Frequently Asked Questions

These are answers to the most common questions asked by His Dark Materials fans. Got a question to ask? Then send us an e-mail. We will post questions and their answers as quickly as possible.

The Books

The Author

The Movies

This Site

The Books

-What is the 'Great Betrayal'?
As the master says, it is Lyra herself that will do the betraying, so broadly speaking, there are 3 possibilities here:

1) Roger- Lyra certainly feels that she has betrayed Roger by leading him to his death and the title of the chapter where this occurs is indeed "Betrayal". This is the thing that most people think is the Great Betrayal, but Pullman claims otherwise:

2)Pantalaimon- When Lyra leaves Pan on the docks of the World of the Dead she does believe she has betrayed her life companion. This is the one that PP has himself said is the 'real' betrayal, citing the Roger business as a measure to throw readers off . (Consider many of us 'thrown' then)

3) Mixture of the two: There is also the compromise, since the two betrayals of Roger and Pan are both related: Lyra first betrays Roger then has to betray Pan to apologize to Roger in the world of the dead, and that the Great Betrayal was the whole thing rather than one or the other.

-How does Mary tempt Lyra?
Mary tempts Lyra by telling her the "marzipan" story about when she fell in love. This put the idea in Lyra's head that there was another way to look at Will, and by accepting that she was in love with him, she fell from innocence, like Eve upon eating the fruit.

-Are people with same-sex dæmons gay?
"It was clear to me from the beginning that occasionally someone might acquire a daemon of the same sex. What might that mean? I don't know everything it might mean; it could mean something about their own sexuality, or it might mean something quite different. It's one of the many things I don't know fully about my world. Similarly with how daemons are born. There wasn't actually any part of the story that depended on my studying daemonic gynaecology, so I didn't go into it." - from the mouth of PP himself.

-Why are there two different titles for the first book?
A source of endless confusion and bitterness across the Atlantic, the name change came about through a fairly bizarre (and certainly annoying) sequence of events, which Philip Pullman explains below. "Two nations divided by a common language"... At any rate, the books are nearly identical, aside from a few words and spellings here and there, and in the earlier British editions one of the dæmons of the masters in the crypt was a 'fair-haired lady' - this was corrected later since people can't have human dæmons. Curiously, there seems to also be a some missing passages in the UK edition, that the U.S. edition does contain.

Philip Pullman: "The trilogy known as HIS DARK MATERIALS didn't have that name in my mind from the start. In fact it didn't have a name at all; it was just 'the big book'. When I'd finished the first volume and was talking about it with David Fickling, my British publisher, we tried various names and couldn't find one that worked. I knew that the trilogy needed a name, and that each of the books needed its own separate name too (I don't like numbers in titles: THE GODFATHER PART TWO, and so on. Just a fad. But it's my fad). So: what should they be called?

My first discovery was the phrase THE GOLDEN COMPASSES (plural, note). This comes in Milton's Paradise Lost, a poem which inspired me a great deal. The line refers to the Son of God taking 'the golden compasses, prepared / In God's eternal store, to circumscribe / The universe, and all created things."

In other words, these were compasses to draw a circle with, not a compass to find your way with. I liked the phrase, and the trilogy became temporarily, during the publication process, The Goldem Compasses. And we finally settled on Northern Lights for the title of the first book.

Meanwhile, in the US, it was being read by the editors at Alfred A. Knopf. Someone decided (mistakenly, but firmly) that the title referred to Lyra's alethiometer, which could be regarded as a sort of golden compass, but of the direction-finding and not circle-drawing sort. So the same someone or another someone decided to refer to the first book, for their own internal discussing-a-forthcoming-book purposes, as THe GOLDEN COMPASS.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, I had found the much better phrase, HIS DARK MATERIALS, for the title of the trilogy. I quote the passage from which it comes at the very beginning of the first book. Better, because it's more atmospheric, and there's the uncanny resemblance to 'dark matter', which figures largely in the story. So out went THE GOLDEN COMPASSES, and in came HIS DARK MATERIALS.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, the publishers had become so attached to THE GOLDEN COMPASS that nothing I could say could persuade them to call the book NORTHERN LIGHTS. Their obduracy in this matter was accompanied by such generosity in the matter of royalty advances, flattery, promises of publicity, etc, that I thought it would be churlish to deny them this small pleasure.

So that's it. The fact that all three titles refer to an artifact is no more than a coincidence, though it does make a nice pattern. Before I'd finished the third one, the artist Eric Rohmann, who drew the wonderful covers the books had in their first Knopf editions, asked what the third book would be called, and before I could tell him, volunteered THE SOPHISTICATED MONKEY-WRENCH.

