#The secret commonwealth

[derangedrhythms]

[…] but she was deep in a mood of wintry isolation […]

Philip Pullman, from ‘The Secret Commonwealth’

[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.

[beasanfi1997]

His Dark Materials the best franchise

[his-dark-materials-trilogy]

[hyperpotamianarch]

All right, so I have news for anyone who's interested in my Jewsade/Jewish dæmonism stuff! After not doing anything with it since I've hit a wall with no idea on how to actually write it, I am now considering using Maharal of Prague as a framing device that could connect the story to the main characters of His Dark Materials. Maharal is most well known for having rumored to have created a Golem - it's actually the most famous Golem story to exist - but he was more interesting a person than that. He was well studies in Philosophy and Kabbalah, as well as Astronomy and various other sciences. He was born in Poland about 30 years after the Alhambra decree in Spain, meaning he was a baby/young child at the time the supposed Jewsade may have occured. He was known to have conversed with Emperor Rudolph II later in life. In addition, his teachings later influenced the Chassidut movement.

I'm not really explaining his significance well, but he is an important figure who had the Golem legend grow around his character and fights against Blood Libels centuries after his death. And the fact that the Alethiometer was supposedly invented in Prague at around the time of his death helps.

You see, my idea of it currently is something along the lines of: Lyra, in the midst of studying the Alethiometer, finds some vague references to an early scholar named Long Loew. There is only one note from him which is very interesting, but there's very little about who he was and what are other stuff he said. After researching she finds a book that explains a bit more about him, which might be the heart of the story. That, or she'll slowly uncover hints and the story will progress in two parallel lines - one telling of the life of Rabbi Yehuda Loew of Prague and his struggles with the rising power of the Magisterium and another about Lyra uncovering his life and learning about the current state of Judaism under the Magisterium-dominated Europe. It will likely include some throwaway lines about the Jewsade and its outcome and about shifts in centers of Judaism. Some spotlight might also be given to Rabbi Mordechai Yaffeh (but only because I like him. He doesn't seem to have interacted with Maharal much even though he also served as the Rabbi of Prague for some time while Maharal was living in another city) and to some of Mahahral's students. There will also have to be some talk about the Shulchan Aruch and such books, but that's another thing.

Part of the idea here is also to remind people that Jews were involved in scientific development, to a degree. Some famous rabbis had exchanges with famous Astronomers. Due to how a Christian-dominated world generally works, though, you're unlikely to find discoveries made by Jewish scholars around the 16th-17th centuries. At least so I think, I'm far from an expert on that topic. Either way, I think this kind of story might lend itself easier to write. It does lose the angle of focusing on Sepharadi Jews, but I'm hardly qualified for that anyway. I think Maharal's type of philosophy might work very well with dæmons and the Alethiometer, though I do need to study it more (which I guess makes the fact one of my distant great uncles was a scholar of Maharal very convenient). I do still need to read the Secret Commonwealth to understand adult Lyra better and see how such a story might work - for example, might Pantalaimon go alone to the Jewish quarter of Prague when Lyra is unwilling to? What would each of them find out? What could really drive Lyra to check out one particular scholar? So, that's the bad news: after having a hard time starting to read the Secret Commonwealth, any progress that might be done is postponed until after I read it. I do intend to try and do it quickly, though.

So, yeah. I intend trying to talk about Jewish life in Lyra's world through the eyes of an old Jewish Rabbi, Philosopher and Kabbalah student, or maybe two or three of those. I will need to thouroughly research their history, but that's going to be fun (hopefully). Plus, I'm descended from Maharal! So this is kind of uncovering family history!

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

[stefito0o]

I love it when the weather is nice enough to sit in the garden ☺️

[yellow-black-stripes]

never has a book understood me more than the secret commonwealth, and never have i felt more seen by a character than by Lyra.

[biwonderland98]

My sister in christ you are 20 years old

[transmasc-totoro]

I love Phillip Pullman but by far the WORST part of the post dark materials trilogy is Malcom falling in love with Lyra. Not to say I know him better than the author but my boy would NOT carnally desire the child 12 years his junior he rescued as an infant and taught as a professor. He simply would Not he would see her as a little sister

[illustration-alcove]

Peter Bailey’s illustrations for Philip Pullman’s The Secret Commonwealth.

[derangedrhythms]

She was in a forest resounding with animal cries and human screams and the whisper of terrified ghosts.

