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Northern Lights (novel)
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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.
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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 organized religion and religion in general.
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.
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.
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. Hidden behind an armchair, Lyra and "Pan" see the Master of the college putting poison 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 Lyra, having by now hidden in a wardrobe, bursts out and 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 the "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.
En route, Lyra enlists the help of a sentient, armoured bear called Iorek Byrnison. Iorek is an exiled bear prince who is a perfect example of his culture.
Lyra is captured by a party of hunters who take her to an experimentation facility in Bolvangar, where she discovers that the children are being subjected to an experimental process called "intercision." This process severs the tie that binds them to their daemons, effectively removing their soul. Inside, she locates Roger and devises an escape plan. She is caught spying and narrowly escapes suffering the intercision process herself; she is 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 Iorek Byrnison.
Having found Roger, Lyra now determines to deliver the alethiometer to Lord Asriel, believing that he needs it for his purposes. 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, 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-daemon tie 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 with the enormous energy released -- combined with his specialized equipment -- Lord Asriel is able to tear 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 feature film adaptation of the novel, titled The Golden Compass, produced by New Line Cinema with a budget of $180 million, was released December 5, 2007. The novel was adapted by Chris Weitz, who directed the film. The film stars Dakota Blue Richards, in her film debut, as Lyra. Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Sam Elliott, Derek Jacobi and Christopher Lee also star.
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.
Religious perspective
Some critics have asserted that the trilogy as well as the movie adaptation present a negative portrayal of the Church and religion, while others have argued that Pullman's works should be included in religious education courses. Peter Hitchens views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series. 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.
See also
Footnotes
External links
- on the BBC World Book Club
- at The Open Critic
- Publisher's site
- by Tony Torn/ Reality Sandwich
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