#HDM metas

[kirjavas]

never not thinking about iorek byrnison eating lee scoresby's dead body, so as not to let it rot but instead allow it to sustain an old friend on his journey. and how this act fulfilled lee's dying wish to help lyra by giving iorek the strength to go on and find her. thinking about consumption as a form of love, loving someone in their entirety and wanting to eat them whole but also love and grief being something you carry inside of you that guides you forward

[peetapiepita]

You know how I've been complaining about Everlark and Silverparry deniers this past year. They've been bugging me a lot.

Today I saw a tweet about people being anti-romance these days and harping on the writers whenever the main characters have a romantic relationship. It's getting ridiculous.

I'm now struggling to remember if that was a thing 10/15 years ago when both fandoms were more active. I honestly can't remember because I wasn't on as many platforms as I am now and the ones I had been on seemed very romance-friendly as far as I remember.

On tumblr, I was mainly just THG/Everlark-focused 10 years ago and I honestly don't remember any Everlark deniers coming my way at all. Was it really the case or was it just me living in a bubble?

People today saying Everlark never had romance/they should be just friends are so weird to me as well. I was convinced they were just trying to be different but their persistence is weirding me out. Why does two fictional characters having a romantic relationship disturb you so much? Why are you hell bent on denying what the writer wrote in her books?

I don't know. I'm just really confused. Would love to hear your experience and opinions on it.

[hatters-workshop]

So weird thing that I have kind of background believed for a long time with the alethiometer in His Dark Materials: I think that most people can't read it mostly because they think they can't, because they know it's difficult (or look at it and don't instantly understand) and that there are *rules*, and they get caught up in that. This is not me trying to be all "rip to them but I'm different" but I think there's also something in the way that Lyra is able to do it, but adults can't, that is aside from the whole deus ex machina.

The series as a whole puts a lot of emphasis on the difference between how children act, think and feel differently to adults. The difference between knowledge and intuition is heavily emphasised. We also know that the whole thing with Dust is that it isn't attracted to children because of this delineation.

There is also the fact that the alethiometers come from a time when symbols were heavily used and everyone would know and understand a lot of meanings for each symbol as second nature. This is contrasted with the scene in The Subtle Knife when Lyra is hooked up to the Cave and she gets the screen to talk to her in the symbols she's learned because that's how she frames the idea of "asking the alethiometer" which she is basically trying to replicate with it, but she tells Mary that she reckons she could get it to speak in words. Which she does, and she understands basically everything that is said to her, though the angels throw some metaphor in there too that isn't instantly obvious.

Now what if, as those symbols fell out of common use, people started making books of reading for those that came after. They knew that the use of symbols was starting to fall out of common parlance, so they listed down all the symbol meanings that they could think of, and when they read the alethiometer, it would stop on the symbol a certain number of times, and when it did it meant this meaning of that symbol, so they noted that down too.

And so it becomes a known thing that if you are going to read the alethiometer, it's *going to be hard work*. You are *going to have to learn all the meanings* and *exactly* what it means at all the different levels. The emphasis is on *knowledge* at all times, so if you are able to access an alethiometer in the first place, you are going to know that you *have to know all this* before you start.

Meanwhile, we have Lyra. She's a child, and on top of that, she as a person is a creature of instinct and stubbornness. But she is also a child that has been brought up in an academic background. Even just in passing, she has a lot of higher level knowledge of metaphor and symbolism than her peers. While she is told that she should need the books of reading, she is also in a dire situation, she has the device that has the answers, and nothing to lose by trying to work with it.

And she does. There are times when her symbol knowledge fails her, or she doesn't have the context to work it out (the chameleon, she doesn't recognise the animal and also doesn't know the myth that they don't eat or drink and just live off air; the symbols that added up to mean that it was telling her that the 'ghost' was a child with no daemon) but for the most part she is able to *intuit* the meaning by herself but also look at the way it is framed in the books. She translates the list of meanings into very conversational interactions.

I always took her loss of the ability to read it as one of the final indicators of her transition from intuitive child to a more logical adult, and how that changes her from a child who is willing to just have a go at something, to try and make it work because it's her only source of power, to an adult whose brain works in knowledge and facts and "the right way to do things".

