the title of the trilogy. According to Pullman, the publishers had become so attached to The Golden Compass that they insisted on publishing the U.S. edition of the first book under that title, rather than as Northern Lights, the title used in the UK and Australia.^[1]

Plot summary

The story takes place in a parallel universe to ours, controlled in part by the Magisterium, a body of the Church in that world which guards against heresy. Human souls exist externally in the form of a "dæmon", an animal which constantly accompanies his master.

Lyra Belacqua—an 11-year-old girl who has been allowed to run somewhat wild–awaits the arrival of her uncle and guardian, Lord Asriel at Jordan College, a fictional Oxford college. She spies on him and learns of "Dust", a material that makes magical links. As her uncle leaves Jordan, she meets Mrs Coulter, a beautiful and adventurous woman, and agrees to go to live with her. Before her departure, the Master of the College secretly entrusts Lyra with an alethiometer, a "truth teller" which resembles a golden, many-handed pocket-watch that can answer any question asked by a skilled user. Although unable to read or understand its complex symbols, Lyra takes it with her.

Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter directs the "General Oblation Board", an organisation also known as "the Gobblers" who have been kidnapping children. Horrified, Lyra flees and is rescued by the Gyptians , a nomadic people who reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are Lyra's father and mother. She also learns that many children have been disappearing and she joins the Gyptians on an expedition to the north to rescue them. Lyra begins to learn intuitively how to operate the alethiometer.

On a stop in Trollesund, Lyra meets Iorek Byrnison, an outcast prince of the sapient panserbjørn , or "armoured bears". His armour, stolen from him by the villagers, is akin to his soul, and without it Iorek is bound in servitude to the village. Lyra uses her alethiometer to locate it, allowing Iorek to escape. Both he and a travelling balloonist, Lee Scoresby, offer their support to Lyra. She also learns that Lord Asriel is held prisoner by the Panserbjørn. At the local consulate of the Witches, the Consul states there is a prophecy about Lyra's destiny, which she must not know, and the reader also learns that witch-clans are choosing their allegiances in preparation for an imminent war.

The Gyptians and Lyra continue north to Bolvangar, where they believe the Gobblers keep the children. Lyra stops at a village on the way and guided by the alethiometer, finds a boy who had been severed from his dæmon. Lyra realizes that the Gobblers are attempting to sever the bond between human and dæmon (the process being called "intercision"), a horrific action in that world, and the boy dies. She is captured by bounty hunters and taken to Bolvangar, where she locates Roger and devises an escape plan. Mrs. Coulter arrives, evidently supervising the facility, and Lyra is caught spying by staff. The staff decide to silence her using the same process; she is rescued by Mrs. Coulter who is shocked to see her as an intercision subject. Mrs. Coulter tries to take the alethiometer from her but the container contains an insect-like device that renders her unconscious. Lyra escapes, leads the other children from the facility, and is rescued by Lee Scoresby, Iorek, the Gyptians, and their allies, the witch-clan of Serafina Pekkala.

Lyra is determined to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, believing that he needs it for his purposes. She tricks the usurping bear-king Iofur Raknison into fighting Iorek Byrnison, by claiming that she was Iorek's dæmon, and that if Iofur killed Iorek, then she would become Iofur's dæmon – something no bear has and Iofur wants. Iorek is victorious and regains his throne. Lyra - nicknamed "Lyra Silvertongue" by Iorek as a token of her ability - travels onward to Lord Asriel’s cabin, accompanied by Iorek and Roger.

Despite being imprisoned, Lord Asriel has become so influential that he has accumulated the necessary equipment to continue his experiments on Dust. He explains to Lyra what he knows of Dust, the Church's view that it is deeply sinful, his belief that Dust is somehow related to the source of all death and misery, the existence of parallel universes, and his goal—he intends to visit the other universes, find the source of death and misery, and destroy it, bringing the end of "centuries of darkness"; and he claims the Church fears that he may succeed, "with good reason". As Lyra sleeps, he departs, taking Roger and much scientific equipment. Lyra pursues them, having discovered that she has indeed brought her father what he wanted, though not in the way she thought. It was not the alethiometer he needed, but Roger: the severing of the child's dæmon will releases an "enormous" amount of energy, which Lord Asriel needs to complete his task. Roger dies when Lord Asriel separates him from his dæmon, and Lord Asriel is able to tear a hole through the sky into a parallel universe. Lord Asriel offers to bring Mrs. Coulter, who had come by means of her zeppelin, with him, but she declines. Lord Asriel walks through into the new universe alone. Devastated at her part in rescuing Roger only to bring him to his death, Pan and Lyra follow.

This concludes the first novel, with the trilogy continuing in the next book, The Subtle Knife.

Characters

• Lyra Belacqua and Pantalaimon: The principal characters. Lyra is described as having blue eyes and blond hair, along with being short for her age and quite thin but is still quite attractive. Though young and attractive she is brave, curious, and crafty. Her dæmon is Pantalaimon, nicknamed Pan. Because she is still a child, Pan is capable of changing into any shape he wishes, through he frequently appears as a brown moth, a wildcat, a white ermine, and a mouse. Lyra has been prophesied by the witches to help the balance of life, but must do so without being aware of her destiny.

