Northern Lights (novel)

For the film based on the novel, see The Golden Compass (film).

Northern Lights, known as The Golden Compass across North America, is the first novel in English novelist Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Published in 1995, the fantasy novel is 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. Winner of the Carnegie Medal in 1996, the novel has been adapted into a Hollywood feature film, released in 2007 as The Golden Compass along with an accompanying video game. Both the trilogy and the film adaptation have faced controversy, as some critics assert that the story presents a negative portrayal of the Church and religion.

Title

For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels was known as The Golden Compasses. The word Compasses referred to a pair of compasses—the circle-drawing instrument—rather than a navigational compass. Pullman then settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and continued to refer to the trilogy as The Golden Compasses. Like the eventual title for the trilogy, the original title The Golden Compasses comes from a line in Milton's Paradise Lost.¹

In the United States, in their discussions over the publication of the first book, the publishers Alfred A. Knopf had been calling it The Golden Compass (omitting the plural), which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because the device superficially resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials (a title that Pullman had taken from a line in Paradise Lost) 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 Northern Lights with the title used in the UK and Australia.¹

Plot summary

The story begins when Lyra Belacqua— a supposedly orphaned, twelve-year-old girl residing at Jordan College, Oxford—secretly enters and hides in the 'Retiring Room' in the college, despite resistance from her dæmon, Pantalaimon — an animal-formed, shape-shifting manifestation of her soul. Inside the room, they see the Master of the college putting poision into wine intended for the visiting Lord Asriel, Lyra's uncle, in an attempt to assassinate him. Lord Asriel later enters after the Master of the college has left and discovers Lyra hiding there. She immediately warns him that the wine is poisoned. Rather than punishing her for being where she should not, he allows her to stay hidden if she will spy on the other attendees at his upcoming meeting. When the meeting commences, Lord Asriel shows the resident scholars pictures of the Aurora Borealis (the 'Northern Lights' of the title) and the mysterious elementary particles called Dust. Shortly after, Lord Asriel travels to the Arctic North, and Lyra continues her studies at the college.

When “the Gobblers,” who have become a recent urban legend, kidnap her friend Roger, Lyra vows to rescue him. But instead, an important visitor, a woman named Mrs. Marisa Coulter, offers to take Lyra away from Jordan College to become her apprentice. Lyra assents, but before she leaves, the Master of the college entrusts her with a priceless object (with the condition that she keep it absolutely secret): an alethiometer. Resembling a golden, many-handed pocket-watch, it can answer any question asked by the user. Although initially unable to read or understand its complex symbols, Lyra takes it with her to Mrs. Coulter's flat. Soon after, Lyra becomes suspicious of Mrs. Coulter's motives when her dæmon (a golden monkey named Ozymandias) searches Lyra's room for the alethiometer.

At a cocktail party hosted by Mrs. Coulter, Lyra discovers that Mrs. Coulter heads an organization known as the "General Oblation Board" and that this board is, in fact, the "Gobblers" who have been kidnapping children. Horrified, Lyra flees Mrs. Coulter's flat during the party.

While being pursued by "Gobblers", Lyra is rescued by the Gyptians, nomadic, canal-boat-dwelling people, who afterwards reveal that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are none other than Lyra's father and mother. She also learns that many children like Roger have been disappearing from among the Gyptians, and that the Gyptians are planning an expedition to the north to rescue them. During her time with the Gyptians, Lyra intuitively begins to learn how to operate the alethiometer.

Lyra joins the expedition to the North, and on the journey discovers that the children kidnapped by “the Gobblers” are having their dæmons cut away from them, by way of experiment. From experience, she has learned that "cutting" a dæmon away is very painful, physically and emotionally, and may be fatal to the child. Shortly after this revelation, the group is attacked, and Lyra is taken to the experimentation facility in Bolvangar.

Inside, she locates Roger and devises an escape plan. She is caught spying and narrowly escapes the intercision process, rescued, unfortunately, by Mrs. Coulter, who tries to take the alethiometer. Narrowly escaping her clutches once again, Lyra leads the other children from the facility and is rescued by Lee Scoresby in his hydrogen balloon. With them are Roger and an armoured bear called Iorek Byrnison. Iorek, an exiled bear prince who is a perfect example of his culture.

Having found Roger, Lyra now wishes to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel. He is imprisoned at Svalbard, the armoured bears' fortress, because the church opposes his experiments on Dust. As they travel to Svalbard, bat-like cliff-ghasts attack the balloon; Lyra is thrown out but lands safely, only to be captured by the armoured bears. She tricks the usurping bear-king, Iofur Raknison, into fighting Iorek Byrnison, who regains his throne. Thereafter, she travels 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. After explaining to Lyra the nature of Dust, an emanation from another world, and the existence of parallel universes, he departs, taking Roger and much scientific equipment. Lyra pursues them, but Roger is killed when Lord Asriel separates him from his dæmon. This act releases enormous energy, which, with Lord Asriel’s equipment, tears a hole through the sky into a parallel world. Lord Asriel walks through into the new world. On Pantalaimon's advice, Lyra follows. This concludes the first novel, with the trilogy continuing in the next book, The Subtle Knife.

Film and video game adaptations

A video game of the movie adaptation of the book, titled The Golden Compass, published by Sega and developed by Shiny Entertainment, was released December 4, 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. ²

Religious perspective

Some critics have asserted that the trilogy as well as the movie adaptation present a negative portrayal of the Church and religion,³⁴ while others have argued that Pullman's works should be included in religious education courses.⁵ Peter Hitchens views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series.⁶ Literary critic Alan Jacobs (of Wheaton College) argues that in his recasting of Lewis' Narnia series, Pullman replaces a theist world-view with a Rousseauist one.⁷

Contents

Title

Plot summary

Film and video game adaptations

Religious perspective

See also

Footnotes

References

External links