One tiny final thing: my first suggestion for the third book was THE LACQUER SPY-GLASS. My editor at Knopf, Joan Slattery, pointed out that this might be mis-heard as LACK OF, and that made sense to me; so it became AMBER instead."

-Will there be any more books?
Yes. But no reunion of Will and Lyra. There will be two companion novels to the trilogy - Lyra's Oxford has already been published and The Book of Dust is tentatively slated for a release some time in 2005. Lyra's Oxford is a short story about Lyra four years after the end of The Amber Spyglass (along with 'materials' that have slipped between Lyra's world and our own, such as a postcard... it also includes woodcut illustrations by John Lawrence), while The Book of Dust will be a collection of stories and information about the worlds of His Dark Materials (such as how Lee and Iorek met, or the Creation myth for Lyra's world). Lyra's Oxford came out on October 29th 2003. No date has been announced yet for The Book of Dust.

-How do I pronounce some of the names/words?
Check out our handy dandy Pronunciations section of course! If the word/name you're looking for isn't listed there, please send it to us.

-Is the Authority supposed to be God?
An equally interesting question is whether Dust is supposed to be God. The answer depends on your own personal beliefs, although Pullman has said that the Authority is the God of the Inquisition, the burners of "witches", and the God that people claim to be acting in the name of when they do an evil act. Whether the Authority is supposed to literally be God, or whether he exists merely as a metaphor for that God created by human corruption, is really up to you to decide for yourself. Keep in mind that Xaphania said that the Authority wasn't the Creator, only an angel who gave himself titles and power since he was the first. Whether Dust adequately fills the role of God is also open to debate.

The Author

-Who is Philip Pullman?
See our Author's Bio, or Merlyn's commentary, In a Handful of Dust.

-What does he believe?
Here's what Pullman said in an interview:

"I know full well that the total amount of the things I know is a tiny little pinprick of light compared with the vast unlimited darkness that surrounds it - which is all the things I don't know. I don't know more than a tiny fragment of what it's possible to know about this world. As for what goes on outside it in the rest of the universe, it's a vast darkness full of things that I don't know. Now, somewhere in the things that I don't know, there may be a God.

But if we come down - like coming close up with a camera - getting closer and closer to this little pinprick of light, so that it begins to expand and gets bigger and bigger until we find ourselves inside it... I can see no evidence in that circle of things I do know, in history, or in science or anywhere else, no evidence of the existence of God.

So I'm caught between the words 'atheistic' and 'agnostic'. I've got no evidence whatever for believing in a God. But I know that all the things I do know are very small compared with the things that I don't know. So maybe there is a God out there. All I know is that if there is, he hasn't shown himself on earth. " (http://www.fish.co.uk/culture/features/pullman_interview.html)

-Why did he portray religion as evil?
"When you look at organized religion of whatever sort - whether it's Christianity in all its variants, or whether it's Islam or some forms of extreme Hinduism - wherever you see organized religion and priesthoods and power, you see cruelty and tyranny and repression." Whether he portrayed religion accurately, or in an exaggerated sense, is again up to the reader to decide. He has said that if he were able to, he would have put in a good priest here or there "to show that they're not all bad".

-What does he think of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien?
About Lewis he says, "There's a distinction between the things Lewis says as a critic, which are very acute and full of sense and full of intelligent and sometimes subtle judgements - much of which I agree with - and the things he said when was possessed by the imp of telling a story, especially in his children's fiction." He thinks the Chronicles of Narnia are racist, sexist, and condemn everything about the physical world, and that the things they condemn are the very things he values. See the quotations page for more on his thoughts on Narnia and its author.

Pullman thinks that Tolkien's love for language and history got in the way of the story he was trying to tell, and as a result he found Lord of the Rings to be rather dull, and to not say much about humanity.

-What influenced His Dark Materials?
Pullman's main influence for His Dark Materials is the 17th century epic poem 'Paradise Lost' by John Milton. He also cites Blake, Virgil, and Homer as influences, and Von Kleist's essay, 'On the Marionette Theatre'

-What is he working on now?
He's finishing up Lyra's Oxford and the Book of Dust, and working on a children's story called 'The Scarecrow and his Servant', similar to 'The Firework-Maker's Daughter'.

-How can I get in touch with him?
You can send mail to Mr. Pullman via snail mail at:

Philip Pullman
C/O David Fickling Books
31 Beaumont Street
Oxford OX1 2NP

Or through his American publishers:

Philip Pullman
c/o Scholastic Inc.
555 Broadway
New York, NY 10012-3999
USA

We do have a possible e-mail address, but it has not been confirmed and we will not be releasing it without permission. It is not likely that a famous author would give out his e-mail address to be flooded with e-mails from adoring fans daily? He HAS mentioned that in the future he will be setting up a website so that he can keep in touch with fans, so maybe that will include an e-mail address… we'll keep you up to date on that.