• 'Roger Parslow': One of Lyra's friends, a boy whose family works at Jordan College. When he is kidnapped and taken north, Lyra pursues him in hopes of rescuing him. He is killed at the end of Northern Lights by Lord Asriel.

• 'Lord Asriel': Lyra's uncle, though it is later revealed that he is actually her father. He performs experiments in the north on the Dust, which are considered threatening for the Magisterium as they are part of Asriel's fight against the Authority. His dæmon is Stelmaria, a snow leopard.

• 'Marisa Coulter': An agent of the Magisterium, who does not hesitate to manipulate the Church to obtain funds for her projects. She is intelligent and beautiful, but extremely ruthless and callous. She is revealed to be Lyra's mother; as a result, she is unexpectedly kind to Lyra. Her dæmon is a golden monkey who, unusually, is not named throughout the trilogy.

• 'Iorek Byrnison': A panserbjørn (a race of armored white bears living in the far North and capable of human speech), first encountered in servitude having been tricked out of his armor, which Lyra helps him recover. He becomes very protective of Lyra and joins the expedition to find the children seized by Gobblers. After Lyra successfully tricks usurper Iofur Raknison into submitting to Iorek, Iorek gives her the name "Lyra the Silvertongue."

• 'Iofur Raknison': A panserbjørn who wants a dæmon and has usurped Iorek's authority as king. Lyra tricks him into fighting the exiled Iorek Byrnison by pretending to be Iorek's dæmon, and promising that when Iofur wins the fight, she will become his.

• 'Serafina Pekkala': A witch who closely follows Lyra on her travels. She is aware of Lyra's destiny. Serafina's dæmon is Kaisa, a snow goose, who is capable of physically moving separately from Serafina over long distances, a quality that only witches' dæmons appear to possess, although in the third book in the trilogy, The Amber spyglass, Lyra gets this capability. It is said she and Farder Coram had a son together.

• 'Lee Scoresby': A Texan aeronaut who transports Lyra in his balloon. He and Iorek Byrnison are good friends and Lee comes to see Lyra as a surrogate daughter. His dæmon is Hester, an arctic snow hare.

• 'Ma Costa': A Gyptian Women closely involved in the Syrian government. Her son Billy Costa is abducted by the evil "Gobblers". She rescues Lyra from Mrs Coulter and takes her to John Faa, a large man with sturdy hands.

Critical reception

Northern Lights was highly acclaimed and won prestigious book awards, including the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Fiction Prize in England, and was named a Horn Book Fanfare Honor Book, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, Publishers Weekly Book of the Year, and Booklist Editors Choice - Top of the List.

Some critics have asserted that the trilogy and movie adaptation present a negative portrayal of the Church and religion,^{[2][3][dead link]} while others have argued that Pullman's works should be included in religious education courses.^[4] Peter Hitchens views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series.^[5] Literary critic Alan Jacobs (of Wheaton College) argues that in his recasting of Lewis's Narnia series, Pullman replaces a theist world-view with a Rousseauist one.^[6]

Film and video game adaptations

A feature film adaptation of the novel, named The Golden Compass, produced by New Line Cinema with a budget of $180 million, was released on the 7 December 2007. The novel was adapted by Chris Weitz, who also directed the film. Dakota Blue Richards, in her film début, plays Lyra. The cast also includes Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott, Derek Jacobi, and Christopher Lee in principal roles.

A video game of the movie adaptation of the book, titled The Golden Compass, published by Sega and developed by Shiny Entertainment, was released on the 4 December 2007. Players assume the role of Lyra as she travels through the frozen wastes of the North in an attempt to rescue her friend kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as the Gobblers. Travelling with her are an armoured polar bear and her dæmon Pantalaimon (Pan). Together, they must use a truth-telling alethiometer and other items to explore the land and fight their way through confrontations in order to help Lyra's friend. The Golden Compass features a mix of fighting and puzzle solving with three characters.^[7]. This video game has been widely acclaimed as on of the most original and inspiring video games of the 21st century, and sold more copies than the previous holder of highest media retail sales, Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Audio books

In 1996, Natasha Richardson narrated an audiobook version of the novel.

The trilogy, His Dark Materials, was abridged in a dramatization by BBC Worldwide Ltd. that was published on 1 January 2003.

It was also adapted unabridged and released by BBC Audiobooks. It is narrated by the author, Philip Pullman, with a full cast, including Joanna Wyatt as Lyra, Alison Dowling as Mrs Coulter, Sean Barrett as Lord Asriel and Iorek Byrnison and Stephen Thorne as the Master and Farder Coram.

Footnotes

References

• Lenz, Millicent (2005). His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Phillip Pullman's Trilogy. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3207-2. 

External links

• The Golden Compass Reviewed at The Open Critic
• HisDarkMaterials.com Publisher's site
• The Golden Compass Internet Movie Database