Philip Pullman, from ‘The Secret Commonwealth’

[kirjavas]

rereading the secret commonwealth and i'm theorising that this specific annual bench meeting shown at the end of hdm takes place after the events of the book of dust

lyra and will could pass as being in their twenties, and something about their faces/body language in this scene feels different, like something has happened between them since the previous midsummer's day. pan and kirjava are almost touching, as though they can sense each other's presence, and while i'm not entirely convinced will and lyra will ever see each other again i do think their dæmons could potentially find each other. pan and lyra are currently separated and we know will and kirjava can do the same: perhaps the reason pan left lyra was to find kirjava in the blue hotel, as if he is searching for the part of herself she left behind by growing up (gone to look for your imagination...)

it would be very poetic if they were both abandoned by their dæmons the same way they did to get to the land of the dead

[mirriorball]

some illustrations from The Golden Compass illustrated edition, with art by Christopher Wormell.

[ssmhhh]

PAN AND KIRJAVA SHARE WITH THE CLASS CHALLENGE BC WTF IS HAPPENING HERE??

ALSO HI HELLO RUSSELL DODGSON WHAT DO YOU KNOW???

[hyperpotamianarch]

Well, I'm reading the Secret Commonwealth, I have some thoughts, and am unlikely to get to talk to anyone who has read it in the near future, so I'm going to dump my thoughts here! We'll see where it goes.

I'm currently at the middle of chapter 6. To start with, this book is very clear that our current focus is on special roses that come from the Levant. By which I mean, for the duration of the second chapter (I think?) literally everything ties back into those roses. I suppose the Gobblers had a similar role in Northern Lights/the Golden Compass? I don't know.

The book also seems to start to play out as a mystery/detective story, but I guess I'll have to wait and see where that leads.

More tidbits I might want to make include... well... people who've followed my HDM related posts know I'm trying to work on Judaism in Lyra's world. I already knew this book has to do with the Ottoman Empire, so I suppose it could showcase some things about Islam in this world. This would be a step towards seeing how strong is the Magisterium worldwide. There seem to be implications they burned rose gardens because of a connection discovered between those roses and Dust, so it's clear their long arm can reach into the Ottoman Empire. That is interesting, as I'd expect the Ottomans to be against outside influence in their land. Coverup stories or no, something is suspicious and the Ottomans probably also have income from the export of roses. I mean, if those roses can only grow in lands under their control... I would expect them to protect their interests better. If they can't... That has bad implications all around.

Also, Miriam is a Jewish name which appears at the beginning. I don't know how common it is among non Jews, I kind of assumed Maria was the more popular version, so it makes me just a tiny bit interested in that character - though with the way colleges work in Lyra's world, I'm not sure she could practice any religion that isn't Christianity.

Also on the front of Judaism in Lyra's world but a lot more distant, this world probably doesn't have a Sigmund Freud. The connection is that Freud was Jewish (though relatively assimilationist). The reason I think he didn't exist here is that therapy seems to not exist here, and I believe Freud's field of Psychoanalysis is what led to that existing? Also, if Freud existed I highly doubt this "The Hyperchorasmians" book would've survived without any Freudian interpretations of things. I might be extrapolating too much on that field, let's give this book a separate paragraph.

To be clear, I'm team Pan regarding this book, though my reasoning might defer from his. "It was nothing more than what it was" is a completely rubbish statement on events in a fictional novel. Everything can go through literary analysis and be found to have metaphors. I find it odd that I'm saying that because I'm not too fond of literary analysis, but saying there is no symbolism in your book is... a rather odd statement. But in universe, Pan's complaints about the different books can easily seem as him being a crybaby over people who deny the existence of dæmons. It does seem as if this book is going to explore what dæmons are more deeply, or so I'm assuming.

I do have a half-hearted theory regarding what the Hyperchorasmians was intended to represent. Thing is, I've seen HDM described as a book about teenagers killing God, and it's supposedly written as an antithesis to Narnia while being just as preachy in a different direction. Equivalents could be drawn. Obviously, the core problem Pan has with this book is something HDM can't really be blamed for... I'm having some trouble articulating my point exactly, we'll see how things go either way.

The desert - Karamakan - is interesting. It's portrayed as similar to the Land of the Dead or the place in the north the witches use for their practice of separation, but Dr. Strauss's dæmon managed to get there - and it seems that the only way to get into the building is with one's dæmon? So I don't know what's going on. This is another thing to be seen.

Also, Malcolm from La Belle Sauvage is a scholar now. I don't really remember much from this book, and I'm not sure what's going to be relevant? Bonneville is dead, I think, and likely irrelevant. There's the odd faerie woman from the flood, which... I don't know what she has to do with anything. I'm not sure what anything has to do with anything from this book. Again, I suppose we'll see.

That would be it for now.

[nerdyfangirl23]

“lyra’s the most important thing to me right now”

yes i was one of those book readers who was screaming and crying every time there was a word for word book quote in the series’ dialogue. you didn’t want to see just how much of a mess i was when we got the atom speech.