The Movies

-Is it true that there will be a movie?
Yes. See the Movie section for the details.

-Can I be Lyra/Will?
We have no control over casting, so don't ask. We can't get you involved in the movies at all, in any way whatsoever. If you seriously want to be involved, you should get a professional agent and have them advise you on how to get involved. If we ever hear that open auditions will be held, we will post that information on the site, so check back often for updates.

-Who is making the movie?
The movies are being produced by New Line Cinemas, the studio in charge of the recent Lord of the Rings films. They are being directed by Anand Tucker, from a script by Chris Weitz.

-What does Pullman think of the movie?
Take the money and run was his response. If they need him I'm sure he'll be consulted, but he won't be taking hands on control. -When will the movie come out?
A tentative release date of late 2007, early 2008 for the first film has been mentioned, although it looks like it will be leaning towards the later since production has not yet begun.

-Are there any other adaptations?
The books have been adapted into audiobooks, radio dramas, and a stage version was put on in 2004. Again, see the menu links on the left.

This Site

-Who runs this site?
The current webmasters are Will and Niall, whom you can contact at webmaster@bridgetothestars.net Merlyn started this whole thing and we now have a few other HDM fans helping in updating the content, moderating the forums, proofreading, and otherwise helping to make this site the best that it can be.

-Why did you make this site?
Merlyn started the site because he wanted to provide a definitive resource on His Dark Materials, a place for fans of the books to discuss them, and a center for all the news and rumors involved with the upcoming books and movies. He is always looking to improve and expand the site, and would be glad to hear from you… send him an e-mail at merlyn@bridgetothestars.net.

-Do you get any money from the site?
Well, we're trying. Due to the increasing cost of maintaining the site (roughly $100 a year), we've joined Amazon.com's affiliates program. This means that throughout the site there are links to His Dark Materials/Philip Pullman related merchandise on Amazon.com. When you click on these links and buy an item (but ONLY if you click on a link from us to Amazon), between 2% and 15% goes to BridgeToTheStars.Net to pay for the cost of the site. Nobody here gets a paycheck... we're all volunteers. All money goes into maintaining the site. If you want to help us out, check out the items listed here: His Dark Materials Search

You can also donate directly. Many thanks to those who have already done so to keep this site going.

-What's in this site? (newbie guide)
Lots! We pride ourselves on having the single largest collection of information and resources on His Dark Materials, so here's a guide to the content on the site:

The Encyclopaedia: All the major (and minor!) terms, characters, places, and concepts from the books. There are sub-sections with quotations, a timeline, pronunciation guide, and extended character bios for the main characters.

The Wiki: BridgeToTheStars.net are now running an open-edit wiki encyclopaedia. This iteration of our comprehensive static reference runs on the popular MediaWiki software so that we, the fans of His Dark Materials, can come together to create the ultimate resource on the series using the incredible level of interconnectedness and expansion that Wiki provides. Join now and contribute your own knowledge! Visit the Wiki. The Movie Section: Here is compiled everything there is about the movies into one place, along with some of our own thoughts on what the films will be like. This is updated whenever news comes out, so check it often for the latest!

The Republic of Heaven: Our forums! Now the largest and most active His Dark Materials message boards on the 'net, with a friendly fanbase discussing everything about the trilogy, the author, the movies, or just general chit-chat. Stop by, introduce yourself, and join the discussion!

The Commentaries: Everybody's thoughts on everything. Ranging from musings on the way religion is presented in the books to opinions about how the movies will turn out, these articles written by fans and staffers run from a few paragraphs to 45 written pages in length and cover just about everything there is relating to the trilogy. Once you've read 'em, write your own and send it in!

Of course, there's so much more to explore, and hours upon hours of content to read and images to feast your eyes on. Browse around a bit, we're sure you'll find what you're looking for! If in doubt, punch in the keyword you're looking for into the search feature at the top of all the major pages of the site, and it will bring you a google-generated results list of pages on the site that are related to your topic. Enjoy!

-What do all the abbreviations mean?
Bridge To The Stars, and most HDM sites, use the following abbreviations, so here's a key:

HDM - His Dark Materials
TGC - The Golden Compass
NL - Northern Lights (sometimes 'New Line'. See context clues)
TSK - The Subtle Knife
TAS - The Amber Spyglass
PP - Philip Pullman