Meet your dæmon
Jo:
May 6th, 2007
Have you ever wondered what your soul is like? Given the opportunity to meet your soul, would you take it?
These were not questions I thought about much until I read Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman. In the novel, and the others in the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy, Pullman conjures up worlds where humans’ souls live on the outside of their bodies as animals. These animals, dæmons, speak to their humans, and accompany them throughout their lives and adventures. As I put Northern Lights down, I realised with a sigh how much I would love to have a dæmon of my own.
Almost eight years have passed, but my wish for a dæmon has not faded away at all. In the books, as children pass into adulthood, their dæmon ceases changing shape into different animals, and remains in one shape. I was propelled through the trilogy by a burning desire to know if Pantalaimon, (dæmon of the story’s heroine, Lyra) would ever stop changing his shape – and which animal he would finally stay as. I wonder what animal my own would be – and at what point in my life it stopped changing. And yesterday, I came a step closer to finding out.
His Dark Materials has been adapted for the stage, and now a film is coming out, resplendent with a magical website to accompany it. Grit your teeth for the American adaptation of ‘Northern Lights’ to “Golden Compass Movie”, visit www.goldencompassmovie.com, and…you too can meet your dæmon.
May 6th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
I bloody love those books.
May 6th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I’m a mouse, apparently.
May 6th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I loved the books too, they’re incredible and I can’t wait for the film. My daemon is appaently a bird…
May 6th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I too love the books! Must dig them out and re-read them. I think it will be difficult to achieve their full potential and explore the depth of the novels in a film. The last book especially. I mean, it’s great but it is also downright weird. It might come across as a bit tacky or sci-fi on-screen.
Oh yeah, and my daemon is a fox!
May 6th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I am really pissed off that apparently they are taking references to the Church type thing out of the film. a) I don’t know how the film will work without it. b) this is surely the point.
I actually wrote one of my best undergrad essays on the metaphysics of Pullman’s universe.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I agree, Alex. Even as the ins and outs of the story faded from my memory (does this happen to anyone else when you have read something quickly?) I felt chilled by thoughts of the malevolent Church for a long time after reading the books. Nevertheless – the point the books make about the Church is underlined by its exclusion from the films.
People picking up the books for the first time after seeing the film will be in for a shock (not unlike my own with Little Women).
What did you all think of the website? Is Oxford as you imagined it? Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter?