Philip Pullman's novel, Northern LightsThe bond between human and daemon offers to each, reciprocal protection, understanding and love and these are so strong that they make the human relationships seem pale by comparison
Interaction between humans and dæmons to show the ambiguities and complexity of character, motivation and behaviour
Philip Pullman's novel, Northern Lights, offers an impressive alternative reality which has similarities with the present day, and differences too. The story starts in Jordan College in Oxford but it is an Oxford unlike ours: the technology and the culture of the people give the impression that it is set in the late 19th century. It is a fundamentally different universe in several respects - most evidently, all humans have dæmons. The main character in the story is young girl called Lyra Belacqua. She is a half-wild, half-civilized girl left among the Jordan College scholars by chance. Her dæmon, Pantalaimon, frequently takes the shape of a brown moth or an ermine.
Every person is accompanied throughout their life by a dæmon, which takes the form of some kind of animal. Those of children can switch forms at will, but as they grow older this happens less and less, and at puberty the dæmon fixes into a single form for the rest of the person's life. This form tends to reflect the personality and nature of the person, but sometimes, a dæmon's personality counters their human's in some ways. For instance, if a person was highly dependant on others, their dæmon might strive to show them their independent side. Dæmons cannot change once a person hits puberty because as people get older the age of innocence disappears. When people mature they get a sense of who they are and have the ability to reason and think for themselves. Although the book is fantasy, this is true for humans in the present day.
A dæmon cannot move more than a few yards away from its human without both of them experiencing pain, distress and, if prolonged or over a long distance, death. However, there are some who have theories about what possibly positive things might happen if the link between human and dæmon is severed. Dæmons have their own name, can talk and they are almost always the opposite sex to their human. The relationship between human and dæmon is central to the book, and is complex, but it is best thought of as a physical representation of a person's soul. They reflect a person's emotions, because they are that person's emotions. A good example of this is on p56 - when Lyra is having great fun, Pantalaimon is an outward image of what she is thinking: 'Pantalaimon, contemptuous of these Gyptian dæmons, became a dragon the size of a deer-hound'.
The fact that the novel opens with the phrase 'Lyra and her dæmon' indicates that Pantalaimon is a very important part of Lyra. I presume that Pullman makes Lyra the solitary human figure as it makes her more vulnerable in the situation she is about to face.
The story begins with Lyra sneaking into the Retiring Room; a place she knows is out of bounds to her. Lyra's dæmon shows a contradicting side to her personality when they are going to the Retiring Room: whereas Lyra is excited and flippant about the adventure, Pantalaimon appears serious ...
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The fact that the novel opens with the phrase 'Lyra and her dæmon' indicates that Pantalaimon is a very important part of Lyra. I presume that Pullman makes Lyra the solitary human figure as it makes her more vulnerable in the situation she is about to face.
The story begins with Lyra sneaking into the Retiring Room; a place she knows is out of bounds to her. Lyra's dæmon shows a contradicting side to her personality when they are going to the Retiring Room: whereas Lyra is excited and flippant about the adventure, Pantalaimon appears serious and anxious. He is not happy about going from the beginning and as soon as they reach the room, Pantalaimon wants to leave:
"Happy now? Can we go?" he whispered
"Don't be silly, I want to look around!" (p4)
However, when they lose their chance to leave, Lyra hides and must remain hidden while her uncle, Lord Asriel shows the scholars projections. Lord Asriel's dæmon, Stelmaria, is a handsome snow leopard. She is 'alert and elegant and dangerous' (p17), this represents Asriel's personality as a dynamic and powerful adventurer who is, or once was, high in society. As with all human-dæmon partnerships, there is a close connection between Lord Asriel and Stelmaria and it is clear that they give support to each other. Lord Asriel is involved in some sort of strange research and soon heads North to continue it. Lyra, being an adventurous and audacious child, wants to go with him, but he won't have it. He is not prepared to listen; even so, Lyra tries to stand up to him.
'His dæmon turned her great green leopard-eyes on her too, and under the concentrated glare of both of them, Lyra blushed. But she gazed back fiercely.' (p29)
Lord Asriel is arrogant and clever and will not have his time wasted by anyone. When Lyra continues to argue and question him about the North, Asriel illustrates his irritation through his dæmon:
'His dæmon growled with a deep savage rumble that made Lyra suddenly aware of what it would be like to have teeth meeting her throat.' (p29)
Further into the story, we meet Mrs Coulter, a beautiful scholar, arctic explorer, and socialite. Her dæmon is a monkey with fur that is 'long and silky and of the most deep and lustrous gold' (p42). The description of Mrs Coulter and her dæmon uses positive words but they seem almost too perfect and suspicion arises in the reader. Although both Mrs Coulter and her dæmon are strikingly beautiful and eye-capturing, the dæmon has 'perfect horny claws'. Claws suggest damage and destruction and indicate that Mrs Coulter's character is not all good. Nevertheless, to the children, Mrs Coulter appears trustworthy and compassionate. This gives her an advantage in catching them as they are glad to go with her. Mrs Coulter is first introduced into the book in chapter 3 where she is capturing Tony Makarios - a simple slum child. His dæmon, in the form of a sparrow, is not very cautious of the golden monkey and can't resist fluttering onto the monkey's hand. When Tony first realises the lady is there he is alarmed but, when he hears his dæmon chirp, he believes the woman means no harm and he is safe. 'He's lost already. He was lost the moment his slow-witted dæmon hopped onto the monkey's hand' (p43). Tony is not the only child to be taken in by her charm, there are many other's who are in awe of the woman:
'They all gazed, suddenly shy. They had never seen a lady like this; she was so gracious and sweet and kind that they felt they hardly deserved their good luck, and whatever she asked, they'd give it gladly so as to stay in her presence a little longer' (p44).