Part of this is that I have a headcanon that if you were to put child Lyra next to someone who had studied the books, and asked them to get the answer to the same question, you would see different readings come out of them: they would get the same final answer, yes, but I don't think the way they would "read" it would be the same. I think the symbols would be in a different order, or they would have been different symbols chosen based on the person reading them.

I think part of you getting into the frame of mind described in the books is both you being receptive to information, but also engaging Dust/the angels in such a way that they can try and present you with the information in such a way that you will understand as best as they can. Say again with Mary: when the Angels use the metaphor of "play the serpent", I think they were playing in her wheelhouse. If she had been from a completely different culture or religious background, I think they would have found a different metaphor.

Think of it as playing a game of charades. If you know the person well, you will give them clues based on things they understand, in jokes or shared frames of reference, and you'll get to your answer faster. The symbols were put there by people who understood them all clearly at the time and thought everyone else would always understand them. But looking at a current comparison, is someone in two hundred years going to look at a text with 🍆 in it and instantly know the meaning we have ascribed to it?

Meanwhile the other person in this scenario, who had learned the meanings, would have spent their life learning the "correct" meanings. Memorising every meaning of each symbol *as it was written in a book* by a person who was writing down how they personally read the alethiometer. I think they would probably get a very different series of symbols.

[findmeinthefallair]

Isn't it amazing that they never met before this scene, they know they're on opposing sides at first, yet this heated exchange...broke both of them? And it's because Lyra coming into their lives as a beacon of hope in such a bleak landscape, already began to shake them and changed them at a foundational level. Right under their noses. Even if they couldn't really put that into words yet.

Their daemons do something we've not seen up till this scene: initiate physical contact to soothe them. And it is received for once because Lee and Marisa have chosen to be vulnerable. Hester, who has probably been silenced too many times with a quip from Lee, is heard at a deep emotional level for once. Marisa's nameless daemon, who she physically abused on a regular basis, chances it by reaching out his hand and for once isn't shoved away.

[therealslimshady]

Hey guys, now that we are closer then ever to the Percy Jackson show coming out, can we all make the executive decision to use the tag #pjo tv whenever we're *explicitly* posting about the show?

Adaptations are always going to be different then their source material, and it would be a real shame to lose the original fandom in a sea of excited posting about the show. It sounds tragic, but it's what's inevitably going to happen unless we all decide on a tag now before the show comes out

(Here are some examples of how the tag could be used #pjo tv #pjo tv annabeth #pjo tv criticism #pjo tv s1ep4 #pjo tv spoilers . Etc etc. This would also mean NOT using the pjo tag for the show. That would solely be used for the books)

Anyways, can't wait for the show, and can't wait to see how the fandom booms even bigger! I just hope we're still able to keep something of what we have now in that future

[regardstosoulandromance]

I am watching HDM s2e5 and oooh boy when Marisa and Mary meet and Mary immediately assumes Marisa has a doctorate and is and equal and starts asking her about her work and just the look on Marisa’s face!!! No one takes her seriously unless she’s intimidating them!!! And Mary living the life she could have had she not been trapped in the patriarchal hellscape on her own world!!! There’s that inkling there that she wanted to be a scholar and she wanted to study science but she had to claw her way there by marrying well and gaining power in the church and oooooh boy there’s so much subtlety in that scene.

[bruisedconscience]

Daemon Test for SHAWN SPENCER

A dæmon (day-mun) is a type of fictional being in the Philip Pullman fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. Dæmons are the external physical manifestation of a person's "inner-self" that takes the form of an animal. ... Dæmons are usually of the opposite sex to their human, though same-sex dæmons do exist. 

Pinniped

Your daemon would take the form of a pinniped! Those who have pinniped daemons are cheerful and imaginative people who know how to work hard and play hard. They are known for their boundless creativity and often have their head in the clouds, excelling exceptionally at one area of their life.

Sea lion

Your daemon would take the form of a sea lion! You are an imaginative and talkative individual who does best when they have a creative outlet. More so than others with pinniped daemons, those with sea lions are deeply emotional and struggle when bored or isolated. They are open-hearted and enjoy work that feels like play.

When deciding on your daemon's appearance, consider the pattern of your daemon's coat. A darker-colored sea lion may indicate someone more private and reserved, while a lighter-colored sea lion may indicate someone more open and gregarious.

This seems like an immediate great fit!!

Originally, I was hesitant about giving my muse a predominantly water-based animal, but then I read that sea lions can be outside of water for more than 20 days at a time and can run twice as fast as a man can!! So…

This girlie is now perfect!! I haven’t come up with a name for them yet, but if I do, I’ll update this post :)

[lordeasriel]

What don’t you like about the tv show version of Marisa

Well, it's not Marisa, for one thing. It's a very crude and poor attempt at bringing her on-screen. Talking about what I dislike about her means this gets intrinsic with the show's greatest flaws, because they are a big part of what is wrong with her portrayal.

First issue I have is that she is a very washed down version of what Marisa is. She's soft, purposeless other than "Lyra is my daughter" and overall she is a dull character. Had Book! Lyra ever met her, she would have found Show!Marisa boring.

Marisa's lack of purpose is deeply tied with many narrative problems, such as shallow worldbuilding (the non-women scholar bullshit from season 2, for one, and the lack of daemons) and even with Boreal, they played it very safe and boring. When Marisa deals with him in the books, she is power-playing and very strongly too; he isn't a nobody. In the show is very meh, Boreal is almost on even grounds with her, which makes her scheming silly and uninterested. Worse than that, she whines and cries so much in front of him (in episode 5, season 2 specifically, and this is where I left the show and I do not intend to come back lol) that it makes no sense. Marisa's vulnerability is only seen in specific moments of the book — with Asriel at the bridge, then later at the abyss, once with Lyra in the caves. There is a reason why she is vulnerable in those instances, and only then. Making her open herself to Boreal is utter garbage, plain and simple.

Second issue I have is how they set the tone for her to be a scorned mother. The show plays, again and again, the "I've always wanted you Lyra but--" card. They make it seem like Asriel stole Lyra from Marisa's throbbing chest and disappeared into the night, and oh! how desperately she has looked for her beloved child. Honestly! All the fucking books, even TBOD, show how she didn't want Lyra then and when she finally did, it was out of self interest and vanity. Only later, in TAS, is when she finally warms up to Lyra. They erased her character development for the sake of some motherly tears and I loathe it.

This pair's with Sami's latest post which just proves what I've been saying since season one: they took a great, leading character female character and they made it all about motherhood. It's insulting. Marisa is so much more than a mother. She never wanted to be a mother.

Third issue is the "She is bad because of how oppressed she has been" issue. Northern Lights, chapter four - Lyra dines with the women and the master and you have a whole discussion on female scholars and how Lyra felt pity for them and so on and how Mrs. Coulter was very different. Like, anyone who had actually bothered reading the novels could tell you that Lyra's world is a patriarchal world, but the women still find their way around, as they have since forever in our world.

Now for the show, this pisses me off on many levels, but my main issue is with how they try, so hard, to have Marisa say - and this is important, it's never shown, it's only ever said by her - how men get the better end of the deal, how she had to work so hard to get where she was and blah blah blah. Honestly, this is very true for the show; they bothered very little to write meaningful women into it, the one change I would have appreciated very much, but as in regards to the truth of the character, it's just nonsense. This whole shenanigan could have been fixed with Hannah Relf's presence, because she alone would prove that Marisa's cruelty and malice are innate traits, not a byproduct of her world being sexist. It makes no sense.

If you're looking for more insight into that, I recommend Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss which is an analysis of episode 5, season 2 and this patriarchy business on the show. It's very good and insightful and more reasonable than I will ever be discussing the show lol

There's no excuse for Marisa's poorly written character. It's a waste of Ruth Wilson's acting and a damn shame for a studio that so often claimed to have learned from the movie's mistakes (which they, very very obviously did not as Marisa from the show and the movie are very, very similar). That's why I've only stuck with books since season 2, because while Philman sometimes does stuff I don't entirely agree with, he has a great grasp on the woman he wrote, which is why I leave you with Madame Delamare's own words about Marisa, something the show writers failed utterly to understand and therefore could never truly bring her to screen:

"Delicately and subtly," she mocked "Marisa would know how to show some force. Some character. She was all the man you'll never be."

[kittymattress]

not me monitoring the notes of that book poll to see who also loves HDM and scrolling through their blogs to maybe glean some fresh thoughts about the story from what they've posted about it

[cozcat]

mary malone and her daemon + love

It's been a few dates, and lovely though they have been, it is still only a few, the first she's been on since– since before.