In chapter 4, when Lyra meets Mrs Coulter, 'Mrs Coulter had such an air of glamour that Lyra was entranced'. The Master, telling Lyra that he thinks she would benefit from some female guidance, sends her to live with Mrs Coulter. Lyra, after having some initial doubts about leaving Jordan College, is delighted about this.
Philip Pullman uses the interaction between human and dæmon to show the type of mood and atmosphere, for example, in chapter 5 after Lyra mentions Dust to Mrs Coulter:
'By now Lyra was aware that there was a powerful tension in the room, because Pantalaimon had crept ermine-like on to her lap and was trembling violently' (p84)
Pantalaimon becomes conscious of the atmosphere in the room before Lyra does. Lyra only becomes aware of the effect her words had had on Mrs Coulter when Pantalaimon starts to display erratic behaviour.
Dæmons can also show the emotion that a person is feeling even when they do not show that emotion themselves. This allows Pullman to do things through Mrs Coulter's dæmon that you could never imagine Mrs Coulter doing herself. When Lyra aggravates Mrs Coulter by refusing to take her shoulder bag off, it is the monkey dæmon that shows her feelings. While Mrs Coulter is calmly arranging flowers, looking very civilised, her dæmon is doing the absolute opposite, showing brutal force. The monkey pins Pantalaimon to the floor and 'with one fierce black paw around his throat and his black paws gripping the polecat's lower limbs, he took one of Pantalaimon's ears in his other paw and pulled as if he intended to tear it off' (p87). The bond between Lyra and Pantalaimon means that Lyra feels her dæmon's pain and begs Mrs Coulter to stop hurting them. Later, during a party, Mrs Coulter shows her unpleasant side once again. When she discovers a journalist speaking to Lyra it seems that Mrs Coulter is 'charged with some anbaric force' and a 'hot smell, like heated metal' (p92) comes off her body. The metallic smell suggests that Mrs Coulter has qualities that are different to other humans. This suggestion is reinforced when Lyra realises that Mrs Coulter's dæmon is not near her. It appears that Mrs Coulter has been able to train her dæmon to travel further away from her than what is normally possible for dæmons to do.
Later in the novel, Panserbjorne, a race of talking, armoured, mercenary polar bears are introduced. Unlike humans, bears do not have dæmons, instead they have armour. Most bears are content with their armour as it is their equivalent to a dæmon - their soul. The King Bear Iofur Raknison however, is not satisfied with just his armour. He is a vain and foolish ruler and is building an ornate marble palace in an effort to become more like humans. Iofur longs to have his own dæmon and even goes so far as to carry a dæmon-doll around with him in order to try and fulfil his burning desire for a real one. Under normal circumstances bears cannot be tricked but since Iofur is acting like a human Lyra sees it as an opportunity to deceive him:
'When bears act like people, perhaps they can be tricked...When bears act like bears, perhaps they can't.' (p317)
Lyra tells Iofur that she is a dæmon and Iofur, consumed by his self-indulgence and desires, believes her. Lyra flatters Iofur by telling him that he is 'passionate and strong as well as clever' (p339). She comes up with an elaborate story and quite easily tricks the bear King:
'The great bear was helpless. Lyra found her power over him almost intoxicating, and if Pantalaimon hadn't nipped her hand sharply to remind her of the danger they were all in, she might have lost all sense of proportion' (p343).
It is clear throughout the book that Pullman uses dæmons to say things that he cannot say through humans. This is particularly evident at the end of the book where he uses the interactions of dæmons to show the feelings between Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter. The two dæmons show a strong passionate engagement, allowing the reader to see the animal instincts of Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter:
'The monkey's tail was erect, the snow leopard's swept powerfully from side to side. Then the monkey reached out a tentative paw, the leopard lowered her head with a graceful sensual acknowledgment, they touched' (p393/4).
To conclude, in Northern Lights, Pullman captures the readers' imagination in a dramatic way by using dæmons to give information. He has discovered a most novel and ingenious way of showing the ambiguities and complexity of character, motivation and behaviour and achieved an immense degree of success.
Emma Foley Page 1 18/12/2007