He likes her too, and he says as much in soft chirrups and fond words she can only hear as she slips into a state of consciousness she now finds as easily as breathing, and she'd feel like she's gone mad were Will not able to see him too, but the part of herself that does not have a name is as real as the blood in her veins.

She's known it for a while now, but it strikes her anew: no matter how much she loves someone, no matter how much they love her, there is a part of herself that she can never share with them, and it is a lie she cannot avoid living.

[three sentence fic meme]

[appretiartis]

The thing that hurts the most about The Secret Commonwealth is that we spent so much of The Golden Compass learning that being separated from your daemon is traumatic and horrible and how the church wants to sever kids from their daemons and how Lyra barely escapes it and then... She and Pan get estranged from each other on their own volition. The Magisterium gets what it wanted, anyway.

[kirjavas]

lyra and her death: on overcoming mental illness

tw: mental illness, depression, suicide mention

after rewatching all of his dark materials, i wanted to touch on something i noticed in the final season that i hadn't picked up on before, and that is how lyra's journey to the land of the dead reflects her mental health.

in the secret commonwealth, lyra is likely dealing with depression as well as recovering from her trauma of separating from pan, which has clearly taken a toll on their relationship. and i think there was a deliberate choice to bring this character arc forward into season three of the show, when it wasn't really there in the books. the amber spyglass highlights the theme of loss of innocence and and moving away from childhood, which was made even more explicit by lyra being an older teenager in the show. this was also depicted by a more obvious change in lyra and pan's relationship that we didn't see in the books until the secret commonwealth. the two of them argue much more than usual in the first few episodes, and they don't seem to be on the same page, particularly when it comes to the land of the dead.

since lyra and pan are one being, this shows us that lyra's mind is divided and she is not at ease with herself as much as she used to be—a feeling that is very natural as she awkwardly transitions from child to teenager. but i also think it goes deeper and may reflect a level of self hatred we haven't seen from lyra before. she's always been sure of herself and this is reflected by how much she loves and cares for pan. but in season three she becomes more dismissive of him and guided by a different part of her that is leading towards roger. there are obvious parallels to be drawn between her and mrs coulter, who in contrast has gone from abusing her dæmon to becoming more allied with him. mrs coulter's treatment of the golden monkey represents her discomfort with herself/her soul, but when both their intentions match that is when their relationship is healthier.

in the land of the dead, pan and will both seem to be afraid/cautious of the idea of death, whereas lyra shows no fear in summoning her own death and making a journey she may never return from (cue an incredible shot of lyra's death standing between her and will... till death do us part anyone?? but i digress).

it's really interesting how this slightly different dynamic kind of sets up their inevitable separation, as the episode foreshadows that there will be a heavy price to pay for bargaining with death. rather than it coming as a complete shock like in the books, it feels like a punch to the gut with the realisation that lyra and pan are no longer on the same path (and haven't been for a while). lyra chooses roger, a symbol of childhood, but ironically she also chooses to grow up in leaving part of herself behind.

i might be reading too much into these scenes but i think there's a strong suggestion that a part of lyra wants to die—perhaps to join roger, perhaps because her guilt makes her feel like she deserves it. later on, lyra's hallucination of pan and the scene with the harpies only emphasises this. the harpies target the thoughts at the back of her mind, telling her that she has ruined the lives of those she loves and she is in the land of the dead only to soothe her own guilt.

i also strongly suspect that upon freeing the ghosts, some part of lyra was healed knowing that she helped roger. she seems to bring a bit more of herself back after she reunites with him, in taming the harpies and telling stories. ultimately i think this accomplishment gives lyra enough strength to make another devastating sacrifice when she is separated from will forever. i honestly don't think she could have done it if she hadn't had the closure and relief of completing her mission to make amends with roger.

like... GOD. lyra is such a tragic character and i both love and loathe the show for introducing some of these elements. bring on the book of dust adaptation.

[peetapiepita]

Peeta Mellark & Lyra Silvertongue Comparison:

Lairs, Manipulators, Silvertongues, Sunshine Personality, Reserved Deep Down, and Falling for the Carer.

I said I was going to write about their similarities and today is the day!

First of all, Peeta and Lyra are both blonde. (I'm just kidding.)

The actual first point, Peeta is described as having a silver tongue and Lyra is literally named because of her silver tongue. That's the biggest similarity they have. They're both very charming and convincing. It's like a superpower they have.

They're both very good lairs and manipulators, too. Peeta can lie to a whole nation with a straight face and they'd believe him. Lyra is again, literally named because of her good lying skills and she sometimes can't stop herself from lying.

They both started lying and manipulating people because they didn't have a loving home environment growing up. Lyra was an orphan raised by college staff and she had to lie a lot to get what she wanted. Peeta was in an abusive household and had to lie a lot to just survive.

They both have very outgoing personalities and seem to get along with everyone. But they actually only open up to a few people. Lyra couldn't really trust anyone in her life until she embarked on the journey to the north and met Iorek. Peeta couldn't trust anyone until he had Katniss and Haymitch as a found family. Even then, he reserves his "bad side" from them and only shows them his helpful and sunny side. Deep down, he's so far from the exterior of this super sociable person.

In both of their relationships, their SO is a reserved person who terrifies everyone else, but Peeta and Lyra fall for their SOs first because they're drawn to their tough and caring personalities.

[hatters-workshop]

How do you reckon theatrical plays work with daemons in Lyra's world? I know they don't have movies in the same way we do, but I would imagine they have some kind of performing arts. Like I imagine characters in stories would have set daemon shapes, do you reckon there are like... daemon costumes for actors whose daemons don't match the character's shape? Or like daemon... make up? Fur dye? For if someone has something close, but say your cat daemon is white but it's mentioned in the narative that Hamlet's is a black cat. I imagine kids whose daemons don't settle til later into puberty would be very popular in acting circles, as their daemons could change to match the characters' for longer. Maybe children performing as older characters is common in a similar way to how men used to perform on the stage in female roles in the past, so that they can match their daemons to the character's. Or maybe media that is written specifically to be a play has character's daemons left a little vague, like generally feline shaped, or canine, or bird, so that it's left a little more to artistic interpretation for casting. Maybe there's much-talked about versions of certain plays bringing new aspects to the roles by casting someone with one daemon shape vs another, like someone playing Lady Macbeth with a grass snake vs a viper etc. Casting calls put out for people who have certain shaped daemons and an interest in performance.

Or maybe there's daemon swapping (though obviously not touching, though maybe there's ways of faking it, like how we have ways of fake kissing or slapping or stabbing etc in plays in our world, or maybe it's just standard costuming for actors to be covered from the neck down so there's no skin contact) where an actor will be on stage but another person's daemon is performing the role of their character's daemon. Maybe there's a special hidden spot built into theaters, either behind or under the stage for their human to be so that the daemon can move freely around the stage but not tug at their tether, and likewise for the human actor's daemon to hide. But imagine, daemon actors, performing in their own right! Maybe there's a kind of prestige to a play having one or more actors performing with their own daemon as is? Like people celebrating how perfect they are for the role?

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

i'm 16 years late to complain about this but it's fucking criminal that the dw team got lucky to film in this gorgeous contemporary style building aka the senedd / welsh parliament (and they knew they were lucky to get it) and they completely butchered the exterior shots with that ridiculous neoclassical/deco front.

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Question • Rave Saves You (IIDX Extended Version) • Vermilion (Extended Mix) • Click Again (Extended Mix) • Zapper -Shakin'41- • Voxane (Extended Mix) • Catana • Fake Time Reprise • Condor (Extended Mix) • Golden Cross (Extended Remix) • Fuze (Nhato Remix) • Southern Wind (StripE Remix) • G-Sigh (HDM Rework) • Bleep On Love • Extrema Pt. 2 (Exclusive Live Version) • Meta Dimension (Remo-con Remix) • Don't Believe Da Hype • 6th Mode (Remo-con Mix) • Hello Mr. Breakbeats (Acid Mix) • Narky Light • Cold Front (Live Mix) • Tube • Tube Type • Talkin' Talkin' • Atavism (Mac & Mac Remix) • R.A.V.E. (Remo-con Remix) • Instability • G-Sigh (Nish's DnBoot Remix Live Version) • Fuze • Paper Bag • ロンドンは夜8時 (Remo-con Remix) • Acid Shower (Remo-con Remix)

Apple Music (partially available) ♪ YouTube (partially available)